In this 1993 interview, Steve Jobs discusses what it was like to work with Paul Rand. In it Steve says of Paul, “I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said, ‘No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.’”

The quote seems to resonate with a lot of designers, as a quick search of ‘Paul Rand’s Next Logo’ yields quite a few results that reference it. While some would say it’s a stunning example of the confidence of a master, I’d say, instead, that it’s the natural wisdom of a master. Paul’s response left no room for misunderstanding about what his job was as a designer. The client not only understood but also respected him for the clarity, thus allowing for what must have been a great working experience.

Also, there’s a great thread on LogoDesignLove about this video and the designer/client relationship. Check it here.

3DD site
I teamed up with my good friend Sam Broe to design the site for photographer, Henry Hargreaves, upcoming book 3DD. It’s a coffee table book that comes with 3D glasses. The subject matter? Well, the double D kind of gives it away.
Visit 3DD (NSFW)

Breathing Room, Inc
I developed a logo and site for Breathing Room, Inc. This one was fun because I got to do custom lettering for the logo.
Visit breathingroominc.com

The Softest Touch/Uncles Film
This was a quick site I put together for my friend’s short film.
Visit unclesfilm.com

Orange Equity
I designed a logo for Orange Equity, as well as added a few things to the site.
Visit orangeequityllc.com

I’m also working on a bunch of other projects which I’ll get around to putting up soon.

Henry Miller

This week we’re shooting products for a site redesign. I’m working with my often design partner, Jennah Synnestvedt, and the awesome photographer, Christine Blackburne. Exciting stuff!

via Keirin Culture

Richie Jackson from ian on Vimeo.

Skating videos always get me inspired. I have very little desire to actually skate, but damnit if I could have skate videos on all day, I would.

Also, this dude is ILL. He’s like the second-coming of Natas. Naaaasty.

via Unttld

Also, some of you guys may know that I’m almost as much a bike dork as I am a design dork. Well, my two worlds came careening into one another this week, not once, but twice! First, Transportation Alternatives, the cycling dorkdum enclave of which I am a member (in spirit cause I still haven’t sent in this year’s donation), unveiled a new logo and website.

click here for larger pic

Developed by Doyle Partners, the new logo is a natural progression for Transportation Alternatives. It takes the old TA logo and makes it into a singular, identifiable, and hopefully memorable mark. While the old logo wasn’t necessarily bad, it suffered from an I-need-to-tell-you-everything-now design, which I think may have been necessary for TA when it was a more obscure organization. Granted, TA has been around since 1973, but there’s no denying that the recent cycling explosion, and the aggressive initiatives of the current NYC DOT (Dept. of Transportation) has given TA much more publicity. In that respect, the new branding is quite appropriate.

In other cycling/designer news, Bike Snob NYC did a thorough critique of 2009 Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador’s new logo.

The logo itself is an abstraction of Contador’s old logo which was an illustration of what Snob coined The Fingerbang, after Contador’s victory salute.

Contador with some other guy. Notice Contador’s hat bares the original Fingerbang logo.

I have to admit, I liked the old logo. Not because it was particularly good, but because it was campy. Think Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness. Still, Snob hit the nail on the head with this assessment, “It could almost be the insignia of a bank or securities firm–albeit one with a disconcerting tendency to try to screw you with an index finger. (Actually, Contador should really consider selling his new logo to Goldman Sachs.)”

Andy Warhol Portrait of Dolly Parton

I love this image. I can stare it forever. Looking into Dolly’s eyes remind me of summer evenings that never happened. Her gaze is one of confidence, but there’s an almost undetectable vulnerability lurking beneath it all. Also, the muted tunes of yesteryear’s photography makes any shot a tiny bit more interesting.

via The Sartorialist

“What you want to do is keep working until you die.”

Read that sentence again. Does it make you cringe?

It sure made me cringe the first time I read it. I don’t know if this came about during the 90s, or what, but I always thought the idea was to till and toil in your twenties, so you could bank your way into an early retirement.

Not so, according to Milton Glaser’s response in a recent interview on Success Secrets of the Graphic Design Superstars. When asked what work he’s most gratified to have done, he answered, “I can’t say I am most gratified by anything. I think the issue for old-time professionals is sustaining. Right?” He then goes on to paraphrase T.S. Eliot(?): “The greatest blessing in life would be to die in the midst of work.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and say most people of my generation would vehemently disagree. We’re of the mind that the greatest blessing in life would be to die of heart failure while water skiing, on our third senior citizen’s Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas. We don’t want to work for the rest of our lives. We want to work while we’re young and spend our grey years basking in the spoils of our labor.

So what’s up with Milton Glaser? Is he just a bastion of the old guard who refuses to hang his hat? My theory is that Glaser represents a rare breed – the individual fortunate enough to absolutely and justly enjoy what it is he does for a living.

Sure, being a graphic designer can be fun but make no mistake about it, it’s a lot of work. It’s not all pretty colors and “cool” ideas. A lot of it is business. Actually, the more that I think about it, MOST of it is business. It’s the few hours in between the business when you get to do something fun and exciting, or you get to be a part of building someone’s brand, or you get to inspire people to take action that make it worthwhile.

As with any art, the joy is in the creation. That being said, would I want my withered and pixelbeaten dead body found hunched over my then-antique Ikea work desk? Probably not. But hey, I’m no Milton Glaser.

Read the interview:
Success Secrets of the Graphic Design Superstars: Milton Glaser