Lost Ideas

Tonight I was skimming through some old archived files and stumbled upon a lot of what I call "Lost Ideas." Most are design options presented to clients but never used, and some are ideas I played around with during the creative process but never presented.

All of them sit lonely amongst the 0's and 1's, in long forgotten files collecting dust on my HD.

I've been working digitally since 1991 so my archives are filled with graphic elements like this. I probably have thousands of things I can't even remember and I'm not sure if I could open some of them anymore? (FreeHand version 2.0) If I was smart I'd go back through everything and catalog all the art. I'll get to that Someday. (Yeah right.)

Perusing through these lost ideas from both the recent and long past was cathartic and nostalgic. So being a fair graphic warden I decided to let a handful of my designed captives out of their solitary confinement so they could see the light of day once again.


Collection of Lost Ideas.

Cheese Weasel Day

"Cheese Weasel Day" Logo.

My friend Chris Forbes is the driving force (evangelist) behind a real holiday that started on the internet sometime in the last 15 years called "Cheese Weasel Day." (CWD)

Like other honored holidays like Festivus CWD is most often celebrated within the tech industry. (Visit the site for the full story)

I first heard about it last year when Chris posted it on his Twitter feed. I thought the logo was a bit moldy, so I told him to contact me next year and I'd create a new logo for his curdled masses.


"Cheese Weasel Day" T-Shirt.

The official, authentic, and certified CWD t-shirt! Ferret out your bad fashion and gird your loins with the weasel. Even a lactose intolerant person can add this cheese to their wardrobe.

- View and Order Shirt Here.

Does rodent and cheese apparel design grate on you? No worries, just download a CWD print to hang up in your office. Or just point that IT specialist that scorns your Mac over to this post and let them embrace the wonder that is Cheese Weasel Day!

Download Cheese Weasel Day Print

Fa La La La Lifetime - Take III

Original Hand Lettering for "Fa La La La Lifetime."

This now makes the third Christmas in a row that the Lifetime Channel has used my "Fa La La La Lifetime" branding for their holiday promotional efforts.


"Fa La La La Lifetime" bug graphic.

During this season you'll see it as a bug in the lower right hand corner of the screen and it'll also appear in numerous TV spots. (But the ones that look ugly and where their in house people added dimension to the letter forms I had nothing to do with.)


"Fa La La La Lifetime Movie Network"

Lifetime contacted me again this year to create additional custom lettering to augment their current seasonal branding efforts. The image above shows a stacked option and I also created a long horizontal option with everything resting on the same baseline as well.


"Fa La La La LMN" bug graphic.

This shows an abbreviated version I also created that can be used as a bug graphic.


"Fa La La La LMN" alternate bug graphic.

Sometimes when working on projects like this I explore beyond the requested deliverables. So on this project I also provided them with the type nested inside a fun shape as well. Not sure they'll ever use it but I liked it.

TV Promotional Spot - 2009

Robot Love

My Toy Robot Collection.

My fascination with robots started in the summer of 1977 when Star Wars hit the big screen. As I've posted before, robots are one of the top ten themes creative people love.

So when I moved into my new studio a few years back I found a unique shelve design to display all of my robot collectibles.

I've been wanting to use them for a creative project in some way, but never could figure out an appropriate use. That is until I worked on a recent identity project for New Modern Science.


Raw Photograph of Robot.

As I worked on the identity for New Modern Science I realized the robot would make a perfect company mascot. A secondary branding element in essence.

I'm not a professional photographer, but I know enough about photography to get what I need in this case. I set up a nice forced perspective shot against a white background.


Final Photograph of Robot Mascot.

I took my raw image into Photoshop and cleaned up some details, added depth of field fx, and crossed processed the colors so it worked well with the look and feel of the logo mark.


Brand integration.

The robot fits the context of new brand identity well. I even used it on the back of the business card design I created. You can view the whole project on my primary design site here.

Hardy Har Har

Comedy Club Logo Mark.

One of my favorite agencies communication firms in these parts is ReThink Communications. They do some seriously cool work and are a blast to work with on projects too.

I've worked with them in the past to create some fun icons for their client Kolachy Co. The most recent project was a logo mark for the Vancouver Comedy Festival.


Vancouver Comedy Festival Logo.

Design is so much easier when you have a great concept. The CD on this job Jeff Harrison had dialed in on a great concept and we worked together to create what you see above.


