The Campaign Stickers For Colossus/Guardian 2020 Have Arrived ...

3519A.

... and they look pretty spiffy.

As any designer or artist I imagine would tell you, it's one thing putting together a work of art, commercial or otherwise. But to have someone produce it so slickly, especially since you love pop culture and being a part of it is a real high - well, that's truly something other than else.

A few missives ago I explained how the Living Computers: Museum + Labs, in Seattle, was having a First Thursday free showing of one of my favorite movies, Colossus: The Forbin Project, and wanted a free giveaway and stumbled on my Colossus/Guardian 2020 campaign sticker design and offered to buy rights. And they did. And they gave it out at that First Thursday showing.

I asked for a handful of the stickers, and they said okay. And yesterday, they showed up.

I got about ten of them. The actual sticker itself breaks out of the backing as an oval 3 and 1/3 inches long by two inches high. And don't they look subversively cool?

As can be seen I didn't just get that. A little promotional collateral came with, including a handout that illustrated some trivia pertinent to the movie. And do you know what else is cool here?

I got credit there for designing it. I'll tell you, I was lucky that LCM+L stumbled on me. They believe in paying for your design, they believe in dealing on the level, and they believe in also giving credit for what you did. 

They do things the way they should be done.

Oh, and vote Guardian/Colossus 2020, because they'll do a better job than humans. Though I understand that the conservatives will be running on an MCP/Sark ticket, though that's just a rumor at this point.

In Which I Sell A Design. As In, Get Paid For It.

3517A.

So, some time ago, during the last year of this time of extreme dexterity, I thought that the chances of being Presidented over by one less-than-impressive Republican vs another less-than-impressive Republican meant that maybe D.F. Jones had the right idea all along, and I created a graphic.

This graphic:

Doesn't it just kind of speak to ya?

Last week, I was contacted by a representative of an organization in Seattle called Living Computers: Museum + Labs. They're doing a showing of Colossus: The Forbin Project for First Thursday and they wanted to do a limited run of stickers as giveaways to people who came. And after they checked all the stuffs to make sure everything was on the level, we came to an agreement.

There is money resting in my PayPal wallet as a payment for the use of the design for the sticker giveaway. They are also looking into using it for other things, and I will keep the errant reader posted on that.

But it's nice not only to get paid for something, but to interact with a group that understands that, if you want to use something, the first thing you do is ask. From what I'm hearing out there, that's getting rarer and rarer. So these are indeed sterling people.

If you go see Colossus at the museum in SoDo you might not meet me, but you'll meet my work. It'll be fashionable, too. Who knows where those stickers will show up?

Yeah. I'm happy here. Thanks, Living Computers!  

One Way In Which Oregon Is Different From California

3536.

Here's one from the Dept of Hometown Pride Dept, seen in a cold and wet shopping center parking lot sometime last week:

Even though the thought behind this is rather nuanced (and the graphic approach both simple and sophisticated), please ELO's "Down Home Town", please and thank you.

[news design] The Willamette Week Goes Full Enquirer

3403.

The cover of this week's Willamette Week tells us that it has endoresments for the political derby, but tells us in a way that totally reflects the bizarre, chaotic, lurid thing that the presidential race 2016 has been:

They're satirizing the National Enquirer and the Star with equal wit, and in a tone-perfect way.

The endorsements are a rather bewildering lot that may leave you with a slow burn in some places, but the cover's suitable for framing. 

[design] Dept Of War Math Posters Now For Sale

2936.In the previous missive, the remark was remarked that Plus3 should be sellin' them Dept of War Math graphics as posters. Unless you were a very silly person, you agreed with me.

Well, Brad Clark and Plus3 have heard and delivered.

Hie thee hence:

http://plus3video.com/store

You'll be glad you did.

[design] Dept Of War Math - Propaganda for Geniuses

2935.
So there's a trending topic these days (that I hope does more than trend), and its name is survivorship bias. You'll all want to write that down, because it'll become a serious bit of discussion in the months to come … or should. If it doesn't, that'll be unjust, and I think I'll be coming back to it here.

