All Peas and Carrots

New Work: Logo Design

2010-01-11T14:59:00.004-06:00

Recently completed this logo for startup lawfirm (I know, I know) Kurtz & Augenlicht, LLP. Good guys, really know their stuff, going to do well for themselves, I imagine. ~~Now, if they'll only let me fix their website.~~

Listomania

2009-12-28T19:09:00.001-06:00

Every December everyone in the world rolls out their best-of lists for everything imaginable. Movies, books, albums, videos, pop culture moments, red carpet outfits, culinary achievements, and so forth. This practice is stupid and pointless. Or is it? If everyone is doing it, and you're not, aren't you the stupid one? Right. Let's get to it.

Top Thirteen Thematically-Relevant Songs/Videos Used in My Weekly Fantasy Football League Note This Year:

"Crush My Battleopponent's Balls," Dethklok
"The Rat," The Walkmen
"Floyd the Barber," Nirvana
"Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone," Islands
"Saved by Zero," The Fixx
"Seven Nation Army," The White Stripes
"She's Lost Control," Joy Division
"Well Alright," Spoon
"Robots Fucking," TV on the Radio
"Take it or Leave it," The Strokes
"Banquet," Bloc Party
"So Bored," Wavvves
"Two Weeks," Grizzly Bear

Listomania

2009-12-21T14:35:00.002-06:00

Every December everyone in the world rolls out their best-of lists for everything imaginable. Movies, books, albums, videos, pop culture moments, red carpet outfits, culinary achievements, and so forth. This practice is stupid and pointless. Or is it? If everyone is doing it, and you're not, aren't you the stupid one? Right. Let's get to it.

Top Ten Radio Stations I Listened to in the Car on My Way Home from Work Today:

87.7
88.3
88.7
89.3
91.5
93.1
94.7
97.1
98.7
104.3

Listomania

2009-12-11T13:24:00.003-06:00

Every December everyone in the world rolls out their best-of lists for everything imaginable. Movies, books, albums, videos, pop culture moments, red carpet outfits, culinary achievements, and so forth. This practice is stupid and pointless. Or is it? If everyone is doing it, and you're not, aren't you the stupid one? Right. Let's get to it.

Top Ten Swears I Said Yesterday Morning When My Car Wouldn't Start

Fuck
Shit
Motherfucker
Dammit!
Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
Son of a bitch
COCK!
Rat fucker
Cocksucker
God dammit (dejectedly)

Listomania

2009-12-09T10:31:00.003-06:00

"Mbira in the Morass," Volcano Choir
"Bonnie and Clyde," Wayne Horovitz and Robin Holcomb
"Year of the Dragon," Sufjan Stevens/Osso
"Waiting for my Man," Beck
"Woe is You and Me," The Strange Boys
"Is and Always Was," Daniel Johnston
"Wordy Rappinghood," Tom Tom Club
"Sweet Road," Animal Collective
"Hiding Neath My Umbrella," God Help the Girl
"Cool Places," Sparks and Jane Wiedlin

Listomania

2009-12-07T14:59:00.005-06:00

Staples brand ballpoint pen, blue
Cowboy mug
Note paper bearing the following list (how meta!):
- ~~smaller typeface~~
- connection
- cscp webinar
- p&p
- ~~enews tracking links~~
iPhone
Time sheet
Keys, house and automobile
Binder clip functioning as money clip containing five dollar bill, CTA card, two debit cards, insurance card, and Costco membership card
Holiday music mix CD given to me by a coworker. Track ten: "White Christmas," by the Drifters
Moleskine notebook approximately 1/6th filled with still more lists
Invitation to a recycling party. Donation of three cell phones, laptops, iPods, or Kindles grants me free admission, and Kermit the Frog may or may not be making an appearance.

