Two weeks ago I was asked to do a rush poster for a labour day club night at Starlight. Looking for a quick solution, I started thinking about what ideas come to mind when I think of labour. After I ruled out a poster involving babies, I moved on to unions. Union logos can be very iconic and meaningful, so I decided to take a stab at one for a fictional DJ union. There's still something about it that I wasn't completely satisfied with, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to slap it on everything.
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Our wedding is less than a month away, which is pretty terrifying considering we still have a bunch of stuff we'd like to do for it. It's pretty exciting too though, as we'll get to share it with everyone there, and then I'll get to share all the little details we've created on here. Super proud of it all.
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Speaking of our wedding, last weekend was my bachelor weekend. Marc, Shane and I headed up to Ottawa to visit the Beau's brewery, do some camping and play a little disc golf. Pretty perfect weekend. I wish Sean could have been there though.

And my summer blogging hiatus-ey kind of thing continues. It's been a pretty awesome summer though. Old friends in town. Screen printing. Disc golf (finally made it to St. Thomas this weekend). Other stuff. Great summer.

But I've returned because there are things I have to share... Hold on for a tonne of links, and then another long break likely... Exciting things coming in the future though, I promise.
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This Patches comic is one of my favourites in a while. SO CUTE. And sad. Don't you just want to hug him?
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Speaking of wanting to hug comic characters, I think I might need to make my own Beartato pillow. I was tempted by the shirt, but realized I don't really wear brown anymore, so I figured it was impractical. BUT, I have been wanting a stuffed Beartato (this guy is close, but not quite, and yes, we do own one) for some time, and this looks like it's as close as it gets...
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Wow, Coca Cola made a great move in the re-branding of Mello-Yello. Nicely retro. The one thing I don't like, is that the can seems to be having an identity crisis, trying to make the retro look a little more modern with the citrus in the back. Take the citrus out and drop the outline on the text, and the whole thing looks a lot better. But still, nice work.
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The best Emmy's opening ever?
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Love this pin-up girl hot chocolate packaging. Clever.
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These bottled smoke art pieces are beautiful and a little haunting. Really nice stuff.
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The Birds art installation in Vancouver's Olympic Village. That's something that would be exciting to come across.
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United States Postal Service theoretical re-brand. Really nice. If they switched to this, I would be so jealous!
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Stubby Beer Bottles. While tall cans of Red Stripe have definitely taken over my summer drinking, I'll never not love a stubby. They do look a little silly when I'm holding them though...
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I guess that's it for now, maybe you'll hear from me again sometime.

So I took a week off, and I fully intended to post numerous times during it, but then I mostly ended up ignoring my computer completely, which was pretty nice. The week featured Jane Bond disc golf, a picnic, rib/beer-fest and other things, as well as the beginning of a new project. Not bad.

Speaking of disc golf, I need to post a picture of the shirt design, and the special, limited-edition (10) disc golf sweat towels that I screened. That image up above is from the back of the shirt. Pretty happy with it.
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I always waver between thinking Best Made Co. axes are awesome, and thinking they're ridiculously overpriced. I guess if people will pay it, then they aren't over-priced, and either way, I can't stop loving the look and idea of them (as you may have noticed...). Here's a pretty good article on the founder of the company. I really like this line about him, and definitely know the feeling: “Peter is like a regular guy with an eccentric way of thinking, and he’s interested in things that function. You know he loves a Shaker table. He probably loves a yellow pencil or a bar of Ivory soap or a paper clip or a well-designed tube of toothpaste. It’s all about stuff that’s what it is.” I think you could add 'stapler' into that statement pretty easily.
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One of the cutest things I've seen on the internet in a while: Baby in a Watermelon. Thanks to Kaitlin for sharing that!
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Love this shorpy image of an old bar. They make the colored entrance lettering so cheerful!
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Did not know that this airplane rotary phone design was a Canadian design. That's something I would love to run into in a thrift store one day for sure.
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Speaking of Canadian design, this Hush-Shak oil can is very high on my list of things to keep an eye out for. I've always mostly avoided looking at oil cans while shopping, so as not to get into them and want to collect them, but now I've got to look, in case this thing is hiding in there somewhere. At least I can limit it to just wanting this right now. So pretty. Amazing colours. So perfect.
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Taking my dad to Hog Tails tomorrow, and taking my sister and he to try out disc golf at the arboretum on Wednesday. Definitely looking forward to both.

