How many of those jokes end with the guy moving into the bar and setting up his own business?

That's exactly what happened in Sacramento, California last week. A homeless man broke into a defunct bar and reopened it, beginning by selling a six pack of beer he bought from a local liquor store. Like a true entrepreneur, he went back to the store, reinvested the profits into more beer and set up shop. Days later, he was serving over thirty customers and by all accounts, set up a pretty good, albeit illegal, business for himself. 

The bar was so successful it received a write up in the local paper, prompting the sheriff's office to inquire if the establishment obtained a liquor license. Upon investigation, they discovered a considerable amount of cash and alcohol. Police arrested the homeless man, one Travis Kevie, charging him with burglary and selling liquor without a license.

Business consultants constantly tout the virtues of thinking out of the box when times are tough, and here is a guy who did just that. Instead of panhandling he came up with an audacious plan, implemented it, and made a successful go of it (for a limited time). 

I'm not about to condone breaking and entering, or flouting the law, but there's a lesson to be learned here. In this tough economic times, we keep talking about how we need to approach things differently and come up with new paradigms for business.

Travis Kevie did exactly that. He saw opportunity and took advantage, setting up the adult version of a childhood lemonade stand.

What rules (rules, not laws) could you break that would expand your market? If failing did not matter to you, could you be bold enough to undertake something truly transformational?

As someone who has obsessed over the merits of Univers over Helvetica Neu (we opted for Helvetica Neu; the letterforms have more character, particularly the T), I enjoyed reading about the collective sniping in the design community.

Look at it now, and you can read it from cover to cover in 15 minutes. That's if you can bear the cheesy infographics and trash stories that predominate (Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc.). The Tribune is obviously not alone in this. Other newspapers and magazines have suffered, their bottom lines crippled by the loss of advertising revenue and competing publications online. The Chicken Littles have been crying that the sky is falling and there has been little to refute that prognostication.

One publication has thrived, however, by zigging while everyone else has zagged.

The Economist, the bastion of incisive global commentary and reporting, has bloomed. Sales and ad revenue are at all time highs, with no loss in quality of reporting or printing.

How have they managed to do so?

By standing by their convictions and doing what they do best; offering what readers have come to expect and value. They deliver deep, in-depth reports and analysis to their core niche audience, eschewing trends and the quick, easy news of the moment. 

They recently updated their online magazine, continuing this model of well-written content, in a well-designed, no fluff website. It's a deceptively clean redesign, providing a broad range of easily navigable content in an elegant format.

While other publications, both print and online, have denigrated into offering the news equivalent of the one-night stand, The Economist is still a worthwhile relationship, one that rewards careful reading and evaluation.

It's an apt metaphor for how designers and consultants position our services, particularly in this challenging economy. We can base our efforts on price, in which case both we and our clients lose. There will always be someone cheaper, and once we begin basing our services solely on cost, we lose any possibility of the relationship, instead fulfilling a transaction. It's rare that a reduction in fees does not also result in a reduction in deliverables, leaving the client feeling that they got less than they deserve.

Crowdsourcing, speculative work, and hack creative agencies will always be a fact of life in our profession. We can either play that game, in which case we will always lose, or change the playing field outright by continuing to deliver premium work, and educate clients about the value of our services.

Recently, I hit the motherlode. My corner store had a stack of Nabokov books, all of which I have been meaning to read. Nabokov is a bit like Kerouac. Everyone has read Kerouac's On the Road or Nabokov's Lolita. However, most of their other titles are largely ignored by the reading public. That's probably a wise move with Kerouac, but Nabokov's catalog is well worth exploring in depth and it has been on my literary to-do list for years.

So with this treasure trove of books that I've been coveting, what do I do?

Walk away without making a single purchase. 

The reason? They were the wrong covers. 

I'm hopelessly obsessive about making sure any book I buy has the best cover design for that given title. Vintage Books recently commissioned designer John Gall to redesign the entire Nabokov series of books. The result is a magnificent series of covers, created by multiple designers based around a single theme: a specimen box. Vladimir Nabokov was an avid butterfly collector, and the image of the specimen box forms the visual axis around which the series revolves.

The above example is Paul Sahre's contribution. Twenty-one designers submitted designs based around this construct, the results of which you can see here in their entirety.

Designers as a rule tend to do their best work when given a specific and narrow range of parameters. Give us a white slate with unlimited options, and we tend to be a bit paralyzed with indecision. Provide a focused set of objectives within a specific set of parameters, and we are bound to defy expectation. The Vintage covers does a good job of illustrating this literally and metaphorically.

The oft-quoted Preamble contains one of the most famous sentences ever written, asserting "the right of revolution". In effect, it says that people have certain rights and when the government violates those rights they are entitled and have the duty to alter or abolish that government.

The latter part of the document is a list of grievances against King George and England, reading like one of the most eloquent break up letters ever written. Politicians both liberal and conservative, from Green Party to Tea Party have cherry-picked quotes for their own purposes. The most telling phrase of intent was made evident this week when a spectral reading of an early draft revealed an early correction. Thomas Jefferson scratched out the word "subject" and replaced it with "citizen".

I can think of no more apt summation of the document than what that correction implies. I actually got a bit of a chill when that was revealed. It's particularly important when you recall that several of our founding fathers, including Alexander Hamilton, wanted to establish a monarchy instead of a democratic republic. 