New Work: (downtown) Omaha Lit Fest Poster Design

2009-08-02T14:44:00.004-05:00

Version 5.0 of the (downtown) Omaha Lit Fest is happening in about six weeks and once again Ive been tabbed to design the poster for it. (That's part of it up there. Peep the full version here.)

Now, I know what you're thinking and I'll tell you the same thing I told Lit Fest director Timothy Schaffert: No, those are not my wife's legs. They're mine. Her shoes, though.

The (downtown) Omaha Lit Fest happens September 17-19, 2009, in—doy—Omaha, NE. See omahalitfest.com for details.

Zodiac

2009-07-31T19:51:00.000-05:00

The night I met Scottish folk-rock troubador Donovan I also tried to pull the ol' switcharoo and trade in my lameduck girlfriend for her hotter, funner friend. [Know where this is headed?]

We were all drinking downtown—me; the girl I was dating; her friend, who I wanted to be; and Donovan, who was unwinding with a Macallan after playing a show in town. The girls were tickled with the kitchy thrill of meeting the guy who sang "Mellow Yellow" and we all drank ourselves silly while being all ironic starfuckery with the guy.

Later that night, fucking wasted and having a nightcap at my house and listening to records (sans Donovan), I decided it was time to put the moves on my date's friend. My date was passed out on the couch, The Best of Donovan was playing on the stereo, and I told the friend how I'd like fuck her right now because she was super cool and my girlfriend looked like a goddamn troll and sucked in the sack.

...

You know that first scene in the film, where the kids are in the car, super ready to get it on, and then the killer drives up and shoots the shit out of them all cold and methodical—pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, blood everywhere, screaming, twitching, gurgling—then leaves, then comes back, and unloads a few more rounds into the poor fuckers? I say those kids got off easy.

The Wrestler

2009-06-24T13:25:00.001-05:00

Nobody likes a fuck-up.

We tolerate liars, cheats, drunks, wife-beaters, and many murderers much better. Those idiots get picked up, dusted off, and sent back out for a second chance like a little kid who scraped his knee horsing around on the playground. But guys whose hearts are in the right place but whose instincts are all wrong? Who make a mess of everything not because they're mean but because they're just losers? Who can't catch a break and who are almost too ground-down to even try to make their own? Those knobs? Fuck those guys in their stupid fucking faces. AMIRITE?!

New Work: Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference Logo/T-Shirt

2009-05-28T11:04:00.004-05:00

If you grew up in a certain time, in a certain part of the country, and of a certain economic status, few objects are as definitively summer as the classic nylon webbed lawn chair.

I don't know how rich kids spent their summer vacations, but I'll wager it wasn't at some public campground-cum-salvage-yard swatting mosquitos and waiting for one of these flimsy aluminum deathtraps to collapse and dump them into the firepit. Or getting large swaths of leg hair ripped out every time they say down or stood up or moved or sat still or... Seriously, the backs of my thighs are perfectly hairless thanks to a childhood of summers sitting on the pinch-tastic web seats of chairs like this. None of my female cousins will even go near one while wearing a bathing suit.

A Page From My Notebook

2009-05-27T10:40:00.003-05:00

My drawing skills went AWOL some years ago, but my preferred method of brainstorming design projects remains the good ol' thumbnail sketch; just a quick something to either help focus a thought or test out a few different angles. I usually mark up my design plans with a lot more shorthand notes than shown in the Pilcrow swag sketch below, and while most of my pen-and-ink planning goes on regular-ass printer paper or the back of junk mail I keep stacked near my desk, I've been meaning to go back to carrying a notebook with me at all times, with a nod to this post on Design Observer.

New Work: Pilcrow Lit Fest Poster

2009-05-11T09:54:00.002-05:00

First, there was the Pilcrow Lit Fest website. Now, the poster. And soon, a program/schedule of events, name tags, postcards, and other event collateral. Beyond that, who knows... Tee shirts, video games, blimp signage, rub-on tattoos, and Pilcrow-inspired baby names? Stay tuned.

