Case Studies

Delivering Outstanding Results

Forge works closely with clients to help them fully realize their vision; a firm that is never satisfied with the status quo and that always pushes the boundaries to deliver the best possible solutions and consistently provide outstanding service to our clients.

BAY ADELAIDE CENTRE

Office Tower Signage and Wayfinding

  • About
    • The Bay Adelaide Centre, Brookfield Properties' new flagship, 50-storey, LEED Gold office building, was the first major tower to open its doors in downtown Toronto in 15 years. The objective was to design and develop a comprehensive signage and wayfinding package which reflected the stature of this new high-end commercial destination.
  • Approach
    • Working closely with WZMH Architects, we were responsible for the design and implementation of all interior and exterior signage components throughout the building, including PATH and Parking Garage. Supporting the architectural concept of glass and light, we developed a solution that was natural extension of the building's environment using simple, elegant, minimalist forms with stainless steel and floating layered glass panels.
  • Target Audience
    • Our primary audience were the professionals that are the primary building users consisting of mostly lawyers, accountants and their clients. The building also finishes a major North/South artery of the PATH and features one of Toronto's largest Parking Garages.
  • Challenge
    • The primary challenge was to use standard high end fabrication materials such as stainless steel and low iron glass to match the architectural finishes while finding innovative ways to modified and customize the materials to work effectively as functional signage. Primary examples of this were the use of PVB industrial coating to tint the stainless steel, custom interlayers in glass to create translucency, colour and texture, and a specialized process to embed stainless steel braille into glass panel.
  • Result
    • The result is a wayfinding and signage solution that fully reflects the stature of Brookfield's new flagship tower, seamlessly integrates into the architecture, and uses innovation to create key elements of sophistication and elegance.
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MELMIRA

Retail Website

  • About
    • Forge was hired to design and develop a dynamic and engaging Flash website for Melmira Bra & Swim Boutique. The aim was to focus on the customer and capture the essence of the personalized customer service that the Melmira store delivers.
  • Approach
    • Working closely with Melmira's brand designer, Nanistya Martohardjono of Tomango, Forge developed an overall design that reflected the brand strategy, created a soft elegant feminine feel and focused the content on the customer and their specific needs rather than the products. Melmira is focused on providing strong personalized in-store customer service selection and fitting, and our approach was to reflect that focus in the online experience.
  • Target Audience
    • Melmira's audience covers a wide demographic range of mostly women of all ages who are looking for the very best in high quality bra and swim wear that is customized and fit specifically for them and their needs.
  • Challenge
    • Our challenge was to design a dynamic website with a fluid interface and beautiful content that also had to be easy to navigate and access for a very broad demographic audience. In addition we had to support the site with a custom designed client update application so that the client could easily manage their day to day content update, keep the site fresh while simultaneously previewing the results.
  • Result
    • The result is a highly successful website that not only fully reflects the Melmira brand and personalized customer experience, but also provides a valuable tool for the client to manage their changing content and communicate with their customers.
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MURALE

In-Store Digital Media & Content

  • About
    • With the launch of Murale, Shoppers Drug Marts' series of new, high-end, cosmetic stores, Forge was retained to design and develop and implement a comprehensive digital media and content solution for all of their retail locations across the country.
  • Approach
    • We worked closely with Shoppers Drug Mart and Burdi Filek, their interior designers, to help realize their vision of what they wanted in a media experience for their customers. Murale's goal was to create an alluring elegant impression that would help draw customers into and throughout the store delivering elements of ambient, marketing, and informational content in a manner that felt as a natural extension to the store environment and concept.
  • Target Audience
    • The target for the Murale retail brand is a high-end sophisticated primarily female audience that is looking for the very best in cosmetics and skin care products from the world's top brands.
  • Challenge
    • Our challenge was to develop a solution that included major animated LED lighting features, large scale projections, digital directories and display walls. With commercial grade high-output projectors and specialized projection film, we created a 6' x 4' vertical exterior storefront projection that is fully visible and effective in direct sun. The development of the LED feature required the design and creation of custom circuit boards, LED strips and controllers, as well as chip programming, software development, prototyping and final installation.
  • Result
    • The result was a award winning seamlessly integrated in-store digital media and animated feature lighting solution that included both content and technology that enhances the retail experience for customers and perfectly expresses the Murale brand.
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CANADA'S OLYMPIC
SAILING LEGACY

Coffee Table Book

  • About
    • Forge were selected as the designers to design and develop a commemorative coffee table book to chronicle the Canadian Olympic Sailing Legacy from its beginnings in 1924 in Paris, to the Olympics in Beijing in 2008.
  • Approach
    • Our approach was to design and create a book that was visually bright, bold and dynamic to capture the energy and excitement of the Olympic games and competitive sailing. The book was divided into four main sections covering the Olympic and Paralympic events, sailors and boats, and used the historical Olympic posters to visually identify each event.
  • Target Audience
    • The target audience is all Canadians and sailors who have an interest in Canada's history of competing at the highest levels in the the sport of sailing and want to support the future of Olympic sailing. More specifically this book is targeted at young sailors to excite and inspire them to reach greater achievements.
  • Challenge
    • Our challenge was to design and develop a cohesive book with visual continuity working from a broad range of disparate source content that came from multiple sources. Content came in the form of old newspaper clippings, personal accounts, published excerpts, old snapshots, newspaper images, magazine pictures and high resolution photos. Working with Hugh Drake, the editor and publisher our role was to distill, edit and organize the information so it could all flow together as a narrative within the overall design.
  • Result
    • The result is a rich chronicle of 19 Olympic sailing events over 80 years that captures the history of the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sailing legacy that will connect, engage and inspire youth to reach podium success.
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