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.”

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

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

A few weeks ago I attended the AIGA conference and had the opportunity to experience first hand, just how engaging Dan Roam’s communication style is.

Who doesn’t want to improve their communication skills? I for one, am always striving to become a better presenter.

Dan has landed on a technique that has the top television networks and even the White House scrambling to learn his process.

Dan Roam’s first book, “The Back of the Napkin” became a best seller when he taught his readers how pictures impact our conversations and help us sell our thoughts and ideas.

In his just released new book, “Blah, Blah, Blah”’ what to do when words won’t work, Dan continues to educate us on the importance of using pictures and words in combination. With Dan’s “VIVID Thinking” system clearly and precisely explained we marketers and creatives are offered a new way of impacting our audience.

Get the book on Amazon

Scott Hull Associates is proud to announce that Curtis Parker’s work for Panera Breads was chosen to appear in the Society of Illustrators 54th annual and exhibition.

Society of Illustrators is the premier showcase for illustrators and animators, featuring over 400 pieces of the most outstanding works created throughout the year. Open to artists worldwide, thousands of entries were considered by a jury of professionals, which include renowned illustrators, art directors and designers.

It’s so nice to be noticed!

Mikey Burton was asked to take part in the Designer Challenge in the October issue of Computer Arts Projects. The challenge was to put a new spin on the convention of the business card. Another collaboration with the legendary Cranky Pressman. Read on to see what Mikey has to say.

Like many designers, I am drawn to all sorts of handmade printing processes. I find the imperfections of each is what makes them so intriguing, from the mottled textures created by letterpress, to the chalky quality of screen printing ink. I try to incorporate these textures into my work as an illustrator and designer because they add authentic character to work I do on the computer.

People love getting a cool business card, but might love it more if they see the process of how it was made. For my card, my mind went to the idea of rubber stamps, however, there is not a convenient way to carry around a rubber stamp with an ink pad without making a big mess. I discussed this idea with my good friend Keith Berger, proprietor of Cranky Pressman. He told me about the Inspector Stamp, a small, metal, self-inking stamp that comes on a keychain. This seemed like such a cool outdated object, it was something I couldn’t pass up. For my business card, I sourced the largest stamp size I could find which was 3/4 inch.

While this size may seem like an incredibly small area to design in, I find it to be quite adequate. So often, we load tons of extraneous info onto our business cards, just because we have the space. Nowadays, such little info is needed on a card for someone to actually get ahold of you. A one-word twitter handle can be all that is needed.

The “classic” business card is often a ritual simply to impress the reciever. The idea with my new card is that it does away with the usual pretentiousness. With this stamp, you are able to print your condensed snippet of info onto any substrate—a beer mat, someone else’s business card, a napkin, or even someone’s hand. After all, people are more likely to lose a business card in a drunken stupor, but less likely to lose their hand.

So we posted some of Meg Hunt’s lineart that has now metamorphosed into some awesome glassware! These are really nice pint glasses— good hefty glass with etched artwork. Tortoise and Hare are ready to race to the bottom of the glass; it’s really up to you which one you’d back! Are you one for rushing or do you drink slow and steady?

Pint glasses are up in Megmart!!

Lettering | Penelope Dullaghan

Sometimes it’s just nice to draw without thinking about color. I’ve been thinking about working with ink a lot more lately.
A pair of drawings I made yesterday; hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be turning them into a new product! I’m really excited for them and I hope you love them too. I think the drawings would make neat wraparound Scout Books too, come to think!

Tim Gough (pronounced like cough with a “G”) has created the album cover art for newly released EP Midweek Mountain GetAway. This new album blends the sounds of Philadelphia band Toy Soldiers and Nashville musician Jordan Hull.

The highlight of this project for Tim, “was working with some young and upcoming musicians.”

The birth of this EP came from Jordan Hull’s impromptu visit to Philadelphia to stay with friend and fellow musician Ron Gallo of Toy Soldiers. A midweek get away to the mountains, provided the album’s title.

With Tim being a SHA artist, Jordan was already familiar with Tim’s artwork and ironically; Ron had worked with Tim at a Philadelphia newspaper.

The purpose of the project for Tim was, “to create a striking piece of art that represents the experience of the collaboration of artist and their music.” Tim further explained, “I found it interesting that the musicians seem to have been influenced by their time during their escape to the mountains. Jordan told me about the trip and hinted at some of the antics they got into. I wanted to capture the collaborative nature of the album, but also that this group of artists experienced an adventure together. So going off what I knew of these guys and being inspired by the music they made during that time, I did my vision of the band on their adventure.”

Check out Tim’s album cover art and listen to the EP at www.itunes.com. We think you’ll find Tim’s artwork to be “striking” and the EP well worth the listen.

If the shoe fits…..

The art of a good idea.

by David Lesh

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