About
An inflection point.
Physical spaces are in flux. From digital’s impact on brick-and-mortar retail, to the pandemic’s reshaping of offices, to a shortage of housing, the nature of where we live, work, and play is being reborn.
We’ve spent years in creative agencies making global brands famous. Learned the art of uncovering what makes customers tick. Honed the creative alchemy that shifts perceptions and creates desire.
Now we’re applying battle-tested approaches for branding products to physical spaces. We believe as they dramatically evolve, their branding must do the same.
Benjamin Y. Seldin
Co-founder | Strategy
Brand & Creative
Benjamin has extensive creative agency experience. He led the brand strategy department for a national agency and has worked across most verticals. Before his agency life, he was an attorney who sampled everything else. Examples include writing sweepstakes rules for a Grammy-winning artist; advising federal judges on the U.S. sentencing guidelines; starting a clothing label; interviewing an imprisoned carjacker; and negotiating a music contract with MTV. As a strategist, Benjamin draws on this diverse background to see problems and opportunities from different angles. He leads research and strategy for Outerface.
Scott Petrichko
Co-founder | Design
Industrial & Graphic
Scott’s varied experience includes creative agencies and brands. His expertise ranges from environmental design, to brand identity, to conceptual campaigns. Formally trained in industrial and graphic design, Scott’s informal training includes working at his father’s construction company; launching a snowboard manufacturing brand; making a full-scale model of a pigeon; launching a tech institute in Maine; and competing in the country’s largest fly fishing tournament. He owns a closet full of Made in USA products and trains almost daily at crossfit. Scott leads the creative charge for Outerface.
Approach
Our projects begin with in-depth strategy. And despite what some claim, there’s no proprietary, long-named, secret methodology for strategy. It comes down to research, hard work, smarts, and experience.
The specifics of our research approach are project-specific. Generally it involves understanding your business and project, target audiences, competition, and the cultural context surrounding it all. We convert key findings into a strategic direction. The stronger the direction, the better the creative output.
Then comes the creative process. Our experience allows us to push past initial obvious ideas and into fresh territory that leverages the emotionally driven, human-centered insights we uncovered through research. This ensures effectiveness - and not just awards.
