Tonight in my home state of Vermont, Aaron Draplin will be speaking about shit he knows best. A must see, especially if your into snowboarding or the graphic design scene of things. Shit! Look at that poster he made for the gig, lot’s of green! And that’s what we are up there in Vermont, green. The green mountain state, such a beautiful place to call home.

Aaron has been a huge influence to me for 8 or 9 years now. Had the pleasure of spending some time with him, seeing behind the curtain a bit. He recommended me for a position that didn’t work out years back, but I will always be grateful and honored. Big thanks again Aaron. Keep up the amazingly wild kick ass shit your doing, your on one hell of a road of graphical success. Inspired in many ways.

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Team Gooch (Dave and I) will be leaving this Saturday for Majorca Spain for a week of training hell. Big inclines, sun and tons of peddling. Excited as hell and a bit nervous as well. Were the first timers and the Scottish crew were rolling with is quite experienced, hopefully we show our Gooch strength mentality and physically. I’ll make a post while I’m there with updates on how it pans out.

Personally, I have a fucking bland color palette. I tend to buy black, red and white and darker silenced colors. Not sure why, just subconsciously think it works in my color wheel. It could represent my lost childhood (What About Bob Quote, not a reference to my actual child hood ) or my constant search for visual structure in things, who knows. I’m not limited with color graphically but when it comes to my personal selection I’m like Steve Job’s

Some people I know have incredible color capabilities. In their living spaces, clothing, hell them as individuals. It can say a lot about someone. Although when that color is represented through awful 50′s wallpaper patterns and prints that make my eyes bug out of my head, I think your ridiculous. I just don’t get that shit, confusing visually. Solid colors please, more simple! I feel a rant building so I’m gonna stop here.

More color! But easy on those pastels and intricate patterns!

Last week I booked tickets to the San Miguel Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona. A spanish friend of mine made an offer I couldn’t refuse. So I bought them up immediately after seeing the performing artists for this years event. 202 bands and counting is a daunting task for 5 days, but as you can imagine, theres a bunch of music  genre gaps mixed in there, so I’m doing my research band by band.

Hell, I would go for this band alone > White Denim 

I’m in a transitional phase. Have been for the last few months. Won’t go into details but it’s been leaving me a bit on edge lately. Sudden loud noises and creepin co-workers have been getting the best of me. Just a bit more tense that usual, and man, I’m already jumpy so you can imagine the ridiculousness.

Keep the sound up for the grand finale curse words.

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Saw Julia  Hoffmann speak this morning at Creative Mornings. She is the creative director at a little place called The Museum of Modern Art. Pretty graphic intensive at 8am for my intake levels, but it was rather cool hearing how she got to where she is today, and the path she chose. It’s interesting when a designer starts working for 1 company rather than a bunch of clients at an agency. That can be limiting depending on the company you work for, but I’m thinking Julia is just fine over there at MoMA, I’m sure it’s contact city and a huge career builder even if you only sweat it out for a few years.

Vans maybe a bit trendy at the moment, but I don’t care. I’m not in this for the fashion side of things (just a bit, as they do look sweet), I’ll buy a pair of these every spring until I’m 80. Simple stitching, gum sole and slight branding. No flash, just pure easy comfort.

The reason I’m forcing this so hard is because some brands create good honest products. And it seems harder and harder to find brands I trust. Vans has been making the shoe above since 1966. That’s almost 50 years! Their website isn’t all Nike’d (I like nike too) out and flashy. Just the best skate shoes you can buy. Have been for years.

Seriously count what brands you actually use, trust and enjoy. Not things you like to buy, but the company that stands behind their products. Brands you have thought about for more than 10 seconds. Anything, clothing, technology, printing paper, electric guitars, whatever. Now add’em up. Mine is 5, one being a lip balm made from honey called Burt’s Beeswax. I had a hard time just getting to 5. That’s insane!

Let’s make good stuff again like people had to back 80 years ago! Built to last things, not “how cheap can we produce that in China” piece of crap things.

Do what you do and do it well. Start there, then worry about your fucking logo. I’m amazed how much marketing and identity have spoiled product and service quality in a sense. Back in the days a shoe maker didn’t advertise or franchise his company to stomp out the competition, he just fixed shoes better than the guy down the street. The rest of the pieces fall into place.

I was missing the point entirely, I was focused on the outer shell / material aspects of the sport. I saw WHAT not WHY. I know, I know. This is where I preach your ear off about how amazing cycling is, how it’s changed my life and all that bullshit. The reality is just that it’s inspired me. Not just to peddle harder or ride further, but in my daily routine. In work, lifestyle, and It’s given me a breath a fresh creative air. Mostly I think all it simply does is get my mind focused off all the mouse clicking.

It reminds me of the 90′s when I was out snowboarding with my friends. Your outside in the sun, usually in a rural setting, having fun with some good dudes, eating food, talking shop about gear, making friends with similar interests. A big overall sense of belonging and purpose is instilled in your bloodstream. You feel unstoppable, and that carries on into other areas of your being. Thats the type of stuff you remember an look back on when your on your last leg of your long fulfilled life.

I’m not saying go out and get on a bicycle, I’m trying to say find activities that inspire you as a person. Don’t niche your inspiration intake!

That went heavy pretty quick, but I’m just jazzed as hell on cycling right now (as you can tell). But I’m just a rabbit turd in a hay field when it comes to being a seasoned cyclist. I’ve been trying to learn from the best via youtube on the subject.  Which led to me to the Tour De France.