The founding fathers got many things wrong (slavery, treatment of Native Americans, those silly white wigs, etc.). But this was one they got right. 

Happy Independence Day (I simply can't relegate it to being called 4th of July) to all fellow citizens. 

More importantly, it meant blowing things up.

Various pyrotechnics were either brought into the house surreptitiously, or (more often the case) home made from the various flammable items available in our Dad's garage. The year my brother Tom made the bazooka out of beer cans, duct tape, a tennis ball, and some gasoline stands high on the long list of memories that make my mom's hair stand on end. Sadly, liability precludes me from including the exact instructions here (Note: Go easy on the gasoline. It's the vapor that you want to ignite, NOT the liquid. Too little gas will just burn like a candle; too much, and you're likely to lose your hand.)

Another memorable year was spent igniting bottle rockets and roman candles in our back yard. In the midst of our hijinks, a police cruiser pulled into the access road behind our house with his spotlight cast upon us. I still have a scar on my forehead from where I smacked headlong into a bird feeder while sprinting into the house.

Of course, it wasn't the local police, merely another brother who snuck out with a flashlight and the family car to see if he could get us running. Mission accomplished, ruse complete. Game, set and match.

So what is it with Independence Day and fireworks? Is this one of those traditions that developed well after the fact and has now become engrained as part of our culture, like jack o'lanterns on Halloween?

Not at all. If i may quote from the Virginia Gazette's account of Independence day, recorded on July 18, 1777:

The evening was closed with the ringing of bells, and at night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks, which began and concluded with thirteen rockets on the commons, and the city was beautifully illuminated. Every thing was conducted with the greatest order and decorum, and the face of joy and gladness was universal. Thus may the 4th of July, that glorious and ever memorable day, be celebrated through America, by the sons of freedom, from age to age till time shall be no more.

So there you have it. Not only are fireworks as all American as hot dogs and apple pie, they go back historically much further. They can also do considerable damage, so please leave the displays to the professionals.

Have a safe and joyful Independence Day holiday. And if you see someone with fireworks, tell them it's illegal. 

Now imagine doing this when you have lost your breasts due to a mastectomy and you have some idea of what many women have to confront each year.

Veronica Brett offers a line of luxury swimsuits to women who are breast cancer survivors and for women who have had breast cancer reducing surgeries. 

My sister Patricia started the company, named after our aunt Veronica who we lost to cancer at the age of 44. My family drew the short straw when it comes to cancer. Many of us carry the BRCA1 gene, which predisposes the carrier to breast cancer. Consequently, three of our aunts have died from it, the first of these being Veronica. Another sister is a breast cancer survivor, and Patricia and my niece Gabrielle have undergone breast cancer reducing mastectomies.

Needless to say, this is a very personal issue for me. So when Patricia approached Substance to develop a brand and website for her swimsuits, it was hard to pass on the opportunity. We developed the tagline and message "LIfe never looked sexier"  to focus on the beauty and strength of the women who are survivors.

The site focuses on the 2010 swimwear collection, modeled by the beautiful breast cancer survivor and model, Stefanie LaRue. Veronica Brett has been featured in Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, Body, Glamour and Redbook magazines. 

 

Congratulations to Patricia and to survivors everywhere.

I could do without the Fatboy Slim soundtrack, but this video does a compelling job of putting the power and scope of social networking into context.

A colleague recently asked me what was the best part of working for oneself. Was it not having a boss and setting one's own hours?

While both of those have their merit, they don't even make the short list. What has made this so enriching has been learning something new every day, about a new client or industry, and benefitting from the relationships that come from these experiences.  

Someone once said you should never work with clients with whom you would never have lunch or a glass of wine. I'm fortunate that many clients have become friends, people who I get to see socially outside of the context of merely work. That is what I would consider to be the best aspect of the past five years, one I hope that continues for the next five years. To everyone who has been there for Substance over the course of this time, a huge heartfelt thanks.

Another word of thanks on a less frivolous but no less timely matter. To my father, my Uncle Chuck, and my Uncle Mike, all of whom served in World War Two.

Dad was a tail gunner on a B-24, flying 38 missions during the war. Chuck served in Italy and North Africa, spending the final months of the war in an Italian, then a German POW camp. He was transferred after his second escape attempt. Mike served in the first Army Ranger Division in France during the war. All went on to survive and live to see their children and grandchildren grow up.

None of this has anything to do with design or five year anniversaries, but on Memorial Day, their service does help to put things into their proper perspective and context.

Thanks one and all. 

The Metropolitan Transit Authority has unveiled the new transit map design for Manhattan and outlying boroughs. I've always been a sucker for well-laid out maps, and this one is no exception. The NYTimes has a nice infographic showing the progression of changes in the map since 1968, which does a good job showing how trends have changed the areas of emphasis in the subway map.

Needless to say, it was awesome.

Frank Frazetta passed away at the age of 82 on Monday, May 10.

Growing up in the cultural vacuum of small town northeastern Ohio, there were few things that made the early teen years bearable. One of these was the occasional trip to the comic book store at the local university with my oldest brother Mike. He would come home for the weekend from college and we would hit the book and record stores of Kent State. Many was the Saturday that I returned with a stack of paperbacks, purchased on the strength of the cover illustrations alone. More often than not, these covers were the work of Mr. Frazetta.

