Design is Play

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Jason Holley

Issue 32 of 3×3, the Magazine of Contemporary Illustration is out and I was honored to interview and write the ICON profile of illustrator Jason Holley. Here is my opening paragraph:

“Mutate, evolve, destroy, rebuild, repeat.” This mantra, from an Instagram post about a drawing class he teaches at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, encapsulates Jason Holley’s approach to image-making. “I have never found anything particularly appealing about perfection,” he says. “In fact, I think I have a hefty amount of distrust for the whole concept.” Like the illustrative equivalent of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Jason’s paintings can appear to be coming into being while simultaneously falling apart. It is as if each painting, regardless of its subject matter, surreptitiously alludes to the cycle of life. When I ask about the recurring themes of disintegration and decay in his work, Jason pivots. “It’s more than a visual theme—its physical reality, and it’s happening right now to all of us together at the same time. And I think it’s kind of beautiful.”

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Image courtesy of Jason Holley.

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Gary Baseman

Issue 31 of 3×3 Magazine is out and it’s a beaut! In addition to my profile of Gary Baseman, this issue includes the work of Gerard DuBois, Ori Toor, and Miriam Martincic. Here is the opener of my piece:

Gary Baseman is excited: his eyes shine, and he flashes a mischievous grin. Located somewhere between childlike delight and maniacal zeal, the effect is riveting. Gary’s exuberance has a way of building exponentially, his enthusiasm generating even more enthusiasm as he warms to a topic. One example: “I wouldn’t use ink—it had to be charcoal pencil. Just like my art, it had to be raw, it had to be rough, it had to feel legit. You could smudge it, you could mess it. Ink was a normal ball point pen. Anyone could use that: banks used that, corporations used that. I was an animal! I was human, I was real, I was raw!”

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

CCA Design Lecture Series Identity

A fun project we’ve been working on: the identity and promotional materials for the 10th annual Design Lecture Series at California College of the Arts. (Our concept was “Fresh Visions for Spring.”)

Assets include the series identity, poster, and digital brand assets. The banners (last image) weren’t produced, but we still had fun envisioning this application.

See Mark’s original sketch and inkings under Design is Play Process.

“Adventures in China” Book Design

We recently completed the design of the memoir Adventures in China: What I Learned While Building a New Bank in Shanghai. The book’s themes include the influence of the Chinese Communist Party over every aspect of commerce; a lack of transparency in how decisions are made; and the sense of inscrutability experienced by foreigners doing business in China—in this case an American banker.

The design evokes these themes via a gloss black on matte black title treatment; mirrored letterforms; and a spine delineated by a glimpse of the front page of the People’s Daily from 1949, the day the People’s Republic of China was established.

We set the book title in Garage Gothic, a display typeface by Tobias Frere-Jones. The subtitle and author’s name are set in E13B, a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) font used in the printing of checks and banking documents. The book was printed and bound by Oscar Printing, San Francisco.

See other book covers we’ve designed under Design is Play Covers.

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator David Plunkert

Out now! My profile of illustrator David Plunkert in Issue 29 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

What David refers to as his Block-Style are illustrations that hew to the Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots school of drawing: forms are reductive, flat, typically geometric, and in limited color palettes that suggest cheaply printed two- or three-color ephemera. David cites Pablo Picasso’s Cubist period and contemporary illustrators Brian Cronin and Phillippé Weisbecker as points of reference, as well as the minimalist, often primitive ethos of early twentieth century avant-garde toys. “Toys that Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero would have played with,” he explains.

That said, I would hazard a guess that the photomechanical aesthetic of ‘60s comics has seeped into David’s Block-Style via prepubescent osmosis. These illustrations are almost fetishistic in their evocation of the materiality of ink on paper: misaligned or overprinted elements, uneven textures, contaminated colors—as if someone failed to clean the press after the last print run—and imperfectly-formed Ben-Day dots.

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Play Press: “Trump 24K Gold-Plated” Poster Acquired by the MAD, Paris

An unexpected surprise: the Museé des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) in Paris has accessioned our 2016 “Trump 24K Gold-Plated” poster! Although we have posters in collections in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland, this is the first museum in France to acquire our work. Vive la France!

See our “Trump 24K Gold-Plated” poster and others under Design is Play Studio Posters.

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Johanna Goodman

Out now! My profile of illustrator Johanna Goodman in Issue 28 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

One of the signature aspects of Johanna’s Catalogue of Imaginary Beings is her reinvention of the body’s proportions. Massive, freeform torsos dominate these collages, with miniaturized heads, hands, and feet emerging like tiny appendages: whereas the standard head-to-body ratio taught in figure drawing classes is around 1:8, the head-to-body ratio of most Beings is roughly 1:14. The change in scale monumentalizes and mythologizes the figures even as it creates a somewhat comical effect—or if not comic, perhaps the tiny extremities simply render these powerful bodies a tad less menacing.

The unexpected shift in hierarchy—from the face to the body—creates opportunities for unexpected narratives. “Much like Nick Cave’s Soundsuits, so much can be expressed through the body,” Johanna observes. “Focusing on the figure frees me up to emphasize gesture and adornment and gives me the opportunity to make the body not a body at all, but something else—anything at all.”

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Play Press: “White Lies Matter” Posters Acquired by the V&A

We’re honored to have our 2020 “White Lies Matter” diptych accessioned by the V&A in London! A sincere thank you to our 75 Kickstarter backers who helped bring this project to life!

In addition to the V&A, these two posters are in the collections of Museum für Gestaltung Zürich; Poster Museum at Wilanów, Warsaw; Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG), Los Angeles; Letterform Archive, San Francisco; and the Merril. C. Berman Collection.

