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The Coffinmaker

The Portland Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:00:44 +0000

Local

The Coffinmaker from Dan McComb on Vimeo.

We've featured Dan McComb's work before. He is awesome, and that's all we need to say about that. This mini-doc on the Vashon Island Coffin Company is really interesting to watch and gorgeously shot.

What Day Is It? Hump Day.

The Portland Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:00:41 +0000

National

Celebrate Wednesday. Only a few more till the weekend. This little Geico gem is brought to you by the fine folks at The Martin Agency. You can see an extremely long credit list after the jump.

Respect the Armor All Viking

The Portland Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:00:58 +0000

National

Matt Smukler - Armor All - Respect (30) from Community Films on Vimeo.

The latest efforts from DDB Worldwide reveals what happens when we don't properly take care of our cars. Vikings are serious business. Full credits after the jump.

Part and Parcel

The Portland Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:00:02 +0000

Local

We love this idea of a high end gift giving service with a very well designed packaging system to support it. This branding and packaging work comes to us as a collaboration from Portland designers, Caitlin McGinley and Vahagn Azaryan. We're really digging the scope of this project and all the little design details included in this packaging effort. Nice work.

Ibsens Fabrikker

The Portland Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:25:19 +0000

National

Denmark-based design firm, Form Agenda, recently put the cap on a project for Ibsens Fabrikker that spanned the company's entire brand. They developed everything from the logo down the fabric tags that are used in the their products. It's not often that we have the opportunity to be so extensive in our branding work, but when that golden unicorn rears its head, it's time to ride. In this case, the results are clear. This looks like an amazing project to be involved with, and the resulting work fits perfectly while adding a whole lot of fun (and great vector work) into Ibsens' daily lives.

New Editorial: Dear Jr Creative, Earn Your Place. You'll Be Better For It.

The Portland Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:59:57 +0000

National

From time to time we find ourselves collecting our random, jumbled thoughts, organizing them and forming cohesive diatribes that we can toss out into the ether. Sometimes it's our words, sometimes it rolls in from the one of our fellow Egotists and sometimes it's yours - the dear reader. Wherever the words come from, though, our editorials represent our viewpoints, our thoughts and our hopes — all wrapped in a candid, crunchy shell of anonymity (although, sometimes not).

We're pleased to share our newest Editorial, “Dear Jr Creative, Earn Your Place. You'll Be Better For It.” with fellow creatives.

JOB: Art Director @IntegerGroup

The Portland Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:43:03 +0000

National

The Integer Group in Lakewood, CO is looking for an Art Director. Check out the complete Integer Group job posting for more details. Please Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted within the last three days.

Ed. Note: Hey, PDX. Do you have a position for a local creative opening up? Did you know that we offer really affordable rates when listing open positions? Your ads run for a month and feature heavy Twitter coverage and a dedicated news post as well. In addition, our worldwide network gets over a million hits a month, which is a lot of cheddar.

We also feature a FREE post option for freelance and intern positions. You can find out more details in our job posting section.

EVENT: Creative Mornings, Portland with Camas Davis

The Portland Egotist — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:00:54 +0000

Local

June's installment of the always inspirational Creative Mornings, Portland will feature Camas Davis of the Portland Meat Collective, a one-of-a-kind meat school and culinary resource that changed the way citizens of Portland, Oregon think about the meat they eat..

In 2009, Camas Davis, a magazine editor and food writer, lost her job and ran away to Southwest France to study butchery. She had no idea where it would lead her. Upon her return, she founded the Portland Meat Collective. But what began as a personal exploration of “food transparency,” quickly became something much larger and more controversial than Davis could have imagined. During this talk, Davis draws on her personal and professional experiences in the worlds of food, media, and meat, to explore the true meaning (and unexpected consequences) of transparency.

The theme of the month is food, and this fits squarely within those constraints. Get ready to register for the event as they always fill up fast.

Creative Mornings, Portland with Camas Davis
Friday, June 21, 8:30 - 10:00 am
Ziba Auditorium: 810 NW Marshall Street Portland, OR
Registration opens soon

Creative Mornings New York: Seth Godin

The Portland Egotist — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:00:12 +0000

National

2013/05 Seth Godin | Backwards from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

Seth Godin recently did a Creative Mornings event in New York. The best-selling author talked about a wide variety of subjects and truly provided an inspirational talk. This is one to consider checking out.

