Great Offices: a digital design agency’s ultra-playful King West digs

By Frances McInnis | April 2, 2013

By Frances McInnis | 04/02/2013

By Frances McInnis | Photography by Derek Shapton

What: OneMethod, a digital design agency whose portfolio includes Wrigley, Moosehead, Nokia, Quiznos and Nestlé
Where: The early 1900s Krangle Building at King and Spadina
How Big: 5,700 square feet for a staff of 30

OneMethod launched a decade ago in Amin Todai’s Mississauga condo, where he and his partners took occasional breaks to make food or play video games. He decided then that the best offices feel like someone’s living room. Today, his agency operates out of a much larger space, but he strives for the same homey atmosphere and mix of work and play. By 5 or 6 p.m., for instance, there’s usually a boisterous foosball game going. Other signs of OneMethod’s casual ethos: stools made from recycled skateboard decks, Space Invaders characters decaled onto the staff lockers and a bike that employees use to cruise around the open-plan office. Todai himself is responsible for the full complement of giant plush toys—characters from The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy—which are further evidence of his work-hard-play-hard philosophy. He won them all at the CNE midway.

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