architecture — widgets & stone | Graphic Design and Branding Agency in Chattanooga, TN

Tinkering with Space, Online

Web site for Tinker Ma

Tinker Ma offers clients their more than 60 years of combined expertise in architecture and design. The name is a play on words, as architects tinker with space (‘ma’ is japanese for “space”). Widgets & Stone created the adaptive logo and identity system for the firm in 2019, and returned to help build a functional and dependable web site in 2021.

Tinker Ma is prolific, with many team members producing many projects around the southeast. With their old web site, they could not update it themselves and had to rely on developers to do it for them, and as a result, the site did not showcase newer work. We set them up on a new platform and gave them a tutorial on how to add and change information themselves, allowing Tinker Ma to stay up to date.

Design Direction: Liz Tapp; Design: Liz Tapp, Noah Marlowe; Photography: provided by Tinker Ma.

Who you are is how you work

Tinker Ma Brand Identity

Although Tinker Ma is a new name and company, its collective experience and commitment to community are nothing new. Trey Wheeler and Thomas Palmer of Cogent Studio and Craig Peavy of PVDesign are joining under the new brand of Tinker Ma and are offering clients their more than 60 years of combined expertise in architecture and design.

Architecture is complex, but Tinker Ma’s process is simple: take an idea from the client, breathe life and art into and reflect it back into the world. Widgets & Stone employed that exact same process with the three partners throughout the naming and identity design process.

The design team worked closely with Trey, Thomas, Craig and collaborative partner 26 Tools to uncover the ‘why’ of their new endeavor and explore a variety of names and brand identity solutions.

The final result is a design that tinkers with space (‘ma’ is japanese for “space”). A modular system that allows for experimenting, for playing within places, and for perfecting the spaces in between.

“Tinker Ma believes that who you are is how you work, and what you make, and the things you leave behind.”

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Art Direction: Travis Hitchcock; Design: Travis Hitchcock, Mark Slawson; Writing: 26 Tools; Photography: Cogent Build, PVDesign.