I fell upon this while exploring the Interwilds. I have no idea who to credit (if it’s you, let me know so that I may give credit where credit is due).
So often the process starts with step four and jumps immediately to step seven.
Sigh.
Nobody will ever convince me that doing more poorly is better than doing less well.
If you'd like this to hang above your drafting table, Click here.
Back in the day I used to screen decks at a little indie Skateboard company, first in in Los Osos, then in San Luis Obispo, California. At Smallroom we built our own silkscreen print carts, drying racks and mini halfpipe to complete the scene.
Recently, I stumbled across a blog post from back in 2010 on Printeresting about a poster exhibition called Printervention. The show’s theme is around the styling and substance of the posters from the WPA and feature contemporary artist’s work that reflect current social and political grumblings.
The print cart was put together by Mike Slaterry and details of the cart and highlights from the show can be seen on their Flickr pool.
Hey Mike Slattery (whoever you are), wanna find a new home for your cart? Drop me a line.
Is any idea really original? What’s old is new and what’s new is old? I received an anonymous comment on my First Light post calling me to the carpet of unoriginality. The commenter pointed out a similar logo was created for another production company with a similar name and similar concept for an identity, Natural Light Films. Have I been called out?
The First Light Solution Logo design, when it’s done well, seeks to create a visual play between the mark and the thing it represents. In my solution for First Light, I used a big door in the form of an ‘F’ revealing a crack of light for the movie production house. I wouldn’t say that a big ‘F’ by itself is compelling, nor is using light cascading from an open door original either. But the two together create an interesting representation of the specific nature of First Light:
“First Light can either be one of two things: 1. The big bang that brought you all to my blog, or 2. The first star a new telescope is trained upon. Either way, the metaphor is spot-on for what the production company is trying to do: Get young directors and writers funding to realize their digital movie making dreams.”
For a point of reference, and a look into the work done exploring the First Light problem, below are the options presented to the client:
The Natural Light Dimmer Switch In the case of Natural Light the open door revealing a natural light source makes sense, but only in the literal form, and by itself, doesn’t create an ownable metaphor for the production company. On the Natural Lightsite there’s a brief statement outlining the mission of Natural Light:
“NATURAL LIGHT FILMS specializes in true to light documentary and television series production. We create programs that entertain, educate, motivate and involve each viewer as a participant in the lives and stories of each subject.”
So what do they mean by “True to Light?” I suppose it could be interpreted as presenting something as it is, or it could be faith-based. Whatever the reason, using an open door to represent the idea of “True to Light” simply isn’t unique. A quick search for ‘door’ and ‘light’ over at LogoLounge demonstrates the open door solution is a popular one:
What about my open door solution? Clichés can be good, but most often they’re bad, occupying that place along the road where pedestrian design resides. Good logo design often employs clichés to build a familiar link between an audience and a company, but the best clichés are those with an unexpected or clever twist.
So, the bell has rung and the gloves have come off: The open door for Natural Light is a bit of a bore. It’s rendered well enough and it does make sense, but the ambitious contender simply sits in its corner hoping for another chance at the title. But really? With a glass jaw, and an open door to an alley littered with tired ideas, did the First Light logo ever have a shot, all the while lacking the heart of a champ?
For ever and ever and ever I have done posters for the Bakersfield Jazz Festival on and off and on and off and now on again. Mark Ramsey is the A.D. on the gig and enlists my help to get a poster together every couple of years.
This year, Mark wanted to see something with silhouettes and a big splash of color—something to compliment the atmosphere the springtime event puts out. Marrying up the illustration with some expressive type, the poster is a departure from the past post-these-bills we've knocked out before.
Here at Marlin, Starbucks is the big rooster in our hen house. We had the opportunity to do some retail-side promotion for the Sky Cafe in the landmark Seattle Space Needle. The Sky Cafe is a unique Starbucks retail store that falls in a murky world somewhere between Starbucks retail and the licnesed stores category where we do most of our work.
I was the designer on the project with art director Gale Venosdel (now with Littlefield), copywriter Chris Rock, and account exec Dan Schultz. The idea was to play upon the experience of being in the Space Needle: The view. The assignment had us put together two posters with coordinating counter cards promoting Starbucks summertime drinks: Seattle Chill Mango Melon and Seattle Chill Toffee Nut Lattte. The illustrations were crafted by Cori Dantini, which captures the hand-crafted world of coffees the Starbuckers roast for each and every one of us. Cori did a fantastic job of commmunicating the spectacular views and the people who see them. Cori is fun to work with and has brought a ton to the table of this project.
Sally Selby and I worked for The Bakersfield Californian for 7 years together (she much longer), and over the course of that time developed a great working realtionship. After I left, she just couldn’t bear it and soon became director of marketing for Klein, DeNatale, Goldner, Cooper, Rosenlieb & Kimball, LLP (whew!). KDG has been a client of mine for a number of years and I had the opportunity to not only work with Sally, but also the office manager, Sam Chow.
Eventually Sam headed to Chevron, so, in an effort to send him packing, KDG charged me to design a farewell poster for the soon-to-be defunct HR guy and firm nanny.
I was given quite a bit of latitude to portray Sam’s time with the firm. So I played up his reputation as being able to work ‘magic’ on any firm problem. ‘The Amazing Chow’ became the alias of which the going away party (or wake) would center. Using photographs, period reference, and a bit of time while I was in my last year at Syracuse, the ’Amazing Chow’ poster appeared out of thin air (yep, just like magic).
Syracuse classmate Laura Britain runs a design firm in Hickory North Carolina and needed a series of posters created for Owens Corning. The posters are to announce the introduction of a new company-wide computer system from SAP. The illustration will depict a mid-century modernist train approaching the viewer over a series of three prints.
The project is ongoing. The next step is to photograph a train at Grant Beach Park for reference. It's been difficult getting the progression right as demonstrated below:
The typography is designed to reflect type treatments from the era. The trick is to avoid the typical cliché type choices so often seen in modern period pieces.