Carroll Shelby Collection

The Portland Egotist — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:36 +0000

Local

Here's some nice work from Rosaleen Gallagher and Wicked Quick. This collection of clothing (by Wicked Quick) was created with race car driver, Carroll Shelby, as inspiration.

The clothing and design work on the project was extensive and laborious. The clothing was designed to look as if it had come right out of Shelby's garage, which meant fantastic retro graphics and hand-dying, dating the clothing to give it an authentic look. The surrounding design work was then given a similar treatment to further convey the "out of the garage" feel.

Google Chrome Celebrates the Web and "Building the World Together"

The Portland Egotist — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:46 +0000

National

We love, love, love this commercial. It's retrospectastic. Viva la hypermedia!

NBA Finals - Forever Dirk

The Portland Egotist — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:42 +0000

National

Here's a solid commercial for the NBA finals via Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The infamous fade jump shot made by Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki in the 2011 finals against the Heat is immortalized forever as we see the effect of that signature move all over the world. The spot ends with "forever is big", which we think is a pretty fitting phrase for this much loved sport. You can see full credits after the jump.

Seb + Ava

The Portland Egotist — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:28:30 +0000

Local

We keep coming across all this great hand done typography, and we want to feature it all. This nice logo work for non-profit, Seb + Ava, is the "handiwork" of Bruce Cumming of Eidograph. The custom type has a playful and whimsical feel to it and just looks great in black and white. We love how well this works in high contrast.

Long Time Fan Favorite Drawn! Calls It Quits

The Portland Egotist — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:13:57 +0000

National

We were pretty bummed out yesterday when we found out that well known illustration blog, Drawn!, was calling it quits. The prolific weblog that featured thousands of artists and illustrators over its eight year run was the passion project of illustrator, John Martz. Millions of people passed through the site over the course of the weblog's life gathering inspiration from Martz's (and a select group of contributors) daily curatorial selections.

The blog itself won several awards and came into quite a bit of notoriety when it made Time's 50 best websites alongside YouTube, Digg, and Myspace back in '05. To commemorate the passing of the weblog, Martz did a fairly lengthy retrospective post about the reasons why Drawn was going on permanent hiatus. His primary reasons were understandable. He felt that blogs of that type were losing their significance due to sites like Pinterest and Facebook and the ability these services provide for instant posting gratification. The other reason was simply life changes and being in a different space. Both of which we completely understand.

We're proud to provide a virtual 21 gun salute and a hearty farewell to Drawn!, and we wish John the best in all his future endeavors. Long live Drawn!

Dear Jr Creative, Earn Your Place. You’ll Be Better For It.

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:32:43 +0000

Dear Jr Creative,

I’m a firm believer in earning your keep, starting from the bottom, doing the less than desirable well, before moving up.

Prove yourself on what seemingly matters little, and people will notice. I promise.

At the very least, I promise I’ll notice. Because it’s the unorthodox grind of a route I took.

I was a rich kid from the suburbs. I was embarrassed by it. I hated it. It was a 90’s thing.

In High School, and in Gen-X “rebellion” against my white collar family, I worked for the Las Vegas Water District doing underground construction.

I dug ditches and changed water lines during the Vegas Summer for 8 dollars an hour. Not desirable work. And the guys I worked with could smell the rich kid on me. They busted my balls mercilessly for it.

I dug the shit out of those ditches. I loved it. I used my hands. I used heavy machinery and pneumatic tools—I drove a dump truck (which is awesome by the way).

All I wanted was the respect of these old guys changing water lines in the desert. Dudes that worked so fucking hard. For so fucking little. To feed their families; their addictions; their gambling debts.

Eventually, I’d earned a bit of respect.

I worked hard…”for a skinny rich kid.”

One day I mentioned to the crew lead: “Fuck it. I like this. Why not full time?”.

He pulled the truck over to the shoulder of a mountain road, heading North towards Mt. Charleston, looked deep into my face, “Every single one of us would give the world NOT to be here. Stop your blue collar charade. Go to school like you’re supposed to. Get out of this shit.”

So I did.

That was my last of three summers working for the water district.

I went to school for business. Marketing & Advertising to be exact. Which, aside from teaching me some business basics, really just help develop my aptness for bullshit.

