We are honored to be selected by the staff of Alternative Pick for the Editor’s Choice Award for 2011. There is so such wonderful talents in Alternative Pick and we’re just pleased to be part of the success.
Congratulations to everyone!
Penelope Dullaghan
Curtis Parker
Larry Moore
Lorraine Tuson
It’s been nearly a year since Von Glitschka helped shoot a documentary in the slums surrounding Nairobi Kenya. You will see why his emotions are still very raw concerning the whole experience.
Von was part of a great team of people led by his good friend and fellow designer Justin Ahrens and the two weeks we spent interacting with the people in Nairobi are as vivid as ever. He’ll always be thankful for Justin pushing him out of my comfort zone and inviting Von on what turned out to be a life changing adventure.
The documentary “This is My Normal.” is playing in different areas of the country. Von commented, “I’m so proud about how the final film turned out and that says a lot about the director Brian McDonald of Wonderkind Studios and of course the brain child that is Rule29.”
Justin asked Von to create the linear titles used in the documentary and the titling on the print collateral pieces for “This is My Normal” poster and DVD cover. They’re also creating some other content not yet finished that further document the whole experience. Von closed by saying, “Like any good production it’s been a honor to collaborate with creative people who set the bar very high.”
“This is My Normal” is a sobering documentary exploring two primary questions, “What is poverty?” and “What is normal for the world’s poor?”, through the stories and imagery from the slums in Nairobi, Kenya.
Our very own Mikey Burton took a trip to Portland to accept his honor,“Mikey Burton Week” an official national holiday plus to hang with the Friends of Graphic Design from Portland State University! Mikey came to talk to students about their work, shared his process of his thesis project during Show & Tell, and hosted an all day mark making workshop where students created an *almost* portfolio ready logo in one day.
The challenge of the Mark Making workshop was to create a thoughtful, meaningful mark through the process of brainstorming and sketching within one day. The assignment was to create a mark for a festival for a randomly drawn city and festival type. Some examples include New Orleans Sandwiches, DC Doughnuts, Honolulu Comic Festival and other crazy festival concoctions.
Check out the process and results!!
Series of illustrations about the psychology behind Debt
AD: Alexandra Mooney
Thank you New York Times Op-Ed for the shout out as one of the notable images in 2011!!
Topic: Wal-Mart’s Authoritarian Culture.
Researching the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing in Michigan.
The art of a good idea.
by David Lesh
Penfield Children’s Center invited Penelope Dullaghan to do a poster this year for their annual Croquet Ball. Past poster illustrators have included Chris Buzelli, Chris Neal, Sam Weber, Josh Cochran, Red Nose Studio and James Jean. You can see a few here. And a few more here. Each year, artists are commissioned from around the world to bring their unique vision to the event’s promotional posters. The caliber of talent is widespread, from international artists to local students at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, and each artist brings a distinct perspective and enviable talent to the continuing theme of “Make an Impact. Have an Impact.” The donated illustrations are auctioned off at the event.
Penelope concludes, “I was honored to be a part.”
Bucky Bronco character illustration.
This past summer Scott Hull Associates’ Von Glitschka was hired by the branding agency Integer to illustrate a Bucky Bronco character for a Coors Light campaign with the Denver Broncos. Von tells us the story of the process.
Stadium graphic illustration.
Being a creative hired gun means I create what I’m asked to create for my clients own clients, in this case Coors. I created the graphic assets used in the promotion but didn’t engineer or layout the actual display myself. There’s the rub, I lose control of how the art is used and sometimes it comes out fine and sometimes it’s just OK. This project in it’s final form I’d consider the later.
In store POP Display.
I think it came out pretty good, but there are design details I would have done differently in terms of how how they nested Bucky and the stadium in the layout. But I digress, over all I’m happy with it.
In store POP Display.
When you work with agencies and you deliver what they need they tend to fall off the face of the earth and it’s virtually impossible to get actual final samples of the work you created for them. The only reason I have photos of the final POP display is because fellow creative Dave Lilly from Colorado tracked them down for me and took some pictures.
Thanks Dave! Next time I’m in Denver beers on me.
Thank you Von for sharing!
New MLB cartoon logo.
Designers by nature are visually oriented, we’re attracted to beautiful design and rightly so. But we also take notice when we see something that falls short as well.
