We quickly shot this footage to share on instagram. Most of you whom seen this probably seen the crop and shorter version. Here is the wide screen and full length.
GOOD LISTENING : STWO "TRY TO RESIST"
Straight out of Paris, France STWO (pronounced stew) is a 20 year old producer making super-super fly music with less than 6 months of experience under his belt. SKILLING IT. [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/97958010" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
CS MOB
The quote above reminded me of a JayZ response from A Charlie Rose interview that has stuck with me through the years. "If my artist succeeds it's because of them, if they fail, it's because of me."
As an OG CS gang member I've always took it upon myself to help pave the path and do whatever's within my power to keep the crew alive and well. Most of the time it includes grunt work, but never will I have anyone perform a task I would NOT do myself. Lead by example, own up to our mistakes, and remember not to be the team member you wouldn't want to deal with. There's no I in team! Enjoy :)
HALLOWEEN BUILDUP
Its nearly the end of September and October is around the corner. This means we need to prepare for our "Pumpkin Carving Party" last year turned out dope. For our second annaul PCP I'm hoping to have even more pumpkins to shoot for our video. This was from last year:
Is it me or does it seem like all stores stock up with holiday shenanigans way too soon now days. For about a year now I've been entertaining the idea of buying or making my dog Bentley' a lion's mane for our annual Halloween party. While shopping at target this past weekend I found a lions outfit for him. Tossed the body portion but kept the mane. Here are some photos of Bentley:
PS: This video had to be done. 15 Seconds of FUN!
CENTRIFUGE BRAIN PROJECT
JASPER & PEG SHOOT
I wouldn't call myself a photographer but I do own a canon 5d that's mainly used for videos. I Thought why not give it a try. About a month back I connected with owner of Jasper & Peg Breanne Bumanlag brought out my sigma 50mm 1.4 and shot these for the company. Check out Jasper&Peg here are a few photos from the shoot:
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WOOF
Woof is an up and coming pet company out of San Francisco that is focusing on sustainable dog products. I think they'll be the Proctor & Gamble in the dog market. WATCH OUT WORLD. Here is a small collection of identity work we've done for Woof. These logos are the results from our investigation of Woofs initial "W" check out the quick process video below.
SHARPEN YOUR BLADE
Your design process should show the world that you've thought of every option possible even the stupid ones.
On the topic of design thinking: I had a conversation with a friend last week that is attending California College of Arts this Fall for industrial design.
Lets name this friend Bob.
Bob mentioned to me he's struggling with the balance of design thinking and design execution in his work. Bob's dilemma is that his professor thinks he doesn't have much to show come time to hand in assignments. All you newbie students out there this is normal and should happen to you so consider it initiation.
We identify that he's spending more time thinking about his projects without putting them on paper. This is normal behavior because naturally we prefer quality work over the quantity of work. Our design egos expect us to produce the best so we're insecure about mediocre ideas. Why put useless ideas into this world right? Wrong, useless & mediocre ideas may be weak but are still ideas. Your design process should show the world that you've thought of every option possible even the stupid ones.
My best advice for someone like Bob at this stage is to let go of the ego, be very selfless, just pump everything your mind can think of. Drop the whole quality shenanigan and allow your brain to just dump smart, dumb, stupid, clever, innovative ideas. You may not know it but eventually you'll realized this is good practice in speeding up your design process. Think of this as a way to train your brain to commit to an idea quickly whether if the idea is good or bad. Soon you'll be so comfortable that all your commitments are only good ones.
Lens Whacking
I stumbled upon lens whacking while spying the inter-web for the new Black Magic camera. Lens whacking is such an awesome technique to add flares and light leak to your videos. What is lens whacking? Lens whacking is filming with a 50mm lens or lower not attached to the camera body. As you're filming you shift your lens in various angles allowing light to hit the sensor. This is a great way to add flares manually without doing it in post. I prefer this technique because the video feels very dreamy and the light leaks are consistent with the light source on location.
GEM OF A MIND
I took the above photo walking down the Mission as it reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend about the meaning of sneakers hanging on phone lines. Yes, there are plenty of explanations for this phenomenon, but what I took from this was the sheer resourcefulness of the man/woman behind the shoe to their environment. I appreciate this mystery person for creating opportunity in anyway possible. You have no excuse because we all have a GEM of a mind. Use it.
There are a ton of things in our lives that are totally out of our control: weather conditions, lost time, and lucky lottery winnings. Yet, it’s funny that we’re hopeful for good weather, more time, and free money - considering the likeliness of it all really happening. What's the issue here? Are we spending too much time wishfully thinking? Is it hard to exert energy for the things you want? Nothing should be a crutch to how much we are able to achieve. I mean, why wish for good weather, more time, and a whole bunch of money. Why not move to have good weather, make good use of time, and generate self-made income? In the end, isn’t it much more amazing knowing you put in the effort?
The key element is “WISHING.” The combination of too much WISH and AMBITION may be poisonous. I’ll have to admit, I’ve been a victim to this habit resulting in low productivity. Learn to pump your brakes when too much 'wish powder' has been applied to keep it at a manageable level.
