Enjoy this beautiful day » Inspiration

Letterpressing

wendy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:18:14 +0000

Tom and I have been out of the office this week, attending a workshop where we’re learning the ins and outs of letterpress. This is super exciting, as this is something I wanted to learn to do for ages. When we discovered there was a Vandercook sitting right in our neighborhood, we knew we had to get our hands on it in some capacity.

When the very talented Erin of Inky Winke agreed to do a one week course, we happily jumped on board.

I’ll share a few photos of our classmate John putting his work on the press, and when we’ve had a chance to breathe, Tom and I will share what we’ve cobbled together.

Creativity is subtraction

glass — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:57:48 +0000

I met Austin Kleon proper down in Austin, Texas about a month back. But the reality is we’d met online years earlier somehow as links crossed. We’re part of the growing numbers of the unofficial Mutual Admiration Society—one of the marked benefits of our new networked lives.

Within an hour of meeting Austin, he was already whipping out a sketchbook and capturing the scene at the local BBQ joint down there in Texas. He’s always making something it seems.

Even on his bus ride to work he started marking up newspaper articles to create something new, something that straddles the line comfortably between poetry and art. In his words, “Never believe anyone who says they have no time.”

Pretty bang on and inspirational, that guy.

Now we’ve teamed up with Austin to produce this Blackout Poem t-shirt that reads “Creativity is subtraction.” It comes out right as his book Newspaper Blackout is hitting the stores and garnering excellent reviews.

This is how it’s done

tom — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:11:06 +0000

I consider myself lucky to have known what it was like to live in a world where you would save up your allowance, get one of your parents (or your friend’s cool parent) to drive you to the local record shop where you could spend hours looking and holding music packaging that someone actually spent time designing. What was the real kicker was to find an album where the imagery actually had something to do with the music and you could stare and study it while the record was spinning. Yes, I feel old right now, but it’s part of what made me want to go into design.

Fast forward to 2010. Now I am not one to hide under a rock when it comes to technology. I love gadgets. Lots and lots of gadgets. I think the iPod is an amazing piece of electronics. I like the convenience of being able to preview an album before buying it. I love that I can make a mix CD. That being said, there is an emptiness when it feels like only part of the story is being told. Where’s the visuals? Where’s the tactile pleasure of holding the music? Where’s the weight?

In 2007 a small record label in Minneapolis was started and answers all of these challenges: Taiga Records. Taiga’s commitment to music is amazing. They choose music that is outside the box, they only print high quality vinyl using the best methods, and their packaging is nothing short of excellent. Every single one of their releases is a story amongst itself. Now I should be upfront and say chances are you won’t find yourself humming a chorus, but if you can carve out a bit of time and let yourself get involved, the payoff is worth it. Do yourself a favor and check out some of their offerings:
http://www.taigarecords.com/

Back to Ohio

glass — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:52:35 +0000

Sometimes mistakes turn out wonderful. Such was the case when we accidentally shipped Aaron the wrong shirts. (Fret not, it doesn’t happen too often – and when it does we try to set things proper right quick!)

Anyway, we filed his return mailer with the wrongly shipped shirts away in the restock basket.

Months pass.

Finally I’m clearing out the bin and discover Andrew included a drawing of the two mistakenly shipped shirts (Dino Smart-Tee and Play Station). These were modeled by two members of The Pretenders with the words “Back to Ohio,” awesomely using the typeface of their debut album.

We were so excited by this (and ashamed it took us months to discover it) that we printed up a special shirt with Aaron’s drawing and shipped it back to him.

There he is over there on the left modeling said tee. Turns out, Aaron has a website chock full of excellent work with everything from illustrations to music. So check him out on Baarbarian.com and know that something as cut and dry as a product return is an opportunity for awesomeness. We are taking note.

Brightened our day

glass — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:23:10 +0000

Chelsea from up north passed along this snapshot from her phone she made while filling up the car.

In her words, “After I wrote it, I stepped back and smiled.”

Made us smile too.

