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!

Commentary by Von Glitschka

Hey art world! I found Saundra Marcel’s article on “Living Licensed” to be most interesting and thought provoking. We definitely raised our three “Hull” children on Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Ninja Turtles and Star Wars. Did we stifle their creativity or encourage their imaginations with licensed characters jumping from the movie screen or to their very own toy shelves?

Read on and leave a comment or thought… Scott, your Visual Ambassador

The following introduces a series about the creation, culture, and business of licensed characters. Designer and design critic Saundra Marcel tells-all about an obsession-inspiring industry that’s targeted on your toddler.

I fell in love with Strawberry Shortcake.

The property’s sizable graphic style manual landed on my desk with a thunk in 2002, and as far as style guides go, it was the best I had ever seen. My job — creating licensed products for kids — was easy with a licensor like Those Characters From Cleveland, who was Strawberry Shortcake’s legal guardian, and cheerfully approved everything that I worked on.

A licensed character is a property leased out for commercial profit. Some are cute and cuddly, some may be rowdy, others are just plain funny. A successful character is not measured by it’s appeal or ability to entertain, and a child has shockingly little to do with which characters are being launched into the uppermost stratosphere of cultural infamy. The business of licensing is indeed big business, and it is very much a top-down enterprise. Children are influencers of more that $600 billion a year, and that is not a figure to be left to chance or children. Television, toy, and movie makers are hard at work implementing proven measures that manufacture addictions. I was once a cog in that wheel.

Back then, Strawberry Shortcake was not my only charge. The biggest and most profitable property was Disney Princess, which devoured most of my time and energy. Other licensed characters under my ward were Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine, SpongeBob SquarePants, Nemo, Power Rangers, and Winnie the Pooh. I was designing goods and product packaging for Huffy Bicycles, which meant bikes, scooters, skateboards, tricycles, and strollers — anything with wheels. Today, walking down the streets of New York City, I still pass the very products I once toiled over. Chained to racks, formerly pretty princesses get a spray of grime with passing traffic, and peeling stickers and chipped paint reveal just how little wear a shiny export from Asia can withstand before it’s newness is depleted.

Girls’ characters were my specialty, although it was neither choice nor experience that launched me into a world of pretty. Like many sporting-good companies, Huffy Bicycles was predominantly male, and since I was the only female designer, glitter and pink graphics would be administered by my manicured hands. In another department, another rare female was selected as my marketing counterpart, and I was acutely nettled to be typecast by our gender. Today the graphic language for little girls and boys are different. It is about pink or it is about blue. Glitter or guns. Dolls or action figures. But this was not always so. It was not so unusual for children of past generations to share toys and hand-down clothes. Things were more neutral then. It is unimaginable now, we dutifully divide.

There is a shortage of neutrality among all-things kids. The omnipresence of licensed characters on products is overwhelming, and they are self-perpetuating the very obsessions they spawn. Commonplace and not particular to economic, political, or social class, these characters are massive agents of popular culture. They are administered in massive dosages to youngsters. And they’ve become so massively familiar, right in front of you, that they are virtually unseen.

“But hasn’t it always been that way?” This is a question I’ve encountered with alarming frequency. No. There was a time when toys were beautiful and curious handicrafts, and playrooms were filled with a sundry of delicately designed objects that tickled imaginations. There was a time when girls wore blue and boys wore pink and nobody cared. There was a time before children’s television, before children’s advertising. And most importantly, there was a time before homes had become monotonous shrines of products that exhibit the characters of children’s neurosis. There was even a time before Disney. And it wasn’t that long ago.

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SAUNDRA MARCEL
Design | Criticism | Writing

Scott Hull Associates artist Andrea Eberbach shares her love of the animal kingdom through her cat and dog illustrations. Andrea feels in odd attachment to her pets and admits that capturing the animal’s soul and personality in a portrait is fun to do!

Andrea has three casts of her own, L.T., Jimmy and Bella, but enjoys living in a neighborhood full of dogs and is friends with all of them. She does not discriminate or does not appear to be partial in the dog or cat lover controversy.

“The relationships we have with our cats and dogs go beyond logic. There is an irresistible bond we share with them.”

Are you one of the few who received Tim Gough‘s latest screen print and stickers?

Tim’s passion for custom promotion lead him to personally screen this one of a kind collection himself. From the envelope to the limited edition print.

As a bonus, Tim included a collection of stickers.

Super fun– but I sure hope I get to collaborate on more animated work in the future! It’s addictive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Project: Budweiser Clydesdales Brand Icon

Creative Firm: Switch

Illustrator Designer: Mark Riedy

Creative/Art Director: Zach Hicks

Mark: Whenever you are asked to work on a long-standing iconic image such as the Budweiser Clydesdales, the biggest challenge is striking a creative balance. The art already has a name for itself. You want to add your own personal point of view while always considering the equity of the images that came before me.