Surviviorship bias. Learn about it, courtesy of David McRaney, at the blog You Are Not So Smart.

But it started me on this road, a great riff on a classic style. And it has to do with the wartime Department of War Math.

War Math?

A little-known, unsung department that helped us carry the great World War II?

Well, yes … and no. It's like this:

During the war, math and science played a very large role, of course, and a role that extended into things like the post-war Race for Space and the very large role also that scientists played in giving us the shiny technological world to follow.

But during the early 1940s the USA was running up against problems requiring extensive mathematical modeling … and the computers that could do that modeling didn't really exist yet. The most powerful number-crunchers of the time, as the article says, ran on toast and coffee.

There was a time that 'calculator' was a human job title, do take note.

The Applied Mathematics Panel, made up of groups of human mainframes ensconced in various spaces hither and yon, was, or should have been, our Department of War Math. Commanders in the field brought them problems, and they solved them. Pretty much just like that. They came up with a way to figure out how to best fire torpedoes based solely the ripple pattern left behind by a ship … if it turns, you see, the ripples are different in a way, and if they're cruising evasively, you can't predict which way they're going to turn, but if you analyze the waves, you didn't have to.

Actually, they were kind of Mentats, really.

McRaney's article on survivorship bias goes into great detail about how these amazing people would not only use their technical knowledge but superior analytical and logical minds to finesse the unobvious but crucial details out of any situation. He went to Dave Clark, of the video and animation design studio Plus3, who brought the notional Department of War Math to virtual life, with pitch-perfect propaganda graphics. This one is my favorite:

Illustration by Brad Clark of Plus3. Used with permission.

The heroic math geek spirits the downed Allied pilot away from the crashed plane. "Carry the one?" Indeed. Containing clever wordplay with a multiple meaning, pitched with just the right patriotic enthusiasm - and a deft eye for the war-poster style, we have a completely convincing poster for a war department that wasn't - but it should have been.

This next one is a rather darker, but none the less on-target:

Illustration by Brad Clark of Plus3. Used with permission.

That Nazi swastika never saw it coming. With a palette that reminds me of those sinister, silhouetted "Hun comin' to get ya" posters, the heroes work unseen in the background, Mentating an Allied victory for sure. That compass means business, man! And again the adroit multiple-meaning word play; We're counting on you goes more than one direction, when it comes to the math the sharp pencil brains at the Dept of War Math did.

If I were them, I'd be selling posters of this. Great satire like this comes along so infrequently.

Plus3 Video is at http://plus3video.com.

Again, these illustrations used are by Brad Clark, to whom I express grateful thanks.

[art] Well, That's One Way To Succeed In Graphic Design

2884.I haven't been terribly successful at graphic design. But this guy found a way. Not something I'd do, in as much as it involved all that breaking of the law and stuff.

Sounds like material for a great book though …

Gregory M. Zimmerman, 36, was a key figure in a jet-setting band of suspected identity thieves. He produced high-quality identification for a group of "creepers," who burglarized commercial office buildings in many U.S. cities, stealing checks, credit cards and personal information to defraud banks, say federal prosecutors. 

Graphic designers. More dangerous than you know.

Man, I can just picture them strip-club confabs right now. Goodfellas with a bird on it.

[art] If Shepherd Fairey Had Met Bob Ross …

2780.Maybe agitprop history might have been a bit different:

Inspired by Shepherd Fairey's OBEY GIANT;
Image of Bob Ross rendered from BRI Logo (via BRI):
above image intended as homage only and is
not for sale.

[design] 50 Reasons Not To Date A Graphic Designer

2764.In my case that would include the fact that I'm married already; I suspect The Wife™might object.

Of the rest, I must say the one that resonates the most is 19. They hate Comic Sans with the same passion they love Helvetica. It's only coincidental that 19's my favorite number.

