You Kutztown kids did a fine job of imitating us for this poster photoshoot, we must say. Despite all the time that Doug & I spend crafting our ~*~signature looks~*~, apparently we can each be simplified for parody purposes:

Doug — a mustache.
Me — glasses & a scarf.

Above: side-by-side comparisons of a couple of our favorite student impersonators vs. THE REAL THING. (We couldn’t do a real-time comparison because Doug shaved off his mustache last week. THANKS, DOUG.)

Thank YOU, Kutztown! Hope to see your internship applications filling up our inbox ASAP.

Fast Forward: it’s now 2011. It was a late Monday afternoon when the call from Quiksilver came into our west coast office. They needed help with a last minute project and asked if we could come in the following morning to discuss. We have a long standing relationship with Quik, so we knew it must of been important. We showed up to the office not knowing exactly what was going to be needed. Nothing like last minute, but we were up for whatever curveball tossed our way. Cutting to the chase, apparently Pirate Surf had been shelved in the mid 90’s; the product design and POV had been folded into Quiksilver’s line as a whole. The brand was “shelved” meaning the brand stopped producing product, and ceased distribution, and was basically put away for another day. Well, Quik wanted to bring it back. We were charged with re-animating the brand in preparation for some large meetings the following week. Tic Toc, time’s a ticking, we have one week.

A few additional twists:

1. We needed to make sure the brand could speak year round, a four season offering.
2. We needed to expand beyond just “Surf” – it needed to apply to the culture as a whole, and be accepted in the moto, music, surf, skate, and snow arenas as well.
3. The brand needed to speak to male and female audience
4. At a glance, the brand needed to represent the mainstream general perception of action sport culture and it MUST come across as authentic
5. And finally, it must be a modern day version of Pirate Surf as the days of typical grunge are long gone. So, what does Pirate look like and stand for, both now and for the next 5 plus years?

Before heading back to the office we made a run to the local Trader Joes to pick up some PIRATE’s Booty. We knew that with this time frame, we’d need to maximize our eating efficiencies for the next several days.

We rolled up our sleeves and got right to work. We ran it through our traditional process but modified for speed. We did our homework, both on the history of the brand, its competition, and current market trends given how Quik thought it should be positioned. We developed a very poignant creative brief in one days time, defining target audiences, unique positioning, values, personality, etc.

We launched into full creative mode pulling swipe and inspiration from wherever we could in that short time frame. It was actually quite liberating to work on such a stringent timeline. It was almost like a mini escape and everyone in the office was leaving the team alone for the most part. They were respecting “the code.” The biggest inspiration we had in our arsenal was a book called “Fucked Up and Photocopied” which showcases the “instant art of the punk rock movement.”

We really gravitated to these gems:

We wanted the look and feel to capture the life of this youth culture and energy, with a subtle nod to a Pirate’s life (Pirate to us represented unbridled freedom). We wanted a weathered feel, bold use of color, but a zerox monochromatic look which lent itself to high contrast black and white imagery, almost disheveled but not. Once we honed in on this certain look and had our overarching concept developed, too many sleepless nights began to set in.

Somehow we got a little “Captain” in us. We found ourselves talking like pirates, quoting pirates, discussing the hottest pirate actresses, and best pirate jokes, all the while playing surf videos in the background and skating the hallways late at night. We even earned nicknames along the way, for example, senior designer Justin was known as: “Captain Calico J-Beard”, and senior copywriter Kyle became: “Black Long Dolphin” for which reasons we wont get into (but lets just say it had to do with too much rum and a tattoo parlor).

Ultimately we solved the puzzle and delivered one kick ass brand. We not only delivered a presentation, we took it one step further and fully developed the brand. It was complete with all the trimmings, brand guidelines, packaging, instore, outdoor, gorilla strategies, web templates, and an ad campaign to boot. Quiksilver was set, and Pirate was well Tee’d up for re-launch.

Check out the full case study here and relish in the Pirate life: http://www.160over90.com/
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…and wasn’ really going to post these but what the hell.

