This is a journal of experiences captured by the intern at the San Francisco design office MINE™.
It is a record of an education in progress, against the backdrop of a design firm at work.
This is our blog™
Meet The Sloppy Bun
We stumbled upon this painting online the other day and were pleasantly surprised. It’s nice to see our design work as an inspiration to others. This piece is said to hang along side the other art on Bun Mee’s wall sometime soon, so keep an eye out for it. The painting was done by a local watercolor artist named Dan, of Drawn to Devour. Dan had this to say about the restaurant:
“Meet the Sloppy Bun. This is a Vietnamese sandwich brought to you by Denise Tran of the new Bun Mee on Fillmore street. Ms. Tran also has good taste in art—this drawing will soon be gracing the wall of her establishment. Expect long lines here. Call your order in ahead of time.”
Sounds good! Thanks, Dan.
Chris
TDC 58
This morning, I received an email from the Type Directors Club. It said that our entry this year had been selected and that we will receive the “Certificate of Typographic Excellence.” It also said that there were nearly 1800 entries from 35 countries around the world, and we were in the top 223. Our work will be featured in the Annual of the Type Directors Club, Typography 33, and will also be shown at the 58th Awards Exhibition in New York. It will also be included in the exhibitions touring cities in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Spain and Vietnam.
We have won many competitions, but the TDC is always a difficult one to get into, so we are honored to be a part of it this year.
Starting out 2012 with a bang.
Chris
these are our quotes™
“our prices are color coded… they range from manila to blue”
“i like bad ideas. bad ideas are great!”
“it takes a lifetime to grow up”
“imitation is the greatest form of copyright enfringement”
“helvetica… it isn’t what it used to be” (shakes head sadly)
“people eat that?!”
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Chris
Signed, Sealed, & Delivered
Christopher, Nathan, and I went to Roostertail today to put up their neon storefront sign, and I must say, it looks pretty darn good. I can’t wait to see it at night.
I love how the logo turned out and I think it looks great as a neon sign.
If you haven’t been yet, you should definitely check it out. It’s a great space with great food and great design. I highly recommend it.
Happy Eating!
Chris
Coming Soon
If you haven’t heard by now, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Moonrise Kingdom is the newest Wes Anderson film said to be “coming soon,” so I will keep you posted. It has some of the usual Wes Anderson cast members, of course, but also some newbies. It looks like it’s going to be a good film and I definitely recommend checking it out.
Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Wes Anderson films usually use Futura bold as their main typeface. However, Wes seems to be trying something new here because instead, he’s decided to use much more of an expressive typographic treatment. The beautiful typography in the trailer happens to be designed by Jessica Hische, a designer/illustrator working out of Brooklyn.
I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Chris
Any Questions?
This week, we had some visitors come and check out the studio. They were students of Christopher’s from last semester. They were scheduled to get here at 10am, so we made sure to spend a little time tidying up before they got here. You know, to give the studio the ol’ “effortlessly clean” look. I mean, that’s kind of what we do best, but it’s always nice to apply that way of thinking to things other than design. Anyone who has ever lived and/or designed in a minimal way knows how much work it can be, but I’m sure they also know how rewarding it is too. There is just something so beautifully peaceful and elegant about clarity.
This is something that inspires me in both my life and the way I design on a daily basis.
The students were here for a a little over 2 hours while Christopher, Nathan, and I talked to them about our work, our experiences, and our different backgrounds. They didn’t ask a lot of questions, but maybe that’s because we told them everything they wanted to know. There’s always a lot to take in during a studio tour, so maybe they were a little overwhelmed. It seems like they got a good amount out of it, though.
I think more people should do studio tours. You can really get a lot out of them.
Chris
It’s Been a Good Year
The past few months have been especially busy.
We launched the new Microsoft website, we finished the identity for Roostertail (including a logo, signage, photography, menus, shirts, hats, coasters, rub-on tattoos, and of course, a website), and we launched the new website for Bernal Cutlery (the cutlery shop in Bernal Heights). On top of helping with the projects coming into the office, I am also responsible for organizing and filing projects, process, and samples (and keeping them organized), applying to competitions (which is particularly busy this time of year), designing the holiday card, and of course, blogging (among other things). This is why I haven’t been blogging much lately, but I’m trying to be better about that so that you guys can. Needless to say, it’s been keeping us all nice and busy, but it seems like it might be starting to let up a little bit.
I highly recommend checking out all of the new projects that we just finished. The Roostertail identity, for example, is just something you need to see and experience in order to really get a feel for it. The restaurant looks great and it just keeps getting better. We’ve been in the process of adding some final touches, so there is still more to come.
Check it out!
Chris
these are our quotes™
“i love zombies!”
“zombies are excellent.”
“ahhh! i forgot my fruuuit! …whyyy?”
“please don’t eat me”
“do you know what a lunatic is?”
“everyone should drink tea”
“what is this? Spanish/Japanese pop?”
“he might know… he’s slightly more sophisticated”
“go back to prison”
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Chris
As Promised
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited. It is finally starting to warm up a little and look like Fall (better late than never). I’m from southern California and the cold is just something that I’ve never been a fan of. I can handle “brisk” and “refreshing,” but San Francisco doesn’t play around. When it’s cold, it’s freezing. Fortunately, this has been a pretty warm Winter so far, for San Francisco at least.
Keeping my fingers crossed for sunny skies.
Chris
’Tis the Season
It’s that time of year again. The holidays are always the busiest, and this year was no exception. We’ve had to balance many big accounts, small accounts, restaurants, start-up businesses, etc. We’ve done posters, logos, books, whole identity systems, brochures, custom websites, signage, installations, photo shoots, pamphlets, annual reports, hats, shirts, coasters, business cards, and the list goes on. We’ve accomplished a lot, but we still have so much more in our future.
Many people have made New Year’s resolutions, some more ambitious than others. One of my goals for the remaining time I have here is to do my best to blog every day. I didn’t think it would be as difficult as it has proven to be, but I think I can do it.
So, wish me luck and… see you tomorrow!
Chris
these are our quotes™
“i prefer the ‘huh-oh-ah’ method”
“it should be like, ‘huh?? ..ohhh ..ahhh’”
“inconvenience is the new black”
“these aren’t the droids you’re looking for…”
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Chris
Moment of Truth
This is it.
The CCA graphic design thesis show is on Friday, December 16th 2011. I don’t know about you, but I am definitely going. I’m pretty excited to see how everyone’s projects turned out and hang out with good friends, collegues, and professors. If you’re not doing anything, or even if you are, I definitely recommend trying to make time to go check it out. The reception is from 6 until whenever-you-feel-like-leaving. There will be food, drink, people, design, and music from a custom playlist specifically tailored to this event. Christopher actually put together a playlist around the word “work,” which ties in nicely to the theme of the semester for those who were in thesis.
The students were given a single word to work with throughout the duration of the semester and the word this semester was “work.” Each student designed a project that, in some way, relates to this theme. I went to the midterm review and there were a lot of really interesting works in progress, so it should be really nice to see where everything went and for the students to have closure.
I would definitely recommend checking it out.
