Tolleson Design
The city of Sausalito is famous for its Mediterranean-style hillside architecture, iconic floating houseboat communities, and sweeping views of the San Francisco skyline.
It’s also home to Tolleson, a top-tier design studio quietly producing world-class work while keeping a relatively low profile. During San Francisco Design Week, I headed across the bay to check out their studio open house.
Tolleson studio just a little ways north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Founded in 1984 by Principal Steve Tolleson, the studio handles strategy, design, writing, and photography. Over the past four decades, they’ve crafted work for iconic brands like Nike, Gap, and Adobe as well as startups like Lucid Motors and Joby Aviation.
From the street, the building stands out with its slatted wood facade and clean gabled roofline. Walking inside, you're greeted by a sleek, dimensional black Tolleson logomark mounted right on the entryway wall.
Dimensional Tolleson logomark mounted on the studio entryway wall.
Inside Tolleson’s Sausalito studio during the SF Design Week open house.
Upstairs, the workspace opens up with exposed wooden trusses, polished concrete floors, and long white team desks. Directly to the right, a massive white wall that features the Lucid Motors brand guidelines.
What is known to Tolleson as the crit wall where…
A detailed look at brand guidelines for Lucid Motors, including clear space rules for the Lucid Bear icon and typography specs.
While walking around the studio, I had the chance to meet Steve Tolleson, founder and creative director of Tolleson Design. The first thing I noticed talking with him was how soft-spoken and approachable he was, taking the time to generously answer all my questions and even give me feedback on my online portfolio.
We talked through the design process behind both the iconic Lucid bear mark and the Dictionary brand identity. It was inspiring to learn he’s still actively involved in daily design work as the founder.
He also shared that despite running Tolleson for four decades, this open house was actually their first time opening the doors to the public, preferring to keep a low profile. In fact, they take that low-profile approach so seriously that their website's About page doesn't even feature team headshots.
Talking design with Fouder Steve Tolleson inside his Sausalito studio during Design Week. Courtesy Tolleson Design.
As I continued exploring the studio, I came across displays highlighting their packaging design for Nike—ranging from sustainable Move to Zero totes to Air Jordan’s luxury Jordan Lux line.
Reusable Nike retail tote bags and print collateral developed as part of Tolleson’s sustainable packaging implementation for Nike’s Move to Zero initiative.
Print tests and logo development card for Nike’s Jordan Lux line on display at the studio
They also had physical copies of their iconic packaging for Adobe Creative Suite 5 on display, which was the version I used during my college days before Adobe moved to a subscription model and you actually owned the software.
As I walked around, I got the chance to connect with several of the designers on the team. They were all super welcoming and down-to-earth, happy to talk through their creative process and answer questions about their work.
Group photo with designers on the Tolleson team in front of their project display board.