I would also put in that I think the whole list is a tad glib, what with not mentioning that graphic designers are always arguing whether Adobe is too big and monolithic and that The GIMP and Scribus are apt successors to Photoshop and InDesign, but that's just me.

Here's the whole list, at A Bourbon For Sylvia: 
http://abourbonforsilvia.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/50-reasons-not-to-date-a-graphic-designer/

[design] Photoshop, Sweded … As Real As It Gets

2752.For a Photoshop ad spread, a design studio, Bates141 Jakarta, created a diorama-like Photoshop screen … or, as they have it, sweded (after the ad-hoc movies created by the video shop in Be Kind Rewind):

It's pretty nifty.

Via this semi-popular guy, blogged about by The Inspiration Room here: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2008/photoshop-as-real-as-it-gets/, and if you want to know how it happened, check out the flickr album of the creators here.

[design] Adobe Photoshop For Those Who Love To Cook

2751.… we give you Photoshop CS3 Cook Extended, which will revolutionize the way you see the kitchen. And Photoshop. And cookies.



We don't know if it's been upgraded since CS3, but if it is, you'll hear it here first, unless you here it somewhere else first.

Via Holy Kaw.

Leaked: The Made In Oregon Sign's Actual Final Design

1998.Nota Bene: I see by my incoming stats (as well as my higher-than-normal-visitor-count for the day) that this post has been tipped not only on Oregon Reddit by Dave of Dave Knows Portland but also by Matt Davis at PMerc! Nifty! if you stopped by from either of those points of departure then thank you muchly for stopping by! Please consider browsing the rest of my fine establishment, and say hi! Any linkage gladly returned! And the unicorns will smile upon you too!

by After secret and very tense negotiations between all the stakeholders in the "Made In Oregon" sign imbroligo over the weekend, which took place at the Coffee Romance at SE 82nd and Powell by the Food "4" Less store, we have an exclusive look at the design which has been leaked to us by a highly-placed but unnamed horse. Here it is:

This goes beyond the mere replacement of the words to remodel the bounding stag into a true reflection of the soul and sprit of the city of Portland which was, if I might remind everyone here, built over an ancient unicorn burial ground.

Attending the confab along with Commissioner Randy "I'm not a meanie" Leonard were Dread Lord "Dave" Frohnmayer, Amanda Fritz, Dan "I'll Bet You've Forgotten I'm A City Commissioner" Saltzman, Nick "Nick Fish" Fish, the Black Unicorn, and the White Unicorn.

Special refreshments were brought in by a squadron of Keebler Elves.

Thank God we finally got this settled!

(Portland + Unicorns = AWESOME!)

Technorati Tags: Portland, Unicorns, Ancient Unicorn Burial Ground, memes, Portland Built On An Ancient Unicorn Burial Ground, Made In Oregon Sign, Made In Oregon, University of Oregon, Dave Frohnmayer, Randy Leonard, Portland City Council

What Happens When Matt Davis Gets Vexed And Ratty

1992.While I'm reluctant to read anything into anyone else's work that's not obvious (oh, well, okay, I'm not actually), I'm guessing that the our favorite PMerc reporter finds a certain debate a little wearying (warning before you click that link – there's a bad word therein).

I've stolen the graphic and Bowdlerized it a bit so that the kiddies can see it:



(two offending letters were left smeared a bit just so you know they were there)

Technorati Tags: Made In Oregon Sign, PDX Landmarks, Portland, Liff In Portland, Satire

The Periodic Table of Typography

1973.The Periodic Table of the Elements has always been a nifty framework to show off witty and wry humor and to combine any sort of element for illuminating display.

Here's type arranged by famililies and classes. It really is amazing how the format lent itself to this.

The number in in the upper corner is the ranking of the font based on a number of metrics. To read about that, go here (Awesomness courtesy of Behance). A link to an embiggened image can either be found at that posting or if you just want to cut to the chase, clicky here then.

(Combined h/t to Larry Fire and Alan Cordle, who both emailed me at about the same time here. A design consipracy! Nifty!)

Technorati Tags: typography, type design, type humor, periodic table