Fantasy heroes such as Tarzan, Conan and John Carter of Mars were his typical subjects, always rendered with rippling muscles, bold colors and a scantily clad or completely nude female in tow. When we would return home with the new purchases, the only items subject to greater parental disapproval than the Clash and Ramones albums were the books with the Frazetta covers.

This only served to increase my appreciation for their impact.

Tastes change as we mature, and while I still occasionally listen to old-school  punk rock, I'm more inclined toward abstract expressionism in artwork than neoclassicist comic illustration. Regardless, Frazetta was a palpable influence upon a generation of designers and illustrators. 

That same sentiment is true with regard to our recent campaign for AIDS Foundation of Chicago for the AIDS Run & Walk Chicago. In addition to being a high profile campaign for a very worthy cause, the client has been a complete joy to work with. They are collaborative, engaged, and open to new ideas, everything we look for in a client. 

We developed the theme "I live. I give. I move." This conveys the three step process of awareness, action and participation. The spectrum visually references the rainbow pride flag and provides impact to the campaign, as well as contrast to the black and white photography. The images represent a diverse group of participants, with their faces cropped out. Instead, we focused on the bodies preparing for the run, either through stretching or the act of moving.

The campaign will be rolling out over the course of the summer, in posters, advertising, CTA transit banners and signage throughout Chicago. Keep an eye out for it.

Even better, get involved and sign up to participate.

In Palazzo Vecchio stands the statue of Michelangelo's David. It's a masterpiece of form, something that has to be seen to be believed. His body is bent, poised to action, with every muscle and vein visible within the marble. 

It's also a fake, or a replica in the local parlance. The real David stands within the Accademia Galleria, surrounded by protective plexiglass with a roof to shield it from the ravages of the elements.

The two pieces are alike in every way yet could not be more different. Even before experiencing the legitimate David, you can see the replica is not quite right. The details are not nearly as well executed, the marble of an inferior quality. The real piece is perfect in every regard, from the oversized hands clutching the sling, to the details that form the hair and deep set eyes. It's so astonishingly lifelike, you half expect to see its chest expand in an exhale of breath.

How does your brand stack up to these two examples? Is yours flawlessly executed, from concept to the last detail? Or are you merely competent, good enough to receive a passing nod, but nothing that people are going to remember for the ages?

A final take away from the sculpture are the two interpretations of David's pose. Some art historians hold that he has already slain Goliath and stands surveying his achievement, dispassionately. Others believe that the pose represents David before the melee, in that moment after he has agreed to do battle, but before it has taken place. In short, after he has committed to the act but before completing it.

Which defines you? Surveying your past achievements or looking forward to the next challenge which you can overcome?

This is a rare opportunity to purchase some really lovely work at an incredibly low price. Stop by the collaborative at 4642 West Leland and check out what they have to offer.

When I think of Triple Crown horse racing, I think of two things. Well-heeled women wearing big hats in the stands, and drunken yahoos making jackasses of themselves in the infield. This campaign is clearly focused on the latter. To the dismay of some in the community, it appears to be working. Critics have called it everything from lame and embarrassing to staggeringly dumb. It may be all of those things, but it also appears to be working. Infield ticket sales are up 5 percent compared to two years ago.

While sexually suggestive ads are the lowest common denominator in the ad industry, this one succeeds in doing exactly what it set out to do. It gets the attention of the largely blue collar audience that has dwindled in the past few years and creates a memorable, albeit lowbrow impression.

This is particularly true of brand marks. In almost every project engagement, we develop more than one visual solution. For brand marks, we generally insist on doing three. In order to capture the range of concepts and executions available, it’s a disservice to clients to develop any fewer. Typically, there is the safe solution, which is fairly close to what the client may be expecting. This is generally done to address specific directives for which the client has asked. The second treatment is a bit more expressive, a bit less “corporate”, while the third solution stretches the client’s comfort level a bit. All the designs should be wholly appropriate to the client and project brief, but each one taking a different approach to the solution, but conceptually and in terms of the graphic execution.

We recently developed a brand mark and website for an online resource for homeowner associations. The goal was to provide an open and inviting forum for condo association owners, board members and developers who needed a resource that provided relevant answers and solutions. 

We came up with the name Portico, from the Italian word for a porch leads to the entrance of a building or structure. In an earlier post, I wrote about how we had to begin anew when the name we came up with ran into a potential conflict with an existing company name. 

What began as a challenge turned into an opportunity, as we renamed the company Atrios, a spin on the Latin term atria, the plural of atrium. After clearing any trademark hurdles, we came up with the following visual treatments for the brand mark.

Needless to say, when my sister Regina approached me about designing a website to promote the release of her book, God Never Blinks, I had a few misgivings. The aforementioned concern about working with family was one. The fact that she and her writing are of a spiritual bent and I am a pure materialist was another.

My concerns were unfounded. Her site launched this week to coincide with the release of her book, which has been getting rave reviews (her book, not the site). Her accolades are well deserved. Regina was a two time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for commentary and her newspaper column for the Cleveland Plain Dealer has won more journalism awards than I care to count. 

UPDATE: God Never Blinks made the New York Times bestseller list! 

