Lay’s Chips and Helvetica?

This has got to go down as one of the most patently offensive uses of Helvetica (Helvetica Neue, specifically) that I have yet to come across. I don’t pretend to know what their multi-million dollar marketing dept was thinking, but this is terrible.First of all, it’s too narrow – are they suggesting that people will feel less guilty about eating these chips if the font face is thinner? There is no character, no appeal, no message in this packaging concept other than “don’t worry – you can eat these and stay thin.”The use of Helvetica here almost makes me imagine that these chips taste like concrete. To me, this looks like a font failed to open when printing to post-script. I see it on this package, and I almost see Courier. When I first saw this, I thought it had to be some kind of mistake…seriously. I laughed out loud, until I realized that it was intentional. Then I was somewhat disgusted.The rest of the packaging concept is good…I like the potato flaking off into chips – it suggests freshness and reminds us that the humble potato is still king of snacks. There is a certain wholesomeness to this image for me – but the bland, corporate, “unobtrusive” Helvetica just ruins it. Maybe something a little warmer and friendly? Like a bold Humanist or a Souvenir?

Julien Pacaud – Check it OUT!

His work is so awesome. Surreal, mysterious, urgent and compelling.

Check it out: Julien Pacaud

Rock Band Logos 4

Another of my all time favorite bands. There was a time when I was growing up that I couldn’t go to any musician’s house and NOT see a Roger Dean poster hanging on the wall in a prominent spot. Usually close to where the bong was kept.

The futuristic and fantastic spaced out landscapes were a serious inspiration to any sci-fi nut, pothead or hardcore prog-rocker. I loved them, I still love them. “Fragile” would surely have to be one of my “desert island” records.

But I must dispense with the rhetoric at last and apply the criteria to the logo and see how it fares on my “special scale.”

HOLDS MYSTERY: While the logo itself is beautiful, yet in connection with the complete “identity” package that Yes and Roger Dean constructed, there just isn’t a whole lot of “mystery” behind the logo. This is not the logo’s strongest point. It’s a great logo – one of the classics, and so it pains me to give it a low score in this category. 6

DESCRIBES THE MUSIC: Definitely one of the higher scoring categories for this particular logo. I think that if I had come across the logo in a record store, without having ever heard the band – I would likely guess correctly in assuming the band was technical, gooey, and literally “fantastic.” Very good example of how a visual element can conjure an imagined auditory response. 10

WORKS WITH SPRAYPAINT: It would be a tough one, but I am going to have to say “YES” it will. The lines between the letters can be cut out carefully and in the end, if all goes well, it would actually make for a pretty strong stencil. 9

VERSATILITY: I have seen this logo used with many color, textures, and effects applied to it. It’s very versatile – works great on t-shirts (wish I had one), posters, album jackets, patches, and bumper stickers. 10

COMPLEXITY: It’s a three-letter word, how complex can it be? Well, try and reproduce it on your own. It’s pretty complex. You can get it close, but I am thinking it took considerable work to design this and get the letter forms to look natural and flowing. A little on the complex side of the fence, this one gets an 8.

Total score for Yes Logo: 8.6

Rock Band Flyer / Colored Pencil

Colored pencil and various pens. Sensitive young men indeed! Larger : Godzoundz Flyer

Rock Band Logos 3

From Wikipedia: “The hook-and-cross logo is that of Kronos, the king of the Titans and father of Zeus in Greek mythology, and is the alchemical symbol for lead, one of the heaviest of metals. Sandy Pearlman considered this, combined with the heavy and distorted guitar sound of the band and decided the description “heavy metal” would be aptly applied to Blue Öyster Cult’s musical sound. It was designed by Bill Gawlik and appears on all of the band’s albums.”

One of my all time favorite bands, and one of my all time favorite logos. The legend and story of this band is really pretty awesome, and literally rife with mysterious allegory. Their career is like a riddle within a riddle – with a mysterious “Sandy Pearlman” character lurking behind the curtain. Wikipedia has complied a pretty good history of Blue Oyster Cult. Look into it, I dare you. All the tie-ins with the “Stony Brook” and the Oysters, and “Sandy Pearlman” and it goes on and on.
Fascinating…

I could write thousands of words about this band and this logo – like I said, I am a huge fan.
I will try not to gush, but that is why there are rules to guide me.