A couple of side notes, incase you were wondering:

1. Everybody wants to be a Pirate. Even my 2 year old son. Argh! (he does a great impression, i’m still getting the image)
2. the top pirate quote at least in the office during the time: “… you are without doubt the worst pirate I have ever heard of … Ahhh, but you have heard of me…”
3. the top pirate joke: There was a pirate who wore a steering wheel on his belt buckle. One day, a landlubber asked him why. The pirated replied “I don’t know, but it’s drivin’ me nuts.”
4. hottest pirate actress: Penelope Cruz

As a creative director you need a myriad of things to align to make great work. An awesome client product certainly helps. An awesome product and a good creative process are even sweeter. But if you have both of those things going for you and the client doesn’t trust you you’ll likely end up frustrated, asking yourself “what if” as you close the bar on a Monday night. This is not one of those instances. This is a look at rebranding, through the eyes of the client.

It was in the summer of 2010 that I was introduced to Hiro Leung and Song Kim, owners and operators of Imagin Asia Restaurant Management Group based in Gainesville, Florida. In 2005 they opened Rolls’n Bowls, a restaurant where you can build your own sushi roll or rice bowl. It was met with great success and Hiro and Song realized there was an opportunity for expansion. It was soon after that, that our relationship began.

STEVE: Let’s take a step back in time for a minute. Tell us how the concept of building your own sushi roll came to fruition?

HIRO: It was a typical day at our other restaurant Dragonfly where one or two hour waits were the norm and we would go through crazy amounts of sushi rolls on any given day.  Getting to the restaurant at 10 in the morning and not leaving till midnight was part of our lives. After our busy shifts, we would usually end up eating whatever was left over as our family meal by creating our own roll or bowl. Mostly everything was gone by then so we had to be creative in making what was left into a meal. Ironically, we noticed that what we ate was really good so we opened up our initial QSR (quick service restaurant) concept that revolved around our family meal.  Build your own roll or bowl.

At what point in the restaurant’s existence did you realize that the concept was something special?

We usually travel around the Country looking for inspiration and we realized that we could not find anything like this. Furthermore, we have guests that not only ate our food but also wanted to open up their own store in their hometown.

Rolls’n Bowls was succeeding. Why was there a desire to rebrand the restaurant?

We knew that with the help of a great agency we could take our concept national. It’s like taking something that was good and making it great. The agency was able to tie and strengthen our brand so that we can be ready for our national expansion.

How does a quick service Japanese restaurant in Florida end up hooking-up with a branding agency in Philly?

Before we engaged in a full rebranding, we spent literally half a year looking for the right partners. I love Florida, but I have to say we don’t have the creative talent that other larger cites have and 160over90 was no exception. From the attitude, client experience and creativity we knew 160over90 was the one we wanted to work with. The question was did they want to work for a small growing concept such as ours. We used the beautiful weather and beaches to lure them.

Describe the rebranding process?

The Agency really took a huge dive and studied the market before suggesting any rebranding to us. We appreciated the many hours spent on the discovery process to not only get to know us but to also study the competitive landscape.

Inside Rolls'n Bowls

Getting to know the Rolls'n Bowls staff

Was there anything you were nervous about?

Definitely! We had a restaurant that was already humming and working. We didn’t want the Agency to just rebrand for rebranding sake. We needed them to make our restaurant better. Changing the “identity” was the most nerve racking moment. It had to not only sound right but also capture what we did well and elevate it to another level.

Describe the brand direction you selected. How did you know it was right for you?

The Agency had showed us two great directions, which made the decision very hard but after thinking in terms of which idea had the best long-term direction and the most authentic feel, it was easy.

After the brand direction was established we created a new name for you. Tell us about Yume Ume?

The name fits what we do and it has so much potential. It has subliminal message as well as a strong meaning. Our name is about creativity, fun, unique, fresh and intelligent. In Japanese it means delicious dream.

How would you describe the experience at a Yume Ume? How does the brand direction inform it?

The experience at Yume Ume is about dining out with personal expression focusing on the creative nature of the product. It is organic and illustrative celebrating imagination by highlighting the thrill of great slow food made fast.

What is your favorite piece of brand expression that has been created?

There are so many pieces to choose from but my favorite piece is the copy for our to-go container.  “Let’s go back to…your place”. It is so intimate, fun and emotional. Exactly what dining at Yume Ume is all about!