New Work: ipffsb.org Website Design

2009-05-02T10:58:00.003-05:00

I think it's lovely, in this age of empty self-promotion, when good work speaks for itself and clients are earned simply by reputation and word of mouth.

Earlier this spring, I did some work for the ladies of Sleepover 2.0—a logo, a website that's been shuttered for some reason, etc.—and during the Sleepover telecast, the director of the Israeli Palestinian Film Festival tracked me down, professed his love of the SO site, and asked me to redesign the IPFF site. Seeing as how I've already done work for similar events Pilcrow Lit Fest and the (downtown) omaha lit fest, I was happy to take on the project. And I'm quite taken with how the brand new ipffsb.org turned out.

The 2009 Israeli Palestinian Film Festival runs May 4-14 on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

New Work: Viva Nash Vegas Logo

2009-04-17T11:07:00.002-05:00

The best road trips usually involve lots of bathtub speed, reckless driving, half-witted county sheriffs, fistfights, buxom hitchhikers, Hell's Angels, CB radios, and jumping either a dry creek bed or moving freight train in a souped-up muscle car.

That said, road trips that skew a little tamer can be fun, too. There's plenty of time for PG-rated mayhem between scheduled bathroom pitstops, home-cooked meals waiting for you at various points in the trip, and a comped luxury hotel room waiting at your destination. This is the kind of road trip that needs it's own fancypants logo, which is where MBD comes in.

Read more about Viva Nash Vegas over on Bigmouth and say hi to the girls either via Twitter (@amyguth, @leahjones) or their show on Blog Talk Radio.

Peas and Carrots in the House, Y'all!

2009-04-04T17:03:00.002-05:00

Spotted at the Abbey Pub before a Kosha Dillz/Yak Ballz show:

Good Design is the Concept

2009-04-03T19:33:00.002-05:00

You've seen this video, yes? Or at least heard the story behind it? How, in 1976, French director Claude LeLouch mounted a gyroscopic camera on the front of a Ferrari and commissioned a Formula 1 race car driver to go all Grand Theft Auto before there was such a thing: Paris, end to end, in less than ten minutes. 140 miles per hour, running red lights, going the wrong way down skinny one-way streets, taking to the sidewalk to pass a slow moving truck, and nearly clipping spectating pedestrians, with that burly Ferrari engine growling and tires screaming for their lives the whole time.

Problem is, such an awesome display of recklessness never happened. LeLouch has admitted that the Ferrari was a Mercedes, 140 was more like 80, and the mysterious speed demon behind the wheel was the director himself.

However, knowing what you know now, watch again and tell me that nine minutes behind the wheel is any less exhilarating.

I like this video in the context of talking design because it's a perfect visual metaphor for my philosophy that design doesn't need to be concepted to death to work. Sure, it makes for a good if not gimmicky presentation to the client when you can say you chose a color because, say, its PMS value is exactly one-third of the year the company was founded, but just as LeLouch's video is badass regardless of backstory, neither should design rely on the crutch of a nebular concept to be impactful.

And what do you know, Paul Rand agrees with me. (Dig the afro mullet on Miggs B.)

I Call This One The Jewel/Osco "Pathetic Bachelor Special"

2009-03-29T12:43:00.003-05:00

Man, few images could sum up ages 22-29 for me more succinctly than this clipping from the weekly Jewel circular. What's the girl version of this sad, sad dinner for one? Lean Cuisine, box of white zin, and a single rose?

The MBD Endorsement: Destroy Twitter

2009-03-28T15:57:00.003-05:00

Now that everyone in the world is using stupid Twitter, you're going to need a way to view and filter the oodles of retarded dreck, e-noise, and 140-character infomercials from people who, if they behaved in such a self-aggrandizing way in person, you'd never speak to twice.

