After seven years in business, Boston-based broadcast design firm LoConte Goldman Design (LGD) has closed. Its former partners, president/ general manager Patrice Goldman and VP/senior creative director Maria LoConte, split after deciding to pursue separate opportunities.
Goldman has launched a new Boston-based firm, One80 Visual Communications, which specializes in motion design and animation, visual brand strategy and Web/print design. Joining Goldman from LGD are creative director Scott Pressler, who was LGD’s design director for the past year, and who previously served as design director for NBC Sports Olympic coverage. Other LGD alumni include One80 design director Matt Ohnemus, who was an LGD senior designer since ’97; and senior producer Debra Gorfine, who joined LGD three years ago as operations manager before being promoted to the producer post last year. Goldman has retained LGD’s digital design studio space.
Goldman explained that she decided to break away from LGD because she wanted to become more heavily involved in Web/Internet design. "I wanted to push into these new frontiers," said Goldman, adding she chose the One80 moniker because it signified broad horizons and new directions.
One80 is currently working with several Web-based companies on projects which Goldman declined to disclose. "There’s a lot of emerging technology out there that is now bringing to the Web what we’ve been able to do with our digital compositing tools for television. Many of these companies are developing the technology, but what they need is the creative end to put it to good use," she said.
Meanwhile, LoConte has formed Boston-based LoConte.2 (L.2), a design group dedicated to high-end visual solutions-including creative direction, graphic design and live-action film design and direction-for the television, cable and advertising industries.
For LoConte, opening L.2 represents a return to hands-on creative responsibilities, an area her duties at LGD had increasingly cut into. "This is about just getting back to what I love to do and think I do best," said LoConte, whose work has earned over 100 awards from the Broadcast De-sign Association (BDA), among other industry honors. "At LGD … there were so many things happening at the same time that I wasn’t happy with my ability to do things hands-on. And, very often, I wasn’t really happy with the attention to detail that I have always liked to put into my work."
L.2 intends to form a number of strategic working relationships with companies specializing in various industry disciplines; already LoConte has struck up an alliance with production/postproduction facility National Boston, where L.2’s office is based. LoConte said she will be collaborating on projects with the talent and resources at National Boston, including senior designers at the National Ministry of Design and sound designers at Rumblestrip.
LoConte has also formed a working relationship with former LGD executive producer Glenn Chalek, who recently reactivated his own Boston-based production/film services entity, Big Brother Productions (which was dormant during LGD’s tenure). L.2 has already worked with Chalek on two promotional packages for the History Channel, which are slated to debut in mid-to-late January. The packages rebrand the channel’s Saturday and Sunday night programming blocks. Also on deck for L.2 is an assignment out of Boston-based SMASH Advertising to relaunch Country Music Television internationally (it is now in the preliminary design stage).
LoConte and Goldman initially met while working on an assignment to design and launch now defunct The Monitor Channel. Goldman served as graphics director of The Monitor Channel, which existed from ’88 to ’92. LoConte, who operated her own shop, Maria LoConte Design, from ’86 to ’92, helped create the total corporate identity of The Monitor Channel, and provided comprehensive art direction of all programming and set design.
Broadcast design highlights for LGD included the launch of The History Channel a few years ago, and redesign of ESPN. The latter project, which was done around five years ago, was significant in that it helped change the way typography was used in sports broadcasting, contended LoConte. She said, "The ESPN redesign, in my opinion, was emulated by a lot of people-the use of typography, the organization of the [TV] screen, the understanding of how to use the screen to display information in different ways. I feel very proud of what we did for that."
More recently, LGD worked on ESPN SportsCentury, a program that began airing in January ’99 that chronicles the 20th century sporting world. Other clients included ABC, NBC, A&E Networks, American Movie Classics, Buena Vista Television and Hearst/Argyle Television, which owns 30 television stations across the country.
