Deciduous Studio
Deciduous (adj): shed seasonally or at a certain stage of development in the life cycle.
Danny Gugger, designer and creative director with Deciduous Studio, was the first designer we worked with at Maine the Way. We met with him when all of our ideas were still in our head. He had worked on other independent publications before and we were drawn to the breathy design he brought to the pages — allowing the stories space to be savored in a style that would hold the test of time. A lot of the skeleton we still use today is all thanks to Danny’s expertise.
Since working with us on Issue 01: Winter, he moved to Berlin, traveled around Europe, and ultimately decided that Maine was where he wanted to be. We’re so excited to have him back in our community and look forward to seeing his designs come to life around town.
We recently caught up with him to hear about some of the projects he’s worked on, the influence design has on small businesses, and, most of all, what Maine means to him and his process.
Photo by Danny Gugger.
Photo by Danny Gugger.
Photo by Danny Gugger.
Photo by Grace Foxen.
Maine the Way — Introduce yourself!
Danny Gugger — I’m Danny Gugger, the creative director of Deciduous. I worked with Maine the Way very early on—designing Issue 01: Winter, and setting a template for future issues. I enjoy photographing and writing about places my partner and I have traveled and people that surround me in daily life (you can find some of those stories here www.DearGob.com). My skills lie in distilling a business/organization down to its core philosophies and telling the stories that follow.
MTW — Tell us a little about your path to becoming a designer.
DG — My path to becoming a designer is pretty non-traditional. I entered university at 17 to study theology. Though I’m no longer religious, I needed to explore religion to its end to realize it wasn’t for me—I am very thorough in this way. While in college, I took a web design elective. My teacher was starting a marketing agency at the time and since there were only three of us in the class, he would assign actual client work as homework (seems unethical now that I look back). When the semester was finished, he hired two of us to continue working for him in various roles. There was a need for a designer, and I had proficiency in photoshop and illustrator and had done some design work as a hobby through my teenage years, so I fell into that role naturally. In the eight years since then, I have taken numerous courses and learned a lot of on-the-job. I found it valuable to cut my teeth in an agency setting, but when I broke out and opened my own studio, I was free to explore the designer I wanted to be. I now consider the things that a designer does/thinks about outside of their job (their perspective) to be what makes them most unique and valuable as a designer.
Photo from Surf Point Foundation.
MTW — What inspired you to move back to Maine?
DG — I’m not sure if I ever really intended to leave Maine, I just found I needed some time away in a bigger city with more diversity and different kinds of influences for a while. After spending two-and-a-half years, mostly in Berlin and Italy, I felt ready to return to Maine with a new perspective. My partner and I mutually decided to come home to Maine, realizing the depth of our small community here and aspiring to quietly add to it in our own ways. Coming back, I realize how much I missed the ocean, the quiet nights, my friends here, and the peace of mind to create in a familiar environment.
MTW — Talk us through the early steps of your process in building a visual identity.
DG — The early stage of branding is very much about digging for the essence of what makes a business unique—both through their personality and in their product. Asking a lot of questions. I want the brand to communicate the way a person does. To express themselves outwardly in a way that matches their inner values and aspirations. Competitive market research is a huge part of the initial research phase. I don’t care to see what people are doing in terms of copying them. On the contrary, it’s important in developing your own voice as a brand, to be aware of what other brands are saying and to create your own lane. I love digging through personal archives of old photos and hearing the stories of how a business came to be. Seeing where it’s at now and imagining what it could be with really nothing solid in my mind in those early phases. Getting to know the personality of the business and the people behind it.
Image provided by Danny Gugger.
MTW — What does good design and a cohesive visual language mean for brands?
DG — Good design is like an octopus—beautiful, functional, flexible, intelligent.
Good design aligns your image with your values. There is something innately attractive and inspiring about seeing someone who is genuinely themself.
Good design changes how you see your own business and can give you the confidence needed to grow in new ways.
Good design changes the way others see you.
Good design promotes trust. If someone can trust you to take such good care of yourself, they will feel you are capable of taking care of their needs.
All design creates a feeling, but good design is intentional about the feelings it wants to create.
In good design, cohesion is more than just matching. It’s the intention and personality behind your brand, which can choose to match or mismatch as it wishes, as long as it still feels like you, that’s what really matters.
Good design simplifies. Your message, goals, aesthetic, and voice all become clear.
Good design redefines success. Good design is good for everyone—good for the planet, for society, and for you. You can be both financially successful and ethical to your core.
Image provided by Danny Gugger.
Image provided by Danny Gugger.
MTW — For a project like the Surf Point Foundation, how do you translate their goals and values into design?
DG — We started by digging through a house full of archives (paintings, books, letters, photographs, etc…) and asking the following questions: What is the mission of Surf Point Foundation? What makes you unique? Who are you looking to attract? How will you describe yourself? We then answered all of these questions together based on an understanding of where they wanted to progress in respect to other arts organizations existing currently in Maine. The interesting part came in aligning Surf Point Foundations origin story with the their current mission. Started by two women (an artist and a patron of the arts) the organization was already working with a very strong story. It was important for Surf Point Foundation to prioritize its focus on opening their doors to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, women, and artists with a connection to Maine. The space itself and original vision of Mary-Leigh and Beverly, would be their gift to this community of people who traditionally would be less likely to receive the time and space to create. As a designer, I really wanted to work hard to give Surf Point an image that both reflected the original vision as well as their progressive values. To build this connection, we pulled existing archive photography and paired it with contemporary artwork across the site, showing how old and new exist together. The orange was taken from the house prior to renovation (it was everywhere and we saturated to better suit digital mediums). The stationery feel of the typographic elements are a modern execution inspired by letters to friends and invitations to community art events found on site at Surf Point. In thinking about the building as a fortress—a safe space for creativity, I thought the shape of the exterior would be strong and iconic as a logo (in abstraction, using positive and negative space).
Photo from Surf Point Foundation.
MTW — What are you most proud of — for this project or your career?
DG — I am most proud when I see the way my clients and their brand identities live on in the world after their creation. Surf Point Foundation has gone on to host so many amazing artists from all over the world. Supporting clients and friends around me who value artistic expression and equity in the same ways I do gives me the feeling that I can do something tangible to create the kind of community I want Maine to fully embrace. Black Owned Maine has taken our community by force and the support they have generated for the black community makes me proud of what is happening here in Maine. It brings me a lot of joy to see how my clients lives, like Jenny Morrison’s (of Morrison Design House), are eased when the tension and anxieties around their business and brand identity are resolved and they can peacefully settle into their brand in a natural way that aligns with who they are and what they are striving for. On top of that, Jenny is booking into like 2022 or something and I am very proud of her.
MTW — Your favorite thing to do in Maine that’s not work related?
DG — Anything to do with the ocean is bringing me so much life right now. My partner and I are currently renting a beach house for the winter, where we are walking the beach every morning, surfing a couple times a week, and relaxing in this natural environment. It feels like a special treat after such a challenging year. We’ve have been cooking a ton and working through the last few years of inspiration from our time in Europe—processing everything we experienced. Now I am happy to say we are at a point where all of this is starting to flow into new artwork as bigger connections are being made in our minds. I love how everything you gravitate toward in life eventually absorbs into your art…I’m just not sure where all of the rocks and shells I’m collecting everyday and photos I’m taking here will end up, but we’ll see!