When is Philly going to get a Yume Ume?

Soon…very soon. If you’re reading this and would like to partner up. Come and check us out!

See more of our Yume Ume work here.

Hang Ten is such a jewel, and was such a force in establishing the action sport counter culture. The brand was there in the beginning for surf, skate, snow, bmx and moto; and played a key role in exposing the sports to the mainstream audience by promoting events and competitions and getting them broadcast on network television (and this was back in the 70′s).

The symbol of hope, carrying over 50 years of brand equity, the Hang Ten FEET are widely recognized around the world. These little feet have an incredible recognition and almost everyone has a positive affinity for them. Some can quite put their finger on it, but they recognize it. Symbolic of the most iconic and stylish surf moves of all time, The feet, they represent both performance and the casual lifestyle. We had to bring them back, treat them with the respect they deserve. Give them a strong identity with a marketing message they can rely on.

Most people we spoke to associated Hang Ten with surf and California culture, but a few remember it as a fashion brand rooted in action sports. But really, it’s all three. Throughout the last two decades, the brand had changed hands multiple times, and has become available in many countries around the globe, each country having it own interpretation of the brand. The authenticity and meaning of the brand was being diluted, yet the notion of it stemming from california remained organically. Hang Ten was in need of focus and an injection of energy. Our job was to bring everything back into focus, and help reposition the brand as an all season brand, embracing multiple action sport cultures, appealing to both a male and female audience.

It can be difficult to describe the feeling of bobbing around in the sun in warm salt water, waiting for the next set to come in. The exercise for Hang Ten made me realize something. Its not the bobbing around in the water, its not flying through trees in fresh powder, its not skating the abandoned pool down the street, its the feeling you get by doing it. Its the good vibe, the relaxed and happy mental state. Vitamin D production promoted by the sun. The feeling you get from the first warm day of spring, the first day you can take off your shoes, and go barefoot.

Its kind of like the scene in “Die Hard” when Bruce Willis takes off his shoes and scrunches the carpet with his toes.

carpet crunch

We all know that feeling. All we needed to do was capture it. The work can be seen here: http://www.160over90.com/hangten.html

Have a good one.

All we had to do was capture the essence of this insanely awesome experience, which resulted in the work you can view here.

At the risk of humble bragging here (or is it old fashioned bragging?), this was the easily the greatest day of work any of us had ever had. The kicker? Our hotel was the site of the third most famous event in human history, the place where Grape Stomp Lady punctured her esophagus:

Unable to resist, our crew of highly trained thespians created the following re-enactment:

Once we arrived at the track, we got much, much, more serious about approaching these finely tuned, hand-built German marvels of engineering. Our automotive muse for this excursion could only be one person.

Compare!

Steve McQueen: A ruggedly handsome, danger-tempting iconoclast who was irresistible to women and a swashbuckling bon vivant that men aspired to be.

Contrast!

Justin LaFontaine: Everything McQueen is, but with a better understanding of kerning.

Our squad of Justin and (from left to right) Kyle Arango, Corey Levin, myself, and Megan Pomplas were ready. Well, most of us were ready; Kyle was equally intent on making his Facebook friends jealous of his jet-setting lifestyle.

Our fleet of vehicles:




Oh wait, that last one is the shitbox that I drive every day.

After a few minutes of instruction, some quality pastries and strong coffee, we hit the road. Kyle and I were partnered up, and we got behind the wheel of the SLS AMG, the gullwinged super car that costs upwards of $200K and has 563 horses sitting under its meticulously sculpted hood. Kyle and I had not been this excited since Bacon Salt was invented. What followed was inspiration for a headline.

Anatomy of a Headline:
Now, we thought we had an understanding of what these cars were, and what driving fast was like, but then you step behind the wheel and are instructed to hit the gas as hard as you can. Within nanoseconds, your heart gets pinned to the back of the leather bucket seat, your head kicks back from the G Forces, and an uncontrollable smile hits your face and laughter takes over. In fact, here’s a ghetto video I took of Kyle’s first run with the SLS (I get too excited and curse in it, so beware):

The resulting headline and spread:

There’s a whole lot of work over at our main site that I’d encourage you to check out. It aims to capture the essence of fun and excitement from the event, where normal folks get to channel their inner Steve McQueen and become as giddy as children on a sugar rush. We hope you enjoy it, cause we sure had a blast making it.

