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Fall. 2011. New York.

Theodore Roosevelt. 26th U.S. President. 1901-1909

via Best Made

The Miami Marlins debut their new logo and uniforms. A nation mourns.

I don't even know what to say really.

According to various articles, the teams new colors, red-orange, blue and yellow are said to represent sunsets. And oranges. And the sky. And the Sea. And the diversity of Miami. Well, that's quite an order buddy. Are you going to eat all of it?

I believe it was designed in-house, which means the Marlins Design team was too creatively sapped pumping out beer-coozies, cheap ponchos and bobble-heads to back the creative truck up and look at the big picture. It's not their fault. They probably work their fingers to the bone getting out the multitude of deliverables a MLB team needs. But ownership should have brought in a new fresh team or contracted the job to a reputable design studio. If this is how it went.

What irks me is the historical opportunity wasted here. It's not the tshirts to the local Fourth of July softball tourny. It's a symbol of an entire city and the closest thing America has to a national dress. A baseball hat is uniquely American as much as a kilt is Scottish. It represents where you're from (Northerner? West Coast?) and a bit of your outlook on life (Boston = Fanatic, Yankees = Classic, Chicago = Dreamer, etc).

It's not that hard. Design is not cancer research. It's a communication problem solved with taste and craftsmanship. This logo didn't need to allude to 7 things. It simply needed to state 2. The city it represents and the profession it occupies. These two simple ideas are where they had to revisit every round of designs. If you go back to the brief, you'll never lose sight of that target. But when you don't, you end up trying to shoehorn into a mark too many "brand messages", while ignoring the rich aesthetic history of your client's world.

And you can do that many ways. With simple colors. With a nice, solid wordmark. Well, like this team, the 1968 Miami Marlins.

James & Bobby Purify / I'm Your Puppet

Smokin' Joe Frazier 1944-2011

Fight One.

The Fight of The Century.

Frazier victor.

Fight Two.

Ali victor.

Fight Three.

The Thrilla in Manila.

Ali victor.

A song created from Mike Tyson quotes. The New American Folk Art.

Paris

Former college roommate, painter, and friend Shane Wolf entertained my "Get out of Dodge" plans and invited me out to see his work in a Fiac filled Paris. I've never been and found it to live up to it's reputation as a beautiful masterpiece. This spring, I had punched into my phone under the banner "Sometime in the future", the challenge "Paris in the Fall". I'm extremely thankful to Shane and Anna Sugarman for the hospitality. And crepes. And Sancerre.

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via Boing Boing

Wedding/Austin

The past weekend, I was honored to attend the wedding of Mr. Glenn Tuma and Mrs. Mariana Keyes in Austin, Texas. While every wedding is beautiful in it's own right, the details in this one really struck me. From the location at Bar Mansion, the bbq from The Salt Lick, typewritten place settings, mariachi band and a god-damn piñata for some of the most adorable kids I've ever met, the entire affair couldn't have been sewn together any tighter. I also plan on massive liver failure this week. Austin IS Weird—mostly because every stranger, including cops, were incredibly nice. It's good to be back in New York. Now get the fuck out of my way.