WE LIKE TO

That Go, Jerk it

designisfine — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:36:36 +0000

Srsly the hottest video I’ve seen in a long time. Directed by That Go for Thunderheist’s song Jerk it. I’m not sure if voting is still open but this video is one of the finalist and you should def vote for it here.

World Wide Renewal Program

lifterbaron — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:04:40 +0000

The lovely people over at Adult Swim have put together a follow up mix to Ghostly Swim which came out a couple months back. This mix is entitled World Wide Renewal Program and features a collection of Chocolate Industries artists. The cover art is by Razauno. The track listing is completely fantastic in my mind and has lent itself to a very productive day of designing and doodling. You’ll find some newer releases, remixes and I think a few previously unreleased tracks as well. Never the less, it’s worth a look, listen and download. Make sure to check out each of these artist in full too, they deserve it.

Super Fresh Block Party

josh wills — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:05:07 +0000

Above is a hand-bill created by yours truly for the Super Fresh Block Party taking place this weekend, July 5th ( FIF! ) on East Colfax! Starting at 6pm you can swing by the Rock Bar parking lot for some BBQ and check out Live Painting by: Shitty Kitten, Mike Graves, Robert Maestas, Josh Wills, Eric Cox… and possibly a few other super secret and extra special guests, Hearts of Palm will serenade your soul! The shenanigans will continue throughout the night up until around midnight… A guerilla fashion show will take place along the super block at about 10pm and will feature the Denver Roller Dolls. Opening receptions for the following art shows will also be taking place throughout the night: Watermelon Belly Featuring new works by Shitty Kitten @ The Shoppe, Layer Upon Layer featuring the work of Robert Maestas @ Plastic Chapel, Paul Moschell is showing new work @ The Fabric Lab, and IKON is showing work @ Newspeak! DJ’s will be setup all along the East Colfax corridor pumping out Block Rock’n beats that are sure to seduce your ear drums & make your ass jiggle! We could think of nothing more patriotic than collaborating together to bring you all a FREE event in an effort to celebrate our individual freedoms! Goodie bags will be handed out to all that attend while supplies last… America at it’s finest!

Corporate Refresh

lifterbaron — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:10:23 +0000

It seems harmless enough to take some time every so often to realign yourself based on the changes in the market. People change, their habits come and go and how they spend their money is always effected. Recently I’ve seen a lot of corporate identity refreshes. Honestly none of them seem to be doing a very good job in my opinion and I’m curious why that is.

The two most recent I came across were Walmart and Miller Coors. Neither company holds much of my interest to start with but I realize their longevity and contribution to both of their markets. My problem comes in a few forms. The first being the most important in my mind, which is the relevance of recognition to its own consumers and clients. To me, it’s quite obvious that neither of these logos have done a good job staying consistent with their placement in the each of their markets.

Walmart changed, the colorway, the typeface, changed the name to a title case structure and added a totally unnecessary sunburst icon in an attempt to be seen as a more contemporary company with “bright” ideas. I’m sure if they would have hired the bunch of hippies that make up Pentagram they would have plenty of buzz words and drawn out explanations of what the starburst means and how that color blue influences people during the recession and so on. Whatever. My problem is that the new Walmart logo looks like it should be for an investment bank like WaMu or something. I also feel they missed some great opportunities to address their fastest growing demographic, Hispanics. Shit, I think they took a leap away from addressing their original target market (boomers) and didn’t even think about trying to grab the attention of the second most important demographic, the eco-conscious young person.

Miller Coors is another story all together. Corporate identities are generally used to represent the brand and relate to the consumer or at least the product. This does neither in my opinion. It could be argued that this isn’t the intent and of course it could be said that the generic look and feel is a fair representation of a corporation that holds share in multiple businesses. With this being said I can see the reasoning behind the direction chosen but it’s hard for me to see any longevity in stripping a company of all of it’s cultural equity to prepare for the future. Pentagram takes what many might see as daring steps into reevaluating a brand and bringing it back down to earth. But more times than not, they seem to over simplify everything they touch, which of course is ok by the client as long they have some over analytical interpretation of it’s meaning to calm their curiousities.

Why does this method seem so prevalent lately? Tear it apart and leave it as a blank canvas for those who will be there to critique it in the future? Or should we all leave it alone and just get used to it? What makes more sense in this case or any other similar? Why are these refreshes turning out so poorly? I’m all spent on this for now, but let us know what you think. Give us your opinion on this trend and what you think its significance is if there is any at all.

