Industry Design CEO Tim Smith (2010–) Founded 1959 | Website www.skidmorestudio.com Founder Leo Skid Type of business Private | |
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Key people Tim Smith, President & CEO Services Marketing strategy, graphic design, digital design, illustration, motion graphics Headquarters Detroit, Michigan, United States Profiles | ||
Skidmore studio motion showreel 2015
Skidmore Studio is a multi-disciplinary design studio headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Founded by Leo Skidmore in 1959, the company began as an illustration studio for the automotive industry. Today, Skidmore Studio provides design services to a range of industries including healthcare, arts and culture, public sector, retail, professional services and manufacturing. The studio employs approximately 30 employees, including graphic designers, illustrators, storyboard artists, motion graphic artists, copywriters and marketing strategists.
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History
Skidmore Studio was established in 1959 as an automotive illustration studio. The studio built a reputation in the 1950s and 60s for illustration work completed for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Until the mid 1970s, the studio worked exclusively on automotive advertising with local and national advertising agencies such as Campbell Ewald, Leo Burnett Worldwide, McCann Worldwide, Team Detroit and Doner. At the time, Skidmore employed many notable illustrators in addition to Leo Skidmore including Ron Alexander, John Ball, Ann Bauer, Stephen Magsig, Scott Olds and Bryan Stolzenburg.
In the early 1990s, Leo Skidmore’s daughter Mae Skidmore assumed ownership of the studio. With then Vice President Tim Smith, Skidmore expanded the studio’s offering and client base to include corporate clients such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Medical Center. In 2010, then-president Tim Smith, acquired majority interest of the studio and became CEO.
In 2011, the studio relocated from Royal Oak, Michigan to downtown Detroit, furthering the city's resurgence of the creative class. Skidmore Studio now resides as the anchor tenant of the historic Madison Theatre Building, an entrepreneurial hub for creative and tech companies. The studio occupies the entire fourth floor of the Madison, taking up 9,800 square feet. It was purchased in November 2010 by Dan Gilbert, Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans as part of his Detroit real estate initiatives.
Project history
During the 1950s and 1960s, the studio was respected as one of the country's most talented automotive illustration studios. Notable advertising campaigns from that period included work for:
In the 1970s and 1980s, Skidmore continued developing national advertising campaigns for a wider clientele that included:
In the 1990s:
Free Art Friday Detroit
In 2011, the studio launched Free Art Friday Detroit, a free art scavenger hunt in the city of Detroit. With a mission to elevate the profile of the city's creative community and encourage people to explore the city, Free Art Friday Detroit (FAFDET) has become a weekly art event throughout the city.