Chris
these are our quotes™
“if a mistake isn’t a stepping stone, it’s a mistake”
“you’re on my list”
“i’d like to be an expert in semantics… but not a semantics expert”
“i think i’ve gone soft”
“baba? did you make ALL of this?” (referring to the signage/identity of every business in San Francisco)
“you’re not on my list anymore”
“that is a good lookin chicken”
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Chris
Oh, The Fun
<p>I have been coding my little heart out for a few weeks now on an in-depth WordPress customization for Bernal Cutlery, a multifaceted cutlery shop here in Bernal Heights (hence the name). This client has been in the mix for a while now and I was glad to pick up where Matt Delbridge left off, with the logo he helped design for them. It’s a beautiful logo and I wanted to create just as beautiful of an environment for it to live on a website. Currently, we have a temporary curtain page up while I work on it behind the scenes, but it should be going live relatively soon, so stay tuned.</p>
</br>
<p>In general, the coding and customization process has gone really smoothly, but occasionally, I’ll come across a page of code like the one above that I need to edit. Needless to say, it is considerably more difficult to edit a page that has absolutely no organization, but I’ve been taking it one step at a time and it has actually gone pretty well so far. I’ve hit a few snags here and there, to say the least, but that’s to be expected. All in all, it has been a great experience and I’ve learned a lot.</p>
</br>
<p>Practice makes perfect.</p>
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<h1>Chris</h1>
All In a Day’s Work
This was, by far, the most interesting day I think I have ever had at work.
We are finishing up the identity for Roostertail, an upcoming restaurant in the Fillmore District, and were given the opportunity to work on the interior design of the space as well. With that in mind, we decided to do a series of portraits to hang in their restaurant: one wheel barrow and three chickens (inspired by the Masterwork of the 20th Century poet, William Carlos Williams). We spent the majority of the day photographing chickens and a wheelbarrow at Photobooth and it was a pretty amazing experience.
The photographer, Michael Shindler, photographed everything using the traditional tin-type process, so the photographs all have a very shallow depth of field, but the parts in focus are sharper and more detailed than almost any other kind of photography, creating a beautiful, hyperrealistic photograph as a result. They turned out really well and I’m excited to see them up in the restaurant in the very near future.
I’ll keep you posted on when the restaurant is scheduled to open, but when it does, you should definitely go check it out.
Chris
Bird Day
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!
Now, with the holidays well on their way and everyone starting to switch gears & think about what they don’t have that they still “need,” try not to forget about all of the things that you do have that you are thankful for.
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happy thanksgiving to you and yours from me and mine™
Chris
Come One, Come All
THE THING QUARTERLY– ISSUE 15 WRAPPING PARTY:
Tonight at the Verdi Club in San Francisco!
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*This is a message from The Thing Quarterly:
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HELLO SUBSCRIBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE THING QUARTERLY
We are preparing to mail out issue 15 by MacFadden & Thorpe this week. And we want to invite you out to celebrate. Come out and help us wrap up issue 15 and get it ready to mail. Here are the details:
- Time: 6-8PM NOV. 16 (WEDNESDAY)
- Place: Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
- Cost: Free
- Beer: Yes (cash bar)
- Food: Yes, for sure!
- Music: Yes! Matthew Troy will be spinning theme appropriate music from his DJ console
- Kids: Bring ‘em if you gottem
ALSO IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD – Other amazing things happening within a short walk:
1. Humpday Happyhour at Southern Exposure: part of their ongoing Working Conditions project.
- 3030 20th Street, SF, CA 94110
- 6-9 PM
2. Kadist San Francisco: Jens Hoffman and Larry Rinder in conversation
- 3295 20th Street, SF, CA 94110
- 6-7 Cocktails
- 7:00 start
IT WILL BE AMAZING
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I hope to see you there!
Chris
Safety First
Here at MINE™, we take safety very seriously. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but one of these little warning cards comes with every new pack of X-ACTO blades. So, with that being said… put on your goggles everyone! I mean, you can poke out an eye with those things.
So please, if you take overcautious precaution as cautiously as us, take caution. You might just want to wear your goggles at all times, just in case. You never know when some tiny, flying debris or dust of some sort will just mercilessly attack you. Better safe than sorry.
You have been warned.
Chris
Just In Case, Just Design
Just in case you haven’t heard, the most recent book coming out of MINE™ is “JUST DESIGN.”
“JUST DESIGN” is a new book about communication design for the greater good. It was written by Christopher Simmons with a foreword by John Bielenberg. The book includes more than 140 inspiring stories of socially-engaged design as well as essays from “do-good” designers, writers and critics, case studies, resources and more.
It’s a great read and features work from both professionals and students. I highly recommend it. Copies are now available from HOW Books and will be available in stores and on Amazon soon.
You won’t regret it.
Chris
You Win Some, You Win Some
Last night, the annual cause/effect awards were held here in San Francisco. I had some important plans last night, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it, but Christopher and Nathan both made it out. MINE™ submitted 4 projects and received awards on 3 of them, which was exciting and pretty impressive to me. Cool Hand Christopher, on the other hand, was very calm and collected about the whole thing, as usual. He was happy about them, don’t get me wrong; he just seems to be really great at taking things in stride.
After documenting the various cause/effect awards we’ve won over the years and talking about it briefly, Christopher just threw them all back in the small (but thick) manila folder, where apparently they are kept, and tossed it back on his desk. Then he said, half jokingly and with a deep sigh to preface, “can you tell how much we care about winning awards?”
It’s nice to work with people who know that what we do is more important than a piece of paper.
Chris
Word of the Day
moot™
these are our quotes™
“hey, you should be the black kid from next door”
“i’m not going to be a black kid for Halloween”
“why not? don’t be racist”
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happy halloween to you and yours from me and mine™
Chris
Mommy? ..Where do babies come from?
In looking through some images for a project today, we came across this beauty. The odd thing is that no one knows where it came from or why it’s here. haha. Just another day at work.
Chris
Iconic & Ethereal
This is inspiration for a project that has been in the mix for a while now. The client asked for something that looks iconic & ethereal, and it has been a bit of a struggle, but I think we’re starting to get somewhere. Space nebulas like this one start to feel like that, as well as ink in water (referenced by the client), so we have a good amount of visual language to pull from. Now we just have to figure out the right combination and make it happen.
Often, clients will ask for things that seem like they wouldn’t normally go together or don’t initially make sense. That’s the real test. That’s when we, as designers, have to really think outside the box for a creative solution. That’s our job.
We are designers & artists, and we need to really embrace that in order to do our job well.
Chris
The Big Day
Midterm Presentation
As you may know, Christopher is on the graphic design thesis committee at CCA and the midterm review was last week. So on Friday, Nathan and I left work a little early to go check it out and support the students. I was surprised to find that Nathan had never actually never gone to one, so I’m glad he finally got to make it out.
The presentations seemed like they went well for the most part, but Nathan and I weren’t able to get there until well after lunch, so unfortunately, we missed about half of it. We saw a lot of good presentations though, and they all seemed to have plenty of potential. I’m excited to see where they all take it and I will definitely be back at the final thesis review.
If you can, I definitely recommend making it out for the final thesis exhibition at the end of the semester, especially if you’ve never been. It might be a bit of a trek for some of you, but from personal experience, it is definitely worth it.
My congratulations and best of luck to all of the students in thesis right now. You can do it! And don’t forget…
everything is ok™
Chris
Just Add Saxophone
Yes. That is a shrimp with a saxaphone.
So, we’ve been listening to a lot of music featuring saxophones around the office lately. Not intentionally, but we’ve been noticing it coming up in songs more and more. Weird. Maybe I should take it off of the “music featuring saxophones” playlist on Pandora. Hmm.
Anyway, Nathan and I have come to the conclusion that if you add a saxophone to just about anything, it instantly makes it 10x cooler. So, in short, if there’s one piece of advice I want you to take away from this post, it is this.
Saxophone + [Anything] = Awesome.
The possibilities are endless.
Chris
™
this is my post™
Inside Voices
This is graphic design.
A couple days ago, I was invited to go to my first MINE™ client meeting and pin up for a restaurant in the Fillmore area called Roostertail. It was a great opportunity to see how Christopher and Nathan talk to clients and the verbal subtlety required on both ends to push (ever so slightly) in a direction that they think might be stronger. It was actually very graceful and extremely interesting to see this all play out over the course of an hour or two.