HOLDS MYSTERY: Oh yeah. Just try and start googling things like “cross of questioning” and “cross of chronos”
and see what kind of results you get. Back in Jr. High, people thought I was satanic (merely posessed) because I
scrawled the symbol everywhere. Almost got beat up once, but I befuddled the bully. They made a point of hiding it on their record jackets – it became a game to find it. Spectres took forever – it was the hardest one.
Obviously a 10

DESCRIBES THE MUSIC: Well, if I saw the symbol anywhere, on anything, I am just the kind of curious person who would look into it. I think I would have to speculate that they were a thinking, brooding man’s band. Metal for sure…but something more – something not exactly metal. It’s tough to say if this symbol really evokes an imagined “sound.” It’s kind of up in the air, and I have to give it an 8.

WORKS WITH SPRAYPAINT: Hella. 10

VERSATILITY: I’ve seen it decorated a million ways, emblazoned on all manner of merchandise, and it works every time. It’s freakin ancient, dudes. Strong symbology, multiple applications, all around killer, versatile logo. Once you see it, you can’t un-see it. 10

COMPLEXITY: Not too complex, but that tight curve at the bottom takes a little practice to get just right. Simple enough to draw or scrawl, complex enough to make you have to think about it. Love it. A true ten sits squarely on the fence, and this is a great example. 10

Total score for Blue Oyster Cult: 9.6!

Collage / Mixed Media 2

Another mixed media flyer. Materials were crayon, colored pencil, collage, oil pastels, scraping tool, spittle, and various ball point pens.

Full size version of mixed media band flyer.

Rock Band Logos 2

Today the logo is for one of my favorite bands of all time….the french prog outfit, MAGMA. A lot can be said about this terrific and spaced out bunch of weirdos, and their logo is one of my personal favorites. You should read the wiki about this band….it’s pretty awesome. They invented their own language to sing in that tied in with a vaguely scientology-esque backstory as to what the band is all about. Vander had a version of the logo cut out of brass and hung on a chain around his neck. So badass.

HOLDS MYSTERY: While there is no real occult significance to this logo, there is a good share of mystery because it ties well into the backstory of the band. It looks like hot lava erupting from a towering volcano and spilling around it, swallowing up some sort of medieval castle structure. The symbology is fierce and fairly direct. I dig it. 7

DESCRIBES THE MUSIC: If you can describe the music of Magma with words, you are doing better than most. While the logo doesn’t really suggest any particular brand of music to me, I think if I came across the logo in a record store, I’d imagine them to sound like some kind of desert-rock 90’s grunge rock metal type band. I would be pretty mistaken in doing so, though I would not have been disappointed if I had bought the record based solely on the logo. This one has to land just above the middle mark.
6

WORKS WITH SPRAYPAINT: I think I would fall over if I saw that someone had made a stencil and spraypainted this logo under the overpass. “Whoa! Someone else has heard of Magma!” It is a clean logo, and without the verbiage, the logo would work great as a stencil. 10

VERSATILITY: Vander with his big brass cutout necklace version says it all. Extremely versatile logo. Looks great in any color, on any material. Works all on it’s own with or without text. 10

COMPLEXITY: While the shape itself is fairly complex, it is one piece, which helps make it simple enough to be reproduced with a sharpee pen or a mauve colored crayola. I would love to meet the pre-teen Magma fan – pretty sure it doesnt exist, but a pre-teen absessed with early seventies frech prog could paint it on their jacket pretty easily, or draw it on their pee-chee folder. 9

Magma Logo Total Score: 8.4

The Universal EP now available

At Long Last, the 4-song super cd ep from my band, The Universal is ready.

You can buy it, listen to it, even download it here.

We are currently working on our full length release, and it’s full of surprises! In the meantime, subsist with the ep. It has the video for Dead Battery Accident by J. Sievers – a claymation masterpiece – even featured on IFC last July!

Rock Band Graphic Design

So…I am getting ready to publish some affordable package deals on graphic design geared specifically towards rock bands. I have a few printers I like to work with, with some good marketing packages that are surprisingly affordable. I checked my blog stats this morning and I got my first search engine hit on the term “rock band graphic design.” It’s a sign! I got excited immediately. Not that it really means anything, but it’s cool to see that I am already getting the sort of traffic I want.

I am working on putting together an online portfolio of my fine art stuff, as well as some examples of graphic design work I’ve been able to do. I have tons of ideas, and I love hearing other peoples thoughts about it. Let’s jam!

Stay tuned…I have a few things to get together and I will publish some ideas I have and we shall see where that gets us.