 Even more excited for disc golf now after I spent a good chunk of time yesterday working on the colours for the image above to go on the front of the shirt, and the design for the back. Pretty happy with how it is turning out. I hope other people like it! I love seeing people wearing last year's. I can't decide if July 12th is now "only 2 weeks away" or "still 2 weeks away." I guess I also can't decide between being an optimist and a pessimist (or realist as Jenna might say...).
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Time to clean out the collection of things Coudal has posted recently that I've kept unread for one reason or another...

Original Pac-Man sketches. Neat!

The Evolution of the Hipster 2000-2009. I have the star tattoo's to prove my connection to the 2000-2001 Emo and Emo Redux eras, and apparently am now stuck in 2006 with the mountain man. Glad I never fell for the Ashton...

Movie poster font quiz on Mental Floss. I got 100%. This one is way easier than others as it lists all the titles that will come up. I didn't realize that until title 3... (I went back & changed one after I realized it...)

USB Typewriter. Great concept.

Subway slide. Awesome.

Alt/1977. Clever fake ads. Extremely well designed. Extremely. I want that pocket hi-fi.

Thomas Allen pulp paperbacks. I have seen these before, but don't think I've shared them on here. They are amazing.

George Lucas 1983 & 2005. Or, why the second Star Wars trilogy sucked.

A history of musicians who have demanded that Republican's stop playing their songs. David Byrne, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN? Why did the republicans ever think these people would be on board?

Lego Printer. Neat!

Bears in a glass dome!

Also, it turns out there's more of the Jeff Canham birdhouses that I linked to the other day. Check them out here.
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I'm pretty sure I put this all together on Friday, then forgot about it, so here you go now.

Big week! Julia and Gord are in town and were over with Eileen last night. Already looking forward to getting together again. This weekend is Conan in Toronto, and hopefully a round of discgolf as I'm pretty sure Chicopee officially opens on Saturday. Awesome.
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The 2010 Vader Project. Damn. Neat stuff. Love the flocked one with the brain. This gas mask one popped up elsewhere in my travels. All gas masks should look like that...
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So it looks like a lot of people whose blogs I read have gone to the Brimfield Antique Show, and now I'm itching to go. An excuse to go back to Massachusetts? Maybe!!

Seriously though, check out ACL's day 1 and day 2, with more to come it would seem. The line "I probably saw more waxed canvas yesterday than in the last five years combined" pretty much makes me salivate. Some amazing looking stuff in there. 

And here's design*sponge's look at Brimfield. For the ladies...

So, September 7-12, eh?
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A couple days ago there was a nedroid comic that had me terrified that there were no more coming, and then he posted this adorable comic. And the mouse-over listed a url that takes you to this site, which is even more adorable! "This is my best friend Reginald. He is the best friend I have ever had!"
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Hammarhead is putting out some pretty sweet motorcycles. I'll take a Woodsman or a Jack Pine please! Also on the motorcycle front, check out Deus custom motorcycles too. I may have linked to them before. So nice.

Also, why is the Yamaha SR 400 still made, but only available in Japan? That's bike I could go for. It's no vintage Honda, but for a new bike, it's pretty on point to that end.

Someday I really need to get my motorcycle license...

How cute is a clothesline that comes out of a birdhouse, that goes with clothespins that look like birds that get stored inside the birdhouse? Super cute. How do I get one? (from Canadian Design Resource)
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 I always love it when blogs I read feature things that I am kind of obsessed with, but don't really think that (very many) other people are. Case in point: the tent display at Canadian Tire.

Those mini tents pretty much make my day. Sometimes I go out of my way when in there just to go by and see them. That post sums it up nicely when it says "I was instantly drawn to this display. First by its cuteness, but then by its usability." I always want to own one of them. What I would do with it, I do not know, but you know me and wanting...
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Here's a handy little chart that helps you to compare the differences between Akzidenz-Grotesk and the typefaces that came out of it.

Perhaps more importantly, here are some pages that talk about the differences between Helvetica, and its bastardization, Arial.
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Lego disc golf.
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What a weekend! Picked up Conan tickets, went to Ikea, played glow in the dark mini-golf, ate at Chili's, and that was just Saturday.
Tonight I start week 4 of Couch to 5k. A little nervous about it, but also looking forward to it. I think this week is when I move from walking most of the time, to jogging most of the time....

Yay!

