FLASHBACKS OF OTL AICHER

A couple of weeks ago I heard again from one of my favorite art directors—Michael Wilde—asking me whether I wanted to participate in creating these poster images for the BMW USA offices, who are officially sponsoring the 2012 Olympics. Now with Michael, he doesn't really need to show me any comps for me to say Yes, but when I saw his comps, how could I say anything but... Yes! For me these have everything that I love... spectrum colors on black, a really great graphic design concept and they are iconic... a simple power that immediately gives me flashbacks of one of my other design heroes: Otl Aicher. He too had quite a hand in the world of graphic design for the Olympics in Germany back in the 1970s.

So we started out playing around with a few different ideas, different images representing various athletic disciplines and then I got into techniques... from simple Photoshop layering approaches to making the "multiple exposures" feel more like frames of motion captured over time even though they came from the same image to start with. This collaboration was definitely one of those projects that will make me say "Keine Frage!" if you were to ask me: "Do you love what you do for a living?"

2011 WEBSITE REFRESH

It's a new year and so we're kicking it off with a website refresh both for your desk and on the go. Check out the updated portfolio from the new thumbnail overview.

NEW iPHONE SITE

We love icons and have come to love the iPhone too, so although having to create a separate website for the flashless iPhone, while a pain in the ass, it was kind of fun too. If you visit the Raygun site from your iPhone or iPod touch, you will be whisked there magically.

RAYPLAYER LOOP

Been working on an iPhone app we named RayPlayer. It's capable of lining up small planets, which occasionally can take some time, so we figured we give people something to look at during the wait, as frivolous as some people might think it is. It's QuickTime, infinity, synchronized swimming and a little bit of illusion all rolled into one.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

Season’s Greetings and Wishing You All The Best for the New Year. We'll be off to Waikiki for some R&R and back at the trigger on January 11th of 2011.



Santa's “CALIFORNIA SPECIAL” delivery sled, a 1932 Ford Roadster, painted with emission-free Candy Apple Red at Raygun Studio, Christmas 2010.

IF I COULD FLY

Too busy to post anything lately, immersed in this project we call 12LVE. Check it out. But my main wingman John shared this cool YouTube video with me... hard to believe this is actually real... watch it til the last scene... amazing. if I could fly...

ONE-ON-ONE IN NEW YORK CITY

Just returned from New York City where I was showing the Raygun book to ten select art buyers, art and creative directors. With all that email, conference calling, iChatting and even FaceTime, there's no substitute for meeting people face to face. And Debra Weiss who puts on these OnOnOne portfolio shows provides a setting for that second to none. I walked away with a new understanding how the work was perceived, how to present, explain and edit it down for the next showing. Priceless experience and as always a great shot in the arm that we're heading in the right direction with the work. Some pictures from the trip and space below...