It’s a blog!

I’m sure you’ve seen this blog by now. As someone who primarily works in Photoshop, I find humor in seeing big budgets wasted on poor talent. But sometimes, this blog pisses me off. The point of Photoshop is to alter photos. I mean, it fucking says it in the name. Often on this site, I see things with no obvious flaw, in fact, actual great Photoshop jobs meant to bend reality, being ridiculed for doing so.

Give me more of the phantom hands floating in space, or the reflections that don’t match. I want to see the careless mistakes, not questionable art direction choices. If your blog is called Photoshop Disasters, please only show Photoshop disasters. What would MTV be without all the fine music videos they show all day long?

BTW: Do you think they intentionally used the 3 letter Photoshop file extension (psd) for their mast-head, or was it a happy accident?

New logo for Britain’s Office of Government Commerce:

What happens when you rotate 90°?

If you still can’t see it, I don’t know what to say.
More here.

This guy built 100 chairs in 100 days. It took me 6 months to produce a 1/4 scale chair. I tip my hat.

Link

By now you’ve probably all seen the Barack Obama posters designed by Sheppard Fairey. I was made aware of these posters the day they were announced, but refrained from posting after a conversation I had with a fellow designer in which he implied (not directly mind you) that Fairey has copied another designer at every step of his career.

I like Fairey’s work, more for the business model than the design, and, more importantly, I believe Barack Obama can steer this country in a new, better direction.

Here’s an article about the popularity of these poster, on the New York Times’ website:

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/beyond-red-white-and-blue/

The first time I saw this poster, I was excited. My brief conversation curtailed some of that enthusiasm. The non-argument argument cited an article that implied (not accused) Fairey of copying a designer, even though the only real similarities were the public domain images they both used. The article never accused Fairey of copying, but implied it by showing his images next to the others. To say that Fairey is a copy-cat, or worse a plagiarist, would imply that the other designer is as well, as all the images shown were public domain, originally designed as propaganda at various times in the last century.

I think the real basis of the vague argument is the difference between art and design. In my opinion, art is an expression of an individual, pure and simple, where as design is an artist’s expression of something someone paid them to express, to an audience that absolutely must understand it in order for it to work.

Milton Glaser said: “I’ve always believed that the life of a designer is a life that is very much between two sensibilities, that of a business man, and that of the artist.”

The fact of the matter is, Fairey has received more mainstream success than the other designer (whom I shall not name, as I can’t find the article on my own). I believe that art and designer are for the world, and I reject an elitist approach to design. That’s what Obama’s campaign is about, rejecting an elitist government, and re-establishing a government by the people, for the people. Fairey designed these posters for the people, in the interest of a cause that he believes in, as well as millions of Americans of all race, color, and creed.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my late childhood. From the time when my family got our first computer, up until the time I got my driver’s license, I spent a huge amount of time messing around in MS Paint. I would spend time designing jersey’s, doing very primitive “photoshop,” and creating little comic strips. I would stay up all night creating thing for no one in particular, only my own gratification and entertainment.

Now, I’m 24, and I’m being paid to do what I did about 10 years or so ago. Of course, there’s a higher level of thinking involved today, and other stipulations, but I never would have thought I could make a career out of something I found fun. My father wasn’t good at holding down a job, and I guess my model for what I thought a job was supposed to be was very negative.

I’ve been lucky to never have a lack of support from my family. There wasn’t even a struggle in my decision to further my education at the Portfolio Center. I feel very fortunate to be where I am today, thanks to everyone that helped me get where I am now.

This might be a fruitless effort. I haven’t updated in a while. I came to Boulder excited and ready to start blogging like a crazy person. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to talk about the stuff I’m working on at CP+B, and as an intern, pretty much all I did was work.

But now, I’ve accepted a position at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. I’m officially a working person. Through the years at North Texas and The Portfolio Center, I’ve learned a lot, and developed some great academic theories. Over the last six months at Armchair Media and CP+B, I was able to put everything I learned to use, as well as finally understand why we were all given ridiculous assignments that were nearly impossible to complete. The truth is, CP+B is a lot like PC. A lot of stuff goes out the door everyday, and you have to be able to keep up with the huge work flow. But most importantly, you have to love what you do. Armchair showed me that this is what I want to do with my life, and Crispin pushed me to better myself, or else.

I’m now a contributer to society, but I realize that I still have a lot to learn. I’d like to thank everyone that helped me along the way. I’ll hopefully be blogging again soon. I’ve recently picked up retooling Big Smelly Robot, in an attempt to create a more cohesive gaming experience, nearly a year after I first received feedback on the project.

Also, I still need to finish my student portfolio. All the pieces are there, I just need to put it in a context where people can see it.

Recently, I made a failed attempt at creating a jersey to accompany an NHL team logo redesign for my portfolio. Today, I noticed that all NHL teams are changing their sweaters this season. Reebok worked with the NHL to develop a lighter weight jersey that retains less moisture. While all teams are using the new jersey, many teams chose to redesign the jerseys, but none more dramatic than my home team, the Dallas Stars.

The stars went with a more clean, type based design for the sweater, displaying “DALLAS” on the front with the players numbers below and the team logo on the shoulders. They also went back to the old black jerseys, which always looks cooler.
Maybe it’s a good thing that my team jersey was a failure, because I had no idea the jerseys would change so much.

I’m giddy with anticipation.

Week one is officially over. I’m absolutely exhausted. Since about Thursday afternoon, I’ve shut down mentally. I’ve taken some time to reflect/do nothing. It felt good, but now I’ve got a lot of stuff to do that’s been pushed back. I think this weekend has done me well. I feel better, but I’ve still got a way to go. The last 3 weeks or so have been a mega-marathon. I needed a break. I even got a little homesick, then realized that with as much moving as I’ve done my whole life, and esspecially in the last 6 years, I’m not really sure where home is. Depressing, I know.

There’s supposed to be an official internship introductory meeting this week. That should help make things more official. I’m looking forward to the next ten weeks, and however many years I decide to keep doing this.

Shout out to my homies finishing up Portfolio Center this week. Rock it.