Side Note: Sounds like Coors is moving their headquarters somewhere outside of CO. I wonder how seriously that will effect all of the CO agencies on the Coors dollar? Hmmm…

Via Brand New & Pentagram Blog

Chicago Recap Pt. 1

lifterbaron — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:19:46 +0000

Last weekend Celeste and I spent 3 days in our favorite place, Chicago. We had an opportunity to meet up with our close friend Todd from C13/JoyEngine to do some top secret plotting and scheming. It was the first time we had been there with someone who was familiar with the city and gave us a bit more time to just sort of relax and enjoy what Chicago has to offer. We hit all of the dope little boutiques in Wicker Park, shopped a bit on Michigan Ave, hit up Rotofugi and ate some of the tastiest food I’ve had in a long time. Although it was only a three day adventure, our 6 hour drive back and forth, seemed effortless. Our last day there was spent wondering side streets, soaking up the Lake Michigan breeze and perusing the Jeff Koons exhibit at the MCA. In the end, it was sad to leave Todd and the wonderful city of Chicago yet again, but let it be known that slowly but surely, it will be our home. Stay tuned for part 2 with more photos, more sneaky diabolical dealings and tales of our narrow escape from death’s greasy grip!

P.S. Check out Todd’s post on JE about his recollection of of the trip.

Monster Munch Blog

lifterbaron — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:35:00 +0000

I recently came across a really radical blog called Monster Munch. The premise of its service is to share a selection of monster-esque characters, creatures and critters created by all sorts of different artists and designers. Nicky, the author, seems to have one of the best attention spans for this line of bloggage that I’ve seen yet and does a great job giving credit where its due. It’s a perfect place for inspiration and is more than worthy enough to make it onto my RSS feed. Make sure to check it out and participate where you can.

Soft & Furry

lifterbaron — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:29:34 +0000

As some of our loyal artistically vertical peoples may already know, Soft&Furry is about to round up week 3 of its logo submission contest. As its final weeks grow near, both Celeste and I (along with a handful of other crew affiliates) are chiseling away at some things to submit. It’s really a great exercise and could end in a whole mess of magical prizes if one of our logos makes it to the end. Here are a couple of the things I’ve submitted for this past week. I will attempt to add more along the way and in doing so, frolic through my whimsical array of stylistic maneuvers to tear apart all else who attempt to trump me. Well, maybe not all of that, but I’ll sure try to make some things sparkle.

Muxtape #2 - Feel Good

designisfine — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:01:40 +0000

A mixtape for good feelings.

01. Chromeo - 100%
02. Mgmt - Electric Feel
03. K-OS - Born to Run
04. Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time
05. Mtume - Juicy Fruit
06. Micheal Jackson - Rock With You
07. Cut Copy - Lights and Music
08. Billy Ocean - Night (Feel Like Getting Down)
09. Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction
10. Gnarls Barkley - Going On
11. LL Cool J - Around the Way Girl
12. Ready for the World - Oh Sheila

Muxtape #1 - Bangin’

designisfine — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:47:42 +0000

We are starting a new weekly music playlist, featuring whatever we think is hot in the moment. This Monday morning I put together some bangers for your pleasures via Muxtape. Enjoy.

01. The Cool Kids - Gold and a Pager
02. DJ Jimi - Bitches
03. Spank Rock - Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge
04. Dem Franchize Boyz - Oh I Think They Like Me
05. Spank Rock - Backyard Betty
06. Kid Sister - Pro Nails
07. Duran Duran Duran - Face Blast
08. Uffie - Ready to Uff
09. Le Le - Breakfast
10. Santogold - You’ll Find a Way (Switch and Sinden Remix)
11. Neon Neon - Trick for Treat
12. Best Fwends - Myself (XXX Change Remix)

Did you know, that you can also put muxtape in your dock for quick access to a variety of playlists and/or you can rss them. Awesome.

San Francisco : Part 1

josh wills — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:15:37 +0000

My family and I have been doing a little R&R (Research & Reconnaissance) in San Francisco over the Past week. I was hoping to have this first installation posted sooner, but we’ve been jamming as much as possible into each day… and have been doing a pretty good job of covering the city… especially considering we are rolling 5 deep and using Mass transit to get from spot to spot.

{A:} For the first part of our trip we were staying in Chinatown. The City is super dense, alleys are used as streets, which makes exploring almost endless. {B:} My posse and I holding it down in the Lobby of Hotel Des Arts. {C:} Pretty self explanatory. {D:} A super fresh two color toss up I spotted on a rooftop in Chinatown… ribbit! {E:} Each floor of Hotel Des Arts is lined with artwork… turning each floor into a mini gallery… we spent a night just walking through the hotel peeping all of the dope ass art! {F:} Close up of a Misk One piece. {G:} Chinese Free Masons… who knew? I spotted this sign on the second story in an alley cruising through Chinatown… secret society type ish!!! {H:} Eye Peeper on the door leading into the Buff Monster room. {I:} I don’t know the name of this artist, but this is another piece hanging up in the halls of Hotel Des Arts. {J:} Obey paste up spotted on the rooftop just outside of Chinatown. {K:} Noah and I throwing down some of the tastiest Vietnamese food I’ve ever had in my life… Outside of Trans’ Moms’ house. I got burnt up on our trek… if you look closely you can see that I’m now rocking permanent sunglasses!