Like all of our work, the process starts with a concept and ends in an expression. We believe this is what drives dynamic stories across whatever we make here Cinco, and a birdhouse is no exception. So we wrangled the troops around the studio, and gave everyone the opportunity to create and pitch ideas until their heart’s content. Once everyone submitted their ideas, we built and submitted two birdhouses to the event.

(Photo - Yvonne Perez Emerson)

Birdhouse #1 was built by our award-winning product design team trying out a new approach. Inspired by process driven design, the team took the opportunity to learn a new technique through the creation of the birdhouse. The team decided on slip casting, and was confident that it was going to be straightforward. They quickly realized each step had its own set of challenges. And after multiple molds were built, the team made several attempts at casting the birdhouse with varying degrees of success. Luckily, the lead product engineer is an amateur ceramicist and was able to realize the design by throwing the house on a pottery wheel at the last hour. All in all, we were pleased the simplicity of the design was such a hit, and even more honored when it was voted the "Home Sweet Home-Best Place To Dwell" award-winner.

Our second birdhouse submission is the yang to the sophisticated ying of birdhouse numero uno. It's a fun and playful riff on car dice for birds that like to live life in the jet stream. The dice birdhouse displays some pedal pinning gold paint on the fives, and comes completely built with a 327CI Chevy Small Block with Rochester mechanical fuel injection...sike!

(Photo - Yvonne Perez Emerson)

With that being said, meet Seamus Heffernan.

Seamus is a talented illustrator and designer currently creating for our entertainment team, who recently wrote, illustrated, and self-published a graphic novel. His graphic novel series Freedom has been making waves nationally and gaining a following amongst many renowned writers and comic fans.

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C: Freedom’s conception is an intriguing one because you don’t hear, or read about stories set in this time period very often. Where did the Idea for Freedom come from? Why the time period?

SH: Well, I grew up in New England, in a town full of colonial era buildings and streets. Revolutionary war history was really celebrated and pushed to the forefront of the consciousness there. So the interest in the time period probably seeped in early on.

However, I hadn’t thought about it consciously until I was in art school taking a class about Heroes, Myths and Monsters. It occurred to me to take our country’s heroes (the founding fathers) and the myths surrounding them and see how far I could blow them out of proportion before anyone noticed. I made a big romantic style oil painting called “The Boston Tea Party (The martyrdom of Samuel Adams),” which depicted the Boston Tea Party as a suicide bombing. When the work was presented, it was clear that the majority of the other students thought that I had just copied some historical painting; that Sam Adams had actually committed suicide as he blew up the East India Company’s ship. This was fascinating to me, so I decided to take the concept of overblown mythological history and run with it, especially as it pertained to our own society and country. Often by investigating the beginnings of something, you can gain massive insights as to what it has become. I love stories that do that, and our country seemed like a perfect subject to investigate, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

C: What themes are the main character(s) wrestling with throughout the narrative?

SH: The main character, Adam, is basically coming of age in a war-ravaged, destitute land. America’s own “coming of age” has been ripped from out its grasp, so Adam’s frustrated scrambling for independence is mirrored by the world around him. His personal drive for teenage independence gets constantly mixed up with the rebellious spirit of the now squashed revolution, which gets him into big trouble.

C: Some people who aren’t familiar with comics might be frightened when it comes to reading a ‘comic book’. How is this comic style different from, let’s say, a Marvel comic?

SH: Formally they are pretty much different every way they could be. I worked hard to craft the language to be representative of the time period, so the dialogue is quite a bit heavier (and hopefully headier). The art is black and white, obsessively detailed in a cross-hatched style and deliberately non-digital. My panel grid is denser, the pages are larger, and the book itself is much longer than a traditional comic book. While I draw from a lot of inspiration from mainstream comics, in particular the excitement you get from reading an action/adventure or superhero book, I am attempting to tell a much slower, deeper story than most mainstream books. Sure I have cliffhangers and badass fight-scenes, but my core purpose for making this book is to investigate the culture of America through a historical lens and rich, believable characters. And hopefully learn something from it all, too.

