The Experiential Solutions Agency.

Design and Planning. The New ROI, Return on Imagination.

Some see the creative process as frivolous, and in the wrong hands it can be. We see our holistic design process as more than visual, but making ideas become rational. Understanding why an attraction or product will work creatively is a fundamental investment strategy. A stone foundation versus sand. When we know why they come and what emotionally will bring them back, we can safely develop a winning, “wow!” experience. When budgets come into play, the investment in experiential design pays off in knowing the essence of the project so we don’t cut what they are coming for. So often, that investment is skipped, saving money up front only to write bigger checks later, rushing to a short term and often short lived result. 90% of our clients are referred and of them many have been with us for decades. They have seen that investing wisely in planning protects them from costly mistakes in construction or a creative product that misses the mark completely. Paper has always been cheaper than concrete.

Turn-key Solutions from Concept to Completion. Seamlessly focused.

Built Solutions. Experiential design means bringing the "wow" to your project, be it a theme park or mall that needs a new reason to visit, or a brand in need of creating a deep emotional bond. We do many things, but we are laser-focused on people and what makes them respond. Beyond architecture, we design to emotion and our work proves that the excitement we design always draws a crowd.

Step One. Let’s chat. What's your challenge?

3D printing allows us to tell stories at any size in any material.

The Why of Wow. Everything we do is built around a story and every brand has one. We start below the surface and build on the compelling qualities that resonate with your audience and design from there. We want to hear your story, and what you want to achieve. Why will they love it? We believe in bringing minds together from design, marketing and product development to collaborate in our “design sensing” process. We can think it, strategize it, market it, and even prototype it and finally build it. This process of solving can be applied to the many disciplines you see listed, and we’re ready to solve for you. 310 472 5216.

Phases 1 and 2. Creative Feasibility and Design Development.

A combination of research, ideation, design, estimation and programming. All part of our highly disciplined production process.

The How of Wow! We begin with the program, understanding the goals, limits and expectations of your project. We test the assumptions, research the unknowns, and then Ideate to achieve those goals. In feasibility phase we push back, testing the big idea, modeling it into fiscal shape before subsequent phases of design and estimating. We tend to dig deeper before pen hits paper, to be sure the creative integrity is intact throughout the process. Depending on your project’s needs, we “cast” the right team to get you there. This can be a “turn-key” production, collaborating with an architect or developer, representing you as our partner. We can bring in estimating as a second opinion, or source specialty vendors. We can produce your presentations for funding, pre-visualized in 3D or as a video. You name it. If you are in the formative stages, we can assist with the "visioneering," by laying the groundwork for programming the project or product development. Within that is a process that makes the intangible real. The wow is now.

SottoStudios has many projects that are highly confidential and as proud as we are of them, they must remain that way. Most of our workload ranges from entertainment, brand development and product design, to high end custom residential work, or proprietary technology development. If necessary, we can provide a mutual NDA to discuss your needs and provide examples of specific services and perhaps share more in a confidential environment.

All "hard fun" as we like to call it. We are showing what we can to illustrate how we solve for our clients, and how we can hopefully solve for you.

Right-sized Design. We scale our services to fit your needs.

We believe that you as a client should have a “dream team” of experts hand chosen to fit your needs exactly. Due to the extreme diversity of our projects, we don’t need a “standing army” beyond a core management staff. A few experts with more experience yields better results than a floor of interns with less. 21st Century technology allows us to collaborate in high definition globally. We use networked digital design tablets and other means to virtually collaborate on our projects more efficiently. We meet in person only when it is called for.

Why should you be restricted to the talent on hand that lives 20 minutes from the studio? We agree. These projects are expensive and deserve the “ultimate right answers.” We contract the best talent anywhere even if its in London, Cupertino, India, or wherever it makes sense. We locally manage all of our projects strictly in a very hands-on, heavily tracked, flat management style.

Phase 3 and 4. Value Engineering, Production and Installation.

Once the design intent drawings are estimated and adjusted to match the final program, we green light the process of producing the final working drawings from that package to execute the project, then begin the art direction, software development, media production, and other creative disciplines necessary into production. We coordinate installation right into the field. As your partner and creative representative, we collaborate with contractors and architects as we oversee that what is built meets or exceeds what was originally pitched to you. The audience is the final judge and we take that seriously.