The Tour De France is just absurd. 2000 miles, 21 days and been going down annually since 1903. An historic pure pain train to hell for any bicycle rider. I’m in complete awe of the treacherous steeps, the speed, stamina, and torture these people put themselves through. They live, eat, sleep and breath cycling. It’s in there bones and it means everything to them. While this can be an unhealthy thing for a person, you have to respect the dedication and passion, you just have too.

Want to watch a german team get messed up? Watch Hell on Wheels (below) and see what a rider needs to put themselves through in this event. Broken bones, illness, and lacerations. I can’t believe this sport isn’t more recognized globally. I can easily say I know no other race or competition that looks more difficult. It kinda scares the shit out of me to be honest. Ha.

Check out the presentation.

What a trip! My only conclusion after watching SNASK present > the dudes at SNASK are on their game. This agency is just drawing a line in the sand, and I truly believe in what they preach, teach, produce and the steps they take to get there. They MAKE SHIT (you know what I mean)! Plain and simple. Their are a lot of great designers out there, and creating something in a computer is great and all, but when you can use the computer as a secondary tool, that’s taking your thinking to a new plateau. Use your hands people. I’m not saying it’s ground breaking techniques or revolutionizing the industry, I’m impressed with the level of care and the insane amount of preparation and hard work! And man, their stuff comes out looking great while having a twist of their attitude as well. Win win.

People will want to work with them strictly because of the image they have built of themselves. Their fun, inspiring, and can kill your next design or video project.

Check some of their work.

I had the pleasure of meeting some of these young dudes a year back. And they are everything they preach, that’s for sure. Wish you guys the best!

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Holy Shit! Richard Baird brings some awesomeness to the world wide inter-web. The Designers Survival Guide is filled with tweet sized posts about our industry by seasoned professionals. I wish I had this back in college, I would have thought twice about those tuition costs. Everything you need is in here, well to get your head in the right place in this rat race of graphic arts.

Lina and I have made an addition to our little home. Her name is Josie, she’s a 12 week old ragdoll kitten. Rambunctious little monster when she’s awake. Lot’s of sleeping and eating in her daily routine. And I’m not sure if it’s the food (we switched it up) but Josie Toes can pack a smelly un-cute cat fart. Similar to being hit by a brick, but you look down and see this tiny fur ball with big blue eyes staring up at you and you can’t help but feel a bit torn in how to accept the possibility that “yeah, that just happened”.

Anyways, she adds to our quality of life around here, plain and simple.

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THE PYRAMID CODE: Want to get blown away in a sands of Egypt type of way? This five part series brings up some big questions about humanity. How long have we been here on this big round blue earth? How did they build such structures? I’m halfway in to this series and I’m so glad peopl eout there take time to make these films, our world is so interesting, and being able to peek at it for an hour a night over the week is a real treat.

Back to work. I missed it, I did. My chair, my white desk and my mouse. Sad I know, but as an American, I’m not used to 5 weeks of mandatory vacation. Just boggles my mind to think of that amount of time, and the money I could spend within it. Good thing the wallet doesn’t have a wallet or I’d be toast.

On the way home to Stockholm, my mom joined Lina and I up in Amsterdam, which was a real highlight for me. Good to see family, healthy really. That Atlantic is fucking big, and sometimes I can feel it’s grand-ness when it comes to friends and family.

Anyways, a big thanks to Cari Vander Yacht for letting us crash for a few nights. Your Pico De Gallo was unheard of fucking awesomely good for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Bird and I had a blast.

Above is an image I illustrated of my mom a few years back. She’s not a smurf, just chose a tonal route in some blues and greens. She is tiny though, gets smaller every time I see her. Love you Mom, come back soon and we can head back to Gilda’s for coffee.

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DON’T LOSE YOUR SOUL – Adrian Shaughnessy answers some good questions on everything graphic design in his updated version of How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul. The book has a good stand on how to maintain the important beliefs you fight for in your design career, even if those things differ for separate folks. He’s got experience, and I always think thats worth a listen. I’m 75% through it now, and I recommend the book for any Professional through first year design student. Hell, even people around the business edges of design should take a read. I like his approach, I definitely learned (or re-learned) a few things.

More soon, lots of stuff to post, but I’m gonna spread it a bit.

TIME FLYS! Appreciate every moment, even the less favorable times. Since the beginning of June there has been little time for sharing on the blog, a bit of a back burner for me these days, but important nonetheless. Some changes coming to this site and my approach, gonna make a few shifts next month.

My Big Fat Greek Vacation Started back on July 2nd (10 days ago), and I am here until the 21st. Landed on the mainland and after a few days in Athens we wandered to Naxos and Amorgos. Ios and Santorini are next on the list. All seperate islands with there own small quirks and entertainment. Almost three weeks of stimulating the Greek economy. Doing my part abroad I guess (wasn’t planned). Great people the Greeks. Polite, proud, relaxed and pretty damn good at english (big help). I also dig their flag which actually color-wise translates to almost every home here on the islands. White and Blue everywhere.

Lost it on the last ferry ride to Amorgos, never been sea sick before, but I lost these sea legs right in the beginning of that trip. Got thrown around the stall while I lost my breakfast somewhere in the Mediterranean.

More to come as internet access gets easier over the next week or so.

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Vector FLAGS OF THE WORLD. This was a score that came from a Welsh flag search. All the worlds flags in vector.