C: We’re fortunate enough to see the insane things you create each day, but what sort of insights could you share about your illustrative style relative to Freedom?

SH: Well, it takes a heck of a lot longer to draw with a crow-quill nib and ink on paper than it does to sketch something up in Photoshop. What’s interesting is how the medium doesn’t necessarily change one’s style at all. I feel like my general approach to storytelling, the way I render expressions and body language, doesn’t change all that much whether I’m sketching up key art or breaking down a page of Freedom. The big difference is in telling a whole story in one key image as opposed to actually telling an entire story through plot, dialogue, characters, etc. My hope is that my forays into narrative storytelling better equips me to tell a concise, single image story when it comes to branding, and vice versa. Seems to be working pretty good so far.

C: Why should people pick up a copy of Freedom?

SH: It’s honestly a really enjoyable read. Folks who work with me at Cinco know that I am my own worst critic, so it means something that I say that. I had a Pulitzer prize winning author tell me that Freedom No. 1 had him actually fascinated about a period that he’d always been bored to tears by, so don’t be scared by the historical aspect of it. It’s an intense story about real people in an extremely pivotal time in western civilization. And also… there’s a large, mysterious, feather covered man who haunts the streets of war-ravaged Boston. Why wouldn’t you read it?

Get a copy of Freedom at http://seaheff.com/pages/Freedom.html

It also can be found across the country in finer comic book stores everywhere.

The Aladdin marquee lit up eager faces of those waiting to break down the door to get front row seats. The official Never Not Grease Bus was parked in front, taunting those in line to commit a GTA regardless of the consequences, while simultaneously serving as a focal point for photo ops with the homies.

As the film got underway, the crowd was stoked throughout the entire showing, speaking in ‘YEWs’, ‘YUPs’, ‘NO-WAYs’, and ‘STFUs’. For the icing on the cake, team riders Austin Smith, Justin Bennee and Johnnie Paxson were all in attendance to rile up the crowd, hang out, and sign an autograph or two if you were lucky.

After a full year of developing brand strategy, art direction, and creative executions with our friends at Nike, the fruits of our collaborative labor brought Nike Snowboarding’s first ever snow film Never Not to fruition.

We had the opportunity to help develop the concept, work with the directors, and develop the art direction for all film graphics and collateral. The film gave Nike riders a chance to tell their story, from their perspective, giving all of us a glimpse into the sport away from the glitz and glam. The end result was an authentic snowboarding story that would connect with its core audience like never before.

Special thanks to everyone at Nike Snowboarding for one hell of a year!
nevernotmovie.com

Step behind the scenes of the recent Army of T.W.O. - The Devil's Cartel photo shoot, where we worked with photographer extraordinaire Rafael Astorga to capture iconic images of Alpha and Bravo. In addition to Raf and his awesome team, we also collaborated with the Electronic Arts crew, weapons experts (with lots of guns), and models to create epic imagery for the latest release of Army of T.W.O.

Thanks to everyone involved, we look forward to working with you all again on future projects!

Photographer Raf Astorga
Cinco & Army Of T.W.O. - Devil's Cartel
Army Of T.W.O. - Devil's Cartel

We recently commissioned fellow Portlander, Mark Warren Jacques to create a mural in our newly renovated studio. Mark is as much a storyteller as he is an artist living in a web of art makers, musicians, skateboarders, and backyard revolutionaries. His work can be best described as being steeped in the trappings of mysticism, religion, Midwestern folk tradition and west coast vibes. For Mark to see is to conceive.

Take a look at some of the work in progress.

markwarrenjacques.com

We have to brag a little– the Logitech UE series of headphones totally rock. Nearly all four models we designed are rating in at over 4.5 of 5 stars on Amazon, Apple and Best Buy. It's fair to say these are a success. Already recognized at the Innovation Awards at CES 2013, these products are proving themselves to be a favorite amongst artists, audiophiles and pretty much everyone in our office alike. In an extremely saturated market, our premium design aesthetics, epic sound integration and adaptable performance, has allowed the UE series to really make a splash.