Congratulations on the book, Regina, your youngest brother is proud of you.  

By and large, however, they fit the model of the old programming credo: Garbage in, garbage out. Whatever content populates the site governs our overall impression of the site. Hence, LinkedIn is perceived as professional and focused on client relations. Facebook, while occasionally juvenile, offers an informal way to stay on the radar of acquaintances who might otherwise be relegated to receiving the annual Christmas card. 

The latest foray into this increasingly crowded field is Unvarnished. The site allows users the opportunity to post peer reviews and comments about other professionals, anonymously. Since we all know how classy and upstanding most anonymous posters are to blogs, one can only speculate on the clever repartee that awaits us. The tagline on the site is “truth in reputation”. More accurately, it should be called “the bathroom wall of the internet”. 

The site in effect allows users to trash former co-workers, employers, all under the guise of providing a candid peer assessment. Critics have already called the site a litigation nightmare waiting to happen.

I’m not sure when we reached the tipping point of social networking, but this seems to be its nadir. 

I will let a more gifted writer than myself have the last word on this. Ralph Caplan, design critic and educator provides a curmudgeon’s take on social networking in his recent AIGA post. I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Caplan speak at the first AIGA conference in Chicago in 1991.

I’m pleased to see his rapier has lost none of its point.

It's not entirely altruistic. The last portfolio review we participated in led us to bringing on our first intern, Jordan Freeman, who has been an invaluable asset to Substance.

The first document is a copy of the manifest from the good ship Oceanic, sailing on the Atlantic on the White Star Line out of Queensboro, Ireland in September 17, 1902. It arrived at Ellis Island, New York City and the historical record transcribed on the manifest is as follows:

Name: Michael Brett 

Age: 17 (typed as 14)

Occupation: Laborer

Cash on person: $15

My grandfather left Ireland with not much to keep him there. He lost both of his parents at an early age, presumably to tuberculosis, although the historical record is a bit sketchy on this matter. Michael came over as an orphan with my great uncle John Brett, seeking a better life for he and his future offspring.

What guts.

I moved to Chicago from Ohio when I was 21 and I was intimidated by the prospect. I can't fathom what it must have been like to venture to a foreign country you have never visited. Then again, I also can't imagine what it must have been like to be an orphan as a teenager with only $15 to your name.

From time to time, I read the manifest when I feel the urge to take a big step and need the proverbial kick in the ass to pull myself out of my routine. We all get stuck from time to time, as individuals and organizations. Change can be scary and paralyzing, particularly in a recession where you don’t know what lies ahead. But it beats stagnancy any day.

What big moves have you made to keep yourself moving forward and take yourself further in your journey? Are you moving ahead or spinning your wheels? Sometimes you just have to jump on that ship and see where it takes you.

The move worked out pretty well for Michael Brett. The orphan from Tulla, Ireland ended up having ten children of his own, and siring 53 grandchildren.

That second document I keep beside my desk? My Irish passport, which I was able to secure through Irish citizenship, the benefit of my grandfather being born in Ireland.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. 

The upcoming New York production, of which only two performances will be held, does justice to the novel in length if not content. The play is 12 hours long, performed in Italian, and will be produced on Governor's Island. Audience members will need to take a ferry from Manhattan to the island then walk to the warehouse where it is being staged.

It's unlikely I will see the play, but I love the fact that it is being produced. Having just come off an eight month literary journey of reading all the major Dostoevsky works, as well as the Joseph Frank cinder-block sized biography, I have an appreciation for his genius and the demands it makes upon the reader. While I can't vouch for the quality of the performance, the scope and duration is exactly the type of translation a work of this magnitude calls for, an ideal translation of user experience.

We've all sat through movie adaptations of books that, by necessity, eviscerated the plot to conform to the demands of a two hour running time. This play does the opposite, which seems to be the only way an adequate translation of the book could be accomplished. 

In a world of the Kindle, which conveys information but not experience; and increasingly shortened attention spans that substitute scanning for comprehension, it's gratifying to see a production that pushes boundaries and tests stamina.

We made the decision at the outset of 2010 to consciously pursue not-for-profit clients that were doing interesting and socially relevant work. This work comes not at the expense of our existing corporate clients, but in addition to them in our client portfolio. 

Our efforts have paid off, in our collaboration with AIDS Foundation Chicago on the 2010 Chicago AIDS Walk / Ride, and our continuing work with YMCA of the USA.

I'm thrilled to report we will be partnering with another great organization, the Illinois Humanities Council. The IHC, through programs and grants, promotes an understanding for and appreciation of, the humanities in Illinois. They fund numerous activities throughout the state, including seminars, discussions, performances, film, and the written word.

Any time we land a new client, it's always pretty exciting. But the opportunity to work with one whose mission directly correlates with many of my own hobbies and interests is a coup worth celebrating. 

It fizzled.

After a few months on the market, it was pulled and Classic Coke went back to being just plain Coke, the kind we still drink today.

This time around, a company finally gets it right when it comes to redoing their product. Of course it helps that their product was pretty terrible to begin with. Domino's Pizza overhauled their pizza formula after 18 months of growing criticism. Rather than close their ears and hide from the poor reviews, they embraced it. After a guerilla ad campaign that showed diners criticizing the pizza, comparing it to cardboard with sauce, Domino's is back with a new pizza and revived sales to show for it. The company profit has more than doubled in the wake of the new recipe and campaign.