Promotional poster designed by Rethink.

I love the promotional posters Rethink designed. Very funny. And the promotional TV spots they created are excellent too. You can watch them here.

Salvation by Design

Concept 1

Hindsight Critique: Probably my weakest concept. Looks like a hood ornament a faith healer would have on his Rolls-Royce. No wonder they didn't choose it.

I have to admit something before I jump into this post. I normally avoid working with Churches on design projects like this. It pains me to say that since I myself am a Christian, but my experience thus far in my career supports my hesitation and that is unfortunate.

So when I was contacted by Northwest Church in regards to designing a new identity for them I was very skeptical about it. That said I quoted it like any other corporate identity project and we proceeded.


Concept 2

Hindsight Critique: This is OK. A bit too literal perhaps. Note how I colorized the NW section of the mark.

I'm happy to say that the creative process went extremely well. Working with Northwest Church was truly a joy. Mainly because they get it. I felt like I was working with an agency.

That said I still had that nagging feeling in the back of my head that at any moment someone would mess it up, look at one of my designs and say it looked like a penis or something. But I had to keep the faith.


Concept 3

Hindsight Critique: I like the clean simplicity of this idea.

Every business has a personality. Designing a successful identity is all about capturing that personality accurately in a visual sense so it honestly represents them.

That said a design can be good, even great in and of itself but still fail as an identity for the client because it doesn't capture the essence of their personality.


Concept 4

Hindsight Critique: This approach was one of my favorites. I like the simplicity, form and the color denoting location all the while serving as a cross as well.

The main problem with most Church oriented design is it's lame. Sinfully ugly if you will. Sorry the truth hurts.

So when I approached this job I wanted to avoid your standard stereotypical graphic crosses as much as possible. And instead create a new cross-like graphic to use.


Concept 5

Hindsight Critique: This is another approach I liked as well. The hint at a page from the bible makes for a good graphic device.

Graphic metaphorical visual hints are the spice in design cooking. Anyone can serve up a circle, square or triangle. It takes more conceptual culinary elegance to plate a design that goes beyond ordinary.


Concept 6

Hindsight Critique: Probably a bit too comical. Doesn't fit their personality. More inline with a t-shirt design for a Church picnic I suppose.

Logo design camps in one of two locations. Literal or Figurative. A literal approach uses literal imagery in a literal way. A figurative approach uses metaphorical imagery or literal imagery in a non-literal metaphorical way. I prefer the latter.


Concept 7

Hindsight Critique: I really liked this approach. The icons nested together well and formed a subtle cross like shape in the negative space.

Sometimes in the design process you realize an idea can work in another way for the same project and that is what happened with these icons. I used them as part of the over all identity package to define the various ministries within the church.


Concept 8

Hindsight Critique: Simon says welcome to Milton Bradley Church.

I like the symbolism in this mark. The outer circle representing the Church. The inner sections representing the four Church ministries all forming a subtle graphic cross like shape. Note how I used the color to denote the northwest.


Concept 9

This is the concept the client selected. I have to admit I was surprised but they said they loved the thought behind it and that sold it. So it's a good argument for explaining your design when presenting your ideas rather than just sending them off and saying "Let me know what you think."

Designers should be good thinkers and share a vision with the client so the client can buy into that vision and truly embrace it.

To understand the design philosophy behind this mark visit the full project post at my primary site.

A Typical Glitschka Studios Project Folder

I Draw So You Don't Have To

Friends original art.

Sometimes I help friends out who can't really draw. Such was the case here. He had put together the image above which captured the emotion he desired but it lacked that professional quality.


Artwork make-over.

I used his art as the foundational framework for my artistic make-over.


Final usage.

This is the final context of the artwork.

Seek and You Will Find

Street Level Logo Design.

How do you motivate a group of stiff necked suits, or a room full of cubicle zombies, or any other garden variety form of corporate drone? Well, if you're "Street Level Adventures" you design custom treasure hunts to facilitate corporate team building for some of the nations largest companies.


Cycloptic Man.

The purpose behind the adventures is to help a team focus and operate in a unified manner. Because of that I decided to create a humanoid character with an all-seeing eye. A graphic nod to "E Pluribus Unum" if you will.

The adventures are fun and creative so I wanted the mark to be playful as well. The typography is all hand lettered too to go with the style of the artwork.


Unused Logo Concept.

