Tag Archives: design

New Look at a Classic: “I HEART NY”

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New to me are these regional spins on the iconic I HEART NY logo.  I saw them for the first time just recently, alongside even more takes in which the red image between the I and NY represented other aspects of the Empire State.

Though they obviously don’t use the words BUFFALO

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or SARATOGA,

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to my mind these two renditions can’t help but explicitly represent those cities, and as such, they had me dreaming of an “explicitly” Albany version that would feature the profile of the Capital City’s most iconic building, The Egg.

iEGG_sketch

Apologies to the New York State Tourism Bureau if this was already present somewhere on the very billboard where I saw the official buffalo and horse images above. And if it wasn’t: get cracking on production of the “I Egg NY” merch! FOOTNOTE to THE EGG: I can’t put a number on how many times I saw this building in my life before the day I stood before it on assignment to direct a short film about a football player from Albany. That day, for the first time ever to me, The Egg looked like a football:  virtually the top of the Lombardi Trophy itself, tipped slightly and blown up a lot.

In all that I-Hearting I came across this fabulous story of the original logo, the remarkable designer who created it, and the interesting life that both man and art have led.  Definitely worth a read and/or listen, via the podcast 99% Invisible.

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KNUCKLE CHATTER

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My fuzzy gloves that are fingerless
Send me palms over knuckles with digital bliss
On the winter days I’m earwax picking,
Scratching backs, guitar licking,
Pinching jacks, popping pimples,
Cleaning braces, poking dimples,
Tying laces, tickling bellies,
Needle threading, tasting jellies,
Rabbit foot petting, booger flicking,
Yo-yo twirling, paper football kicking,
Portraying a Shadow-Squirrel, snatching a donut hole,
Trying to lap up the last of the cookie dough trails from Mom’s baking bowl.
But when it’s really cold outside and time to shovel snow,
Mittens that cover my fingers are what I wish I had in tow.

knuckles_edit

PERSPEXERCISE

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“What’s it look like, Dad?”
“Well, that all depends…
On the side you decide
To make the end.”

An Igloo in Candyland

An Igloo in Candyland

A Hockey Stick Rainbow

A Hockey Stick Rainbow

A Woodstock Watermelon

A Woodstock Watermelon

The Ultimate Warrior

The Ultimate Warrior

“So see what you see
When you turn things around…
There’s no telling what’s
Waiting to be found.”

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ROLLING LIKE THE BUS

In honor of consecutive stellar performances by Notre Dame to open the 2014 season, we’re dipping back into the archives to share the drawing below.  It was done back when I was merely a Tweedlet in Mrs. Davis’s 6th grade art class, and only years later, autographed by the subject, Jerome Bettis.  Long before he was nicknamed “The Bus” during his NFL career, Bettis was a bulldozing fullback in South Bend — though even his physical style might have met its match in the Irish defense on display the last two weeks.  Sure, the now departed Bob Diaco may have resembled Don Draper, but so far his defenses were mere impostors compared with Brian Van Gorder’s Van Goghs.  The first year Irish Defensive Coordinator has a name like a Dutch Master but through two games his group is pure Cohiba.

(Drawing by PaC - Autumn, 1992)

(Drawing by PaC – Autumn, 1992)

THE EXTRA MILE FOR A STICKY TILE

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Wipe up the crumbs,
Brush them away,
But once they’re gone, Mom,
Know our patrons won’t stay.

They come for the mess,
With their long walks they pay,
Knowing the good stuff’s
Here all night and all day.

Mom, you want a clean floor,
You beg and you pray,
But a clean floor will shut down
Our 24-Hour
Ant Buffet.

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STICKY TILE SMILES: On last night’s fumbled dinner pea munches this morning’s satisfied customer at The 24-Hour Ant Buffet. (Illustration by Jane)

LUCKY DAD

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I know my Dad just loves
to put my toys away
because I see him do it
at the end of every day.

I can’t think why he’d do it
If he wasn’t having fun
Bending down and picking up
every ball block car doll clay clock truck bike book bell and drum
under the sun.

Yes, I’m sure there’s nothing better
For dear old dad each night
Than to find and file and shelve
Every last plaything left in sight.

DOGPILE OF FUN - One peak in the mountain chain of Dad's nightly handiwork, that lucky dog. (Photo: PaC)

DOGPILE OF FUN – One peak in the mountain chain of Dad’s nightly handiwork, that lucky dog. (Photo: PaC)

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STEALING FROM TIFFANY’S

Twelve years ago today, almost exactly to the moment this post goes up, my eyes gazed on this artwork for the first time.  Varying in size, color, and composition — from small and flat under mattes and polished glass, to movie-theater-lobby-esque large format, to three-dimensional shadow boxes in frames custom made of reconstituted desk drawers — it comprised the then little known passion project of America’s “King of the Football Movies.”  And like the montages he and his filmmaking brain trust popularized, the work resonated with my eyes and ears in such a way that I couldn’t help but imitate it — in part, in the poster below from 2003.

If you’re feeling generous call it flattery, and if you must, call it theft – but then only in consideration of that advice the King himself was known to impart, “If you’re going to steal, steal from Tiffany’s.”  I don’t recall what I had for breakfast twelve years ago today ; I can barely remember what I had today.  But June 3, 2002 — and how it changed the way I see the world — is a morning I won’t forget.

"Wilbury Poster Boys", created circa 2003. (Original poster and photo by PaC)

“Wilbury Po’ster Boys”, created circa 2003. (Original poster and photo by PaC)

NARC’ing OUT

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It’s not for lack of sweets that I weep,
Not a bump nor a bruise nor a finger in the door.

Restrictions on TV watching aren’t on,
No concerns being raised if I’ve finished my chores.

In order to say that anything’s wrong now,
Or that I’m being hassled I’d have to lie.

Which makes all this wailing’o’mine a N.A.R.C.,
A good, old-fashioned No Apparent Reason Cry.

Click on the image above to see what a N.A.R.C. looks like up close. (Illustration by PaC)

 

RAINBROKEN

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Red is dead,
Green can’t be seen,
Blue’s invisiblue,
Orange is gone, too.
Yellow, fine fellow,
And Purple have failed.
So the last working part of my markers
 — sniffle –
The caps
— sniffle, sniffle –
are for sale.

(Photo:PaC)

ALL THAT YOU CAP LEAVE BEHIND — In the world of markers, caplessness is next to colorlessness.(Photo:PaC)

O’NO!

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No business card order
made Jim’s Print Shop squirm
like the monthly one from
the Dublin law firm

of “O’Billy, O’Biley, O’Riley, O’Connell,
MacDougal, MacTavish, MacCabbage, MacDonald,
Kilkenny, Kilpatrick, Fitzpatrick, Kilboyle,
McLanahan, Shanahan, Flanagan, Doyle.”

So many Dubliners would make almost any Jim's head spin.

So many Dubliners would make almost any Jim’s head spin. (Photo: PaC)

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2003 – WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT

Front Cover

Vince Guaraldi’s piano stylings … Lucy pining for real estate … Charlie Brown dropping knowledge on the Peanuts, in spite of himself.  Lots of “kids stuff” gets better and more meaningful with age, but none more so than “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, the inspiration for the very cut-and-pasted second card ever.