I can't vouch for the quality of the pizza, not having sampled it. But from a marketing and crisis communication standpoint, the company did everything right. They admitted there was a problem, they addressed publicly in a memorable and humorous way, owning the story at every step. 

The commercials got people talking, the new product got people buying. 

With no disrespect to the great chronicler of the early 20th century, no realm of the arts has proven him more wrong than that of music. To the contrary, the artists who have not burned out or faded away have had their careers defined by late stage comebacks, reinventions and renewed interest by younger audiences. Bob Dylan’s career path has been so varied and gone through so many evolutions that it would be more accurate to say he has experienced second, third and fourth acts, still continuing to follow his muse in new directions well into his late sixties.

In the twilight of his life Johnny Cash recorded a stripped down series of albums most notably “American Recordings” with famed producer Rick Rubin that broadened his appeal to a new generation of listeners, many of whom would have never considered listening to country music. I had the pleasure of seeing the Man in Black at the now defunct Bismarck Hotel in Chicago. Punk rockers with mohawks and multiple body piercings chatted amiably with senior citizens in what was easily the most eclectic concert audience I have ever experienced. 

Now, the great Gil Scott Heron now follows suit with his ironically titled new CD “I'm New Here”. Heron’s music defies classification, spanning blues, soul, spoken word and hip-hop. Of course, he was doing hip-hop 40 years ago, long before anyone had coined the phrase. The stunning new release is largely autobiographical, describing his upbringing in a house of strong women who did not think of their home as broken, instead focusing on what they had, not what they had not.

The best of these songs are pure poetry, the story of his life writ large, in the greater context of the human condition and what it means to be a black man growing up in America. True to his early work, it has anger, sadness, and beats so catchy you almost forget you are hearing a man’s life story and social commentary to boot. The video for his cover of the Robert Johnson song “Me and the Devil” is nothing short of chilling.

His first album in thirteen years, “I'm New Here” proves that some second acts are well worth waiting for.

Deadline for poster submissions is March 15. We need to get cracking. 

I was curious to see the results, as the campaign touches on a number of my longtime passions; graphic design, wordplay and classical music. As a longtime subscriber to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, I have a good sense of the demographics involved and the unique challenges faced by orchestras as they try to engage new audiences.

To meet these challenges, Pennsylvania branding agency Annodyne came up with the concept and tagline “Unexpect Yourself" to roll out the new marketing campaign.

Which is unexpectedly terrible.

Coined phrases have their place in marketing. They can engage an audience in a fresh way when they roll off the tongue, are memorable or particularly euphonious. This is none of the above. While strategically off-base, it also has phonetic connotations that are clumsy at best and downright unpleasant at worst.

Extricate. Expectorate.

These are the words that come to mind, like trying to pull one's foot out of a bucket of sludge. Not the association one wishes to conjure up when branding a world class orchestra. Classical music and the attendance of live performances thereof elevates us. It's not always easy to appreciate, a bit like reading a challenging novel. It can be daunting, but it is ultimately rewarding, and upon becoming familiar, quite a bit of fun. To convey this, the website compares attending an orchestra performance akin to taking a road trip. Which is about as different an experience from a classical performance as I can imagine.

Apart from the clumsiness of the tagline, the campaign is off base because it does not accurately address the offerings of the Philadelphia Orchestra. A quick glance at the schedule reveals a typical greatest hits lineup of classical music clichés.

Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky.

These are all brilliant artists, but they are the equivalent of turning on your FM dial and hearing Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones in rapid succession. They are many things, but unexpected is not one of them.

The campaign has created a backlash in Philadelphia and the arts community.

Which, to be honest, is not wholly unexpected. 

It was a different horrible Who at the Superbowl last night. Truncated into anemic medley format, their songs were stripped of the peaks and valleys that gave them their anthemic resonance. It was a bit sad to see Roger Daltrey omit the "F word" from Who Are You. No doubt the network was mindful of Janet Jackson's notorious wardrobe malfunction from a few years back.

I realize asking musicians to maintain authenticity at the Superbowl is the equivalent of asking Rod Blagojevich to have a sense of personal dignity. It's a halftime show, full of schtick and fireworks, more akin to a Vegas spectacle than a full blown concert. However, there's something about the Superbowl halftime show that sucks the life and energy out of the best of bands (Prince being the rare and notable exception). Regardless, watching the Who perform was a bit like seeing your favorite uncle drink too much at a family reunion and get sick on the gardenias. You still love the guy; you just don't want to ever see him like that again.

The greater underlying issue here is one of authenticity. When does a band of note cease to be that band? Keith Moon died in 1978, bassist John Entwistle in 2002. Do two surviving members, albeit the primary creative forces, still constitute the authentic band? Could Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr credibly perform as the Beatles? What about the idea of reuniting Nirvana sans Kurt Cobain for next year's performance?

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, indeed.

We're thrilled about the opportunity and looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting to work for this very worthy cause and organization. 