Inneva Mine Grey
I can finally say I'm a proud father of these Inneva woven sneaks (and wipe away a few months worth of drool)! I've been patiently waiting on the perfect colorway since it's debut in 2012. The contrast and balance between the grey and orange is just perfect!
SKEGGS POINT CA
A few days ago I posted a snippet of the mountain bike video Ive been editing of the trip bro and I went on with some friends. I am now finished with the video and sharing it with you. Enjoy.
Skeggs Point, Ca from Creative Session on Vimeo.
GOOD LISTENING: FTHRSN
I've had people ask about the artist used in the video below. These guys are called FTHRSN (father son) from Ann Arbor, MI -- Song used is from the album "Middle School Swag" called "What do I want to do when I grow up" FTHRSN BANDCAMP
Seize the Summer
The weather has been incredibly supportive of us being lazy about work and spend more time outdoors. Yes, we're both consistently pumping out good design work for our concerned clients. But! we're also squeezing in extra time for more surfing and mt. biking. Last night I made time to edit footage taken at Skeggs Point this past weekend with the new go pro 3. I love how convenient and compact the go pro can be, it really saves me weight and space from lugging around my heavy ass canon 5d.
Here is snippet of what I've edit so far. I'm waiting on more footage from a friend, once that comes I should be able to wrap this up. Enjoy this for now.
Skeggs Point (WIP) from Creative Session on Vimeo.
GOOD LISTENING: SWEATER WEATHER by THENBHD
YOGURT OF A TIME
Here is a bit of our mind, our process.. Late June this summer, I miserably spent my time after work dispensing swirls at Yogurtland. This wasn’t an attempt at a diet or some kind of yogurt fasting. I was on a mission to produce the perfect swirl for a branding project.
Up until then, I’ve been cranking out logo marks, digitally translating sketches, and packaging a kit for our client “Tangerine” a yogurt & burger joint out EAST. Between bro and I, we were quite happy and confident with what we had to deliver except one particular logo, the tangerineswirl concept.
In theory this concept was clever but the execution just didn’t feel right to me. The idea was to extract design ques from both the tangerine and a cup of yogurt. Combining the two, I illustrated a birds eye view of a cup of yogurt. I retained it’s organic curves and bounding it to the elliptical shape of a tangerine. I kept the citrus-y orange hues for the body of the logo as it transgresses into the refreshing green portion of the leaf. Beautifully pictured in my mind, the first execution really lacked substance. Hence, my serial yogurt shop visits.
I think the biggest challenge was eating the yogurt after all the failed attempts. We had fun distracting the employees none the less.
Finally dispensing something I could actually work with, I drafted these images to help guide the client's vision.
What I loved most about this project was being able to disconnect myself from the computer and becoming more hands on and experimental. In today’s design world, our resources are of abundance. We often forget to go out, take a breather, and have fun.
(note: I didn't fully keep all the lines traced from the photo. With final refined version I cleaned up the transitions and overlapping shapes. I also made the overall logo more round. )
Enjoy
GOOD LISTENING: ILLUMINACHO by SOSUPERSAMMY
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#CREATIVESESSION
Whenever you plan to collaborate with someone else in doing something creative always remember to tag #creativesession — We’re all about coming together and making things happen. Always having sessions creative. #CSbrothers
WIN SMALL BATTLES
Lately I've had little tolerance for people that spend their time decorating my ear drums with cool projects and less time executing. I admit I am guilty of this from time to time. Being over ambitious sometimes can be crippling. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to think about downsizing your ambitions when a jarring or complicated project is at hand. We can all appreciate an itch or large doses of ambition but frankly large projects are easily tackled when broken down into manageable portions. Start small, scale daunting projects down to manageable goals, achieve little increments of success that inevitably feeds into the larger picture.
Plant seeds until you own an orchard.
VAPECITY PROCESS
Before I publish VapeCity’s final design packet into our WORK section, here’s a bit of background on one of the many concepts we explored. The six sided VAPECITY logo. Vaporizer tycoon, Ken A, reached out to the brothers to design a one of a kind logo for his up and coming Vape shop. Like all graphic design inquiries, Ken wanted something recognizable yet different to his competitors. What we pitched to Ken wasn’t just a unique logo, instead, we pitched a lifestyle and an experience.
With research we found other shops lacked goals. Their mission statements had little or no substance. For Ken’s Vape shop, we championed the idea of positioning himself in a more health conscious niche. Marketing to the “I AM QUITTING” and “HEALTH CONSCIOUS” demographics. The lifestyle should be about vaping to ease off smoking and eventually quitting.
Thus, coining the term “BREATH” as their campaign slogan. Breath free, breath healthy, breath better.
Understanding that vape oils come in levels of 24, 18, 12, 6 & 0 milligrams of nicotine, we wonder if a 6-step vaping program could be designed to lower a smoker’s nicotine craving and intake? We wanted to take Vapers on an experience that would result with an incentive to not only buy a Vape, but also to change their lives for the better and quit smoking.
Proposed steps:
Step 1: Cigarette Smoker -- Step 2: Vape Nicotine 24g -- Step 3: Vape Nicotine 18mg -- Step 4: Vape Nicotine 12mg -- Step 5: Vape Nicotine 6mg -- Step 6: Vape Nicotine 0mg