Sometimes designers get the wrong impression and opinion about what clients are and begin to just treat them like the “enemy.” The designers on one team and the clients on the other, just trying to sabotage your efforts in trying to do something that you consider beautiful and/or well designed.
However, I am glad to report that MINE™ is not a studio that works that way. Sure, we have our disagreements with clients every now and then (who doesn’t), but in the end, it is a collaboration between us and the client that leads to the most creative, beautiful, and thought provoking work.
When you genuinely work towards the same goal as the client, and not towards selfish ends, and do everything possible to work with others in a truly collaborative way, it will inevitably lead to the best possible outcome.
Everyone is on the same side.
Chris
Fun & Games
Last Friday, Matt Delbrige (the previous intern™) came in to help me get “officially” acquainted with the studio and figure out what all is expected of me here at MINE™. He showed me where everything goes, how certain things are suppose to be done, and where the secret key is kept that opens the secret door, which leads to the secret room where the secret book is kept, which (when held up to a mirror) says, “welcome™.”
After our informative escapades around the studio, we all went out to Rio on Mission St. for drinks and shuffle puck. That’s right. I said it. Shuffle. Puck. Matt Delbrige and Nathan Sharp were the Black Falcon Talons and Christopher and I were the Flying Eagle Bears. We even made little monograms for each team to keep score. It was pretty awesome and, needless to say, a good time was had by all. Unfortunately, the F.E.B.’s lost. Twice. So, I think a rematch is in order. Regardless of who won or lost, we all had a lot of fun and I hope to do it again soon.
F.E.B. for life.
Chris
When It Rains, It Pours
Today, at the young age of 56, the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, was said to have past away from complications surrounding pancreatic cancer, which he had been battling for years.
He will live on as an inspiration to us all.
Rest in peace.
Work In Progress
Everyone knows that the finished product is supposed to be “perfect,” or as close to it as possible. It is supposed to be “beautiful;” all of the problems are supposed to be “resolved;” it is supposed to be polished and ready to go on display for the world to see.
But why?
Why is it so important for everything to be “finished” all the time? Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a beautifully designed poster, book, etc. and well set typography just as much as the next designer, but there is just something so inherently beautiful and unique about the process of making/designing and I think too many people overlook that in their efforts to “finish.” People tend to focus so much on what the finished piece will be and what the deadline is that they often forget how many beautiful things are happening all along the way.
In my opinion (with perhaps more of a conceptual background from CCA), I strongly believe that process is vital to design and has been severely under-appreciated in the past (and still is to a an extent). I think there should be a revival – A renewed appreciation for the process of making, because when you start embracing the mistakes you make, you can start making them more beautifully.
So embrace your process; embrace your mistakes. Then go and do something beautiful with them.
Chris
hello™
Photoshoot at Microsoft
As Matt mentioned, my name is Chris Cowans and I’ll be taking over the blog for him here at MINE™. I know you’ll miss him, but I’ll do my best to keep things interesting. We’ll miss you Matt.
My first day here was spent on a photoshoot for Microsoft. It was a pretty cool way to just jump right in and kick-start my time here. I’m excited to see what other adventures are in store.
Chris
Until next time
That fateful day has arrived, my last day as a MINE™ intern. My experience at MINE™ has been extremely rewarding and humbling. Christopher and Nathan provided me with an incredible opportunity to learn far more than I had anticipated.
Chris Cowans is slated to take over. Chris is a very talented designer and an all around great guy who recently graduated from CCA.
Thank you, dear blog readers, for following along on my daily adventures.
Until next time!
Think big
The search for the perfect attention grabbing design approach for the 75th anniversary of the Stern Grove Festival continues. Some of the ideas we’ve thrown around are as follows: giant sand type only readable from the air, a living billboard, illuminated ceramic sculptures, dropping elephants from plains, etc etc. (one of these ideas didn’t stick around for too long). Christopher had a great meeting with the client earlier this week and they are hopping on the awesome train with us. Destination: best festival promo ever.
In other news, the work we did for Realm was picked up on Design Envy earlier this week, the timing is quite apropos, as their student orientation was last Saturday. We are really excited about Berkeley’s first charter school, we can’t wait to see what the students produce for their first Design Challenge.
All good things
It is said that all good thing things must come to an end. So is true with my internship here at MINE™. Working in an active small studio has been a real privilege and has offered me a rare look behind the red curtain of the professional world. I won’t get all mushy yet, it’s too soon for that but I can’t help getting a little sentimental on my last Monday in the office.
As for the day-to-day stuff, things couldn’t be better. Last week we had yet another great meeting with the restaurant we’ve been working with. They seem willing to follow us deeper into the rabbit hole as we push past what an average restaurant might look and feel like. We discussed the difference between adopting an identity that simply promises a positive dining experience and something that promises more. Everyone involved would like this to become more than another great restaurant, we want to make it a San Francisco landmark. Though I might not have mountains of experience, I can sure identify a great client when I see one and these guys fit the bill. They’ve been a real pleasure to work with and I know the final result will reflect the chemistry we feel while working with them.
Happy Monday Yall!
It’s nice when…
I recently walked into a Barns & Noble and made a b-line for the Design and Art Section (which I have a tendency to do). I picked up a book of logos and letterheads and was pleased to stumble across the See Plus stationery system by MINE™. The book had some other good stuff in it, so I made the decision to buy it. As I leafed through it while standing in line, I found another piece by MINE™ and as I carried it out to the car, I found yet another MINE™ project hiding towards the back of the book.
MINE™ has been receiving a good bit of recognition in recent days. The Bun Mee logo and the Collector Plate will be recognized in the 2011 Print Regional Design Annual and the work MINE™ did for Realm Charter School will be featured in the 2011 Coupe International Design and Image Competition Awards. And if that weren’t enough, Christopher was asked today to do two more speaking engagements and write a guest column for HOW.
It’s nice when you work for a studio that creates work that people seem to like.
Aloha
Christopher will be flying off to Hawaii soon to judge a design competition. He was asked to give a talk by the AIGA Honolulu chapter while he is there. The hour long talk will be driven by questions submitted by the audience. The post card publicizing the talk will solicit questions for Christopher to answer on the fly, with no preparation. We whipped out the card today and it will be going to print as soon as it’s sent off. I’m really curious to see what sort of questions are asked.
Say what?
A few things recently over heard in the MINE™ office.
“We’re going to get so fat on this project”
-Christopher, during a meeting with Roostertail
“I didn’t want to destroy anything until you came back”
-Me, while shooting some of our work
“I was hosting 3 hungarian girls last weekend.”
-Nathan, discussing his weekend
“Did someone come in wearing flip-flops? That’s so douchy.”
-Christopher, recapping a meeting
Happy Friday!
Moving right along
The 2011 Stern Grove Festival is still in full swing but here at MINE™ we are already gearing up for next year. It’s going to be a big one, 75 years of free music in the park. Christopher and Nathan met with the good people at Stern Grove Festival Association recently and talked about the exciting possibilities for the coming year. Today I spent some time pouring over my favorite internet haunts looking for illustrators that might be good to work with for the coming years marketing materials. We also want to make a big stink about this 75th anniversary thing, so I spent time thinking up some less conventional marketing ideas.
I was interested in how something like this began and has remained active for so many years. Apparently it all started with a single tree in the 1840′s and grew into a world class cultural event. The history is really interesting, definitely worth reading.
Back in the saddle
After a week of fun in the sun it’s time to get back in the studio and work on some projects.
We’ve been working on a logo for a production company recently which provides an opportunity to crack open After Effects, sprinkle in some Cinema 4D, and play with some moving images for a change. In addition to that motion stuff, today I also got the chance to get my hands dirty with some india ink, and boy did they get dirty. I was experimenting with gestural marks that morph into creatures and taking photos of the way ink moves in water, fun stuff!