This design approach played off of a man hole cover concept. Once again I kept the aesthetic playful and hand lettered the design.


Unused Logo Concept.

This business designs all types of adventures in various genres so I decided to play off a cloak and dagger theme motif. I liked it but felt it pigeon holed the perception of what type of genre adventures they offered, so it wasn't used.

Graphic Homicide

Another victim of bad design.

Rarely do I talk about local design issues. But recently an article in a local news paper about a logo design demonstrated a text book case of how design can go so very wrong.

In order for you the blog reader to fully understand the context in which I'll be critiquing this design, I encourage you to go read the short article here. Or if the news paper decides to remove it you can download a PDF of the article here.


Diagraming a graphic homicide.

Design Crime Notes

Overall: This is a bad design period the end. It's not "Kinda OK" or "Not that bad" it's a victim of bad design, a graphic homicide if you will.

There isn't a distinct graphic tone for this design. It's all over the stylistic map in such an incoherent manner that it's no surprise that a board DID facilitate it.

The lack of a distinct hierarchy in the design makes for a very schizophrenic end result as well. Everything is competing for attention, which kind of reflects the board approval process it's gone through as well I suppose. Various factions all playing art director trying to get their element integrated.

I think there is too many visual compenents to begin with, but if it's mandatory to include a mountain, fish, and flowers than spend the time to weave them together in a compelling well crafted manner. What you have here is at best a mishmash design, which again may just be a reflection of the board mentality?

But the blame cannot rest on the board alone. A designer has to play a proactive roll in any creative process, not be intimidated by a client and help steer a board in the right direction. So the problem is two fold IMO. No agency, just in house designers with very little leverage and a swarm of board members who fancy themselves as art directors.

A. Photographic Elements: These glorified web graphics are unnecessary saddle bags full of bad design chops. They've been fused onto an already poorly crafted motif like love handles on a middle aged balding board member. Sure, some might find them cute, but realistically they are just visual fat that impedes the design health.

B. Typography Choice: The choice of the Optima typeface adds to the visual tension since the font itself has been referred to as a centrist font trying to merge characteristics of serif and sans serif typefaces. The fact it's hay day was in the mid 1970's makes the mark look dated from the get go.

C. Clip-Art: Like water and oil this art doesn't swim with the rest of the graphics stylistically, thus repelling each other. The so-called native american inspired graphic looks like something a hack designer would pull from an Art Explosion CD. It feels like clip-art because it's poorly illustrated and executed.

D. Mountain: At first I didn't see a mountain. I saw a green shark getting ready to eat a black fish. The saw tooth graphic is another weak attempt at native american style, and instead it adds unnecessary complexity. The rendering of the mountain is lame as well and the graphic birth mark they inserted on it's interior will just look like a hickey at smaller sizes. Brilliant!

In Closing: It's only taken this board two years to get this design result. If government can't initiate a logo design, why do we think it can run health care? (I digress.) The board needs to stop playing art director, stop using hack designers, and hire a legit agency to produce a professional solution.

The eventual eye sore.

If any board member or local citizen reads this post I challenge you to encourage our local leadership to put out an RFP to local design firms and let us show you how the creative process can produce a well crafted and creative design solution for the water tower. It won't take two years and it'll look professional.

The following is an opinion piece I wrote and submitted to the local paper in response to the water tower logo story. I hope they run it, but I won't hold my breath.

50 Miles From Good Design

What separates good design from bad design? Apparently 50 miles.

One could argue that the Pacific Northwest is a design mecca when it comes to communication arts. Portland of all cities in Oregon understands and values good design. Just drive around the city and it's hard not to see examples of it everywhere you go. Because of this attention to design Portland is globally-renowned for it's design community.

When a graphic logo is needed local Portland leaders and businesses appropriately turn to the local design community and lean on professional agencies to create what they need and the end result is creative, well crafted, and this reflects positively on Portland as a whole.

Public transportation has a nice "TriMet" logo and when Portland developed a new premiere shopping center they turned to a local design firm and produced the "Bridgeport Village" logo.

But for some reason if you travel a mere 50 miles south the attitude towards design changes and you have a city like Keizer producing the antithesis in "Keizer Station." Don't get me wrong the shopping experience is fine, I'm speaking in regard to the aesthetic of their logo, the design is bad and doesn't reflect the quality of the shopping experience.

