the mehallo blog. beta.

Snap by Martine Trelaun

Tags: cool finds, photography by steve
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So Sacramento’s kinda full of Kansas City emigres.

Many graphic design studio owners came from there, having studied under the legendary Rob Roy Kelly at the Kansas City Art Institute. And it may be only a matter of time until DJG ends up in Sac (I’m just guessing).

The Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985. And recently, I found out a few of my students have been designing Kings billboards on the side.

Part of a campaign headed up by Sacramento Kings creative director Heather Vaughan – the handmade, graffiti-themed billboards have been appearing all over town. Not prints, but the actual handpainted art. The project has garnered national publicity appearing as a ‘Coast to Coast Best Practice’ in the Sports Business Journal.

Time-lapse video, above. Work (by students) below. More details here.

Demetris Washington

Jonathan Price

Daniel Mendez

Found via Lyndsie Ross, Kings design intern

Tags: cool finds, design, education, illustration by steve
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Graphic designer Danny Gibson doesn’t do things the way he’s supposed to.

And last we spoke, I think he said he’s not even using a computer anymore.

Based out of Kansas City, Danny is a prolific experimenter. Artist. Something like that. Has an eye for composition and his work is fresh, unusual and fun. I’m not even sure how I found him. Few years back, I’d shown his poster work in two local design exhibitions; one group show and a solo show at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center.

danny’s own take
Limited editions is the best way to describe what he does. Low budget, obsessive constructs. Mixed-media would be a good term too – since Danny uses anything he can get his paws on; used paper, envelopes, newspaper, stencils, handlettering, rubber stamps, yarn, hardware products – I’m pretty sure he’s got some rotting food in there too. [Read more →]

Tags: cool finds, design, exhibitions, illustration, music, thoughts by steve
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Details.

Tags: design history, typography by steve
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‘You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll kiss three bucks goodbye!’

The original, legendary, low budget Star Wars parody.

Always loved Fluke Starbucker’s dune buggy

Plus
Here’s a link to the unauthorized 1997 Special Edition; updated with computer-generated FX. Just like Star Wars is now.

Or
Here’s the authorized 30th Anniversary restored original edition on DVD.

Tags: cool finds by steve
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Another sort of Star Wars-influenced adaptation.

I used to watch this early mornings before heading out to school, often missing the ends of episodes. Didn’t know much about it until I looked it up tonight.

Battle of the Planets (1978) was a reworking of a 1972 Japanese program called Gatchaman. Redubbed and reedited with Star Wars-like elements, the Gatchaman team became ‘G-Force.’ The American version was heavily sanitized to remove ‘graphic violence, profanity and transgenderism.’ Wow. And the original show had an environmental theme, sort of lost in translation.

More details on the Wiki page here. American show titles (above), original Japanese titles (below). Interesting contrast.

Tags: design, thoughts by steve
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More Star Wars stuff.

No one saw Star Wars coming. And the networks had to get something – a knock off, anything – on the air as fast as they could. A small pilot at NBC – from Get Smart co-creator Buck Henry – became a series, February 1978.

Heavily promoted as a Star Wars spoof, Quark starred Richard Benjamin, blonde twins clones from the Doublemint commercials and it had a character named Ficus, who was not human, but a plant. Made me wonder if there were actually people in life who were plants.

I always thought this guy was a plant:

Dr. Dean Edell

It was a silly show. Series pilot is posted here. Regular episode here.

Was canceled by April.

Tags: cool finds by steve
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(Unofficial) music video for Instant Remedy’s Fairlight.

Animation by DW Design.

Mesmerizing.

Tags: cool finds, design, music by steve
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‘What happens when the Universe is revealed to you in a single moment, filling you with love, desire, hope, fear, despair, longing, and complete joy?’

Video for Slow Poison by The Bravery. Creative direction by Orion Tait and Ryan Honey, details here. The Bravery’s MySpace here.

Tags: cool finds, design, music by steve
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Kilian Eng is DW Design. Illustrator, graphic designer, musician and animator working out of Stockholm. The design is pure 1979; even down to the faded colors – which in 1979, weren’t so faded.

This is his MySpace page. Eng, along with Amir Zaino, make up the electronic duo DW, which they describe as ‘Hip-pop-house through pink italo shades.’

Interview here. Check out their tracks on MySpace here.

In 1979, I had a small paperback called How to Draw Robots – it was one of the books that taught me illustration technique. I’d say Eng really nails it.

Tags: design, music by steve
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‘To date it is the biggest-selling instrumental single in the history of recorded music, being the only one ever to be certified platinum’ -Wiki

In 1977, a disco version of the music from Star Wars made it big. It was played over and over on the radio. Meco Monardo was the recording artist. Album art was by Robert Rodriguez, art direction by Stephen Lumel/Gribbitt!

Hear the single below. The album (vinyl, above) didn’t actually have the single on it – instead, it featured an extended, 15 minute version (one had to also buy the single to get the single). This ‘best of’ compilation has everything. Or the track alone can be snagged here. Meco Monardo interview here.

Star Wars Theme, disco version

Scruffy album image found via Futuregirl

Tags: cool finds, illustration, music by steve
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