If you’ve been tuning into NBC on Sunday nights, you might have seen some familiar faces on the new reality TV show, America’s Next Great Restaurant. If you blinked, you might have missed us, but we promise… we’re there! The RSM team is excited to share our minutes of reality TV fame as we get our make-up done, turn on our mics, and frantically design logos, menus, and more for the contestants of America’s Next Great Restaurant.

Sometimes being only 60 miles from Hollywood has its perks…

Check out America’s Next Great Restaurant Sundays at 8:00pm on NBC to see more of the RSM team.

Prior to RSM Design, Suzanne was the director of a large graphic design firm for fourteen years. Her projects focused on the retail and hospitality industries, and ranged from multi-use signage packages to imaging and logo design.Her award-winning work has been featured in a variety of trade journals, including ID Magazine. She’s a member of the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers (SEGD) and heads up a design committee for the Downtown Business Association for San Clemente.

RSM Design has been a female-owned business enterprise since its founding in 1997 by Suzanne Redmond Schwartz. The WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Certification) is one of the most widely recognized and respected certifications in the United States.

She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design and Packaging from the highly respected Art Center in Pasadena, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in business from UC Santa Barbara. Suzanne successfully balances her two great passions: career and family; and infuses her great sense of humor and artistic talent into everything she accomplishes.

Suzanne’s newest venture and vision for the studio is to create a committee and foundation to help others in need. While she’s busy researching and brainstorming ideas for community service, she’s also busy working on projects at UC Riverside, a retail destination in Long Beach, CA, and a city wayfinding system in Southlake, Texas, as well as a mixed use development in Nanjing, China.

“Graphic design is such a visual medium. It enhances the places and spaces of our lives. By honoring the places we design, we honor the people who live and work there also.” – Suzanne Redmond Schwartz.

Martin E. Schwartz, founding partner, blends his architectural and graphic design expertise with his environmental spirit, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. His diverse background gives him a unique three-dimensional perspective, allowing him to see through the lens of all key players–the architects, developers and consultants. Well-respected among his contemporaries, Martin grasps the overall concept of a project while focusing specifically on the graphic design components. Martin’s ability to infuse the element of human psychology enables him to produce projects that are equally inviting and stimulating, facilitating connections between people and their surroundings.

His expertise has earned RSM Design a spot on the bid lists of industry giants. No stranger to creating highly innovative solutions, Martin was responsible at a young age for taking over a chain of struggling retail stores and turning it into a multi-million dollar business. He provides the Studio with visionary leadership, ensuring that all projects exceed the client’s expectations, on time and on budget.

Martin holds a Bachelor of Architecture and Business degree from the University of Texas, and also did course work at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Switzerland. After graduating, he went on to work for Steven Ehrlich Architects and RTKL Associates.

Martin just got back from a business conference in Las Vegas, where he went to seminars and lectures focused on how to effectively and efficiently lead a business through the economic times of today. Martin is currently working on a variety of projects in web design and site building. As well as, actively pursuing ideas in educational tools for our industry and new marketing initiatives. 

“As an architectural graphic design Studio, we have a responsibility to understand not only the design aspects of the job, but to be intimately familiar with the architectural aspects as well.” – Martin E. Schwartz

Harry Mark, RSM Design principal, brings the best of both worlds to the Studio: an impressive background with some of the world’s leading architectural firms and a hands-on knowledge of international architecture and graphic design. His well-rounded experience has seasoned him to creatively co-direct and manage the RSM Design team, cohesively melding the graphics and architecture. Harry is involved in the development of all projects from conceptualization through fabrication.

Prior to joining RSM, Harry worked for RTKL Associates as an associate project designer and for HOK Architects as a senior design associate. He also had his own architectural and graphic design studio before joining Redmond Schwartz Design.

As the recipient of numerous design awards, Harry’s work and articles have been published in several national magazines and trade journals and featured in exhibits throughout the United States.

He earned his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas and a Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. Harry has been a registered architect for over 20 years, and an active member of the American Institute of Architects, Texas Society of Architects, and the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers. Harry dedicates his summers as a senior architect in remote Turkey, directing a team of graduate students in drawing and reconstructing the ancient archaeological excavation of Aphrodisias.

Harry just got back from China where he visited the project, Marina City, in Qingdao, visited our affiliate office in Shanghai, and also did some marketing. At the studio, Harry is currently working on and managing a variety of projects all around the world— in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Nanjing, China and Southlake, Texas. In his freetime, he is remodeling a historic home (we call it the Red Barn) in San Clemente.