Zach: Creatively, our goal was to update the Clydesdale logo, but keep it timeless; closely align with the Budweiser brand and communicate strength and power versus heritage and tradition.

Mark: The Budweiser Clydesdales are a symbol that is recognizable and loved by all ages. The goal was to update the logo so that it would be more relevant and appealing to current Budweiser consumers.

Zach: By the end of this project, Mark was master of the miniscule. Details, details, details. One major thing Mark had to live up to was his extreme attention to detail. With the Budweiser Clydesdales being such a well-known brand, a lot of care goes along with how they are portrayed, leaving little room for artistic interpretation. Mark was a trooper. With tweaks and requests like: dial down the musculature, the eyes are too close, skew closer to the original illustration, the brass color is off and on and on and on.

Mark: Technically speaking, the gradient mesh became my best friend for a few weeks. Creatively, it was very important to listen, listen, listen to all the input from the customer side and turn that into actionable directives.

Zach: We chose to use vector instead of PhotoShop. There were two reasons vector was important for this project:
First, this logo had to be able to be multiple different sizes in a hi-res format (ex. Clothing price tags, rear of the trailer).
Second, doing the logo in vector, we were able convert it to a 1C, 2C and 4C embroidery logo quite easily.

Mark: To create a traditional “painting” in vector art was a stretch and a challenge. We took vector to a new level in that respect. And as Zach said, vector provides the flexibility to use the art at any size. No bitmap worries here.

Zach: The ultimate goal was for the final illustrations to be used on all updated Budweiser Clydesdale communication, vehicles (including their haulers) and promotional materials.

Working with Mark gave us all of this and more. He is understanding and extremely talented. There were times I wanted to let Mark flex his artistic muscles and go rogue, but we couldn’t. We often had to pull back the reigns on each other. He is definitely someone I would work with again, no doubt about it.

Mark: Zach and the crew at Switch were pros. The rapport made me feel like part of the team rather than a hired gun. It was a great time.

A character development like this represents an entire company and a product line, so the process can become detailed and extensive. But jumping over hurdles is Von’s specialty, and the final outcome is a striking illustration that will be the foundation of the brand’s overall development.

Client: LPK

Title of Project: Red Baron Pizza- character development/update

Target audience: Consumer Food Market Customers

What creative/business goals did you have with this project? The objective was for LPK to contemporize the overall brand look while incrementally elevating the quality impression and delivering a more authentic “pizzeria” experience. Essentially, we needed to update the Baron’s look while still maintaining the Historical uniform. To strike a balance between old and new.

Why did you decide to change/update your original Red Baron illustration? There had been consistent feedback over the years that the previous Red Baron character resembled, maybe to closely, a famous TV personality from the 80’s…Tom Selleck anyone? So eliminating that comparison was desired.

Mark was able to make modifications to the facial features that made the character feel less like a caricature and more like a believable historical figure.

How specifically did Mark improve your brand? Even at its smaller scale, the new Red Baron character Mark created has more presence and visual interest. The character feels reminiscent enough of the old one that consumers still recognize him as the Red Baron, but the changes that were made to both the characters pose and facial expression really transformed his personality to become much more noble and triumphant.

Tell us specifically about your experience working with our artist: Mark instantly understood the delicate balance in the need to push the emotive triggers while maintaining the character’s recognizability. He worked seamlessly from traditional sketches to digital renderings so masterfully that it is impossible to discern that it was not completely “hand crafted”. He was able to match a particular style that we were after, which was much more traditional than the contemporary graphic style Mark is most well-known for. He came through in a big way for us. We couldn’t of been happier with the results.

Situation:

-Develop a memorable giveaway to be used at “Waste Expo” in Atlanta.

-Re-invent the perception of the garbage industry through a positive image.

Strategy:

-Our idea was to develop a super hero figure that would re-appear each year within the booth, as well as on t-shirts and signage.

-Rob Schwager developed a tough guy named Joe Autocar, a character that represented hard work, friendliness, and a desire to help his community.

Results:

-Autocar received great reviews from the attendees at the show, and some of them wrote to the Autocar to thank them for uplifting the profession.

-The client also decided to expand Joe’s influence, making him the honorary mascot for the company’s advertising campaign and building their brand around the character.

-Rob Schwager’s extensive experience in the comic book industry allowed him to create a stronger brand for Autocar through a unique method of Visual Storytelling.

See more of Rob Schwager’s work.