After a number of tentative plans cancelled due to weather, Shane and I are finally (hopefully) heading back out to the Chicopee Disc Golf course. Not a lot of time to fit it in before sundown, but still totally happy.

Still have tentative plans to hit it up on Saturday too. Here's hoping!

(pic from great course Jenna and I played in Maine last year.)

Disc golf was, not surprisingly, awesome. I would have already mentioned that, but things have been wicked busy around here. The image above is the shirt I designed for the day. It's a little different in real life, because it got printed on a black shirt, so all of the white was reversed, but you get the point. I was told to make it Jamaican themed, so Red Stripe it was!
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I think that The Dieline is just about to cause someone to have a lot more business. They posted some work by Minneapolis based Neatly Trimmed Beard, which already sounds like a designer/company that I would like, and it's already hit multiple blogs. Seems like they don't have a site, but seriously, how could I not like this stuff?

Their quote about the Civilized stuff is just amazing: "We created the Civilized brand for a new microdistillery in northern Michigan. The concept is based on the woodland gentleman of yore; the sort of man who cut wood for a living and wrestled grizzlies for fun but still found time to wax his mustache and comb some pomade through his hair."

Yeah, that's right, you see how I would love them now. I need to see more!
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I don't remember the last time I went to a show in Toronto, but it turns out I'm going to want to go there twice in September.

First I found out that Cymbals Eat Guitars are going to be playing on September 7. Awesome. Their album Why There are Mountains has been one of the most exciting things I've listened to in awhile.

And just now, while looking for a torrent of anything by Ganglians, who I've been wanting to hear for awhile, but haven't been able to find downloads of, and it turns out they're coming to Toronto on September 22 with Wavves. Wavves' album Wavvves (note the extra 'v') has been another big album for me lately. And though I haven't heard them the review I just read in Exclaim reffered to their sound as "pure naive headphone acid pop to drive to" and as taking "cues from surf rock, droning bedroom experiments and sublime chamber pop but sent through a grinder". Damn, that sounds good.

Unfortunately, September also equals gutting our kitchen, having walls built, having a new kitchen installed, my mom visiting, and 3 weddings. So I guess we'll see how my excitement now pans out then...
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Well, I have more to say, and I've been wanting to post, but instead I really want to take this chance to do nothing for a bit. So that's what I'm going to do.

Yesterday we celebrated Jenna's dad's birthday by sending him off on his bike to parks all over town. I made the logo up there to adorn his shirt, and the sheets that each of us handed him at each park to tell him what to do and where to go. Amazingly the rain held off until the end. Good day.

Tomorrow is another event I did some design work for, the Jane Bond disc golf tournament (aka the best party of the year). There's something I hope we get good weather for. If the weather works out real good I'll be heading up there and camping out tonight. Can't wait!
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The other day I received an invitation to join this facebook group, protesting the new UW logo. I was expecting to click on it and see crap. What I saw was something I actually kind of liked. The other thing I saw was thousands of people up in arms about change.

A quick search for a group supporting the change has yeilded nothing, but, thankfully, one of my favourite blogs has posted some great insight on the matter. This paragraph in particular really summed up what I was thinking about it wayyy better than I ever could have:

"The main complaint throughout is that the new logo is not dignified enough and it does not represent the school. But somehow, a crest, like thousands of other crests — who the majority of people don’t know what they stand for anyway — does. Unfortunately this is antiquated thinking. Universities can not get by with traditional crests in today’s über branded environment and, if you look around, most large universities operate with a “marketing” logo and use a traditional seal for boring things like diplomas or the back covers of their catalogues."

And while he does admit that there are some problems with the logo, he also says this:

"But, in application this logo and its extended identity could be very interesting. However, this post and the controversy around it doesn’t have as much to do with whether the logo is good or bad — it’s neither really — but the propensity of students and faculty to cry foul with any change that has been carried out thoroughly by a range of committees. If they respect their university and its values they need to trust their leadership. Not whine about how 12-year-olds could do a better logo. Because they can’t.

Dear Waterloo-people-in-charge: Stick to your plan. Don’t succumb."

Straight up.
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Here's a cross merchandising idea for the TCRG: Rise n' Shiner coffee from the Minnesota Roller Girls. Real nice package design there. Makes me really want that coffee!
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I really hate how much shipping can be. I'd love to buy this print, but the shipping cost is only $1 less than the print itself (actually, you even get two for that price, which is really good for Obey stuff...).

