CLM

What do you do when you’re in the midst of creating something or trying to build something new and the ideation process stops or abruptly stalls out? Suddenly your brilliant idea doesn’t have the freshness that you originally planned, or everything about the idea seems flat and similar to what somebody else already did. “Panic!” “Copy someone else!” “Start completely over!” These typical reactions aren’t always the best ways out of this situation. One of my favorite creatives, musician Brian Eno, and his art school painter friend Peter Schmidt, created …READ MORE

Original Designs “Everything old is new again” is a mantra I relate to, but I’ve been recently asking myself why. According to the 2018 / 2019 graphic design trend reports, I’m not alone. “Analog everything” now has a place in current culture—vinyl LPs, heritage sneakers, paper and pencils, and of course beards and mustaches. Phrases like, mid-century retro, nostalgic, and old-school vintage are showing up in stories about major brands. AirBnB, Nike, Twitter, Virgin and YouTube have all recently launched retro looking nostalgic campaigns shown in the examples included here. …READ MORE

Creatives draw inspiration from many places, including historical influences. Art (visual, written, performed) can be recycled and mixed with new ideas to create fresh communication. One of my favorite influences throughout my career has been the artwork designed for album covers, specifically the covers of Blue Note jazz records that came out in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. I’ve collected and listened to many of these records. I admire the groundbreaking typography employed by these artists, the relationship they conjured between imagery and illustration, and their forward-thinking visual simplicity. You …READ MORE