Design is Play

Recent Posts

Play Press: BlackDog and Design is Play Posters Acquired by the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich

On its way to the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich—along with seventeen other posters from BlackDog and Design is Play.

This poster advertised the services of my design studio BlackDog when I was represented by Jan Collier. (It originally ran as a full-page ad in the publication Single Image in 1994.) Working with the theme “A horse of a different color,” the design was inspired by the equine on an ancient Roman coin.

I based my BlackDog masthead on the lettering on a 1930s A&P Coffee tin. The full typeface I eventually developed—named Propaganda—was available as photolettering from Andresen Typographics in San Francisco, California.

The Kurt Schwitters quote—“All that the artist spits is art”—is included in the poster’s fine print.

Play Press: “What Would You Say? Activist Graphics from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art”

“What Would You Say? Activist Graphics from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art” opened March 26 at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East LA College after runs in Lancaster, Riverside, and Northridge. The exhibit was curated by Staci Steinberger, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at LACMA.

I am thrilled to have my screen printed poster “Tricky Ollie” included in the exhibit, as well as the original version of the poster I faxed to the Charles Robb campaign in 1994.

Other designers in the show include friends Kimberly Cross with her Another Poster for Peace project, Steve Lyons, David Lance Goines, and Michael Mabry. Rupert García, Shepard Fairey, Emory Douglas, and Wes Wilson are also featured.

See more of my AgitProp posters on BlackDog. [MF]

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.