After I had enough to work with, it was time to bring it all into illustrator and start generating some more polished marks. I was pretty pleased with the results.
The Bernal Cutlery project is moving along as well. We got the final logo approved yesterday, so tomorrow, it’s onto the website.
The office has been quiet today. Christopher is out of town this week and Nathan is down at Microsoft so I’ve been holding down the fort.
It’s great to be back, more to come!
Gone Swimmin’
The blog will be a little quieter next week while I’m on vacation soaking up some sun.
Gone Swimmin’, be back soon.
Whirlwind
I’ve been a bit absent from the blog recently due to all the exciting stuff going on in the office the past couple days, so I’ve got a lot to report. Where to start… the last time we talked Nathan and Christopher were preparing materials for the new restaurant project. They created three mood-boards for three different directions, ranging from the safe, but nice, to exciting and risk-taking. The client came by the office late Wednesday afternoon. We chatted about the sort of people that would eat at a place like this and the experience they wanted their customers to have. They definitely responded to the safer directions but once we got to the edgier stuff they got really excited. The meeting ran a lot longer than expected due to all the ideas being thrown around. Everyone left feeling excited and optimistic about the future of the project. It’s a beautiful thing when clients are willing to trust a direction that wanders from the well worn trail.
We’ve been moving forward with the Bernal Cutlery project with some fresh feedback from Josh. The last couple days I’ve been experimenting with textures created by inking over vectors. It’s a been a lot of fun and I think some good stuff came out of it. I’m excited to show the next round to Josh.
We are finishing up a couple small things for Creativity Explored. We’ve been rolling out the brand facelift to the different materials that customers and community members interact with. Some neurotic part of me gets a deep satisfaction from knowing that all the CE brand materials will fit into a nice orderly system. In some ways seeing the final family of materials is my favorite part of the process. I get a similar feeling of satisfaction seeing a well organized desk. This morning we a little coding for their email newsletter template. It’s refreshing to use that part of my brain, and even more refreshing when the code responds as it’s supposed to. *deep satisfied exhale*
We’ve also been doing some work for the new class at Singularity University. We got a big stack of boxes of shirts for the soon to be graduates of the program from Ape Do Good Printing.
Happy Friday everybody!
Setting the mood
As I mentioned previously, we have been hard at work on a new restaurant project. It is still in the initial stages so there is a lot of experimentation going as we try to mold the voice of the restaurant. “Murdered Classic” is a phrase that surfaced during one brainstorming session and has been popping back up every once in a while.
Christopher and Nathan visited the space yesterday, which is in the process of being completely renovated. The mood boards are looking really interesting with a range of references — movies, clothing, signage, contemporary art, etcetera. It’s almost like thinking about the restaurant as a living breathing person. What would it dress like, what would it listen to? Would it always wait for a green light before crossing the street? Would it prefer drinks with close friends or a house party come Saturday night?
One things for sure, it won’t be your typical dining experience. I’ll share more as it unfolds.
Magic
Christopher recently wrote an article about Fairyland in Oakland and dug into it’s history as well as sharing his personal connection to the park.
Being born in Oakland, and have wonderful memories of going to Fairland as a child. It is one of those Oakland gems stepped in timeless magic. It’s beautiful to think that an theme park can entertain and enchant so many generations of children while remaining relatively the same. I love the thought of sharing it with my own children one day.
Break out the bubbly
Midnight last night we launches to brand spankin’ new Creativity Explored website. Nathan and Christopher are currently on a conference call with the CE staff and the web developers discussing the final details. (we’ve got them on speakerphone so I am doing my best to type very quietly).
The site contains a huge amount of data. We have been migrating 6 years of press releases, blog posts, event descriptions, exhibitions, not to mention hundreds of works of art. This is no small feat. Over the last couple weeks I’ve gotten a much better understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of a site of this scale. The key seems to be good communication between all parties. As the launch date approached, Christopher and Nathan kept in close contact with the client and developers making sure everyone was on the same page and all concerns were addressed.
It’s rewarding when a company so deserving gets a strong redesign. The new site is such a huge upgrade from the previous site. It feels so much more confident and elegant.
Be sure to check out the incredible work going on at CE and why not pick a little something up for yourself while your at it.
Fly on the wall
Greetings blog readers. Today I’ve got a couple recently overheard utterances for you. Enjoy.
- Elk was a $1.99 upgrade.
- Don’t molest the artwork.
- If you can make copperplate gothic work, I’ll be very very impressed.
- Do it while your thinking about it, or you’ll never do it.
- If I see one more derivation of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On” thing I’m gonna’ freak out and give up.
mmm… spam
The Intern email account here at MINE™ subscribes to some pretty great newsletters. I get to start my day with some interesting articles and inspiring images (if I have a spare second to take a look). Each email is filed away in the appropriate folder for potential future reference. The content clearly targets people working in design studios or freelancing. I’m often quite pleasantly surprised how relevant the content is to what I might be working on that very day.
We get our fair share of spam as well, and the stuff in that folder is a little less relevant. This one might have missed the mark but they get credit for the bold stab in the dark.
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Game changer
The beginning of most days starts here at MINE™ with a quick scan of some choice blogs before we dive into work. While digging through a few of Quipsologies’ posts I found this link to a short essay by Ben Pieratt. The post is adorned with audacious statements meant to grab the attention of designers shooting by at the speed of their browsers. The post (aside from acting as a promotion for his new project) encourages designers to ditch the typical studio work in favor of the opportunity to build something from scratch via a startup. The startup model is certainly intriguing and a very romantic idea, but frankly How many apps do we really need? How many social network options do we need? How long until we decide what an endearing idea is really worth? The post seems more like a justification for a personal career move than a thought out manifesto.
We frequently (daily, hourly?) discuss the direction that technology is moving. Trying to speculate what trends might win-out and what will be a flash in the pan. We are living in an exciting time for this field. Considering that MINE™ has clients in the tech industry and other clients that expect us to deliver the most relevant tech-based solutions, it behooves us to stay on top of this stuff. However I think our interest stems mostly from the love of speculating on such a fast moving frontier. I’ve got to thank Mr.Pieratt for his point of view but on where he thinks designers should position themselves their energy, but I must respectfully disagree when he says
The market is handing you steak and you’re choosing the gristle. The market is handing you gold bullion and you’re taking the nickel.
This statement feels a bit overblown. It might be worth discussing with the others in the office.
This and that
The office has been a flurry of new beginnings this week.
Yesterday I spent some time putting together a little logo for the upcoming House of Air event, “Airfest” taking place on Crissy Field in the coming months. It should be a lot of fun, there will be sun, live aerosol painting, and of course, flying. We will be sending them two versions to take a look at a little later today.
Yesterday I also put the finishing touches on the first round of logos for Bernal Cutlery. I’m pretty proud of the way they turned out and I’m excited to hear what Josh Donald, the guy who runs the place, has to say. I got the chance to meet Josh a couple weeks ago. He is a warm and knowledgeable craftsman. He’s one of the few people in the Bay Area keeping the art of Whetstone sharpening alive (and certainly the friendliest of them). Josh been doing this for a while and is full of useful tricks, like how to give your cutlery a good sharpening on the back of a clay bowl. I am by no means the type of guy who traditionally spends a lot of time in culinary circles yet a few weeks prior to starting this job I heard a thing or two about this guy’s craft, needless to say, I’m excited to be working with him.