I had the same weakness for a well-designed CD cover, when that media was relevant. I remember flipping through the stacks of CDs at Dr. Wax in my twenties, when I pulled out a copy of Social Distortion's Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell. It's not a great design by any means, but it has a nice energy to it. The hipster skater kid standing next to me took notice and said "that music is exactly like that cover". I bought it on that endorsement alone. He was right, what you see is what you hear; raw, unflinching with a rebellious spirit to the music.

The same can be said of the re-issue of Cormac McCarthy's backlist, designed by David Pearson. McCarthy is one of my favorite writers and the cover series is breathtaking. Gorgeous typography, bold colors that jump off the page to smack you in the face, and to paraphrase the skater kid, look exactly like what you are about to read. McCarthy's work has never been represented in such an evocative manner, capturing the spirit of the writing and the time in which the stories occur. Stunning work.

For her laudable efforts, Lauren has been rebuffed by the McDonald's Corporation. When she tried to register the name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, McDonald's filed a challenge, claiming the fest would be linked to the chain. The trial date is pending and she has spent $5,000 defending the challenge thus far.

I don't want to fall into the knee-jerk populist trap of bashing the big, evil corporation in defense of the little guy. Sadly, there's no other way to look at this scenario. This is a classic case of a company getting it completely wrong. They are confusing protecting their brand with protecting a variation of their name. Whether you love their food or hate it, (I fall into the latter category), McDonald's has done many admirable things for charity. Their Ronald McDonald houses provide families with children in hospitals a place to stay that is comfortable, close to the hospital, at little or no cost. By and large, they have been a fairly solid corporate citizen.

They really screwed up on this one however. The last thing a company with a brand based on family and community needs is the appearance of being the corporate spoiler of a grass roots event to do some good for kids with special needs. McDonald's is so focused on protecting the variants of the "Mc" name, they have lost sight of why that name is valuable to the communities they serve in the first place.

I never really thought of it that way. One of the most fascinating aspects of being a graphic designer is having to learn all the nuances of a client and their industry before you can develop a meaningful message and brand proposition for that client. I knew nothing about leveraged financing, facilitation training, or private equity, but having done work in each of those industries, I can speak very intelligently about those respective industries.

Which may not win me friends at cocktail parties, but it certainly helps inform the work. 

Contrary to the client's comment about their industry being boring, I find it intriguing to have to learn something new with each engagement. I've long resisted the design cliche´of referring to oneself as a "storyteller" because it's such a hackneyed way of defining what we do as creative professionals. It's perhaps more accurate to say we're akin to Hollywood script doctors, the folks who come in and rewrite and flesh out existing scripts. We don't fundamentally change what our clients do, but we continually redefine and reframe how it is presented in a way that sets them apart from their competition. 

If you have a film about an archaeologist on a dig in Tunisia during the late 1930s, you won't get the attention of a single producer. Cast Harrison Ford, put a whip in his hand, have him fight Nazis, and suddenly you've got a blockbuster that can be parlayed into a franchise. It's all in how you craft the narrative.

 And a dusty fedora almost never hurts.

A few examples and excerpts:

- "We might have significant optionality."

- "disestablish up to 100 positions" (I would much rather be fired than disestablished)

- "Experience Architect" (an actual job title on a business card) 

There are also numerous examples of poorly mixed metaphors and the obligatory overused phrases that permeate the language. The elephant in the room. Throw someone under the bus. Failure is not an option. 

What is it that makes people feel the need to abuse such a wonderful means of communication as the English language? As marketing communicators, we counsel our clients to be direct, clear and succinct in their choice of words. Otherwise, it is virtually impossible to develop strategic communication. 

One of my favorite writers is Martin Amis, whose collection of non-fiction writings and essays is called The War Against Cliche. I've always taken the title as both rallying cry and litmus test for how we should treat corporate communication. Avoid the lazy and the trite. Strive for originality but not at the expense of clarity. It's a worthy mandate for both clients and designers, one that is applicable to the visual language as well as the written.

It's quite moving to see where we stand in relation to the rest of the universe, akin to staring at the stars on a summer night and feeling blissfully insignificant in the grand scheme of things. When the film scales back from the known reaches of our universe back to Earth, it's quite comforting and makes me think of Earth as "home" in a fresh way. 

I considered creating some dopey top ten list to commence 2010 but thought that this did a good job of visually putting our planet (and worries) into perspective and context.

Thanks to David Airey of Belfast for sharing this. 

What does a heart have to do with 2010? Not much, to be perfectly honest. But it does serve as a nice teaser for our New Year's holiday promotion booklet. We took the liberty of offering a dozen resolutions, one for each month of the year, then applying a representative quote and image to each. Words from Martin Luther King to Edna St. Vincent Millay are represented, in an elegant sixteen page booklet printed by the good folks at Mission Press. The above graphic is February's resolution (love, of course), with the copy from Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?"

If you would like to receive a copy drop us an email at matt@isubstance.com.  

Given Apple Computer's deep pockets, however, would you really want to get involved in a war of attrition with their attorneys? Me neither. So with regard to trademark infringement, discretion is always the better part of valor.

Substance was tasked with developing naming, branding, and website development for a new firm providing online solutions for homeowner association. The goal was to empower condo board members and owners with online answers in a subscription-based ecommerce model. The name we originally chose was Portico, the name for a covered patio supported by columns. It evoked not only a welcoming place with a distinctive name, but metaphorically referenced the support provided by the online resources.

