Like many annual events, the Super Bowl is no exception to a well planned and executed graphic design presentation. Every year a new logo is created and forms the visual foundation for program guides, websites, tickets, apparel, posters, promotional items, and stadium signage. These logo's are important for many reasons. They remind us of a great victory, or agonizing defeat, parties, funny commercials, and pizza to name a few. Personally, I have to give it up for 1978...incorporating scoreboard lights in any athletic illustration in a bonus for me.

I recently took a trip out to Portland, Oregon to visit my Uncle Tom. He owns Historic Photo Archive. In a nutshell - It's a business that buys existing photo negatives, then reproduces high end one-of-a-kind digital and darkroom prints. These prints can be seen by visiting your local Mccormick & Schmicks, or online by clicking the link below. He's got an impressive collection of over 1 million negatives and the largest collection of Oregon negatives on the planet. The image is of the man himself wiping down a print in the darkroom.

www.historicphotoarchive.com

A big shout out to everyone who commented from the initial post! Your suggestions were put to good use as you'll see below. It made a huge impact on the product and provided valuable insight that's wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Thanks for the support and stay tuned for the final!

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Below are some lacrosse apparel designs created for the University of Maryland. One design will be chosen from each gender and become available for sale at Laxword, Madlax, college bookstores, and other retail locations throughout the country. Have a look and tell me what you think...be straight up and provide your honest opinion!!!

(1) If you like something and have an idea on how to make it better let me know (e.g. change logo placement, make graphic bigger, etc.)

(2) If you think the mark has been missed tell me why (e.g. too manly, not feminine enough, different color combo etc.)

(3) If there's a shirt design you absolutely love, shoot over the link/photo and write a note on what you dig about it (e.g. this shirt rocks because...)

(4) If there's one design that stands out among the pack, indicating so by the concept # viewed in the lower right of the image

*Please note that the shirt colors and trim have already been selected.

The goal is to use this feeback to modify and/or identify a winning design that one would purchase. If all goes well the finalized UMD design will get reworked for Syracuse, Georgetown, and Duke. The manufacturer meeting is tomorrow! I'll be sure to post the final result.

Feel free to post below in the Comments field, Facebook, or Email. Click below for a larger view.

311's music has been a long time companion throughout the years. It certainly helps to keep things moving here in the studio. The band posted, several months ago, that they would be releasing the album Uplifter in late spring/early summer. As a way to give back I thought it would be cool to create an album design. I called and spoke with the management team and was informed that a direction was most likely chosen, but that I could submit and get inclusion in the artbook. I gave myself about 5 days to think about and execute the project.

The official album art was released on March 25th (see below). It was created by Christian Montenegro, an artist/illustrator based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I'm not certain what the underlying theme is, but would love to hear about it if anyone knows.



When positioning all of 311’s studio albums side-by-side it become clear that there are characteristics in place to preserve the brand. Most notably the logo appearing in the upper left hand corner, the use of warm color tones, and modernized typeface selection.

Overall, it was intended for the artwork to give a sense of harmony and warmness. The honeycomb patterned bar at the lower right is a visual play on The Hive - the bands recording studio. The tree was chosen as the primary element because of it’s symbolism for stability, longevity and being a place of peace. It is an original photograph I took with my Holga camera last summer in Los Angeles. Hummingbirds are quick, diverse, and maneuverable, which I attribute to the 311's music. The font Metafile was used to emphasize progressiveness. Overall it was a great exercise...maybe i'll get it next time.