Today Christopher is down on Microsoft’s campus directing a photo shoot for the project we are doing for them (I’ve still go to be a bit hush hush about this) but we’ve been calling back and forth about a couple jobs with fast approaching deadlines. Looking to the future, we just got another pretty high profile job that I’ll share more about soon. We’ll be kicking the new restaurant project into high gear any minute now and I hear rumor that there’s some more work for Bun Mee coming our way. It’s been a fun week, a part of me could wait a few day for the weekend to start. Weird right?
Happy Friday everybody.
Sexy people are apple pies
MINE™ has been working with the incredible people at Creativity Explored for a while now. Creativity Explored is a nonprofit that has been around for nearly 30 years. They are elevating the status of developmentally disabled artists by providing a world class environment for artist to create and sell their work.
MINE™ is finishing up a brand new website for them as we speak. While working on it a bit, I had the privilege of spending some time with the captivating, moving, and often surprising work created by the CE Studio Artists. It’s all really stunning but I particularly enjoy stumbling across the work of John Patrick McKenzie who creates hilarious and insightful visual poetry. His work features phrases such as “Sexy people are apple pies”, “Jesus loves american cars”, and “Acne, pimp, jerk …”. His free-association thought process is fascinating to decode and just plain funny.
Oh, thanks
Whenever we got an oversized packages in the mail, it’s a pretty safe bet there’s something good in there. Sometimes it’s some cool stuff from friends at other design firms, sometimes it’s word that our work won an award or was featured somewhere. Today the mail guy handed me one of those oversized manila envelopes. Sure enough, it was the most recent issue of HOM Magazine with a little note congratulating us on being featured in the issue. They showed the MINE™ Collectors Plate with a write-up from Felt and Wire.
I was handed the package, I quickly noted the mention in our contest binder, and got back to work. Something I’ve noticed working here is that there doesn’t seem to be much excitement or high-fiveing associated with winning awards. The whole affair is conducted with modesty and composure. I guess the reaction makes sense when you scan the stack of contest binders packed with accolades from past years. The MINE™ Collectors Plate was also accepted into the 2011 Type Directors Club. This fact was forgotten and then rediscovered a couple weeks later when a second congratulatory email arrived. What a nice feeling to win all over again.
You should grab an copy of the magazine for yourself if you get a chance. There’s a beautiful cover illistration by Yulia Brodskaya, a paper-loving illustrator that MINE™ worked with to create the 2010 Stern Grove materials. A couple recent CCA alumni are also mentioned in the begining, congrats guys!
Mind meld
One of the things that working at MINE™ has taught me is that before one puts pen to paper or (pixel to screen), it’s important to really understand what the client want to see in the product. Words like bold, unique or simple conjure up a range of associations. Since we don’t have a Vulcan on staff to preform the occasional mind meld we have to find other ways of getting an in-depth understanding what clients are looking for.
We’ve got a couple tried and true exercises to help with the mind reading process. My favorite is an exercise which presents pairs of contrasting images. The client picks the image from each pair that best represents their business. The Beatles or the Rolling Stones, the moon or a rose, a picture of a bunny or a guy in a bunny suit. The images can be pretty out there and might not (and usually don’t) directly related to the style of the final product. The reasoning behind the client’s decisions can be very enlightening and cut to the core of what the client is looking for. The process often reveals associations they hadn’t considered and helps them solidify what the aspects of their business they would like to communicate to the world.
In the end we’re not just reading minds, we’re providing tools to help clients understand what they want to say. I guess we don’t need that Vulcan after all.
Visitors
We’ve visited and and been visited by a fair number of people recently. This morning we had one of Christopher’s students come by for a chat. This afternoon we had lunch with Justin Holbrook, the previous MINE™ intern, at Gracias Madre. A delicious vegan (yes those two words do exist in the same sentence) restaurant in the mission. This plan was made while Nathan was experimenting with a vegetarian diet and before I crossed over to the dark side. None the less it was delicious and filling leading me and Nathan to discuss the intelligence behind the invention of the siesta.
And of course there is the constant and unexplainable presence of Tim on my iChat Bonjour List. Thanks for stopping by Tim.
Hello my name is
MINE™ doesn’t have many things in common with the previous White House administration but one of the few is an affinity for nicknames. Almost every intern has been given a nickname. A few notable ones include Jimmy Jambox, Radar, Timbo, and Nay Nay (see if you can match these names to their respective staff members). Today I was dubbed Catch for my ability to catch thumb drives, pens, CD’s and the occasional iPhone that needs to be delivered from one end of our sprawling office to the other.
I understand that a nickname like this doesn’t come with out a certain level of risk. Luckily the frequent appearance of flying office supplies here in the studio has sharpened by reflexes. Basically I’m saying if you feel a need to test my reflexes the next time we run into each-other, you’ve got the green light. I’m getting enough practice here that hopefully I won’t regret putting that out there.
Pixels and Pickaxes
We get a range of calls here at MINE™ — some from friends, some from clients, and some from strangers (friends and clients we have yet to meet). We also get our share of strange calls mixed in there. Last week we received a call from a gentleman in search of prospecting equipment. Specifically, he was looking for pickaxes, shovels, pans etcetera. Although I explained to him that we are a graphic design studio, he sounded surprised that I didn’t have anywhere to refer him. I felt embarrassingly unprepared.
We would appreciate any information you might have regarding prospecting equipment so we can direct future inquires appropriately. Thanks.
Nice to meat you
Today was a big day for me. I had my very first hamburger. Ever.
After meeting with a potential new client Christopher took us to Slow Club for lunch. I didn’t know how receptive my test buds would be to meat after 19 years of vegetarianism, but my mouth had no complaints. It was delicious. It looks like me and meat will be getting along just fine for the foreseeable future. Thanks, Christopher for the re-introduction.
Good taste
In the down moments here at the studio its good to recharge those visual batteries and scour the internet for some inspiration. Today designspiration and ffffound are recommending MINE™ projects to me, go figure.
Yum
Today I get to share a bit of news about the ribbon cutting of another exciting job. You may remember a couple weeks ago I mentioned that a new restaurant job might be in our future, I’m happy to report that things are moving forward with said restaurant and Christopher will be meeting with those guys a little later today. Unfortunately, my lips have to remain sealed as to further details, but not for too much longer.
Working with restaurants has it’s obvious perks, we’ve enjoyed more than a few of Bun Mee’s award winning chocolate cocoanut cookies here in the studio, I love the idea of keeping the treats flowing.
Busy busy busy (in a great way).
Early this morning we kicked off a new project with a local business so we’ve been busy here in the studio. It’s always exciting to start thinking of all the possible directions a project could go. I’ve been doing some visual research and putting together a presentation to get the ball rolling. I also took a second to break down how much time each phase of the project will take. I was reminded of something I said earlier.
I’ll be back with more details soon. Hope everyone out there had a great 4th of July.
Changing the world, one colored brick at a time.
We had a meeting today with Chris, the mind behind See Plus. MINE™ has done some great projects for See Plus like this gorgeous stationery and business card as well as some nice packaging. Now a brand-spankin’-new website that launched recently (Hint: for maximum fun resize the window and watch those pretty products fly around). I’m getting myself one of those black rings come payday.
See Plus and MINE™ have enjoyed a pretty long relationship built on a foundation of similar value sets, sense of humor, and appreciation for toys. Apparently the first time Chris came into the studio and explained his vision for toy brick jewelry, Christopher pulled out the block that he kept from his first Lego set. He now has that same number for his license plate. I bet a lot of us have a fondness for the tools that facilitated our earliest creative explorations.
Chris is one creative people of those people who has the ability to get you pumped for his vision and makes you want to tackle your own projects with the same enthusiasm. We need these people around to remind us how lucky we are to be in creative professions. We get to have some serious fun and call it work.
Stuff overheard
In the spirit of Justin Holbrook, the previous intern, here are a few things I’ve overheard this week.
“We need a dictatorship where everything is closely regulated….by me.”
