¿Cómo te Llamas?

I was pleased to find this Flickr set of Bernie Fuchs illustrations. I have learned that Mr. Fuchs was a big deal in the golden era of advertising, when "graphic artist" actually meant "artist." His paintings always evoke the good life that advertising of the 50s and 60s promised, when the swarthy folks were either musicians serenading vacationers or bartenders mixing the classy people another round of drinks.

I don't suppose Bernie was mad at the world because he wasn't being shown in galleries, and was instead on the pages of every magazine in his day. This one was for Gallo Sherry. (Yes, I know, weird. People used to drink sherry.) I have "repurposed" it for my own amusement.

Blow it up

Where's the Glass and Stainless Steel?

Huge image (click for the large) of a graphic design business in Rosslyn, Virginia in 1926, from Shorpy.

Witness your roots, Creatives. Note that there are no fire poles, no canoes, no Eames chairs, no Macs, so Starbucks, no cupcakes, no social media strategists, no glass desks, no cubicles full of ironic juxtapositions, no emo glasses, no tattoos and no fauxhawks. All of the trappings of the modern design/advertising/marketing agency are missing. Probably because the concept of the "EVP of Global Creative" was still decades away.

It's just a bunch of people in smocks getting dirty doing manual labor. They had no delusions that they were making art, and they weren't making fake ads to submit to awards shows. If "Mad Men" was based in this era, it'd be a blue-collar dark comedy.

And Before You Know It, It's Lunch Time

Damn this Internet! A random thought pops in your head like, "car ad" and you do a fast image search and very quickly you're lost on some faraway site. This one is for Puget Sound's Corvair lovers, the car that gave Ralph Nader his start as a consumer advocate and all around pain in the ass. And you're quickly lost in another time.

From the old days, when graphic artists were actually artists, and a car brochure was something to see, hold and drool over. Look at that interior rendering. No seat belts! Read that copy. "Frisky". (That is one dumb word to describe a car.) And look at this image. Taken from a photograph? I don't know, but it almost looks like the watercolor filter from Photoshop. Some hilly city in Europe during springtime, a pretty brunette contrasting with the old tourists around her as she gets out of Chevy's new car. Barefoot! Nicely done.

Large

I wonder what it was like to work in the place that designed that brochure. I'll bet it smelled of cigarette smoke and bourbon, toxic markers and hair gel. And though they were years away from being online, I'll bet they still found ways to procrastinate a dreaded job.

The Meatball and the Worm

For the design freaks out there, there's an interesting piece today in The New York Times Style Magazine by Alice Rawsthorn about NASA's identity crisis.

Although after reading, I'm still not sure why NASA holds on to this hyper-dated logo, or "insignia" as they call it. They sought to modernize it in 1972 as part of the Federal Design Improvement Program, an initiative supported by President Nixon to modernize the use of design by government agencies. After spending a ton of your money coming up with an alternative that works, they brought this thing back in the bad years of NASA (crashes) to remind people of the glory years. It just reminds me of bad design.

You're a Great American

Make your own at Obamiconme.

Graphic Designer Turned Celebrity is Poster Boy for Intolerance

The guy who created the Obama poster everyone raved about is mad at Barack Obama. Shephard Fairey, pictured here looking like a pouting child, is pissed off that Obama has chosen celebrity pastor and writer of schlock religious pulp, Rick Warren, to deliver the invocation at the inauguration. Warren has said some things that have angered the gay community. And because he chose him to recite a prayer at his inauguration, Obama obviously agrees with Warren's views.

Hey, Shep; I've got an idea:

Why don't we just take all the people who don't think exactly like us and put them on trains to reeducation camps?

Were you not listening to Obama when he was campaigning as a uniter? Was the Hope that everyone would suddenly get along and our differences vanish under the new black president?

Hey, Fairey; you are being as intolerant as you claim Warren to be. Where were you when Obama was branded as a terrorist because he brushed shoulders with some hack radical from the 60s? Where were you when the far right was accusing Obama of thinking just like Jeremiah Wright? I only ask because you are doing the exact same thing now.

It's the fucking invocation - not a cabinet position - not even the benediction, which will be delivered by an 87-year-old black preacher named Joseph Lowery. And I would bet a good sum of cash that you could find things in Lowery's belief system that you don't agree with.

Get over yourself, Fairey. You got the guy you wanted in power, now let him do what he said he was going to do. Just because your Che Guevara rip-off poster got you some press and your own Wikipedia entry doesn't make you the spokesman for a generation.

Who do you think you are? Bono?

Via Animal New York.

Locals Only - Part III

Or: Expensive Software is a Terrible Thing to Waste

A long time ago, when Gates and Jobs had only recently begun their feud, the world was introduced to “desktop publishing.” (This was PG - or Pre Google) Computer buyers were given access to horrible images known as “clip art.” Novices everywhere latched onto these images and began creating logos, business cards, letterhead and magnetic signs. Soon, the outline of two hands shaking was the corporate identity of thousands of independent insurance agents, realtors and assorted “business consultants.”

And then came Photoshop^®. Designers the world over covered their eyes in horror and drank themselves silly, trying to convince themselves they could not be replaced by a dangerous and powerful program, confident in their skills and certain that a complex software package would not be used effectively by the masses. It was not used effectively and the designers were proven right, but that did not stop the masses.

The bevel was discovered by hundreds of thousands of car dealers. The drop shadow was abused by countless friends of the business owners, who were “doing a little side work” in logo design. Children presented their ad concepts to their parents. And the world will never be the same. I’ve been known to make a designer cringe with my concepts, but I only use it for conveying ideas and rough sketches. Just because you have Photoshop, please don’t assume you can design.

Realtors have been the worst abusers.

The conversation at the photo shoot for the ad below went something like this.

“Josh, I feel really stupid standing here with my arm hanging in the air. Are you sure about this?”
“A little lower, Mom. Perfect. Can you let your wrist relax a little – like you’re leaning on a fence?”

“Are you sure this is going to look right?”

“Trust me, Mom. I have a program called Photoshop. You’re going to be leaning on your logo! It’ll be so cool!”

Local Only Part II

Locals Only Part I

Errors in Logoing

I'm no graphic designer, and I know just enough Photoshop to communicate my ideas and piss off the real designers, but some things just strike me as odd. Like this logo.

Just as a hospital might not want to use, say, a skull and crossbones for their corporate identity, it's probably not a good idea for a financial institution to adopt circling sharks as their logo.

I'm sure these are meant to be sailboats, symbolizing the "freedom of financial independence" or some such lofty banking notion, but still...