And we can’t thank the people at Mercedes enough for the experience. They were generous and unbelievably accommodating during the trip, and they’ve been a pleasure to work with through our relationship. And with clients like that, you always go the extra mile (per hour?) for them.

It’s been a crazy summer at 160over90. There’s been miles of travel (what’s up Los Angeles, London, South Bend), plenty of fun, and a lot of great work, thinking, and collaboration. But before we leave the dog days of summer behind (it’s been one of the hottest Philadelphia summers on record) we wanted to share some of our most recent client work.

We’ve added 11 new clients to our site and over the next few weeks The Boomerang Table will feature a behind-the-scenes view into the work of each. Get your phones, iPads, and computers ready and let us know what you think.

Mercedes-Benz

University of Notre Dame

Maverik Lacrosse

Michael Ryan Architects

Hang Ten

Yume Ume

Tectron

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Nike Australian Open 2011

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pirate Surf

It’s over half-way through August. Not exactly sure how it happened, but it did. Summer is coming to a close and so is 160over90′s “Summer Internship Extravaganza!” (or whatever the official title is).

Way back in May, Mr. James Snyder and myself wandered into 160over90 as the creative interns for the summer. We were like toddlers lost in the grocery store, crying for our mothers and occasionally wetting our pants. Safe to say it made our receptionist uncomfortable.

Three months later, much as changed. “Accidents” are few and far between, we’ve learned that there is no crying in branding, and James moved from humble intern to humble junior designer. Those who know him will tell you, James is a very humble guy.

As for me? I will say that I couldn’t have imagined what was coming my way over the next three months when I first walked through the doors of 160over90. I didn’t really have any expectations coming in, but even if I had, they would have been far exceeded. To put it in words without getting all sentimental and whatnot, I’ve learned so much in my summer at 160. As if just being around the staff here wasn’t enough, I was given the opportunity to get my hands dirty, do some real work, and get loads of valuable experience. It’s been incredible.

The knowledge and relationships I’m going to take away from these short few months promise to be invaluable and I’m extremely grateful for it.

As a side note, apart from doing work for the company, I was also working on a weekly visual journal under the watchful eye of Senior Designer, Dan Blackman. It’s pictured below and can be seen in detail over at my website.
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Thanks again to the entire 160 crew. It’s been amazing.

-Ryan

A year ago at this time, Kelly Dorsey and I had just completed the first and second Loyola University Maryland search pieces—a two-part direct mail campaign targeted at sophomores and juniors in high school. They hit the mailboxes, and they were successful, and that was great, and we were happy.

But when we were asked to expand the two-part mailer into a four-part series, we were honestly a little worried. Visions of Rocky 3 & 4 (and every other half-baked sequel/ made for TV movie) began to haunt us. Even though the four pieces would be tied together by identical format and materials, we wanted to create something new and unexpected—and to give the reader a glimpse into the school from a completely original angle.

We started Piece Three from a bird’s eye view: deciding that we would focus on campus life, and bring to light the fact that every student has enough activities, tasks, and experiences to keep them busy all four years. At the heart of this idea is the notion that no two people can possibly experience Loyola in the same way—and that’s a good thing.

What resulted was a piece that transitioned from the conversational “Loyola voice” straight into three first-person narratives, written from the point of view of students with vastly different Loyola experiences. Our inspirations were wide: the writing style from those Papercuts ads, the kinetic energy of the Euro trip montage from The Rules of Attraction (minus all the sex and illicit drug use), David Foster Wallace’s use of simultaneous stories and footnotes, and Maira Kalman’s hand-drawn typography.

The manuscript was long and full of blocks of text—but that was the point. We wanted each story to be something that you had to dive into to experience. Something that was so subjective that you couldn’t help but imagine the type of student who would embody this voice and engage in all these activities on campus. Each story was then paired with its own hand-drawn typeface (many hand cramps and late nights later).

