We see Planning & Design as an investment.

Experiential design is more than a process, it’s an investment. Like laying a sound foundation, the fundamental construct of WHY your place, product or service psychologically appeals to your customer is where we begin. We apply proven techniques in design to elicit a predictable result. Who can design an experience without understanding its essence? We work with you to discern what will make your project emotionally addictive, then apply the principles of experiential design and immersion to make it a timeless classic. We call this type of ROI, Return on Imagination.

Experiential process proven to get results.

SottoStudios disrupts the entertainment design industry as an experientially focused innovation and design group, going beyond architecture to immerse today's consumer in an ever more compelling sensory experience. This requires holistic "pitch to product" thinking where even the marketing of the project is considered in the initial vision. Walt Disney worked this way as well, by building upon a “big idea” that people would intrinsically return for, then making them real through attention to detail. We always test these ideas against the business case and analyze them, but know how to keep the vision alive despite budgetary realities. Our handpicked “dream team” of specialists scale to your project brief, or can compliment your in-house team. From marketing and brand, media, themed entertainment, technology, architecture, even industrial design, we holistically create a more powerful immersive experience that guests come back for, versus merely consuming.

At SottoStudios, everything matters.

Our team involves both our best core directors and highly skilled vendors. The results speak for themselves.

Repeatable. Experiential thinking yields long term results

Today's audiences want "immersive brand experiences", yet there has never been a studio to consider all the tools of immersion, till now. Why? Experiences are multi-sensory and need a different process. To connect emotionally, you consider everything the customer takes in, from the music they hear, to the textures they touch, to the colors they see, all of it matters and can be tuned harmoniously if created holistically. Eddie Sotto saw that brands desperately need a holistic design environment that brings everything together to not just solve functionally, but also emotionally, a winning practice he mastered in the creation of Disney parks. That's why they are so addictive. The biggest risk for a client in entertainment design is not that they won’t come once, it’s that they don't feel the need to come back. Nothing "pencils" in one visit. We design to addict an audience in a deeply emotive way. To us, form still follows function, but to succeed long term, form should also follow feeling. 

To that end, we design to hedge your creative bet and deliver repeatable results.  As they say-  "No one goes home whistling the architecture."

Measurable. Immersed in success since 2004

SottoStudios/LA, established in 2004 by Eddie Sotto, former Senior Vice President of Concept Design at Disney Imagineering to practice this holistic method of design, long before the current “experiential” bandwagon hit the road. Since then, SSLA has been involved creating immersive experiences showcasing the world’s most presitigious brands. Ferrari, Virgin Galactic, Porsche, Aston-Martin, Paramount Pictures, Microsoft, Google, Disney, Universal, Wynn Resorts, Irvine Company and more have allowed us to reimagine and elevate their brand experience. Can we discuss yours? 

Scalable. Right-sized to fit your project needs

We believe that you as a client should have a “dream team” of experts hand chosen to fit your needs exactly. Our diverse projects beg for specialists as they range from the 10,000 Year Clock to innovating “augmented reality”, or designing a entire theme park. A few experts with the right experience yield better results than a floor of interns learning on your dime. 21st Century technology allows us to collaborate globally, working digitally to share a single document.

To learn more about our unique process and what SERVICES we can provide CLICK HERE

About: Leadership.  Edward “Eddie” Sotto. - Innovator. Producer. Designer

Sotto has been called “a renaissance creative” with a proven track record in entertainment design that extends beyond Disney. Sotto's strength lies being able to conceive, design and produce right into the field. He honed these skills as Senior Vice President of Concept Design at Disney's Imagineering division, where in addition to producing and designing attractions, he headed Disney’s “Concept Development Studio”. Exporting his skills beyond the mouse in 2000, Sotto branched into creating for Television, Restaurant, Hospitality and UHNW residential interiors, even going into spacecraft and private aviation, where the Studio won a recent IYAA award for “best private jet concept”. 

 Sotto “cut his teeth” in attraction design working for Disney “Legends” Tony Baxter and Herb Ryman, a favorite of Walt Disney. Eddie’s cinematic instincts in design come from the film industry running in his family. His Aunt, Marilyn Sotto was a noted Costume illustrator/designer under Paramount’s Edith Head, while Sotto's grandfather was a portrait and scenic artist at MGM Studios. 

Sotto was named by Blooloop.com, the industry’s leading publication, as one of 2020’s “Top 50 Theme Park Influencers”.

As Featured in Bestselling Books, Magazines and Television Series

Made the list in the definitive book "Who's really Who. The 1000 most creative people in America".
- TED Founder, Richard Saul Wurman

"Eddie's passion for new ideas and one-of-a-kind Adventures was a creative leader's dream."
- Imagineering President Marty Sklar, - "Dream it! Do it!".

"Wildly imaginative Imagineer."
- Disney CEO Michael Eisner - "Work in Progress"

“ Eddie was a deeply informed and intellectual guy with a real flair for telling the story—but he also knew how parks work, and his operational knowledge informed his creative.” 

-Disney Legend Jim Cora,. “Not a walk in the Park”

Sotto's insights led to being "most quoted," with more than 400 separate entries in the encyclopedic Bible of the industry.  "Theme Parks and the Art of Themed Entertainment"

In addition to the above, Sotto speaks academically at UCLA, SCAD, and is an official speaker for the Walt Disney Family Museum. He’s been featured in many books and periodicals such as The New Yorker, Town and Country, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor Italia, The New York Times, Esquire, Paris Match, Stern, Wired, and The Robb Report to name a few.

Leading Design and Innovation as SVP Concept Design, Walt Disney Imagineering

Disneyland Paris Main Street USA  is an immersive world of it's own where Sotto served as both Producer and Executive Designer. Image ©Disney

     In his 13 year career at Walt Disney Imagineering, Sotto’s work spanned 4 parks, managing to creatively direct the execution a half billion dollars of projects along the way, including Main Street USA at Disneyland Paris, the early creative development of the Indiana Jones Adventure, and directed the design of Tokyo Disneyland that planned new lands and created attractions including the first ever trackless dark ride, the game changing "Pooh's Hunny Hunt.". As Senior VP of Concept Design, Eddie also has the distinction of running his own "think tank" within Disney called the Concept Development Studio. There they “pushed the envelope” by developing smart wireless toys, augmented reality coasters, online worlds, and interactive foods. Back in the 1990s! Other projects Eddie's studio created include the breakthrough “Mission:Space” Attraction for EPCOT Center, the “media as architecture” facade of ABC's Times Square Studios, and the award winning “Encounter” Restaurant at the Los Angeles International Airport.  Wikipedia portfolio here.

Download Eddie Sotto Resume PDF

It’s worth noting that after Sotto quit Imagineering in 2000, Disney continued to tap SottoStudios to develop projects in marketing, interactive technology, and resorts. We value our continuing business relationship with the Walt Disney Company.