For that matter, this poster, which I would also LOVE to have, combined with shipping puts the price high enough that I just straight up decided not to buy it. So sad.
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I guess that's it for now. Lots of stuff to do. New windows are supposed to go in tomorrow (sadly while I am away, so Jenna has to deal with it), and I've got a bunch of stuff to get ready for that before I leave (whenever that is...)

I believe I've said it before, but I have to say it again, you really should check out the Studio On Fire blog Beast Pieces. They're consistently doing super nice letterpress pieces and sharing them with the world.

Here're two I've been keeping unread in my reader to share with you:
Birds of Sadness poster
Shine flashlight (yet more self promotion that I'm loving...)

And an example of how they're just straight up bad-ass: Vintage beer can wall. The image above comes from this one. That would pretty overwhelming to stand in front of, I think.
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So it's been awhile since I've posted. Not much time to relax and compile stuff lately, lots of other things to do...
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This one's from a little while back on Deputy Dog: weird church ceiling. Seriously, why would someone do that?
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Does anybody want to give me $6000(us) so I can buy this? I've been thinking for awhile that at some point I'll want to move up to the MacBook Pro, but the problem is, none of them are black. Good thing these people solved that problem! Matte black, soft touch, limited edition of 10. Ridiculous. Amazing.
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Amazing promotional material for a library. Seriously. Nice stuff. (via draplin)
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This clock clock looks pretty amazing. Gonna have to look into how it works a little more, 'cause that second picture just looks nuts.
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You may or may not know that I'm a fan of vintage office supplies, particularly staplers. As a result, this Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies particularly appealed to me. Going to have to keep an eye on this one for gems like this colour wheel, and this lead pointer and lead cleaner. Nice stuff.
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Watched the movie of the 2003 edition of the Gumball 3000 last night. Envious of those cross country racers, for sure. I kept thinking, there's gotta be people who do this in regular cars and close to the speed limit, don't there? The $44,000 entry fee ($120,000 last year because they flew the cars to numerous locations) would clearly be a hindrance too, but still, a guy can dream, can't he? Here's hoping we'll be able to get another road trip in this fall like last fall. Maybe around Michigan?
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The best party of the year is almost here. Disc Golf is on the 27th, and I am so looking forward to two days of not thinking about doing any work at all. Stressful times for sure being a new home owner, and having lots of stuff at work (and getting asked last second to design disc golf materials...).

Funny thing about the new house? I was so excited about getting away from the Erb St. construction, and what happens today? They start ripping up our street. Yay.

More Days

So i knew this trying to blog every day thing wasn't going to work out so well. Part of the problem is my planning: too much going, not enough resting. Today was another 357km, making our 4 day total 1655.
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More bad weather. Yesterday and today. Rain mostly held off for the corn maze (which was super cornfusing, and took us 2.5 hours) and Ben & Jerry's (kind of a lame tour, overall), but our back roads drive from dinner at Alburritos in Littleton, to our hotel in Twin Mountains was rain soaked and had me feeling like a dead body, crazy hitch hiker, or scary ghost guy was going to pop out and the next thing you knew we'd be in the episode of Supernatural we were headed home to watch. Out Motel was suitably Bates-ey, which didn't entirely calm the nerves when the ride was over either.
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More bad weather today meant what would have been a beautiful ride in the world's first cog railway, was mostly a view of clouds, and track-side debris. I still loved riding in a steam train though, so there was definitely that. Still a cool thing, just not as nice as it could have been.

After that it was lunch in our first diner of the trip, The Littleton Diner (with our second, the A-1, as seen on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, to come tomorrow), and a visit to the world's longest candy counter, and we were on our way away from Mt. Washington.
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Rather than do the smart thing, and just drive the three hours here to Augusta, we drove one hour to Funspot (awesome), spent two hours there (super awesome), and then drove 4 hours to here.
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We took a ton more pictures today, but now, thanks to that diversion, I am too tired, and we need to catch up on some tv too. Oh, and sleep too! Right! How is it 1am again already!? Tomorrow shoud be Disc Golf, A-1, Gardiner ME, and then Portland. Should be a little less crazy, but with my shins and calves still feeling the maze from yesterday, we'll see how things go.
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We're up to 231 pictures now. I just have to find some time to organize and upload. Some real gems from Funspot, and some nice stuff from elsewhere too. One from the Cog up above. I'll let you know when (if) I get them up on Flickr.