I never turn down a chance to work on a sports logo. As a kid, I would regularly sketch new logos for sports teams. Since becoming a designer, I’ve taken every opportunity possible to work one up. Even though no one has ever paid me to do it, it’s always been a dream of mine that someday, some team, somewhere, will call Oxide to design their new identity!
A couple of months ago, my younger brother took over marketing responsibilities for his local adult hockey league. He approached …
A while back, Joe shared his Great™ movie list. As I looked through it, I began thinking about what movies I thought were Great™. I soon realized that this was a rather difficult task. You have to decide where your cut off point is and how to judge movies of all genres on one scale. Joe decided, and we all agree, that a Great movie is one that you would watch RIGHT NOW (given the opportunity). While I can’t guarantee that you’ll enjoy the movies on this list, I do put my personal stamp of approval on all of them. …
I’ve always loved photography, but have never owned my own camera. So, when I decided that photography was a hobby I was interested in pursuing, I bought myself a fancy new camera with lots and lots of buttons. After a demo day at the zoo with good friend, photography teacher, and former Oxide intern Adam Casey, I decided I would attempt to take some photos on my own! The perfect occasion for my first attempt arose at the birthday party of my friend’s twin nieces. One of the main reason I bought a nice camera was to perfect my abilities before I have my own children. I really love kids. They’re always smiling, laughing and playing; which means getting a great photo of them is much easier than adults. …
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This is my list of Great™ TV shows. It’s also (not coincidentally) a list of shows with writers who are awesome problem-solvers. The golden era of Great™ TV is closing (at least from my point of view), and although I’m not giving it up entirely, I’m not watching as much as I used to. So, consider this a farewell love letter to TV. …
This week, we prepared for the birthday celebration of Miles Davies (Oxide owner Drew Davies’ child and unofficial fourth member of the Oxide team). We did so by creating a six foot banner for his first ever party! We are fully aware that they sell this type of thing at party supply stores. However, being designers, we are unable to avoid using our talents at every possible opportunity.
Illustrating the banner reminded us of early design school exercises. It also gave us an chance to bust out our beloved Prismacolor markers. Each letter became a blank canvas in which we had to creatively fill the space. This is not unlike our starting process for client work. We sit down with a blank sheet of paper and sketch until we find solutions that work.
Happy first birthday to Miles!
Last summer, one of my best friends asked me to do some design work for his wedding. At first I thought “here we go again.” It’s not that I don’t like doing design work for my friends and family, I actually rather enjoy it. The reason I immediately felt overwhelmed was that I had just finished the massive amount of design work for my own wedding and wasn’t ready to start it all over again. When I learned that all he was looking for was a logo — not invitations, programs, a website, and everything else that goes into the design of a wedding — I got really excited! …
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I love TV. There’s been a lot of movie talk around here lately, but if I had to choose between TV and movies, I’d pick TV — hands down. …
One important bonus of the Sparano Scale™ is the singling out of the Greatest™ things in your life — the things you’ve experienced that are too good to just call Good™. These are the things that, for whatever reason, you have a fundamental connection to. …
A few weeks ago, my friend Kami approached me with a request to design “the gig poster that never was” for her father’s high school band. She wanted the poster to have the look and feel of a current gig poster. I love the aesthetics of a well-designed gig poster, so I was on board right away. …
Monday mornings at Oxide are for traffic meetings. But before we cover anything important, we recap our weekends — which is usually just a movie review-a-thon.
These discussions can spiral out of control, but in the end, every movie ends up with some kind of critical consensus. And out of these conversations, we’ve slowly developed a colloquial rating system. …