“I’m having auditory hallucinations”
“what did you have for lunch?”
“Matt kills the goat, Nathan skins it and I’ll cook it.”
“Why you should care: you’ve got to fight for your right to party.”
Just a rainy San Francisco afternoon.
But we’re nice and dry here in the studio listening to Buddy Holly covers.
Do robots dream of electric sheep?
This week we welcome a new member to the office. Late last week Nathan’s computer was upgraded to a brand new 27″ iMac. The old one has been looking at us longingly from the corner. It’s monitor is slightly downturned in a heartbreaking expression of sadness. We’re sorry buddy, you served us well, it was just time for a change. No hard feelings?
This week started off with a bang. Both Christopher and Nathan were out at meetings most of the day. I spent my afternoon working on visualizing some mouthwatering printing techniques that I could use for a project I’m currently working on. Black on black, need I say more?
Make it cool(er)
There has been a lot of talk recently about the future look of cigarette packaging. You’ve probably heard about a couple of the solutions people have been throwing out there. Earlier this morning we found ourselves musing over what could possibly make smoking uncool. After the way marketing has been able to make cigarettes so alluring and sexy, it’s hard to think of what could shake it of its cultural identity. A decade old Canadian study suggested getting rid of the branding all together. Hmmm, we are not 100% convinced that’s the right direction. Maybe the answer is to buy ad space on behalf of the tobacco companies and speak for them. Whatever the right solution is, it’ll have to be smarter than the campaigns that made smoking so popular in the first place.
When I wondered out loud if our culture has ever been able to stop people from consuming something once we got started, Nathan offered disco as a possible success story. If we can quit disco, maybe we can quit smoking.
I’ll leave you today with a little gem that popped out while we were discussing some tangent of this very topic:
“People don’t generally do things that don’t make money …unless they’re artists …or stupid.”
Hey, wana’ go to Hawaii?
It’s cool when you work at a place that’s able to generate some buzz. In the short time I’ve been here, MINE™ has won a couple of awards and gotten some offers for some exciting projects. It’s also pretty cool when your boss is on national TV with Michael Bierut.
Following the same trend, today Christopher was asked to judge an AIGA deign competition in Honolulu. I only wish my intern duties required me to travel.
Send us a postcard Christopher.
The Art of List Making
As part of starting an internship here at MINE™, we are asked to create a list of the skills or experiences we would like to come away with. I wrote a list of twenty items and narrowed it down to ten. It’s amazing how the simple act of making a list can really help to organize and focus your thoughts. I’ve always been a big fan of list making, and I know that I’m not alone in that. By simply pinpointing what I hope to achieve, I am able to move forward with a more focused direction of what I hope to gain once the Summer comes to an end. It made me think back on the last month or so and notice that even in the short time I have been at MINE™ I have begun to make some headway on those goals. Working hands on projects obviously helps develop formal design skills, that’s a given, but the day-to-day stuff like entering competitions, interacting with clients, responding to emails etc. allows for many small learning opportunities that are easy to dismiss.
It looks like we are starting to make a name for ourselves in the realm of environmental graphics. We’ve gotten a few calls recently about designing commercial space. We got one call this afternoon from a business owner who saw the work we did for Bun Mee and liked it. They sounds very interesting, hopefully we will get to start working with them soon. I’ll report back once I we know more.
That’s all for now, get out there and enjoy the first week of real summer!
ssssweet!
Upon getting to work and turning on my computer Monday, I was excited to find a ffffound! invitation from Justin, the previous intern, waiting for me. The transfer of the ffffound! account invitation from one intern to the next is a tradition here at MINE™. Through out my time in school, I have spent countless hours diving deep into the cosmos of beautiful and surprising images that live on ffffound! The lack of context makes the images feel more like single lines of visual poetry rather than design or art specimens. Though thus far most of the images that I have add have been graphic design related, I have been surprised and delighted by the range of images that have been recommended to me. Yes, I got a few nice shots of posters and packaging but mostly illustrations and photos, with a graphic bent. It can be much more inspiring looking through some less expected imagery. It’s as if ffffound! knows me better than I know myself.
Since (and even before) ffffound’s popularity, there have been many sites that use a similar model including Designspiration, Image Spark and Buami to name a few but personally I think the simple interface and diversity of content gives ffffound! a real advantage. Sure, the other guys might be flashier and have a little more swagger, but they don’t have the same heart or quirky sense of humor. When I’m looking for fall down a rabbit hole of inspiration I always wander over to fffound!
I wasn’t able to break in my new ffffound! account in for too long because we had to start hustling on some Microsoft projects. It turned into a long but satisfying day, some fantastic stuff was definitely created. I look forward to being able to share more about this project in the not so distant future.
Making the decision to make a decision
I was reading a James Victore interview from a couple months ago, he had some interesting things to say about how he runs his studio and it brought up some great rules of thumb for a good day-to-day practice. He talks a bit about time management which is something I’ve been thinking about recently. He touches on the ability technology has to distract us from what we should be doing. As I’m writing this I have two projects open, a couple blogs and the my email inbox, probably not the most effective way to work.
Good use of time takes on a whole new level of importance when you work in a studio environment. Not being efficient with your time doesn’t just mean a late night or two, it means potentially holding up a project or missing a deadline. In my school work I’ve always been pretty confident in my ability to pump out what I need to regardless of the time frame. This environment is teaching me how much stronger my workflow can be when I focus on one project at a time.
Having a solid grasp of how long something will take is another skill that seems to only come with practice. Christopher and Nathan were discussing how long a potential new book project would take. Christopher said that we should find out how long we think it will take, and multiply it by two, that should get us in the ball park. The “multiply it by two” rule is something I have heard many teachers say. Unfortunately it never fails to be true.
Monkeys in the Mail
It’s been said many times, we get some great mail here at the studio. Today were were pleased to find two nice little surprises. The first was a t-shirt from Noon‘s Finite Collection. A great new project project focused on species threatened with extinction. It came in a awesome screen printed package as well, something new for the archive.
The second gift is from the witty and talented people at A Hundred Monkeys. This fearsome flyer comes equipped with detachable bananas and poo bombs. Mikey Burton did a great job as usual. I look forward to launching it at Nathan when he least expects it.
Dear Design School, I Miss You Already
One of my favorite parts about being a student is the way that exploration and discovery are built into the academic culture. Pushing the envelope is our job, risk taking is smiled upon, and falling flat on your face is considered a necessary learning experience. As the time for me to leave CCA rapidly approaches (just one semester left), I can’t help but wonder how I will be able to inject my professional life with the same sort of experimentation.
One of the best parts of an internship is the ability to see how people much further along in heir careers hold onto enthusiasm and and stay in love (or at least in like) with design. There’s a lot about the real world that is not like school. Clients will not always love the cryptic, designy solution, and those that do might not be the ones that actually pay. You have to find a budget for the vast marketing campaigns that you dream up. Late nights spent in a screen printing studio or creating abstract typographic experiments may be replaced by sending emails, invoices, or producing iterations on a direction that you feel is far from exciting. It’s enough the break an idealistic design student’s heart.
Knowing that work will often be, well, work. I am confronted with the task of keeping the love alive. The good news is that people do it. Some use the work they do in the studio to fund more personally fulfilling projects. Others keep things fresh by taking jobs that might not pay a lot but are a lot of fun. Here in the studio there seems like a healthy mix of fun, and necessary projects all the time. Maybe that’s the trick, never let one outweigh the other.