Like Portland, the Keizer and Salem community have many talented design agencies they could be calling upon to produce well crafted and creative professional solutions for their graphic needs. Instead however Keizer chooses to create a logo design for their latest water tower graphic without tapping any local agency. You can view it here.

If you compare the quality of this water tower logo with that of Portland's "Park Smart" logo, you'll see the difference between good and bad design produced on behalf of an Oregon city. Portland values it and Keizer leadership has no clue.

Why is it that Portland design trumps Keizer design?

Portland values design, there fore they value the designers producing it and depend upon them and their agencies to guide and facilitate the creative process.

Keizer on the other hand, didn't hire any agency and instead has taken two years of board meetings and a fragmented design process to create what they now have which is at best unprofessional and at worse will reflect poorly upon the city when it's plastered on a 200 ft. water tower.

The good news is this can all be easily corrected. Keizer and Salem like Portland can have the same high standards of design appreciation and benefit from it too. It just takes leadership who'll acknowledge their own lack of understanding when it comes to the design process and realize they need to stop playing art director and be wise leaders by hiring a local design agency to give Keizer and it's community what they deserve, good design.

The Saramond Quests

"Iron Dragons" book cover design.

A friend of mine by the name of Derek P. Gilbert is a multi-talented guy. He has done podcasting, worked as a rock music DJ on radio, hosting a FM talk radio show, a barber shop quartet member, seller of steel, and an author. He's like a utility player in baseball who can play any position he needs, to get the job done. And if that wasn't enough, he's also a really nice guy as well.

I finally got around to listening to his first audio book "Iron Dragons" about five months ago. I'll admit I'm not a huge fan of fantasy so that is why I put off getting into it for about a year. Well needless to say once I started listening to his book I was hooked, it's a compelling story with a nice twist and rich character development.

Since Derek has a voice for radio he also reads the book too, the fact it's FREE to anyone who wants to listen via Podiobooks.com is a no-brainer.

I was less impressed with the books cover however. I didn't think it did the story justice and felt the series needed to have a branded look established since this is "Book One of The Saramond Quests."

I had to tread lightly though, you see his wife Sharon designed the book cover and I didn't want to offend anyone, especially a friends better half.

Well, I never had to approach Derek because he beat me to it, and asked me to design a consistent brand for him. He's donated a lot of time sharing his work with everyone so I didn't mind sharing some of mine as well. If in the process I can help a friends work get the attention it deserves that is reward enough IMO.


"The Saramond Quests" brand logo.

Since these books will live online I kept the design streamlined. Each book will be branded with a new color but keep the same general format to create a branded coherent series. The first book is the crown jewel in the story arch so we settled on purple, this also had a lot to do with the fact that I negotiated a deal with one of the top fantasy artists in this genre Ciruelo Cabral. He gave us permission to use his dragon illustration on the cover. I was thrilled that he allowed us the privilege to use his art for this project, thank you Ciruelo!

Combine the incredible dragon art with a new branding for "The Saramond Quests" and we now have a firm visual foundation for future covers. Derek of course loves the new cover and I'll be helping him with his future covers as well.


"The Saramond Quests" brand logo.

I thought the iconic dragon looked pretty cool so I created a t-shirt design with it.

Derek has also just released another FREE audio book called "The God Conspiracy" which is in a totally different genre but once again another fun listen.

I didn't however design this latest cover, his wife did. Like Schultz on Hogan's Heros "I see nothing!"

Rogues' Gallery

My original tribal face tattoo art.

Over the past eight months I've been collecting a rogues' gallery of assorted people who have used my art to either get a tattoo or create a tattoo for another person. None of the people in this post sought permission to use my art and a few even posted my art within their own online accounts, listing it with their own copyright notice.

Every time I post about this topic I get a swarm of people saying "If I were you I'd be flattered!" or "You should be happy people like your work!" etc. Well let me say before I get any further that of course I'm flattered that people like my art and want to get it permanently tattooed on their body. Who wouldn't be?

That said, neither of those two comments excuse anyone from the obligation of getting permission to use another persons artwork. It's my art period the end and if they want to use it they should ask first. A handful have done this and I've worked out very fair arrangements with them and they've received flash sheets from me to assist them in getting my art tattooed with precision. The people in this post didn't do that.


Derived art by Michel Schwarz.

Michel did ask permission to use my art, but it came after he already had the tattoo done. Personally I think he should have just drawn the whole thing out himself, he obviously has the chops. But over all it came out pretty good and he was nice enough to share the picture with me.


