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Spotlight on Maiarelli Studio
Photo: Ann Rathkopf and Giona Maiarelli at the Paul Rand exhibition @MCNY
As a creative studio founded on a passion for graphic design, Maiarelli Studio has evolved in its 30+ years to become a team of creatives versed in a variety of platforms, media, and audiences.
The studio creates and maintains design-centered brands, collaborating with clients in a range of industries–from corporations to cultural institutions–embracing a forward-facing trajectory and accompanying them through sustained growth of their brand, product or organization.
Last year the studio’s Creative Director, Giona Maiarelli, won Interior Design magazine’s Best of Year Award for Branding.
CAC Director of Development Rene Bouchard recently interviewed Giona about Maiarelli Studio and their in-kind work to enhance the Cinema Arts Centre's brand and communications:
Rene Bouchard: When was Maiarelli Studio founded?
Giona Maiarelli: The studio was founded in Bologna, Italy in 1990 and moved to New York in 1999. There is still a small support office in Bologna, mainly for specialized production.
RB: What is the guiding philosophy behind your branding work with clients?
GM: Every client is different. We take a deep-dive into their world and learn as much as possible about their products, and audiences or customers: this enables us to get at the heart of who they are and focus on what’s fundamental. We are then able to craft simple, direct and elegant solutions that drive results and often go above and beyond our client’s expectations. That is the really satisfying part of the process.
RB: How did you first become aware of the Cinema Arts Centre?
GM: My wife and creative partner, Ann Rathkopf, is originally from Long Island and has known the Cinema since she was a kid. When we moved to Huntington from Italy we found that the Cinema provided rich cultural nourishment and community and we’ve been members now for a very long time.
RB: What are some of your favorite memories as a Cinema Arts Centre patron?
GM: There are so many memories, and possibly my favorites have been the films and events that you have done together with Slow Food. My wife was a co-chair of Slow Food for many years and the Cinema was hugely supportive of their mission.
RB: In 2019 you approached the Cinema Arts Centre with a wonderful offer to bring a new vision to our branding and external communications. What made you decide to share the time and talent of Maiarelli Studio with the Cinema Arts Centre in such a transformative way?
GM: We believe that the Cinema is an exceptional cultural institution that deserves an identity that is as current, nuanced and worldly as the movies and events they present.
RB: Can you talk about the vision that informed our new logo and the new look of our email and other communications?
GM: We focused on the element of “curation” and thought of the Cinema as a permanent film festival, informed by the discerning taste of Dylan, Charlotte and the Cinema staff. Once we identified that direction, we started sketching different ideas. The concept of light, at the heart of the moving image, kept coming up, so we focused on distilling that idea in a visual that was restrained, easy to reproduce, but also offered a flexible branding system, and was equally applicable to print and digital media, static and motion. The vertical lines placed at different distances also evoke the film running through a projector and, although most movies are digital these days, our collective consciousness still thinks of film as the epitome of cinema with the capital C.
RB: Thanks to Maiarelli Studio, our printed program guide, “Folio”, resumed publication this fall with a new look. What are some of the difference between designing for electronic media and designing for print media?
GM: With digital media the reader has more control of how they consume the content; the role of the designer is to make it available so that the experience is seamless and enjoyable. With printed media the designer has the opportunity to guide the reader through a journey, pacing the material, emphasizing content, creating surprise, and then packaging everything with a cover that is essentially a mini-poster. Plus, I love the smell of ink on paper.
The goal of our redesign of the Folio was to organize the information, making everything easy to find, while also creating some moments of delight with larger images and typography.
When the Folio used to arrive in the mail we would keep them, knowing that each issue was packed-full of intelligent, thought-provoking, entertaining movies hand-picked by experts.
RB: You’ve worked closely with the Cinema Arts Centre team over the past few years, providing design, guidance, and support with all our visual communication efforts. How has this deeper relationship changed your experience with the Cinema Arts Centre as an organization, and as a place that you enjoy?
GM: We have a deeper appreciation and respect for all the hard work and dedication it takes to run the Cinema, with its rich and diverse programs. It’s a monumental effort to line-up such extraordinary variety of programs, and all on a shoestring budget. It’s because of this dedication that we enjoy such world class entertainment, making all our lives richer. The dedication that everyone here feels for this organization is really special.
All of us at the Cinema Arts Centre are deeply grateful for the amazing contributions of Maiarelli Studio to our daily communications and brand. CLICK HERE to learn more about Maiarelli Studio.
CLICK HERE for a 2020 interview about Maiarelli Studio's branding work for CAC.
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