New look

You know you're in trouble when you blog about blogging. With that in mind, mine has a new look. I incorporated my logo from a couple months ago. The crappy blurb is gone. No one reads that anyway.

Song of the day is probably Liquid Swords, by the Genius, GZA. Protect your neck, it's almost Friday.

Ah. ok.

The final logo, in full mount position. Nice cowlick there, too. (I don't know why I look angry, I guess it's my concentrating face).

Another Friday in the trenches...

It's been a busy blogging day. And tons of new work. Here's a poster design I'm working on for a fake tour in 08. It's MF DOOM's "Impending Doom Tour." The poster still needs some tweaking, but it's getting there.

Picture says a thousand words

Have you ever tried to describe yourself in one word? An all-encompassing statement that tells a stranger what you're about. I suggest you try it if you haven't. It's a self-affirming exercise.

Well, that's what I've been working on the past few weeks. In my story-telling and metaphors class, I had to design a logo for myself. It took some deep digging to really find out who I am. Something that will be represented in a single mark. It was an interesting process. One of the first exercises we did was take an anonymous survey of what other people thought about each person in the class. Each person had to write a single adjective about each person. The results were pretty cool.

Unassuming. Confident. Nice. Smart. Stylish. Those were some of the responses I got from my classmates. I was pretty flattered. I took a lot of those words into consideration when I was designing my logo.

I really wanted to make it a reflection of my profession (to be). My first attempts made reference to a sheet of paper with a dog-eared corner. I really liked the mark, but it wasn't there. I didn't want to pigeon-hole myself as just a writer. One of my initial sketches included a speech bubble encapsulating my initials. It had no relevance to me. I just marked it down.

In our class, I was showing my first round of sketches. One of my classmates commented about how the speech bubbble could possibly be a thought bubble. That was the moment. That was the word that encapsulated me and my future career. Thoughts. I'm an ideas person. I'm also constantly milling things over. Thinking about random stuff that's only useful on Jeopardy. I moved forward.

I made another round of sketches. It was looking good. My thought bubble would not be the cutsy cartoon type. It would be simplified with clean-rounded edges. I also wanted to utilize my initials: AH. The logo would relfect the "a hah" moment when brilliance strikes.

Now to the computer. I made some initial comps with a palette of cyan, orange, kelly green and a dark indigo. It took quite a while to get the curves right in Illustrator,but I knew the one I liked about an hour-and-a-half in to the exercise. I think the logo might have a dynamic color. It's cyan for the time being. Take a look at the refined mark.

Hatfield Be Thy Name

Who’s the real force behind Nike? Jordan? Woods? None of the above. Unless you’re a sneaker fanatic, you’ve probably never heard of Nike’s design Jedi, Tinker Hatfield.

Hatfield grew up in rural Oregon. “You either worked on the farms or participated in sports,” He says. “My dad was a coach. My mom was a coach. My sister married a coach and my brother was a coach. Sports were the center of our lives.” Although Hatfield excelled in Football and Basketball, it was his track spikes that earned Hatfield a scholarship to the University of Oregon.

Two years into the track program, Hatfield suffered a terrible leg injury. And For the first time, he faced the stark reality of not being a full-time athlete. Hatfield gave up track and immersed himself in the architecture program.

“I was already studying architecture but wasn't really passionate about it until I realized I was not going to be a professional athlete,” he says. “So I made the choice to explore design on a deeper, more committed level. I dug in.”

When Hatfield Graduated in 1981, Nike hired him as a corporate architect. He mostly designed Nike stores, office remodels and Nike’s extensive campus.

“I see architecture as a great combination of art and science and cultural experience,” Hatfield says. “I saw the spot at Nike as a way to get into an environment that offered options. It didn't hurt that my track coach at the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman, was also one of the Nike's founders.”

But Hatfield’s stint as an architect didn’t last long. Figuring Hatfield could draw, Nike’s marketing director asked Hatfield to design shoes. “I jumped at the chance,” he says. “Designing shoes was where the real action was.”

Hatfield’s first major assignment was on the Air Max 1; and his inspiration for the shoe came from an unexpected place: the Pompidou Center in Paris. He was intrigued by the building’s exposure of pipes, air ducts and walkways.

“It was amazing to see this building, spilling its guts out into the world.” Hatfield says. “It really inspired me, because it really shook the world of architecture.” From this experience, Hatfield suggested Nike expose the air system in the Air Max. This design allowed for a larger air system, which increased stability and comfort. Hatfield’s design did not go over well.

Nike insiders scoffed at the original design of the shoe, stating it was far too vulnerable to punctures. “We can’t sell a shoe with a hole in it. I doesn’t even look like a running shoe,” Nike’s head of Running told Hatfield. Hatfield faced an uphill battle.

But Hatfield stuck to his guns. He even pushed a radical vibrant inspired by the Popidou Center. Eventually, Nike signed off on the Air Max. The exposed air system design became Nike’s trademark. The company has grown from selling track shoes out of a van, to a global force to be reckoned with. Nike raked in 4.34 billion dollars in 2007—a lot of shoes.

Hatfield went on to design the coveted Air Jordan line. Hatfield designed the shoe with direct input from MJ. The designer watched Jordan’s playing style, noting the superstar’s movements and style.

“He moved like a cat,” says Hatfield. “He was lanky, but when he wanted to he had power and could just launch. So here at Nike we talked about him being like a black panther. That drove the shoe's design. It had a paw-like sole, black leather and ticking on the side that looked like a cat's fur.”

Hatfield encourages designers and others to expand their education and knowledge.
“The larger point here is to broaden your experiences,” he says. “If you're in design, take some business courses. If you're in business take a design course. Before you go to law school, travel around the world for a year. Take music lessons. Get on a bus or rent an RV.”

Hatfield now serves as a mentor and advisor to younger designers at Nike. He now understands the importance of helping others. "There's something pretty cool about getting to that point," Hatfield says. "We used to have a sign in my work group that said, 'Make yourself useful.'"

Hatfield's done pretty well at that.

Japanese Design and my song of the day/morning

So I'm going to this fancy art school in Atlanta. I'm doing my best to grow out my hair so I can pretentiously wag it away from my eyes. Lately I've spent a lot of time looking at design, art and architecture. I have taken quite a liking to ultra-modern Japanese design. To a certain extent, I've always liked clean aesthetics, but there's something about modern Japanese design that I find simply amazing. There's a book called Wonderwall about Masamichi Katayama. He's the dude that designed some of the BAPE stores. His use of minimalism in his work fascinates me. He solves the problem of creating just a regular-ass store into a real destination. A place where you can go and be in awe of the rad design of the space.

My SOD (Song Of the Day) is Groove Armada's The Girls Say. Seriously. Check this one out.