Check out some of the pictures of what we came up with, below.  Of course, while this was happening, we were also concepting Piece Four…but we’ll leave that one for another blog post.

Summer is here, and so are 160over90′s creative interns. For the next few months, James Alex Snyder and Ryan Hubbard will call One South Broad Street home. And call home only to speak to their mothers.

Ryan was born and raised in central Iowa, sharing a hometown with Cleveland Indians great, Bob Feller. Ryan is entering his senior year at Iowa State University, studying graphic design. He enjoys baseball, music, High Life, food (though you wouldn’t know it looking at him), and good company.  One day he plans on growing a gnarly beard.

Check out his work here.

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James Alex is a graphic designer who lives in Philadelphia. He lives in a one-room apartment with the girl he loves. They play in a band together. When he’s not thinking of things, he’s making them. He is smitten with the books of Charles Bukowski, the music of The Pixies, and the challenge of keeping his shoes tied. He has a wonderful habit of hugging strangers.

He lives online at printsandtheresolution.co.

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We asked James and Ryan a few questions about life and design. They gave us answers about Ray Romano and Marvin Gaye.

1. The biography of your life, what would it be titled?
Ryan: The Art of Being Awkward

James: I Saved Latin. What Did You Ever Do?

2. If you could trade places with any other person (real or fiction, living or dead, past or present, etc.) who would it be and why?
R: Frodo Baggins, Post-Mt Doom. Being a hobbit and living in middle earth would be
awesome, I just wouldn’t want to deal with orcs & giant flaming eyes.

J: Whoever Francoise Hardy was kissing in 1966.

3. If you could have any one superpower, what would it be?
R: The ability to stop time.

J: To sing like Stephin Merritt or Marvin Gaye.

4. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
R: Don’t sweat the small things, and always do what makes you happy.

J: You really only need to know three chords.

5. If you could put together your dream rock and roll band, who would you pick to play what?
R: Ray Romano would play everything. At once.

J: The Pixies. Without revision. Well, maybe with Keith Moon sometimes.

6. What art movement(s) are you most influenced by?
R: Post-Modernism and Art Deco probably influence my work the most. But they
don’t dictate my work by any means.
I try to pull from a variety of sources pending on the needs of the project.

J: International Typographic Style, Pop Art, and Dada.

7. If you’re house is on fire, what is the very first non-living thing you’d save?
R: If my computer were in better shape, I’d take it. Since it’s gonna need replaced in
less than a year, I choose my bass.

J: My sketchbooks/love letters (really, they’re the same thing).

8. Last movie you watched?
R: I watch Roadhouse before bed every night.
(but in actuality, I took my girlfriend to see Water for Elephants. That was probably the
last movie I’ve seen.)

J: Exit Through the Gift Shop and Fast Times at Ridgemont High double feature.

9. Last book you read?
R: Design as Art by Bruno Munari

J: Over The Anvil We Stretch by Anis Mojgani

10. A quote that best describes you?

R: “If I were a real werewolf I’d wear baggy clothes so my nice clothes
wouldn’t get all torn up.” – Tracy Jordan of 30 Rock

J: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars” – Oscar Wilde

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Assuming they don’t run off together to start their own agency in the Caribbean, James and Ryan will be contributing to the blog as well as posting a final project later this summer. Stay tuned!

Last week, I was going through the snapshots I took during my visit to Greensboro, Alabama and was thrilled to make this connection to Walker Evans — that Greensboro is indeed one of the towns that Evans documented for much of his acclaimed collaboration with writer James Agee in 1936. Their collaboration resulted in the honest and revealing book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and grew out of an assignment that the two accepted from Fortune magazine to produce a magazine feature on the conditions among white sharecropper families in the South.

WALKER EVANS: “Storefront, Greensboro, Alabama.” Summer 1936.

WALKER EVANS: “County seat of Hale County, Alabama.” 1935/1936.

Above: Greensboro’s Main Street, then and now. Much of the architecture remains unchanged.

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In the spirit of Evans, below is some of the inspiring signage I encountered while exploring Greensboro last week — a graphic designer’s gold mine! Fun fact: Evans went on to teach graphic design (and photography) at the Yale University School of Art from 1964 to 1974.)