The Designers of Summer

"Hard Ball" Back print on white shirts.

Being a hired gun (creative pinch hitter if you will) means I do a lot of exploratory work that will never be used and tends to serve the purpose of helping an agency focus in on final solution. I'm not complaining, that's just the reality of the game.

Recently I was hired by Red Jacket Clothing to create a tribal tattoo themed baseball design. I love baseball, I think it has a lot of great metaphors that one can play off for all kinds of various concepts.

My client gave me full control of this project so of course I picked my favorite team, the Boston Red Sox to use in my design.


"Hard Ball" Back print on colored shirts.

I decided since this had a tribal tattoo look I'd play off of that theme with the term "Hard Ball." I also created a modular design that could be adapted for any of the MLB teams. This way the design would have a broader potential for the marketability and be relatively easy to customize by merely shifting ink and shirt colors either dark or light.

The hardest part of this design though was creating the baseball. The first one I did looked horrible. It didn't read as a baseball, it read more like a Klingon jig-saw puzzle instead. So I had to re-draw it a few times before I struck the right balance.


Logo front print on colored shirts.

The main design is a back print and this is the front center chest print. The team logo would be dropped into the middle of the tribal ring for each team.

It took roughly two months for the design to make it through MLB licensing circles and ultimately got benched. No reason was really given? But I've dealt with MLB licenses before and they are somewhat finicky IMO.

I'd be curious what others think regarding this designs marketability, so I created a simple poll you can vote in here.

Personally I like the design, it was fun to create so I'm just bummed it got put on waivers before it even had it's first at bat.

Maybe I should buy a steroid plugin for Adobe Illustrator? Hmmmm.

Leaving My Comfort Zone

"Comfort Zone" design. (View Larger Image Here)

In a few weeks I head out of town, out of country, and out of my comfort zone.

As I shared in a previous post, I'll be headed to the Kibera Slums in Nairobi, Kenya.

My friend Justin Ahrens invited me to help in the filming of a documentary about the work "Life in Abundance" (LIA) is doing in that area.

It's a lot easier to just write a check to help a cause like this. I've done that before. But the more Justin told me about what they were doing and after talking to their founder I knew I wanted to do more than that.

As I thought about everything today a thought crossed my mind and it inspired the above design.

"Adventure never happens when you're comfortable."

So even though It stretches my comfort zone I look forward to the experience that lays before me and I want to thank those of you who have helped to support this cause because without that it wouldn't happen.

If you'd like a t-shirt of the above click here.

If you'd like to help the LIA team you can donate via paypal by sending your payment to: liasupport@liaint.org
Include in your notes "Von Africa Trip May 2010."

Thanks.

Von

No Way

Original concept drawn on a creative brief.

Creativity is kind of strange. I never know when an idea is going to spawn, I've just learned to act on it. Such was the case here.

I sat through a two hour meeting at a local design firm going over a new branding project and someone voiced an opinion about something and the term "No Way" popped into my head. So I just kind of doodled what came to mind and the above is the end result.


"No Way" design on yellow and black background.

Of course later that same night I couldn't help myself and decided to flesh out the idea. Still don't really understand what it means, but that doesn't stop me from liking it. I find that odd. I suppose it can mean what ever you'd like it to mean and there is "No Way" of convincing me otherwise! ;-P


"No Way" T-Shirt design.

There is also "No Way" I'm not going to put this design on a t-shirt either! (Stop rolling your eyes)

"No Way" T-Shirt Designs
- View / Order Black Shirt Here
- View / Order Yellow Shirt Here


"No Way" Sign mocked up.

One of the commenters below suggested that "No Way" would work for a sign too. I agree. If I ever built my own house on some property I'd get this sign made to be on the street leading to our house. Very cool. Thanks Brian.