Here's a short instrumental track I recorded a while back that I sort of put on the back burner. Figured I'd just post it up instead of letting it collect digital dust. It has more of a steady beat and I've considered dabbling with this style for future songs but we'll see. It's also a good excuse to use this photo I shot of my friend Deandra one hazy morning.
Sue me. I might be a little late on the motorcycle thing, but I think it hit me now. I've seen these motorcycles around lately and for one reason or another I'm drawn to them. The flat seat and the overall lines of them have a lot to do with it though. I don't know anything about motorcycles so the way I described it to my motorcycle friends was "the bike with the flat seat that's from the 70s". Turns out it's the Honda CB cafe racer, and sure enough I want one. Seeing these vintage ads pretty much sealed the deal for me as well, especially the first one. So if get one of these bikes, that means I'll get a hot 70s looking girl too? Not sure if Honda intended on the ad working like this 40 years later, but sign me up.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Inspiring project utilizing oil from the BP spill:
"Oil from the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster makes its way onto a limited edition series of screenprinted posters designed by U.K. graphic artist Anthony Burrill and commissioned by Belgian agency Happiness Brussels. The agency gathered leaked oil from Grand Isle, Louisiana, which was then used to create the limited run of 200 screen prints. The posters are being sold online for €150 each, with all proceeds going to CRCL (Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana), a non-profit dedicated to restoring the Gulf's coastal wetlands."
Mother is by far one of my favorite creative agencies around. It's sort of like being into a band that with every release you slowly realize they can do no wrong. They seem to always have fun with whatever they're doing and I like that. "Make great work, have fun and make money. Always in that order."
The Post Family put up a pretty lengthy interview with friend and New York native Viktor Timofeev. I haven't seen him in a while so it's good to see him doing well. Viktor contributed to one of the first zines we did a while ago, wish I knew where my copy was. Also, you might've seen these posters floating around the city that Viktor did for the band NIHITI. I've been meaning to post about it so now is a good time. Good stuff. Read the interview here.
FINALLY. It may not be new Thee More Shallows, but it's close enough. Frontman, Dee Kesler has a new project called FOPS and it's awesome. He still has the ability to sound joyous but also creepy as hell at the same time...not really sure how else to describe it. You can also download a free track here.
Not that I wear any clothes from the Gap (or is it just "Gap"?), but I feel this is worth discussing...
After decades of having this logo, which has become a staple in American consumerism, the Gap went ahead and changed their logo to this:
Now, it's not like my loyalty to the Gap will go from "non existent" to "really non existent" (or will it?), but I like keeping track of these sort of things, especially when it's a major retailer or company. Why try and fix something like this if it isn't broken? Who knows, but this is the part where I link to an article about Tropicana changing their logo and how it highly resembles this situation. So, as with Tropicana, there has been a huge backlash about the new Gap logo. ISO50 has a Gap Redesign Contest, Fast Company's Co.Design has an interview with the new logo, and the new Gap logo itself went ahead and got its own Twitter account.
But now comes the funny part (is it supposed to be funny?). Gap recently made this Facebook post:
"Thanks for everyone’s input on the new logo! We’ve had the same logo for 20+ years, and this is just one of the things we’re changing. We know this logo created a lot of buzz and we’re thrilled to see passionate debates unfolding! So much so we’re asking you to share your designs. We love our version, but we’d like to see other ideas. Stay tuned for details in the next few days on this crowd sourcing project."
Really, Gap? A "crowd sourcing project"? More like a "Oops we sort of fucked this one up, we noticed you guys hate it so now we're going to embrace it and act like we meant to make a shitty logo so we can use yours!" project. Or, I could be horribly wrong and this was their intention the whole time. What do you guys think? Is it hurtin? Is it actually an OK logo but are we all just afraid to say we like it because other design blogs hate it? What would you do if Gap asked you to redesign their logo? Please share.
Edit: Also, does anyone know if they've changed their store signage yet?
I Seen You is now available at bookthugnation in Williamsburg! They're super nice people and have a great selection of used books and vinyl. They also always have a fresh pot of coffee going so that's pretty awesome too. Support your local book store and pick one up.
Recently picked this up at a small record store for the mere price of $8, which is a steal. I love the type and how it being stamped makes it very reminiscent of a tombstone. Joy Division always had this sort of look to their album covers, but this seems even more fitting being that the song was written by Ian Curtis for Joy Division prior to his death, and then later released as New Order's first single after he died. Also a creepy, but cool addition, it has the words "Watching Forever" etched on the Ceremony side, and "How I Wish You Were Here With Me Now" on side two. The classic Factory Records logo is also present on both sides of the record which is a nice touch.
For the Documerica Project (1971-1977), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities, and everyday life in the 1970s. Enjoy.