All of this leads me to the sharing with you the great little book I that nearly tripped over on my way into work today. Creative Workshop, contains little design prompts, not unlike those given to design students. It was a nice little reminder that just because they might not be typeset on 8.5 X 11 sheets and passed around the room, there is nothing stopping me from working on the projects that are too good to be true.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that, school can be a real pain, especially when it dominates all of your time and keeps you from a reasonable amount of sleep, all while chewing a giant hole in your wallet. Still, there’s something about knowing it will be ending soon that makes me prematurely nostalgic. I’ll soak up all the abstraction I can his last semester, remembering that life after school can be full of inspiration and idealism as well.
Gone to the Dogs
The image today is courtesy of Doggleganger. You can decide how well we were matched with our canine selves.
At least for a brief moment things seem to be a little quieter here in the office. We’ve still got a bunch of projects open but a few of them are in limbo as decisions are being made. A good day to catch up on some bloging, organize some files, clearing off the ol’ desktop, and submitting some projects to competitions.
Recently I’ve been working on a project for Singularity University, a program that calls on brilliant minds from a variety of fields to tackle some pretty lofty problems like poverty, education, and energy. I’ve learned to love projects that tackle problems using an educational model. Emily Pilloton’s Studio H, child of Project H, is another great example of this sort of commons sense problem solving.
That’s all for now, more to come soon.
Non-sequitur
“Did you know Madagascar was colonized by Polynesians” A nice piece of trivia from Nathan while in the middle of discussing web site functionality. This of course, lead us to a very interesting discussion about female pirates from the 1800′s.
I’m learning to really enjoy the non-sequiturs that spawn form conversations related (or not related) to what ever we are working on at the time. This sort of thing seems unique to a small office. One of the benefits of not being just one in a sea of desks. Last week we found ourselves listen to a steady stream of Radio Lab episodes which definitely fueled our observations and musings on many topics such as mirrors.
A couple weeks ago we got a phone call about doing some work for a new restaurant (with a pretty exciting name). They know of us through the Bun Mee project. Christopher and Nathan met with the owners today. Hopefully I’ll get to write more about this in the future.
In the spirit of non-sequiturs, I’ll leave you with one of my favorites, overheard a couple weeks ago.
“I can’t Get enough of these goat penises”
I leave you to guess the context.
Happy Friday.
The Future is Now
There’s been a lot of talk around the office recently about the future of technology. This might have to do with the the fact that as designers we have a pretty interconnected relationship with technology. It could also be the project we’ve been doing with Microsoft (which is still under wraps unfortunately). At any rate we had a lot of fun brainstorming what the gadgets of tomorrow could look like and function. It’s easy to imagine a darkly exciting frontier where simply imagining a composition could bring it into existence. Maybe we should quit all this design stuff and become a team of science fiction writers, with an an awesome logo of course.
In other news, the dummy for the Just Design book showed up today and there are some pretty exciting ideas for adding an additional component or two to the final product. It’s been great being around to catch the tail end of this project. I spent some time yesterday copying submission forms and got take an inside look at all the incredible projects that were included. What’s more, there’s an amazing mound of physical samples in storage that were sent in. It’s hard not to get a little giddy actually handling so many inspiring pieces. The other day I got to model a couple shirts for the book. I guess I’ll get to add male model that to the resume.
In With the Old, In With the New
The new Stern Grove campaign hit the streets recently. It’s been great seeing the various pieces adorning buses and store windows. Under MINE’s creative direction, the incredible illustrator Luba Lukova is created the illustration. The line up looks pretty good this year, I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Last week we received a copy of the Applied Arts Illustration Annual of which included the 2010 Stern Grove Poster MINE™ designed.
It’s a rainy day here in Bernal Heights and I’m hoping for some sun to help me avoid the cold that’s been going around the office. The steady stream of vitamin C should help as well. More updates coming soon.
Watch Out
It seems that we’ve discovered the office uniform here at MINE™. Nathan and I inadvertently bought the exact same watch.
We had a nice long lunch yesterday with Tom Biderbeck who was the editor for the late, great, Step Magazine when Christopher wrote a regular column for them. Now, among plenty of other things, Tom writes for Felt & Wire. We discussed magazines and the unique role they play in our lives while enjoying some delicious chicken (and vegi) pot pie at Liberty Cafe. This has been on my mind recently as I recently I took a class called Alternative Publishing, taught by Paul and Will of The Thing Quarterly. The class looked at various publishing models and I began to develop a fondness for the US Postal System and objects that have a physical presence in our lives (don’t worry, I still love you internet). Tom had some very interesting insights on funding and distribution models for print and web publications. We touted the advantages of a sponsorship, as opposed to advertising, model. I’ll be interested to see what form publications take moving forward.
In other news, the projects are moving right along here at MINE. We are finishing up a project for Oracle and staring a new branding project for a production company. Christopher has been busy putting the finishing touches on the Just Design book before it is sent off Wednesday. Our big (secret) Microsoft project has also been in full swing, Christopher has been jetting down to their campus for meetings. I’ll share more about that when I can.
Cyborgs and Dragons
Coming into my second week here at Mine, I feel myself beginning to relax and catch my breath. While starting a new job is always exciting, it can often feel a bit daunting. There’s usually a lot to absorb and you always want to put your best foot forward. This feeling, I’m sure is something many students can relate to.
The office has been pretty non-stop, packed with exciting and challenging projects. It’s been important to remind myself to relax and enjoy the new tasks set before me. The good news is the jitters always fade, giving way to confidence and stronger work.
Eye Candy
There has been plenty of work coming through the office the past few days. I was only in the office a matter of minutes on Monday before I got the opportunity to jump right in on a new project.
I have been familiarizing myself with the office. Finding the locations of this and that. I took a very interesting detour through the extensive library of good design here at MINE. We have stacks of binders used to organize interesting pieces by what makes them binder-worthy. If you get a chance to visit the office, it is definitely worth a pit stop.
Let the Hazing Begin
As the new intern in such a lively office I couldn’t help but assume there would be some hazing. Sure enough, I got a call this afternoon from a former intern claiming to be a disgruntled client, who couldn’t get the website we made her to “work”. She angrily demanded to speak to Christopher who told me to tell her we would NOT fix her website. After a good couple minutes, the joke was revealed. It was concluded that I handled the fiasco relatively well. I can only hope the new intern hazing stops here, but I can’t be sure.
More to come.
Adieu
Well, the solid week of posts didn’t quite happen as I had mentioned last Monday, but nevertheless, here we are on my final day of employment at MINE™. It has been a great 1-year run. I was only slated to be here one semester but am appreciative to Christopher for asking me to stay on longer; I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It has been exciting, challenging, humbling, and inspiring.
Matt Delbridge, a talented and friendly lad (currently a student at CCA), is the new intern for the summer and will be taking over from here on out.
Goodbye for now, friends. Be excellent to each other.
Mail bonding
It has been mentioned and documented before, both by me and past interns, but I’ll say it once more: we get some fairly interesting mail here at the studio on a steady basis.
Interesting can be a vague word—one that can have both positive and negative connotations. The mail we receive falls into both categories. We sometimes receive, for example, some form of correspondence from a student looking for work that is—I hate to say it—just really bad. Head-scratching-confusingly bad. Other times, however, we will get something that is just hands down impressive in some aspect—typography, form, overall presentation. Both categories are usually fun to look at for their own reasons.
But I digress. The past few weeks have brought some interesting:good mail to our doorstep at 190 Putnam.
One package contained a book featuring some of our own work. The Best of Cover Design, authored by friends of the studio Altitude. No matter if the book is one in which MINE™ is featured or not, the process for adding books to the studio library is the same: the intern opens the front cover and applies a custom “this is mine™” stamp, scans the book’s barcode in Delicious Library, and then files it in the studio bookcase, by spine color, or in the overflow shelves in the garage.
