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| The Wizards at Oz |
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In the heart of Misgav — a sprawling area in Israel's Western Galilee — behind a turquoise steel door, is the entrance to Studio Oz, a place not unlike the fictional kingdom of the same name.
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THE Wizard of Oz
After graduating from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Orit Oz worked at ISCAR, a metal-cutting tools developer. She opened her studio doors in 1997, going solo in the beginning and making a conscious decision to grow slowly, adding creative and production staff only as needed. She describes her staff of 16 as "good, dynamic, talented people" and a sense of camaraderie and cooperative spirit pervades the two-story studio. As a testimony to Oz, there has been very little staff turnover.
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 But in this case the wizardry occurs at the hands (and computers) of the talented group of graphic designers at Oz, a "land" where visuals related to product concepts and ideas — in all types of media — take shape.
Orit Oz, head of the studio that bears her name, believes that "companies put a lot of energy into their products but not always into their image." She and her team are experts at getting to the heart of a concept and transforming it into a creative visual, which, as the saying goes, is "worth 1000 words."
Simply stated, the visual becomes part of the company image, which, in turn, becomes part of the company's overall brand.
Because of her background (see box), Oz brings a highly technical sense to her work and understands the needs of high-tech and industrial companies. While the studio has developed complete, broad campaigns for large, established companies, Oz states that "small companies can build an overall graphic image, even if they approach it piece by piece."
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| To the Drawing Board |
 At the outset of a typical project, Oz usually meets with the client's technical and marketing teams to learn about the product, the company, the market, the audience, and even the competition in order to search for the central idea or "kernel" of the product.
Armed with knowledge about the company, Oz returns to the studio to brainstorm with members of the design team. Out of the brainstorming session (or two) may come between six and eight ideas. Two or three designers then take the ideas and begin to formulate the visual, or one aspect of it. According to Oz, her staff "has a range of individual styles and ideas, so clients actually benefit by seeing different interpretations of similar ideas."
 At the next meeting with the client, Oz may present and explain up to six ideas. The idea chosen by the client is integrated and incorporated in some way throughout the entire set of deliverables Oz produces for the specific job.
The list of deliverables includes many corporate identity items such as logos, stationery, catalogs, websites, product packages, banners, exhibit booths, posters, calendars, and even shopping bags.
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| Size Does Matter...
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 The design team at Studio Oz focuses on three main areas: print, electronic, and exhibits. In addition to the design team, there are experts in programming and printing and production, giving Studio Oz the flexibility to handle a large number of different project types simultaneously. The Oz staff has earned a well-deserved reputation for working quickly and delivering on time, even on short notice.
 Recently, Oz and her staff conceived, designed, and delivered a full e-commerce website in just under two weeks. While this kind of effort was "massive" (and exhausting) — at one point there were six different staff members involved — it points to what her team can do under pressure.
Because of the number of jobs in the studio at any given time, Studio Oz enjoys excellent relationships with print houses, large-format printers, exhibit producers, packaging factories, and other suppliers, an invaluable asset for middle of the night print runs!
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| ...but Location Doesn't
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As for the "issue" of the "north" being far away from clients and suppliers, Oz notes that "once the face-to-face meetings take place, most communication is conducted electronically." Fully 50 percent of the studio's clients are located in the center of the country. Oz states confidently that "it is not a problem working 'remote' these days."
 The studio's client list includes a range of industrial, commercial, and high-tech companies. Oz says that most of the clients are export- oriented. Therefore, the team not only works in Hebrew, but also in English and other languages. (Trendlines often cooperates with Oz by providing copywriting and editing services.)
Word of mouth remains the studio's best advertising. Since the studio opened, Oz has not undertaken a large-scale marketing campaign for it or the services it provides. She believes her prices to be competitive, but also knows that her studio size gives her an advantage when it comes to production, especially on projects with short deadlines.
Although the studio sits serenly in the Galilee and "listens" to its quiet, there's no doubt that Oz and her team understand the very real issues and pressures associated with designing images that better market, sell, and "say" what a product is truly all about.
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The Trendletter team welcomes your comments.
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Karen Kozek
Senior Copywriter
The Trendlines Group
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