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When George Swade opened his big retail store in North
Hollywood back in 1985, he hired Brian Sisson to give the place
a unique look, with a logo, interior and exterior that would
turn heads even in hard-to-impress Hollywood. The interior looked
like a movie studio back lot, with storefront facades, indoor
faux billboards and custom neon signs. While Swade was selling
the popular brands of the day, he started his own car audio company,
Hollywood Sound Labs. Brian Sisson helped out by drawing
the product ideas that Geaorge Swade was describing, so the various
factories could provide the look and style George was after.
In these early days, George and Brian ( S&S) produced
many retail display ads for friends in the fledgling aftermarket
car audio business, honing their skills and mastering the equipment's
functions and sales appeal. Sisson and Swade created catalogs,
posters, product designs and packaging for Hollywood Sound
Labs for several years until George sold controlling interest
in the company in 1992. S&S Studios was formed in 1990, and
created the new image for TARGA Autosound (Downey, CA),
positioning Targa as a new contender in the midline market, while
taking another brand "Radion" and transforming
it into Urban Audio Works in 1992. Urban was the first
car audio company that reflected the true city-street aspect
of the culture, and the ads and catalogs S&S Studios produced
changed the business forever. The double page ads featured an
actual graffiti artist spraying the Urban logo on a city wall,
various photos of the inner city of Los Angeles, and even the
lettering on the products was hand drawn graffiti-style letters.
UrbanAudio Works was ahead of its time in terms of image design.
Swade went on to join several companies as consultant
and Marketing/Sales Director.
Brian founded SMG as a design house.
The next Sisson project was the launch of Nakamichi
(Gardena, CA) car audio, with amp design, subwoofer design and
packaging. Assorted design projects for PowerAcoustics, BOSS,
Accele Electronics , Sentrek and Megatronics Alarms
kept SMG busy . One year at CES in Las Vegas, SMG had eight clients
there with product or sales materials, all produced on a tight
schedule.
In 1996, Swade took the reign at API (Chicago)
as sales director, and Swade and Sisson teamed up to design and
create product , packaging and catalogs for the brands CRUNCH
and HIFONICS. Of note was the SMG-designed trade show
display, a 30x50 foot replica of the Parthenon, with 20 foot
high columns and crumbled fragments as product displays. Perched
on top of one end of the Parthenon was a backlit sign with the
HiFonics ad line Power from the Gods. Crunch( entry and mid lines)
and HiFonics (high end lines) broke new ground in product and
image design in the years 1996-99. Brian Sisson was meanwhile
designing the new Autotek Car Audio (Burlingame, CA) logos,
product, packaging and trade show display ( a replica of a fifties
service station).
Sisson went on to revive the image of PYRAMID
and LEGACY (Brooklyn, NY) for the CES show in 1999. SMG
designed their show booth, a big brownstone-looking building,
complete with tagged walls, trash dumpster, chain link fence
and basketball hoop. Show patrons could win an oversized hooded
sweatshirt by sinking 3 out of 3 free throws. Around this time,
Brian designed the cosmetics for the Legacy Vibe amplifier,
and the fluid-cooled BAZOOKA amp that was the buzz of
the 99 show.
Swade's career took him to Autotek in 1999, where
he presided over the redesign of the Stealth, Supersport and
Mean Machine amps and packaging, along with the acquisition
of the brand name G&S, creating the Redline Series
amps and subs, high product lines. Brian Sisson designed all
these.
SMG has been busy over at L.A.Sound and Hollywood
Digital, in Monrovia ( recently Ontario), designing product
cosmetics and packaging, including the Hollywood Digital logo.
Product lines include Cali Style and Tribal for LASound, Excursion
and Edge for Hollywood Digital.
Currently, SMG is working on several 12volt projects:
Evision car video, Niche Mobile/Video and BrandX
for Custom Autosound, and Concussion Audio/Video for
Global Electronics, along with LA SOUND and METROSOUND.
Brian Sisson designs products to look tough, masculine
and American. Not Imported.
SMG can upgrade your product line and your image
within the industry.
We are "hired guns" that are efficient,
cost effective and brutally honest.
We are the best kept secret weapon in the industry.
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