“One can’t truly experience architectural design through books alone, but must experience it first hand to understand its power.” –Harry A Mark

As the director of RSM Design’s Shanghai coordination and management office, Johnny works closely on our projects in China to assist the client and our design team with up to the minute communication and coordination efforts. Johnny has more then 20 years of experience in the field of architecture in both the US and Mainland China. He graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology and is a licensed architect in the state of Illinois, and with the team of designers, managers, and production specialists based in Shanghai, plays an important role in the successful implementation and coordination of the graphics with the local development and consultant team.

Johnny has worked with numerous worldwide renowned architecture firms and property developers on a variety of prominent commercial and residential projects in the US and Mainland China. These projects include, the Shanghai Times Square (100,000 sm) and the Shanghai Central Plaza (70,00 sm) with Wong & Ouyang, the Guangzhou Taiku Hui (400,000 sm) with Arquitectonica, the Shanghai K Wah Center (85,000 sm) with K Wah Group, the Shenyang Hang Lung Plaza (191,000 sm) with Hang Lung Properties.

Johnny continues to pursue the goal of design excellence and has the ablility to have a much broader and flexible control of design approaches within his office in Shanghai. These new efforts have helped him and his team win recognition from many clients as well as authorities.

Stefanie S. Ashton is a New York State registered architect and LEED Accredited Professional. While working for several of the top architectural firms in New York City, Stefanie combined her love of graphics with her commitment to innovative architectural, interior and environmental design.  

Stefanie has had a varied career ranging from designing homes and furnishings for celebrities, restaurants for renowned restaurateurs, retail meccas such as Barney’s New York and renovating New York’s Apollo Theater.  She has restored the liturgical elements of a Californian cathedral, updated an elite private school and her graphic design skills helped bring the “City Secrets” travel book series to life.

Most recently at Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners in New York City, Stefanie was the lead interiors architect for the Natick Collection in Natick, Massachusetts.  Stefanie oversaw and collaborated with RSM on the comprehensive architectural graphics package, created entirely new tenant criteria packages as well as the award winning interiors. Stefanie has a Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture from Tulane University in New Orleans.  Having recently relocated to Geneva, Switzerland with her family, she is constantly inspired by the gorgeous views just outside her door.  

Stefanie’s passions include, letterpress stationery, making things with found objects, watching her son’s creative beginnings, and all things exceptionally designed.

With the opening this month of the final stage of the site’s museum, the sign program nears completion after 10 years of development, testing, and implementation of the program.  Using local village craftsman and regional materials for the sign construction, the site signage uses multi-lingual information panels to introduce the history of the area and aid in the navigation through the city.

RSM Design was fortunate to also design and coordinate the display and exhibit panels for the on-site Aphrodisias Museum, housing and displaying artifacts of unsurpassed value found at the excavation as well as from the renowned school of marble sculpture that was also found on the site.  The amount of registered objects within the collection exceeds well over 12,000 pieces that date back to 5000 B.C. and continues to grow as each year passes.

Check out our previous blog post, “Harry Mark’s Drawings Featured in a Publication on Aphrodisias.”

Here to learn the day-to-day functions of working in an environmental graphic design firm, they have so far taken part in attending business meetings, design research and the joys of computer and tech mangement.

Working in a hip design firm for the summer is  not only fun and educational, but our location in San Clemente, California also has its perks. When they aren’t researching new projects and fixing servers, the three can be found hanging out at the beach, cruising on the boat, having bonfires and filling up on local Mexican food and our town’s tasty Velvet Yogurt.

RSM Design heartily welcomes our interns and hope that they have learned a lot and had some fun at the same time!

RSM Design joined the design and development team from Portugal based Sonae Sierra at the grand opening of their latest collaboration – Manaura Shopping, located deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle. Lying on the north bank of the Rio Negro in Manaus this exciting shopping destination has become the latest tourist and locals destination for the capital of the state of Amazonas in Brazil.

RSM Design created a multi-faceted array of signage, graphics, and the logo that was inspired by the textures, colors, and patterns of the local culture, regional flora and fauna, and of course the mighty adjacent river. Local artisans were retained to create unique art installations and ensure that the graphics family felt at home within the surrounding community.  Sustainable methods and materials were used throughout in respect of this area as a popular eco-tourist destination.

Congratulations to Sonae Sierra on another extraordinary project and successful opening!

This week RSM University was led by senior designer “Professor” DJ Thomas on useful tools in Adobe Illustrator. Yes, our team is already expert at this program, however DJ started designing on the original version of Illustrator (for all of you youngsters, this was way back in 1988) and thought he would share his extensive knowledge on some original tools that may get overlooked due to advancements in the program over the years. All-in-all it was a fun round of team learning and will make us even more efficient in our work practices in the future. Thanks DJ for the dose of enlightenment!

FYI – In his spare time, DJ is a professor at Palomar College and has taught Typography Design for the last 9 years.