There have been a lot of great reviews written about these models since the product launch in September, but we just stumbled across a batch of reviews by GadgetMac, which are really nice. It’s awesome to see epic shots of the products paired with a honest and thorough review.

Check ‘em out in all their glory here:
Logitech.com
Logitech UE 9000
Logitech UE 6000
Logitech UE 4000

Cinco is thrilled to see the work we did on the latest chapter in Dead Space everywhere we look. For the last year and a half, we worked closely with EA and Visceral on the creation of the visual identity for this highly anticipated release. We are looking forward to taking down a few necromorphs. Congratulations to EA and Visceral on the launch of Dead Space 3!

DEAD SPACE 3

Jonny Rodgers performed a special lunch set at Cinco last week, the show was fantastic. Jonny's brand of storytelling involves digital live sampling of tuned, water filled wine glasses, guitar, beats and vocals - creating densely, layered songs. A real cool set, we especially liked "Everything Is Yours". Thanks Jonny

See and listen to more of Jonny Rodgers work here:

At Cinco, we have a passion for designing products that enable people to do and share what they love. The point of view camera is changing the way we record and share our adventures. For adventures that require helmets, products in the market today only offer modular solutions that are bulky and obtrusive. Our vision is to design a low-profile helmet with an integrated but modular camera paired with a seamless app experience. A helmet that allows riders to look good on the mountain, pavement, or cement and record their epic moments effortlessly and seamlessly.

The Cinco POV concept helmet is crisp and simple but packed with smart features. Its modern design integrates a molded rubber strap that seamlessly transitions into its subtle visor.
Ride with the camera pointing forward or backward, allowing you to record yourself or your friends.  Detach camera from helmet for a different point of view. Insert a lamp module for night missions or a bike ride home. Use the integrated app to review your camera’s recording angle or play back your most epic moments.

The Cinco POV concept helmet represents Cinco’s vision of how smart, bold product design can enhance people’s experiences.

Patent Pending

EA: Most Wanted
Be the most wanted. Cinco collaborated with EA and Criterion studios in the development of a distinct, graphic Visual ID to reflect the action blockbuster reboot of a favorite title.

Nixon Watches
Get into the details with the new line from Nixon. Cinco continues to deliver next level product design for nearly every watch in the Nixon line.

Monster
Give style amplified with Monster Inspiration headphones. Cinco has worked closely with Monster team to design and produce the brand marketing and product imagery for the Inspiration line.

Incase
Create anywhere with the new travel selection from Incase. Cinco partnered with Incase to set the strategy and positioning of this new line.

Nixon Audio
Give the gift of loud. Together, Cinco and Nixon are designing award-winning audio products that are recognized around the world.

SYSTM
Get leaner, meaner and smarter protection with SYSTM by Incase. Incase partnered with Cinco to create the naming, identity, and all of the product design for iPhone 4, 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III.

Logitech UE
Live for music with the new line of Logitech | UE headphones. Cinco designed every detail of the new UE 900, 4000, 6000 and 9000 headphones and earphones. We started with a robust design language and ended with an epic new line of headphones that mesh the technology of Logitech with the on-stage heritage of UE.

Microsoft Careers
Get a job making what's next! Cinco worked closely with Microsoft’s hardware team to craft a position and strategy that attracts new talent to design products of the future. Are you one of them?

Nike Snowboarding Danny Kass
#getlacedup with the Nike Snowboarding DK Quick Strike that Cinco has been helping out with. Good things on the horizon. 

EA: Dead Space 3
Pre-order some terror. Cinco created an identity that showcases the Dead Space franchise's iconic hero, Isaac, as he makes his way across a hostile alien landscape with his signature weapon.

Goldcoast Skateboards
Roll on with a board from our friends at Goldcoast.

Nike+
Make it count with gear we love from our friends at Nike.