After developing extensive creative, we had to go back to square one on naming and brand development. The Portico name was already in use by a condo association in the west. Granted, it was not the same industry as our clients, but as in the Apple example, it's best not to poke the bear.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Atrios brand and site.

Halfway through “Clark’s” big pitch in the conference room it became apparent that he dressed in something of a rush that morning, as he failed to zip the fly of his trousers. If you ever want to see a room of professionals revert to snickering second graders, this is a sure fire way to make it happen. At that point, he lost his audience completely. The fashion faux pas ran so counter to his message and mannerisms it became impossible to take him serious.

In another instance, the great stage actor Richard Burton was in a squabble with a fellow actor with whom he was appearing in a London play. During a dramatic dinner scene that preceded a long speech by the rival, Burton placed a glass of water just slightly on the edge of the table, where it was perched ever so precariously, just waiting to crash to the stage. It didn't fall, but that didn't keep the audience from focusing on the glass, in effect diminishing the impact of the entire scene. Burton's quiet sabotage of his stage rival was a subtle and effective way of distracting the audience from the message.

The point of all this is not to deflate stuffed shirts (although that can be fun). The point is to not let unnecessary distractions derail your message. When we do client presentations of design work, we take great care that any copy that is not part of the brand message (ie, body copy) is presented in Greek or dummy text. We want the client to focus on the big picture of brand and message and not focus on details that will be resolved at a later stage of the process. 

Don't let an incidental distraction kill your message. Focus on the big picture so your presentation is completely buttoned down. And zipped up.

What is most intriguing is the minimalist style for which Carver is known came largely at the behest of his editor, Gordon Lish. Lish was instrumental in pushing Carver toward a reductive style, taking a hatchet to manuscripts when a razor would have sufficed. Curious readers can pick up the recent Collected Stories volume, which presents both versions of an early story. The relationship between writer and editor was often contentious but ultimately Carver realized Lish controlled access to publication and was thus willing to make the necessary compromises to his work.

The Carver/Lish dynamic made me think of the nature of the designer/client relationship. The best clients are collaborative, engaged in the process and willing to listen, as well as offer up strategic input. Our strongest work is always a product of these types of interactions, where client feedback works to the betterment of the final design. An engaged and informed client can elevate work from good to stellar. A bad client can kill it entirely, reducing the work to something completely different from the original vision of the designer.

As astonishing as Carver's body of writing is, one is left to wonder what might have been had his editor given him the trust we appreciate and expect from our clients. 

The message? Steelcase does not break down.

It's a solid way of reinforcing their brand promise, one that Tiger Woods should have taken to heart. Steelcase makes $3.4 billion in revenue a year, Woods makes $100 million a year. Small change by comparison but more than many companies generate in revenue. His recent late night car accident and subsequent admissions of infidelity are the brand equivalent of his truck breaking down on the highway, without a canvas tarp in sight. Putting aside the issue of marital infidelity, this was an object lesson in how not to handle crisis communication.

No one is perfect nor is every (or any) brand. However, when your entire brand is predicated on excellence, high-performance and the most squeaky clean sports image this side of Wayne Gretzky, you need to do a better job of protecting that image. Compare the stonewalling of Tiger Woods to the full disclosure of David Letterman's infidelities weeks ago. Letterman owned the narrative from the start, announcing his mistakes on his show, apologizing and asking for privacy and the right to move on. After a few days in the headlines, the public did just that. Woods stonewalled, creating curiosity and doing significant damage to his brand.

No one expects a truck that will never break down. But when someone peeks under the canvas tarp, you better be prepared to admit it's your truck and take accountability for the situation.

Eric taught a variety of courses at Kent State University beginning in 1971, but was best known for his letterpress class. Long before letterpress and retro forms of printing were in vogue, Eric was a champion of the old world skills of craftsmanship, attention to detail, paper and typography. He was a gentle soul, often referred to as the Zen master of the faculty, with a quiet but very quirky sense of humor. He was the first person I ever knew to refer to an elegant piece of typography as being "tasty". As a hyper-stressed out underclassmen struggling to learn the fundamentals of design, his voice was one of reassurance and calm, always encouraging and focused on positive reinforcement. The few instances I have had occasion to work with students and junior designers, I have strived to emulate his model of teaching and mentoring.

Eric once said "The field of visual communication is so dynamic with change, it requires that both student and teacher maintain the role of learner at all times". This comes pretty close to describing my ideal student / teacher relationship. 

If you have the chance, take a moment to Google a professor who made an impact on you. Then drop them an email to acknowledge their contribution. 

"Whatever happened to art that looked like it took time to create?" she blurted.

Well my reactionary friend, that type of work is at the Art Institute of Chicago on loan from Italy. If the addition of the Modern Wing is the biggest thing to happen to the Art Institute in years, the loan of Caravaggio's The Supper at Emmaus is a compelling counterpoint. The painting, like much of Caravaggio's work is far more immediate than the dusty old masters paintings that one appreciates rather than loves. 

If your company were a band, which one would it be?

The answers have proven to be quite provocative, often revealing internal fissures particularly when posed to a group of partners. Heated debates over the relative merits of the Who versus the Stones have ensued in our conference room (ie, "We're edgy but not not 'trash the hotel room' edgy).

