Young & Laramore: Shiel Sexton 3-D corporate identity

Graphis, May/Jun 2002 by Noe, N Rain

These days, advertising is everywhere-- there are banner ads on the web, commercials during your favorite program, posters at the bus stop and billboards in the darnedest places.

But if you're like me, you ignore web ads, mute commercials and wait for the bus with your eyes closed. Well, advertising firms are starting to catch on. "There are so many assumptions in advertising," says David Young, principal of Indianapolis-based advertising firm Young & Laramore. "People plunge forward on the faith that these standard media forms are going to do their job." "There are all these ways to reach people, and yet it's harder and harder to actually target," explains Carolyn Hadlock, VP Creative Director of Y&L. "So our thinking was, let's start a division that creates ads that people come to." The delivery method? "Permanent installations that can be both art and commerce."

From that thinking sprang 2nd Globe, Young & Laramore's sculpture and installations division. With direct involvement from both principals, 2nd Globe recently completed an identity project for construction firm Shiel Sexton Corporation. In line with their own motto of "Merging art and commerce," 2nd Globe created and installed sculptures throughout the corporate headquarters.

"When we started with the identity, we said what they really do is build from the inside out," explains Hadlock. "They take all these disparate systems and make them work together."

Whereas construction often involves being at the mercy of the materials and building to their limitations, 2nd Globe flipped the script, bending industrial materials into the identity of the company. The sculptures focus on representing a large letter "S," alternately fabricated from electrical tubing, steel I-beams, concrete and rebar*.

While the "S" undoubtedly refers to Mr. Shiel or Mr. Sexton, it might as well stand for "sturdy"-each of the sculptures gives an impression of robust construction, finely finished though they may be. It is a logo that will never be sullied with a coffee ring.

Capping it all off is a three-story sculpture affixed to the front of SSC's headquarters. "Structure Man" is a steel rendition of a construction worker hoisting an I-beam high, his scale-sized lunchbox at his feet. The vaguely anthropomorphic figure is playful as opposed to overbearing, and can be seen from the roadway. I'm guessing more than one commuter has done double-takes or started lunchtime conversations starting with "Hey, did you see that big..."

"There's something really cool about actually building these things," says Hadlock. "A lot of that stuff could've been faked out in Photoshop, or `propped,' but we felt it was important to physically carry the identity through and put it into their building."

* "Rebar" is the metal latticework on which concrete is poured.

N. Rain Noe has balanced a career in industrial design with a career as a freelance writer. He has interviewed talents such as film director Takeshi Kitano and designer Karim Rashid, whom he has also worked for. "It's always gratifying to gain exposure to the opinions of those on the cutting edge of their field," he says. "Talking to Carolyn Hadlock and David Young of Indianapolis-- based Young & Laramore (pg. 18) was no exception. Both were gracious enough to speak to me about 2nd Globe, their exciting sculpture & installation division and part of Young & Laramore's solution to new problems emerging in the rapidly shifting world of advertising. Before writing this article, I was of the mindset that art is something I would pay to see, while advertising is typi

tally something I tune out. Young & Laramore is experimenting with fising the two, giving advertising a blood transfusion from the art world," concludes Rain.