Twitter's web interface is lousy slow on my iMac so I've turned to Destroy Twitter. Contrary to some blog flack bemoaning its lack of features, DT, an Adobe Air app, is hands-down my favorite Twitter tool. It's great looking, has a sweet name, and does everything I—as a decidedly non power user—need it to. If DT also came as an iPhone app I'd totally marry it.

Hey, wouldn't it be cool if someone made a Twitter client called Tw@? I'd pay for that.

Download Destroy Twitter here. Now go outside and speak to an actual person, you pasty subnormal!

New Work: interactiveAmy.com Logo Design

2009-03-28T14:56:00.002-05:00

I don't take on a lot of logo design work but if all potential clients came to me with their vision as thought-out as Amy of interactiveAmy.com did, I would definitely do more.

Seriously, this one practically designed itself. iA knew the colors she wanted to use, knew she wanted something bold, and together we had the logo for her fledgling social media consulting venture designed, printed on business cards, and gracing her website in less than two weeks. That girl is a doer. And she tweets a lot, so I guess she's, like, a super rockstar at social media.

My Mechanic Is Clever

2009-03-19T10:44:00.003-05:00

That oily thumbprint? It's printed on. Part of the design. Simply outstanding.

It's Like a Grid Within a Grid Wrapped in a Grid

2009-03-09T12:49:00.002-05:00

That epileptic ADD banner may be gone, but the new Pitchfork site redesign is still wicked hard to look at. Everything is all crammy and bled-together, the logo is as bland as an acoustic Jet b-side, and they don't even have a favicon. Hey, Pitchfork: The World Wide Web called from 1996 and it wants its address bar back.

/Theta Quadrant'd

This Ain't Stealing: Wavvves

2009-03-07T12:29:00.005-06:00

Funny, because I'm not 17 anymore and this isn't the last week of school before summer break and Brad no longer owns that shitted-out Honda Civic, but fuck I feel like getting a couple 40s, maybe heading over to Bobs house to scrounge for some weed or snacks or Monster League Football and killing time until the show tonight where there'll be more weed, booze, and chicks who pay no attention to us so we'll go pick up Charlie and maybe smash some mailboxes or push a lawnmower into a pool before we get some gas station nachos and swing back by Bob's to grab that last half bottle of vodka and meet up with these other girls we met at that party last week that got busted and we had to hide in the basement for two hours and Seth pissed in the laundry basket because he couldn't hold it until the cops left but those girls were kind of ugly and I'm still pretty hungry and Brad says Suzanne is having a party tonight so why don't we go over there and get some food or steal some of her dad's beer out of the garage fridge, I mean, I don't have to work tomorrow until two, so, yeah, let's go...

Download Wavvves here.

Obligatory disclaimer: I didn't upload this file. I only found the link. You want me to take it down? Just ask.

New Work: Sleepover2.0 Website Design

2009-02-22T11:07:00.002-06:00

The newest addition to my portfolio (which, by the way, can be found here and will, later this week, be updated to include this and other new work) is the anthropomorphic spokeslogo and website for Sleepover2.0, a webcam slumber party broadcast from the Hotel Sax in downtown Chicago. (Not what you think, perv-o, but still worth tuning in to.) Hit up the Sleepover2.0 site for all the details and, as always, email me if your own site is in need of a makeover.

Hear That, Kids? BROWN!

2009-02-11T10:58:00.002-06:00

That new Pilcrow site I was telling you about is now live. Do check it out. Many, many thanks to my brother-in-law and Wolta Christmas Madden Tournament foil Eric for his top-notch and super quick work translating the site design into blog form. I've granted him a two game head start in the '09 tourney for his efforts, which should leave no doubt as to how much I appreciate the work. [Now get a website, holmes.]

On Acquiescence

2009-02-08T09:39:00.000-06:00

Sigh. I suppose if Madison Square Garden can endorse Kobe for MVP, I can learn to toot my horn online. Follow me on Twitter to watch firsthand as social media jumps the shark .