Thank you Chelsea.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball

glass — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:19:43 +0000

Over the years we’ve been bringing in books from our personal libraries out to the studio shelves. Some are for reference, filled with font specimens, old style illustrations or swatches of color—other nooks contain the nerdy stuff: manuals for software or tomes on screen printing. But a few shelves are reserved for pure inspiration, where we keep our favorite authors that have helped shape the way we think.

One such person is Gordon MacKenzie. He worked for Hallmark greeting cards for 30 years and his role was simply to “create.” His path was not without challenge though, for when you work within a large company it’s easy to get wrapped up in all the layers of bureaucracy and whatnot. Gordon called this unintentional mess “The Giant Hairball” and it was in short, an “entangled pattern of behavior.”

After his tenure at the greeting card company he collected his thoughts on keeping creative and nourishing ideas into the book Orbiting the Giant Hairball. We love every bit of it. Gordon articulates his points in short chapters, generous with illustration (and whitespace!). My favorite story is called “What You See is What You Don’t Get” and it’s about the time it takes to create. I’ve included the gist below:

Outside the zigzag of the fence stands a rotund gentleman in a $700, power-blue, pinstripe suit. He is leaning on the fence – as best he can. One hand is holding his unbuttoned jacket against his generous belly so that the suit’s fine cloth will not be soiled by the fence’s grimy rails. His other hand is shaking a stern finger at the cows. He shouts:

“You slackers get to work, or I’ll have you butchered!”

What this man does not understand is that, even as he threatens them, the cows are performing the miracle of turning grass into milk. Nor does he understand that his shouting will not cause the cows to produce more milk.

If we drew a line to represent a creative occurrence…

… the only portion that would reflect measurable productivity would be a short segment at the end of the line:

This line segment is the equivalent of the cow’s time in the barn, hooked up to the milking machine. This is when productivity is tangible measurable. but the earlier, larger part of the event, when the milk was actually being created, remains invisible.

The invisible portion is equivalent to the time the cow spends out the in the pasture, seemingly idle, but, in fact, performing the alchemy of transforming grass into milk.

A management obsessed with the productivity usually has little patience for the quiet time essential to profound creativity.

So when you’re pushed to create, take time to nourish the process. Step away from the output and feed yourself fresh air or a good snack. Slip away for a nap. Have lunch with someone you dig. It’s all a part of grazing in that field.

Now Wendy has another favorite, and this particular chapter fits neatly on a single spread. It reads “Orville Wright did not have a pilot’s license.”

Now you may have heard this phrase before, but this is where we were introduced to it, so it stuck. We use these words in the studio when the unknown gets overwhelming.

Another treat is the table of contents:

In 2007 Fast Company interviewed Gordon and asked, “What is the biggest obstacle to creativity?” He replied, “Attachment to outcome. As soon as you become attached to a specific outcome, you feel compelled to control and manipulate what you’re doing. And in the process you shut yourself off to other possibilities.”

Good stuff.

Gordon is no longer on this planet, but we’re glad to have a bit of his spirit orbiting our studio.

Charley Harper & Ford Times

glass — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:27:32 +0000

We’ve started cleaning up and unearthed a box of these old Ford Times on one of the sagging shelves above our desks. They’re compact (5×7) magazines produced by the Ford Company used for promotion by dealers to their customers. All of ours are from the 1960’s and printed in color with many illustrations by Cincinnati’s own Charley Harper.

While digging around online, there’s a fantastic and in-depth article that digs into the history of his work at Ford Times. This particular bit caught my eye, but the entire article on Charley Harper Prints is a trove:

By 1951-2, Charley was an increasingly regular contributor to Ford Times. With his first cover we also see his first forays into illustrations of nature, to become the hallmark of his later career. However, it was not yet a specialty, or focus.

– A Charley Harper Ford Times Retrospective by Terry Wright [ link ]

Everyone at the studio is enamored with Charlie’s work and we turn to it for inspiration, often. Below? A few more scans from our collection that weren’t found in this super awesome Flickr pool.

For more on Charley, visit the studio site maintained by his family:
The Charley Harper Art Studio.