With shifts in our business culture moving faster than the demise of the compact disc, I'm thinking of reframing the question yet again: If you were a band where would you like to be in three years? A lot can change in that amount of time. The mop top Beatles of 1964 singing "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You" were worlds apart from the eastern influenced hippies of the White Album. In 1989 Nirvana was just a local Seattle bar band. Three years later they were arguably the biggest band in the world. Two years after that they were done, leaving a legion of fans in mourning and a powerful catalog of music.

What band would you like to be and where do you see yourself playing? Would you like to be at Shea Stadium playing to 60,000 fans or at a more intimate venue like the Chicago Theater? Fully amped or unplugged? If you don't think about what you would like to be, it's a safe bet you won't have much control over where you are going to be.

Recently, we were handed a dream project for a new client. The scope included a complete brand creation, from naming and brand development to website design and implementation. On top of that, the client was one of the smartest nice guys you could ever hope to work with. After extensive research and exploration, we chose an evocative company name that articulated his value proposition in a memorable and ownable manner. 

We were days away from presenting creative designs for brandmarks and web design when the proverbial other shoe dropped. The client attorneys wouldn't approve the name because of a potential trademark infringement with another company. We felt like we had been punched in the gut. This meant not only coming up with an entirely new name, but completely redoing all the identity development that had been created to date, as this work was predicated on the name.  

I was reminded of the production of Steven Spielberg's Jaws in 1975. The filming on set was notoriously fraught with problems, not the least of which was a mechanical shark that failed to work properly. After weeks of shooting, most of the shark footage had to be scrapped entirely. To improvise, Spielberg instead filmed from the perspective of the shark, suggesting the impending carnage instead of showing the creature itself. Alluding to the shark instead of showing it proved far more effective and chilling, proving that there is nothing more terrifying than our own imagination. The movie has been remade and ripped off countless times since then, but never to the same eerie effect.

The project is still ongoing and we are back to square one. We may have one shark that failed to launch but we are going to create a blockbuster nonetheless.

Stay tuned. 

Today, his masterful recording of that piece of music is considered the definitive interpretation, despite the bumps and hisses due to the limitations of the recording technology of the time. Minimalist, passionate and overflowing with emotion, the music continues to be used in film and commercial alike.

If you're good enough and disciplined, you inevitably become more successful at what you do. But it requires rigorous devotion and unwillingness to compromise. In the same way, the best brands are ones that are diligent in every application of their brand, not just their visual identity. Everything from how you answer your phone, to your email signature to the signage in your company is a tangible manifestation of your brand, one that clients remember. Your brand is something you need to consider every day. If you're hardworking and fortunate, your brand may one day be considered a definitive classic, like the Casals suites.

Although you can't slack off. When Casals was 93, he was was asked why he continued to practice the cello three hours a day. Casals replied "I'm beginning to notice some improvement."

But the real subject of his artwork is time itself. Watching him work is to see someone completely lost in the moment, what Zen Buddhists strive for in sitting meditation, where there is no past or future, but the simple elegance of the present. To know that most of his constructions will be destroyed by nature itself, through wind, tide or storm, makes their beauty all the more ephemeral and poignant. Thus, the real artwork is the moment of creation itself, something you can be privileged to see in the documentary of his work, Rivers and Tides.

1. Avoid the crazy ones

Or as my clever Uncle Paul used to say, “Why are the pretty ones always insane?” A colleague at another agency managed a Fortune 100 consulting client with whom every creative firm wanted to work. They had huge budgets, a well-known and well-executed brand, and an exciting body of projects on which to work.

They were also a complete and utter train wreck.

It was not uncommon to have a brochure in the advanced production stage of reviewing proofs, and the client would arbitrarily change the design and content entirely, so one more or less had to start from scratch. Obviously, they charged extra fees for this additional time, but it was crippling to the morale of the creative team. More than a few talented designers and art directors left the agency as a result. One team member observed that the client was like the incredibly beautiful woman (or man) who knows the power of his or her allure and lords it over all suitors. 

Everyone wants to date this Aphrodite or Adonis, but once they do, they realize that it frankly is not worth the headaches. Sometimes in business, as in dating, some people are not worth the drain it takes upon your spirit. 

2. Relationships Take Work  

Someone once said, “Falling in love is easy. Staying in love is the trick.” If you’re not vigilant, it can be like that with clients and their brands. When a new client relationship begins, the ideas are fresh and there is an energy that sweeps both parties along (affectionately known as the “wine and flowers” stage). After the honeymoon is over, inevitably there are going to be challenges and missteps along the way. Work through these. The surest way to lose a good client (or partner) is to take them for granted and let the work grow stale by phoning in the creative as opposed to keeping it fresh by continually pushing yourself and challenging expectations. If you don’t, there is always another suitor waiting who will. 

3. Be Yourself

A friend who was a smoker began dating a young lady who was vehemently opposed to cigarettes and would never consider dating a smoker. During the entire first month of their courtship, he never smoked around her and made a point to avoid having a cigarette before seeing her, so there would be no trace of it on his person. Needless to say, once they got beyond the seduction phase, he began smoking in her company, trouble flared and they split up. Clients generally expect and appreciate the type of work for which you are known. Always push yourself, always challenge the ceiling of expectations, but don’t ever try to be something you are not, in your work or in your brand.