Luckily for me, somewhere along the line, I learned a real skill and about this thing called the “Internet.” It was a place I could upload the photos I was taking (and developing in a darkroom, btw). I learned some Photoshop and HTML skills because of it. Eventually, I started freelancing: horrible graphic design and web work. Whatever I could get—fucking rave fliers, man. I just wanted to learn. The beer money was the gravy on top.

My first “real” job out of college was resizing graphics for an eCommerce company. I showed up for the interview on my skateboard, handed the HR lady my resume and said, “I’ll take anything. I know Photoshop. Here’s my book.” I didn’t even know what a “designer” was. But that’s why I was there. And by no means was I a designer; Photoshop monkey…maybe.

Ninety people had been laid off a month prior to me being brought on. I was the first hire after those layoffs and in the eyes of everybody…I was “that guy…”

I was at the bottom of the totem pole. Where I belonged.

The only thing I had going for me was a fear of “sucking.” And for the record, I sucked. (Certainly compared to the kids I see today).

“…good enough to resize graphics” was what I overheard the Creative Director say, just around the corner.

So I resized graphics. I resized the shit out of graphics, learning to code HTML along the way. I unlearned what I learned in business school. And learned…business. I developed site and page concepts for fun. Always showing my boss. Wanting critique. Always trying to get better. People noticed. He noticed. I gained more and more responsibility and more importantly, trust. Never begging for more money. Just wanting to do more work, better work.

To not suck.

Eventually, I took over as Creative Lead. I redesigned both KBToys.com and eToys.com. Enterprise level eCommerce stuff. Real businesses, making real money. I thought the designs were pretty damn good for the early 00’s. Some of the first .com’s to switch to 1024x768. We won some eCom industry awards. It moved product. I thought I was hot shit.

I was far from it.

Fast forward a decade and I’m blown away by the level of talent that’s out there. Kids today come out of school with so much fucking skill it’s crazy. But with all of that skill, in so many, there is equal-to-more parts hubris. An entitled attitude that seems to expect everything for nothing.

Somewhere, along the lines, we (everyone) got sensitive. We started giving trophies for last place. People forgot how to take criticism. We started (and continue) to want to spare people from the realities of what it really takes. Close counts. Thanks for trying. Better luck next time—even worse—Fail Harder.

I hate this phrase more than anything.

“Fail Harder” is a manifesto for the delusional, the lazy—the lotto dreamer.

Celebrating failure is a cop out. Be pissed that you fucked up—when you lose. And know why.

Fail “Smarter” maybe. But failing hard is for losers.

Industry-wise, we covet the idea. Not its realization, it’s viability.

“I want to be an AD. But I don’t write and I don’t design. I’m an idea guy”

“No, no, no, i’m a UX guy. I don’t do wires and I don’t do finished design. I just explore interaction concepts.”

“I want to be a CD. But I don’t like talking with clients.”

“My new Web 3.0 business concept doesn’t have a revenue model—it’s like Instagram but with animated gifs of kittens.”

Ideation in a clientless vacuum; devoid the realities of real life (inside an agency or any company for that matter). Feasibility. Budgets. Client bureaucracies. The fact is that big ideas take time to sell. They die. They have to be reborn. And that it’s your role to breath the life back in. But only if you really give a shit.

The “idea” is the tip of a gigantic, shit stained iceberg of work. And if you aren’t ready for what it takes, or worse, you think “that it’s someone else’s job” to push your idea from ether to reality—reconsider your profession.

My advice is simple: don’t be the entitled kid. The kid who over indexes in ambition but lacks any real passion—any real drive other than a new title at a new agency.

Be the kid who wants to learn even when he doesn’t have to—the designer who wants to learn to write, to code, to understand business because it makes the design better.

Don’t be an industry douche. They call themselves ninjas or gurus…even evangelists. They’re the ones who will tell you, to your face, that they are smarter than the other guy. They’re the ones who have stopped reading by now.

Don’t be the kid who hops around. Don’t be the kid, who, when given the chance, will opt for the bare minimum. Who scoffs at perspective. The kid who will jeopardize the team to spare his fragile ego. The kid, who, when faced with a situation that gets difficult, says “I’m too good for this kind of work. I deserve better.”

Nobody deserves shit. Until you do. And even then, never admit it.

I’m now the old guy. I get it…

I’m not saying you need to go out and work construction. But it’s good to know where you don’t want to be. And understand why.

