Here’s a sneak peak of the newly released “Brand! Vol. 3” we received today. We were lucky enough to have a handful of our branding and environmental projects featured in the book and are honored for the opportunity.
Look out for this book, there’s a lot of great work in it.
October 13, 2010 | mm-sf | Permalink
Tonight, MadMen premieres and I came across this little gem on Landor’s blog. I was recently very impressed with Landor’s work for Miller High Life, and wanted to look a little into Walter Landor himself. I never knew much about the man, other than that his firm has carried on for nearly 15 years in his absence.
Apparently he recently had a birthday on the 9th of July, and his studio released a film about a project he did for for Old Fitzgerald whiskey back in the 1960’s. This film definitely has an endearing quality to it, Walter’s narration adds that perfect vintage tone, but I am amazed at the process they went through to create this whiskey bottle. Gives a whole new meaning to the idea of creating “comps.”
Cheers to Walter, Don Draper would be very proud.
July 25, 2010 | mm-sf | Permalink
SUMMIT International Design Programme
SUMMIT International Design Programme No. 01 was a complete success!
We had 5 incredible design students journey with us to The Netherlands for a 9 day educational odyssey. The students, Tiffany Huang of UCLA, Ellen Keith of CCA, Cole Moss of Otis, Everett Pelayo of UCLA, & Indhira Rojas of CCA, as well as MM & our amazing photographer Melissa Kaseman walked away completely inspired.
We met with 3 design firms in Amsterdam:
We also had the great opportunity to participate in a Masters critique at the Sandberg Institute with Annelys de Vet, Rob Schröder (former Wild Plakken, and now documentary maker) and Daniël van der Velden (from Metahaven). This was a unique learning experience for the SUMMIT students and proved to be fruitful for all. Thank you again Annelys for presenting us with this great experience.
And 2 design firms in Utrecht:
Each of these design bureaus have very different unique stylistic approaches to their work. Furthermore, they all are very different in size, type of work, and audience. This selection of bureaus was exceptional for the SUMMIT students to experience. I felt that it gave them a unique perspective into different processes, executions, and presented them a better understanding of what size of firm they might want to work for in the future. A few expressed serious interest in staying in Holland to work! I don’t blame them.
The book is certainly a very relevant medium in Holland and this gave way to much discussion. Of course in America it seems that printed materials are fading away due to the push towards mobile and pad, but I still feel strongly that the book will never go away completely. To me the medium will become more of an art form because of its possible dip in volume. This is very true in Holland; the book is definitely an art form which quickly becomes collected and prized all over the world.
While in Utrecht we attended the senior show at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht. This was seriously the best senior school presentation I’ve been to; I am some what biased as this is the school I graduated from 10 years ago. However, it was really great to see such a strong body of work in each discipline; graphic design, industrial design, photography, illustration, fashion, ect…
We also had the serendipitous event of being in Amsterdam during the Irma Boom Biography of Books Exhibition. This alone would have been enough to experience but we came one day early (the show was not open yet) and got to meet Irma as she was setting up the final touches on her show. It was super nice talking with her and we ended up coming back two days later to visit the actual exhibition. She is the yoda of book design, it was amazing.
Between the meetings with design bureaus, design schools, and exhibitions we checked out some really great book stores, smaller galleries, and toured some excellent architecture. The ARCAM building was a highlight for me. Its this super small and contorted building that is the center for architecture. This building is very near NEMO which I always found an interesting site from the train. It looks like the hull of a ship coming out of the water. We also cycled out to the Eastern Docklands which has some unique architectural solutions. The dutch have serious spatial dilemnas which force them to come up with some really exceptional solutions. To end the day we biked slowly around The Whale which was quite a site and experience. That was all in Amsterdam.
In Utrecht between meeting with design bureaus we all split up and went about the city center. Myself, Melissa, and Ellen picked up some bikes and rode to De Uithof which is the campus area of the Utrecht University. This is where some of the most striking architecture resides in Utrecht. On the way, we made a stop at the Rietveld Schröder House which was a treat to see again. It had been 10 years since I had been back to Utrecht and so it was quite special to be cycling around again.
Now that we have returned to America, charged with inspiration and new perspectives, the SUMMIT students embark on yet another journey. They now will be working on they’re community based projects that granted them acceptance into the programme. Each applying student was required to submit not only a body of work, resume, and letters of recommendation, but also a letter of intent that exposed a problem within they’re community and then outlined a design solution. The students work will be shown to the public in late September in San Francisco and early October in Los Angeles.
As I look back through the photos of this epic adventure, I must say that it was one of the finest experiences of my life. Our goal next year is to take SUMMIT No. 02 to Tokyo, Japan for what is sure to be incredible.
I send a special thanks to Annelys de Vet, The Sandberg Institute, Marijke Cobbenhagen of Cobbenhagen Hendriksen, Richard van der Laken of De Designpolitie, Arthur and Jeroen of Kummer & Herrman, Tirso of Die Twee, my business partner Peter Markatos of MM, my wife & photographer Melissa Kaseman for participating in the true essence of what SUMMIT is about; the cultivation of new perspectives through design.
I also want to thank all of the SUMMIT students for they’re participation, focus, dedication, and commitment to pushing ideas for the greater good through design.
July 8, 2010 | mm-sf | Permalink
Welcome to the MM Feed. This is our first post of what will eventually be a visual & textual journal of things that inspire us here at MM. Hope you enjoy.
This video is worth 12 minutes of your time. Its very well composed & edited. Its a narrative about the dying art of Ad painting which really only still exists in NYC and LA these days. Check it out.
June 9, 2010 | mm-sf | Design | Permalink