My tribal face poorly executed on Natas Filth. (Screen Name)

Some one had emailed me a link that had the photo of the shoulder. I did some connecting the dots and found it's home on Natas. Beautiful women, but an ugly tattoo job. Too bad.


My original tribal bat tattoo art.

This design is becoming my most popular tattoo design. It's showing up all over the place like walking portfolios.


My tribal bat perched on the back of TheDeadAmongUs. (Screen Name)

Originally I thought this tattoo was used by a goth girl celebrity from Transilvania, Romania named Razor Candi? But the real persona behind the costume visual branding seems to be quite normal and answered my email informing me she doesn't have a tattoo on her back.

So I did some more poking around on Deviantart.com and discovered it is on the back of "TheDeadAmongUs" AKA Lauren. (Who apparently is a fan of "Razor Candi)

Lauren values her privacy so she doesn't reveal her last name in her profile, but she does share the fact she loves classic cars, death rock, body modification, vintage corsets, latex fashion, dermal implants, hairless cats, b-rated movies, roller derby and one could argue my tribal tattoo art as well.


My tribal bat on "Hell Ya Buddy!" (Screen Name)

I get asked all the time "How do you find these?" well usually I don't. Most often it works like this:

- Receive email saying: "Hey is this your art?" (Link provided)
- Visit link and usually see a hostage quality photo showing my art
- Shake head, groan, and say "Weasel!"
- Ask person to remove the image showing my art
- Blog about it here

My tribal bat on the leg of Helen Norcross.

OK, so my preference is shown on the left and reality is shown on the right.

If it were up to me I'd make some kind of tattoo law that only allowed well proportioned young people to get them done. Tattoos look great on beautiful bodies but not so hot on the modus operandi of the greater populace. (That includes me BTW)

I have no idea what Helen Norcross looks like? Flickr.com had all kinds of pictures of her family and husband but she always seemed to be behind the camera.


My tribal bat tickling Sherri Langfords leg.

It looks like a guy by the name of Bull Snook is claiming copyright ownership of my work. Well that is a bunch of bull! (Pun intended) And Sherri should know better being a photographer herself.

At best it's a clear case of derivative work.


My tribal bat kickin' it on the calf of Ramsey1984's. (Screen Name)

Kind of a strange location to put a horizontally oriented design? But thankfully Ramsey1984's calf muscle is as meaty as a ham hock with enough real estate to suffice. The tattoo artist seems to have done a nice precise job too, so props for that.


My tribal bat hacked together on Zoro4me3's gut. (Screen Name)

The following is another example of derivative work.

It's bad enough when people use my art without permission, but it's insult upon injury when nebulous screen names have hacked my art and produce a craptacular tattoo with it.

Of course this doesn't stop people from proudly displaying it to the world via the internet of course. So lets all hug one another and celebrate mediocrity!


My tribal bat gracing the wrist of Jakk636. (Screen Name)

Tattoos like this remind me of the old PeeChee folders everyone would doodle on in school. But in this case he chose to do it on his own body instead. So for the next 70 years or so he'll have to stare at this poorly executed art and cringe.


My tribal bat scrawled on EvilMuffinMan. (Screen Name)

Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man, that lives on Drury Lane, and apparently hires the blind to poorly trace my tattoo design on his back.


My original tribal lion tattoo art.

It's not just people wanting a tattoo it's also tattoo artists themselves who have no qualms about using other peoples art without permission. I know there are always exceptions and many good tattoo shops try to avoid this situation, but here is one artist who didn't.


My tribal lion on some persons body done by Pisopez. (Screen Name)

Well I've managed to figure out that the artists first name is Joel and apparently Joel is some what of a renaissance man. He's an artist who paints, plays the guitar, does tattoos (see image above) and even throws axes for fun?

Joel seems to be pretty accurate with those axes too, so I'll just say this:

"Next time axe me for permission Joel!"

VonsterTattoos.com Coming Soon
I've had so much interest in my tattoo art over the past four years I've decided to create my own official set of tattoo flash sheets that I'll be marketing through a new web presence called VonsterTattoos.com. It'll take me a good chunk of the summer to get all the art done but I hope to have it launched by Halloween at the latest.

This will give those who want to use my art for tattoos an easy way to do so legally and at a very fair and reasonable rate. If you subscribe to this sites RSS feed you'll be notified when this new site launches.