There’s been many times a design has flooded my eye gate and caused me to think or say to myself “Ugh! I wish I could have worked on that.” or “The idea is fine but the execution is just horrible.”
Earlier this month both of those thoughts streamed my conscience when I saw the new MLB team logo for the Baltimore Orioles. I’m familiar with this cartoon bird approach because in the 1980′s I was a hardcore Orioles fan. My favorite player was Eddie Murray and my favorite hat was the cartoon bird logo used at that time.
That all changed one summer when the Orioles came to Seattle to play the Mariners. I showed up early at the press gate, baseball cards and a sharpie in hand to get Eddie Murray’s autograph. His cab pulled up and Eddie Murray began to walk towards the gate, I intercepted him holding out my baseball card and saying “Mr. Murray can I please get your autography.” Murray kept walking, didn’t even look at me and said gruffly “Get outta here kid!”
From that point I didn’t like Eddie Murray any more, and found a new favorite team in the Boston RedSox. But I digress, back to the original intent of this post.
As you can see in the image above created by the MLB, the new cartoon logo stinks. The execution of the design is crude. It contains an awkward white shape, inconsistent weight on the line work, confusing detail such as the bottom of the beak, incorrect perspective most noticeable in the eyes etc. The artwork looks like a minor league designer pulled it off instead of a skilled seasoned veteran.
Author Von Glitschka’s re-designed Baltimore Orioles cartoon.
Personally I think the MLB is in a design slump recently. One of the worst ocular offenses of late by the MLB is the Florida Marlins new logo. It’s like getting a 90 mph beanball to the eye socket.
So I decided to step up to the plate and take a swing at the Baltimore Orioles cartoon logo myself. And the above image shows how I would have created it using the same limited palette of colors.
The design created by the MLB obviously went through stages of approval and the fact it was released without being refined and appropriately improved upon only reinforces the fact that the MLB design batting average is hovering around .200 right now.
Embroidered on team hat.
At Upper Deck I was on the design team for the MLB license. I know how some of the artistic politics work behind the scenes at MLB and I can only imagine their marketing throwing a few spit balls into the creative mix? That said I’d love to some day have the opportunity to work on a MLB team logo. Seeing the lame attempts of late what do they have to lose?
Cartoon logo on orange background.
Personally I don’t think the outline needs to remain the team orange especially if used on an orange background. I prefer it being white instead.
Cartoon logo locked up with the team script.
As far as I know the Baltimore Orioles have never locked the cartoon bird up with the script version of their team logo? I think it looks pretty good and would work for warm up jerseys at least.
Cartoon logo colorized.
Historically speaking the Baltimore Orioles have had secondary colors in their team color palette such as a sandy yellow and grey. So I decided to try one version that fleshed out the coloring more. I wouldn’t see this being used on team uniforms but it might work well for promotional purposes?
I’d love to creatively pinch hit for you MLB. I know we could create a graphic home run!
A while back Motto asked Scott Hull Associates’ Penelope Dullaghan to collaborate on a new brand identity for their client Teamotions. Teamotions was established in 2008 after Rachel Crawford tragically lost her twin daughters, and her few moments of peace were found in her tea ritual. Her sister Crystal said, “I wish there was something I could put in your tea to make you feel better.” And knowing nothing like that existed, the two of them decided to create it themselves. The company they formed now offers teas blended with herbs that help the body handle stress, boost immunity and support emotional well-being, transforming a simple cup into a healing experience.
The collaboration began with a mood board Penelope created to establish a visual starting ground (love mood boards!). Then she came up with an abstract icon that represented a person wrapped around a cup of tea and also evokes an image of a mother holding her baby. Penelope must have drawn a hundred of those little guys until one was deemed “perfect”. Next came hand-lettering which was just as exhaustive, none of which made it to the final, unfortunately. But the exercise in typography and variation couldn’t be beat! The final logo was then applied to packaging and collateral, with each flavor being differentiated by color.
mood board
icon work in progress
hand-lettering work in progress
hand-lettering work in progress larger 1
hand-lettering work in progress larger 2
thich nhat hanh quote … about hope being an obstacle… that inspired me
packaging work in progress
packaging work in progress
packaging work in progress (it’s getting there!)
final products
achieve clarity
enjoy rest
discover joy
all flavors
tshirt