I know I don’t want to resize graphics anymore. Why? Well…because it sucks.

But I’ll still dig the shit out of a ditch.

- Dave

I should note, that my teen “rebellion” against my Father was laughably ironic. My dad was blue collar. A cowboy who changed tires on big rigs before finishing college and becoming who he is today.

Behind my teen angst, unbeknownst to me all that time, I was trying to be just like him.

What a silly little rich kid.

David Snyder is Executive Creative Director at Firstborn. Living in Brooklyn. He likes progressive thought, design and technology. He eats and libates well. This editorial original posted on Medium.

The Peninsula Chair

The Portland Egotist — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:52 +0000

Local

Phloem Studio // The Peninsula Chair from Quimby on Vimeo.

We love this process video put together for Pholem Studios by Alex Olavarria of Quimby. The chair being constructed in the video will be showcased at the the upcoming International Contemporary Furniture Fair in NYC. The production value of this short is well done and almost cathartic in its construction.

Specsavers

The Portland Egotist — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:10 +0000

National

Might be time for some new glasses, yes? This is a humorous ad for British glasses maker, Specsavers.

ADC Presents: John C Jay

The Portland Egotist — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:00:30 +0000

Local

We hadn't seen this interview with Wieden's John C Jay before. Eight minutes of sage advice from one of the masters.

Adidas - The Highest Goal Digest Film

The Portland Egotist — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:00:53 +0000

National

We really do love Adidas and their unbelievably super cool projects that unite people with their brand in unique and larger than life ways. The highest goal digest film catalogs one of the projects in which the shoe manufacturer created an event to unite and engage football fans throughout Japan in support of their national football (read soccer) team, while allowing the public to generate social connections amongst themselves. Fantastic!

You can see credits after the jump.

Coca-Cola and the Happy Flag

The Portland Egotist — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:00:04 +0000

National

The discovery of the happy accident is something that we all love to revel in when it comes our way. While this case study done by McCann for Coke does not necessarily fit the traditional definition, it is still a happy, accidental discovery finding the Swedish flag embedded within their logo. This little discovery was something no one else saw in the decades the soda manufacturers been in operation, and it's a great example of how advertising (through a process of discovery) can be utilized to expand a brand in a completely unforeseen way.

Industry: North Takes Best Agency Award at SoMe

The Portland Egotist — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:00:22 +0000

Local

We had mentioned about a week or so ago that North was up for a couple SoMe awards for their work with shoe manufacturer, Keen. We're happy to follow up that they were took two awards at the Social Media Awards event: Best Agency and Best Breaking Social, the later of which is awarded for “Most innovative or unique use of a social tool, platform or application.” Huge congrats to the team (consisting of Dave Allen, Jessica Williams (center) and Alison Reilly (right) on their stellar work. You can read about more details in their recent blog post about the win.

Made by Hand / No. 5 The Bike Maker

The Portland Egotist — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:00:33 +0000

National

Made by Hand / No 5 The Bike Maker from Made by Hand on Vimeo.

The newest installment in the Made by Hand series is out. This edition looks to bike maker Ezra Caldwell (Fast Boy Cycles) and tells the story of how he faced cancer and overcame adversity. The series is produced by Bureau of Common Goods and as with the other installments is gorgeously shot and edited. This is swiftly becoming one of our favorite short form documentary series.

Juxtapoz x Beastie Boys: Album Covers Through the Artist's Voices

The Portland Egotist — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:00:57 +0000

National

Juxtapoz just dropped this video that talks a bit about the creation of The Beastie Boys album covers. The video features commentary from several of the artists and designers who created the cover art for the legendary hip-hop group. This video is a lead in for the fantastic upcoming June 2013 issue of Juxtapoz that is completely dedicated to the Beastie Boys and a Tribute to MCA (out now).

Timbuk2 is Built for the Best Commutes

The Portland Egotist — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:00:30 +0000

National

Here's a short film for one of the best bags ever made. We love our Timbuk2s immensely. This short was produced by the crew of Timbuk2.

Exercise Video Captures Pooper Blooper

The Portland Egotist — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:00:24 +0000

National

This video has been gaining quite a bit of attention over the past few days, and not because of the scantily clad chica doing all the exercising. If you watch the video closely you'll see the real reason for all the attention hidden in the background — the camera actually caught a guy taking a dump. Weird, but true.