July 20, 2008 • 10:30 pm • POSTED BY Jim Walls
Last night, during a hot and steamy weekend spent camping, I decided to do a little stargazing with this cool new iPhone application Starmap. I like to think that one of the reasons my wife married me is because I can instantly point out the feint Orion nebula or the seven sisters of the Pleiades, but I know the real reason is because I have the strength of a musk ox tempered by the sensitive demeanor of a young Montgomery Clift. Anyways, this app makes me even more annoying if you happen to be standing with me in a field at 1 a.m.
As the moon crested over the trees (a beautiful haloed waning gibbous), it dawned on me that it was 39 years ago this weekend that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on our planet’s only non-manmade satellite. So I toasted these brave men (and Michael Collins, the guy who hung back in the orbiter) with a couple of cold and frosties. Specifically, Sam Adams Summer Ale, which has been my summer beer of choice for several years now that Pete’s Wicked Summer Brew is increasingly hard to find. If I had planned better—and if it was still being produced—I would have popped the cap of one of these, which is probably my favorite beer bottle design of all time:
Apollo Lager seems to have been brewed by the Minnesota Brewing Company, which may no longer be around. But the design was by the esteemed Cahan & Associates, which incidentally has one of the ballsiest sites in our industry.
Finally, to cap this post off, I share one of my prized possessions: a personalized Neil Armstrong autograph. Thanks to folks selling his signature on ebay, Mr. Armstrong rarely signs anymore, but I got this before the Internet even existed…and when I still harbored fantasies of being an astronaut. Those dreams went to hell thanks to lackluster college advising, 20/400 vision, and (surprise) too much beer, but the world gained another associate creative director—thus remaining the delicate balance around which our big blue marble revolves.
July 18, 2008 • 1:56 pm • POSTED BY brendan quinn
(Click on photo to enlarge)
Here’s a spread that we did for a Wilkes University print piece that was designed to help high school juniors understand the college admissions process a little better. It had advice on visiting schools, how to apply for scholarships, key dates and a bunch of helpful stuff. Naturally, it also had an origami Transformer (technically a Decepticon) destroying a city, all of which were made out of Scantron sheets.
This was for the section about the SATs, and it was designed to make the test a little less intimidating to students. I mentioned the headline as a joke to Greg Hubacek, the designer on the job, and before we knew it, his whole work space resembled a miniature standardized-test-ready Tokyo. The client, Wilkes University, who has agreed to some of our wilder ideas, was pretty stoked about it as well. Perhaps, like me, they also received a Soundwave toy for Christmas circa 1986.
Credits:
- ACD: Jim Walls
- AE: Dan Giroux
- Designer: Greg Hubacek
- Copywriter: some hack
- Photographer: Matt Bednarik
July 18, 2008 • 12:50 pm • POSTED BY ghubacek
To compliment Adam’s Ping Pong Showcase, I thought I would start a new column called Philly Showcase, highlighting some of our more outstanding members of “The City Of Brotherly Love”. Meet “Jo On Rails – 48(Philly)”. He enjoys HO Scale trains, stomping around and kicking them like a monster, immitation crab meat, and Men age 25-70 in a totally heterosexual manner. Click on the image to learn more.
July 18, 2008 • 9:43 am • POSTED BY adamrgarcia
Andrzej Grubba (R.I.P.)
From Wikipedia:
“Grubba was born in Brzeźno Wielkie near Starogard Gdański. He was the recipient of numerous medals for the world competition in table tennis as well as for the European competition. He was one of the best players in this field of sport in Polish history, together with Alojzy Ehrlich. Three times he was awarded bronze medals during the World Competition – in 1989 for single play, in 1985 for team tournament, in 1987 for double play with Leszek Kucharski. Three times Grubba took part in the Olympic Games. One of the things Grubba was best known for was his ability to change playing hands mid-rally. He died of cancer leaving his wife and two children.”
July 18, 2008 • 7:55 am • POSTED BY stephen penning
We heard yesterday that not only will we be featured twice in the December Print Regional Design Annual but we are also going to be interviewed for the issue. Congratulations to all who worked on these pieces for the Woodmere Art Museum and Advanta.
