1stAveMachine Launches New Design Division
Award-winning global creative production company 1stAveMachine has launched 1stAveDesign, a new division specialising in creative design solutions for individuals, medium-scale businesses, and large corporations in the tech, food, gaming, and music sectors.
With over 20 years’ experience producing award-winning video, digital and experiential content for agencies and brands, the creation of a dedicated design arm marks the latest evolution of the company’s ecosystem as it seeks to diversify into new industries and roll out its culture of collaboration on a global scale.
Rooted in the belief that design is fundamental to a brand, 1stAveDesign will offer a range of solutions, or “journeys”, spanning brand building, expansion, shift, refresh, transformation, and harmonisation. Driven by Unit, each journey encompasses different elements of branding, visual identity, campaigns, digital content, illustration guidelines, motion guidelines, iconography, typography, UX and more. With specialisms ranging from graphic design to animation, typography, illustration and branding, the six studios’ previous notable work includes a complete rebrand of São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP); a brand design refresh and launch film for messaging platform WhatsApp’s new identity; creating branding for Meta’s original series Are We There Yet; and designing illustration systems for Facebook and fintech company NuBank.
To mark the launch of the new division, 1stAveDesign is releasing Symphony, a limited-edition book that explores the melody behind the agency’s work and offers a guide to the challenges, heartbreak, and chaos of the creative journey. Featuring a cloth-wrapped, screen printed cover and with an initial limited run of 500 copies, the 150-page book will be exclusively distributed to 1stAveDesign’s partners and clients.
1stAveDesign launches with a curated network of talent from Argentina, Brazil and Spain, all aligned to the same goal: a singular vision for stories to tell. With plans to expand into Europe and US-based talent next year, 1stAveDesign’s initial roster features Buenos Aires-based design and animation studio HUESO, graphic design studio Asís, branding studio Pánico, graphic design duo Paz MiAmor, Sao Paulo-based design collective Polar and type design, lettering and illustration specialists YaniGuille & Co.
Gianluca Fallone, executive creative director, 1stAveDesign said, “Design is not an image or a logo, but a whole set of tools and decisions that are not made in a day but over time. It is no longer a typography or a style, but a feeling and how people connect and interact with that emotion. As designers, we are driven by this connection, it allows us to go deeper and find what brands truly want to say. Of course, we understand the boundaries we work with, these being the edges of a brand’s guidelines or a project brief. But those limits are just a warning sign saying “watch your step” or “mind the gap” - it doesn’t mean we can’t take a peek or walk along the edge to see what’s out there or deep inside. Our style is to explore with both freedom and responsibility.”
Santiago Moncalvo, executive producer, 1stAveDesign added, “We are thrilled to be creating this box-fresh new division of the 1stAve family. It's really quite surreal to have a seat at the table with the people I've admired for so many years."
Lautaro Brunatti, managing partner commented, “I like to see myself as someone who helps others build their careers. So when we first signed Hueso as a directors’ studio at 1stAveMachine in 2020, I was confident that their talent would continue to grow within our company ecosystem, and here we are, five years later, launching a branding design agency together, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future has in store for us!”