We also received this great Easter Egg coloring kit several weeks ago from our pals at Hatch. Sadly, we did not enter the contest this year…
And finally, some screenprinted goodness from AIGA and cause/effect, and former MINE™ designer Tim Belonax…
Oh, hey there
Hi. Nice to meet you again. It has been a few weeks since my last post. One of the things that I have discovered being here at MINE™ for the past year and change is that it can be a challenge to write/create a blog post every single day. Especially if there are a few busy days in a row—or days that extend later into the evening than normal—it can be easy to put off writing and lose momentum for the week(s). Since, however, this is my last full week of employment here at MINE™, I figured I should end on a good solid week of entries! [more]
Mommy, where do monsters come from?
Here, this Friday, the twenty-second day of the month of April, in the year two thousand and eleven, I present a small sampling of overheard gems from the past week…
01. “What’s a stupid word? You’re better at coming up with stupid words than I am…”
02. “Glasertron 5000″ (design studios with these rare machines can charge more for their work)
03. “1492, the year Jesus invented America.”
04. “Listen, I’m trying to teach a lesson in design here… [pause] In improv comedy, when is best time to enter the stage/scene?… [pause, waiting] It’s when you’re needed.”
Basically
A brief selection of things overheard the past several days here at the studio. Have a good weekend.
01. ”I’m not a scientist, but I hobnob with some of the best.” —Heard on a radio interview in the car on the way back from a brief photoshoot for Christopher’s Just design book.
02. ”Classy… might be my least favorite word.”
03. ”If you’re thinking about changing this, think again, and turn it up. [Pause for a few seconds…] This was big with my high school’s dance team.” —Christopher’s response to seeing me reach for the dial as the song “Get Ready for This” by 2 Unlimited began playing over the studio’s speakers.
04.
–”What’s the typeface?”
–”[name of typeface]”
–”Oh… nice. I hate it.”
05. Describing the subtle nuances of chipboard: “…it’s basically garbage.”
Databaseball
Today was a data entry/spreadsheet table/database marathon for me. We have redesigned the website for Creativity Explored and are now collaborating on the actual programming of the site. Since much of the content is being ported over to the new design, we spent much of the day filling up pages and pages of spreadsheet cells with data. Sweet!
In other news, the college basketball season officially came to an end last night, and baseball season is underway. Can the Giants repeat? Only time will tell.
Tell ‘em MINE™ sent ya
Last Saturday evening’s Bun Mee soft opening party was a success—everything was built, painted, printed, applied, delivered and installed by Friday and Saturday afternoon, the place was packed that evening, and all of it is looking great. More importantly, the food is tasting great. We have been working away here at the studio the last few days but keep hearing positive after positive review of the Bun Mee experience.
As a matter of fact, the owner Denise just gave us a call a few minutes ago and said that their lunch line today extended out the door, and they ended up selling out and had to close shop early. This is really great news, especially because the official grand opening isn’t even until this Friday. We headed over there yesterday for lunch and I may just have to make the trek one more time this week. I will definitely be grabbing a bite this weekend. If you are able to get over to 2015 Fillmore Street anytime soon, do it—you won’t be sorry. Tell them we sent you (you won’t get anything free out of it, but it’ll make you look cool).
I heard that
Here is a very small collection of things heard this week at the studio.
01.
Me: “How do you feel about entering the ______________ competition?”
CCHS: “[Sigh]… I’m so sick of winning awards.”
02.
“Great… [sigh] We just got another job.” [Pauses. Smiles]
03.
“This is what graphic design is all about—painting in your garage.”
It’s been a busy week here at MINE™. Have a great weekend everybody.
Sneak
Picked up t-shirts from Ape Do Good Printing, business cards from Oscar Printing, and the hand-painted menu board from New Bohemia Sign. Here’s a sneak peek…
If you build it, they will come
The opening of Bun Mee is near. The Vietnamese sandwich shop will officially open in April, but the staff of MINE™ will be attending an exclusive launch party before then. Sweet.
This week the garage has been transformed into a construction and painting studio, as we build the restaurant’s menu board in preparation for the big day(s).
No monkeying around
It is busy here at the studio. Many projects in several stages of completion. Small clients to Fortune 500 ones. Serious business and the fun never ends.
I spent a few days at the end of last week finishing up the drawing of logos for a new music company. While there is one primary logo, there are several variations and stylistic accessories that accompany it so that it can be customized based on context. I wrote early on that the client had a few fairly specific requirements for the logo, and that I thought it would be interesting seeing where we would ultimately end up with it—if our path would remain relatively true or deviate wildly from the original thoughts. In the end, because the client needed the logo to operate in a specific manner, it stayed pretty true to the original explorations.
One of the reasons I was interested in joining MINE™ for a bit was because of the identity and logo work that the studio does. I felt that this was an area coming out of school that I needed more experience with, and so being involved in projects like this one are really great opportunities for me. This was a different project for me because a lot of the logos I have done in the past have been typographic in nature, or have consisted of more abstracted marks based some larger concept. Drawing a logo that had to meet certain specifications—and knowing the client wouldn’t go for anything too far outside those boundaries—was a good change-up. Hopefully there will be a few more before it’s all said and done and time for me to move on.
Nintendo thumbs
We have started collecting old picture frames to decorate the interior of Bun Mee, and today laid them out on the studio floor to assess our inventory and figure out what sizes are still needed.
We also grabbed the wooden blade sign from the former occupant of 2015 Fillmore to reuse it (peace, love, recycle). Before painting, however, we needed to remove the existing vinyl letters from both sides. Since the sign was, and will be, located outside, the vinyl and its adhesive were made to withstand the elements and was therefore tough to peel off with fingernails alone. I grabbed a blade from a toolbox in the garage and thought it’d make things easier. [more]
Thisify it
We had a good, busy week this… week. Lots of projects in varying stages of completion, from logos, to websites, to books, to posters, to menu boards, and the list goes on. We’ve got more stuff coming our way as we wrap these projects up, so it should stay fun here at MINE™ for some time.
Speaking of fun (expert segue right there), here are a few random fun snippets that I heard or was told over the last few days… [more]
Officially branded
Shortly after I got into the office this morning, after taking care of a few studio tasks, I headed across town to House of Air to get photographs of the signage we designed. For all the process photos we took during the construction phases, we had yet to really get images of the final product in context there inside of building 926. In between snaps I chatted briefly with the two founders, Dave and Paul, and also with a few of the employees, or “Flight Crew” as they’re referred to in those parts. They seem to be a passionate bunch with regards to trampolines. So much so, in fact, that one of the Flight Crew members decided to make House of Air a permanent part of his life.
Mee and Mine
The restaurant project we have been working on is still underway, but up until now we haven’t revealed any details on the project. Today was, in a sense, our “official” unveiling of the project (on Facebook, of course). Bun Mee’s doors open for business in the Fillmore next month, and we are very excited about it all. The place will have some great hand-painted signage, some sweet photos up on the wall, and a custom menu board that we are going to build in the next few weeks.
This and this
The hardware store down the street has been out of blog posts for about a week now, but when I stopped by this afternoon they were restocking the shelves with a fresh supply. So we are back in action and should be good to go.
Things have really picked up workwise here at studio over the past month or so. While we’ve always had a steady flow of projects since I began back in May of 2010, the stream seems to be a bit more abundant these days. Almost every single day we are fielding phone calls and emails from someone new.
What is especially interesting is how some of these people are finding out about MINE™ and our work. There is always the standard Google-fed inquiry now and then—someone just looking to get in touch with a design firm, but it seems that lately people are responding directly to something they saw or interacted with of ours in the real world, and calling us to do more work “like” it. “My child is enrolled at Realm; I really like what you’ve done there; I’d like to talk to you about doing some work for my company”, for example.
In any event, it’s good that things are busy and it’s nice to be getting direct feedback in this manner that directly leads to new work.