See our “White Lies Matter” posters and others under Design is Play Studio Posters.

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Hudson Christie

Out now! My profile of illustrator Hudson Christie in Issue 27 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

In conversation, Hudson Chrisite laughs easily, and often. He is amused by incongruity in art and film, and finds unintentional flaws especially endearing. “It’s why the original Star Wars trilogy—before George Lucas got his hands on CG and went back and “‘fixed” it—is a lot more fun to look at. Because you can see the seams,” he says. All of which may help explain Hudson’s aesthetic—what might be termed “blobular affability.”

This playful, childlike quality seems instantly familiar—perhaps because all of us at one time or another have had the experience of squeezing a handful of modeling clay or Play-Doh. The immediacy and accessibility of this visual language is one of its strengths: it is difficult to not be charmed by Hudson’s work.

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Sandra Dionisi

Out now! My profile of illustrator Sandra Dionisi in Issue 26 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

The quality of inscrutability, of an image that is simultaneously clear yet veiled, is a persistent feature of Sandra’s work, and it prompts not simply passive interest, but active contemplation. This invitation to contemplation is one of the recurring pleasures of Sandra’s work, and I find myself poring over the details of her illustrations in an effort to decipher the external cues of deeply internal and private states of being.

Sandra’s work is lovely—and worth your spending time with. Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

The Post Identity

We are excited to share our latest trademark for Touchstone Climbing! The Post will be opening in a former US post office in Pasadena, California.

See all of our logos for Touchstone Climbing under Design is Play Systems.

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Scott Bakal

Out now! My profile of illustrator Scott Bakal in Issue 25 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

A persistent feature of Bakal’s sketchbook drawings is his continuous exploitation of the line’s potential for expression. Beyond simply establishing contours, it is a line that he unspools across surfaces like convoluted entrails; nestles against other lines to sculpt sinewy, striated forms; and repeats in arabesques to relentlessly fill space—as if he were a tattoo artist paid by the square inch.

“My line probably comes from being taught by Jack Potter and Sam Martine, who were both my instructors over 20 years ago,” reflects Bakal. “They were very contour-line heavy instructors and it never really left me. Although the quality of my line has changed—it’s become more ‘stitched’ for certain things and more flowing for others.”

What Bakal calls a stitched line is the result of linking many short, staccato gestures. In his loosest examples, the quality of this line can appear hesitant, or agitated. A sketchbook spread from his personal series “Skulls of Ultimate Death” features scratchy contour drawings of eight conventionalized skulls floating above a red and black field. The inked lines seem incised, as if Bakal is carving into a resistant surface rather than drawing on paper. Redolent of graffiti, the drawing conveys a raw immediacy.

Sandra’s work is lovely—and worth your spending time with. Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Class 5 Identity

Our new identity for Class 5, the latest indoor climbing gym in the Touchstone Climbing pantheon! At 40,000 sq. ft., Class 5 will be Touchstone’s largest climbing gym in SoCal. The custom Class 5 wordmark features spurs on the letter “C” and number “5” as a subtle nod to the spider’s spinneret.

See all of our logos for Touchstone Climbing under Design is Play Systems.

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Dale Stephanos

Out now! My profile of illustrator Dale Stephanos in Issue 24 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

Dale Stephanos is an illusionist who performs at least two magic tricks, both of which are transformative. The first trick is an act of creative ensoulment: the process by which Dale imbues his portraits not only with the illusion of life, but with sentience. “My obsession is really the face, the gaze,” he says. “I’m very concerned that the work feels as though it’s looking back at me with life behind the eyes.”

This impression—of a face “looking back” at the viewer—is partly achieved through blinkered framing, amorphous backgrounds, and a shallow depth of field. A charcoal drawing of Samuel Beckett typifies Dale’s approach: cropped tightly to the head, stripped of context, with ancillary details eliminated. In other portraits, soft-focus backgrounds recede and serve to thrust the foreground—always the face—toward the viewer. “Sergio Leone’s movies had a big impact on me. The way he’d linger on close-ups, building the tension, was amazing and frightening.” Generally fully frontal and with an implacable gaze, Dale’s portraits invariably draw the viewer’s attention to a set of luminous eyes.

Read the entire profile under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Pacific Pipe Identity

Our trademark and wordmark for Touchstone Climbing’s gym Pacific Pipe in Oakland. The type is based on the building’s existing hand-painted signage. Love those chamfered forms!

See all of our logos for Touchstone Climbing under Design is Play Systems.

Play Press: El Pípila Wins a 2019 James Beard Award

Congratulations to Schwartz and Architecture for their win of a 2019 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant Design for El Pípila! We are thrilled for everyone involved in this worthwhile project.

Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Justin Phillips notes that “El Pípila’s win is a change of pace considering the last two San Francisco restaurants to top the category were Michelin-starred fine-dining establishments—In Situ in 2018 and Healdsburg’s Single Thread in 2017.”

We are proud of our design contributions to the success of El Pípila!

Architects: Schwartz and Architecture
Lighting: PritchardPeck Lighting
Branding: Design is Play
Contractor: Cookline
Mural installation: Martin Sign Company
Photography: Bruce Damonte

The Oaks Identity

 

The Oaks Theatre on Solano Avenue in Berkeley, California.

Our recently completed trademark and wordmark for Touchstone Climbing’s newest gym, The Oaks on Solano Avenue! The type is based on the theater’s original neon signage.

See all of our logos for Touchstone Climbing under Design is Play Systems.