So I signed up a while ago for this art project that I read about that benefits Access Gallery, and Youth Design Denver. Bordobello is the name of the organization and its their goal to expand the audience of AIGA Colorado and open up the design community to incorporate the related artistic fields that help shape our culture. Giving back to design and the community which I am a part of has taken on greater importance to my as I age (rapidly). I’ll admit it’s great fun, making design with my hands again. I only have hand-layed type a few times, and I forgot how hard it was. Hats off to OG typesetters around the world. It’s a craft for sure. We get so comfortable with auto leading, kerning and control Z, that we forget where all that started. I remember an old designer said to me how he missed how this “wonderful period of anticipation.” in reflection on how sped up the design to production process has become. he was referring to that period of handing off your comp to the type setter with rules and suggestions. It must have been odd and refreshing to have a little bit of variance and unpredictability be forced into your work. Anyway here’s what I started on ( thanks to Joe Miller for the inspiration on this)……still more to go…but use your hands once in a while, make something…a pie, a smile hell go make  a big trick. Just make something that makes you and others feel inspired to do the same.

Recently RockyMounts, a respected and well known rack designer and manufacturer located in beautiful Boulder, Colorado held a call for entries for submissions of new logo designs for their corporate presence. or as they put it ” After 13 years of using our original logo, we are in the market for a new one.” Anyway from what I hear over 300 people participated and I was honored to have crafted the chosen direction. As far as the accepted design, I wanted to create a mark that was more evocative of the experience that RockyMounts promises owners of it’s products. The fact that, once you throw your bike up on the roof its staying there and you’re on your way to fun and adventure. The mark is called “the stoke” It conveys a smile, the mountains, lakes and a typographic reference all contained in a modern little capsule. Typographically I wanted to communicate speed and movement. I have since met Bobby Noyes, Founder and Owner of Rocky Mounts and have nothing but high hopes for the new brand. Here’s to the future. Stay stoked.

ego phone from jay ferracane on Vimeo.

Its not like we don’t have enough to do, but we as creatives always seem to find a way to do more. Well I always seem to bit more than I should chew. Recently Christian Siechrist ( former co-creative director of mine) hatched this idea of rallying creatives, thinkers, writers, whoever. to submit a short video that answered a posed question to a our esteemed (ummm….yeah) group. The forum is called Think tanked. I guess many folks were too busy, I could say I was too, but my catholic guilt and the military honor instilled me wouldn’t let me. I did what I usually do and just stayed up later. Its like getting extra days in on the week of already heavy lifting. Except this I took on as a more light-hearted lifting. The first idea was to develop a technology or idea that dealt with the Ego. It was  fun experience and I am hoping for more of these assignments…the biggest take away for me was that this quick shot of video fully allowed me to communicate an idea. and damn it was way easier than getting a photoshop comp together or even sketching. Leave it to Christian to make me do better things easier. Jerk and genius. The video you see is my response….smooth. As is the title sequence. just rollin’ Ed Wood style as usual.

Just got a great pic from Rick and Niko, bovines in France somewhere. Apparently the French knew that the Bovine were coming and rolled out the pink carpet…as expected. thanks for the pic you guys. Hey wait where are you new kits. Fashion police excuse you THIS time.

So there is an iconic ride here in beautiful Boulder Colorado. I am honored to be a part of it. Its like a mini Paris Roubaix every Thursday…a mix of dirt and road with an emphasis on dirt…lots of pace line on dirt…which rules. Anyway..this ride is full of some characters that can really peg it and arent that concerned with what youre wearing or how shaved you legs are. Actually its frowned on. The weapons of choice are usually cross set ups with big road tires. I unfortunately do this whole thing on my look 555 which cant take more than a 23 cm tire…which make cornering on dirt less than desirable. Furthermore there is a major water crossing thanks to all the rain we’ve been having. For such a lawless group there are a few unwritten rules…like no matching kits ( Which being a designer is a tough rule for me to follow) etc…there was a new rule introduced yesterday…the winner of the day now has to do his own Phil Liggett type write up. Here is the transcript of what happened in my head…read this with an “inner voice”.
I don’t know how I got homework…for what went down today… But here goes
good thing I had my inner voice recorder on…as that is how this will be
told…through the haze and disturbance of my tortured, foggy brain.

Beep beep ( sound of alarm)…” oh shit…do I wanna do this? Fuck maybe its
canceled…nah I’ll have a crappy day if I don’t go. OK I ll go…eat get
dressed, grunt one out….OK on bike…head south down big hill man I don’t
feel warmed up…hope this gets better.

Oh look there’s Michael…damn I thought this would be canceled…Christ
Joes bike is right out of the tour. Man…hope I don’t flat..these tires are
wasted…I don’t feel that good.

Is that wind? Ill die in the wind..fuck…chat chat chat…man Michaels
spinning really fast. Thank god Ben’s not here I don’t think I could handle
that…oh crap ben is here and he just went to the front
This is gonna suck…oh he and  Michael are going Ill just sit back
here….is that guy wearing a skin suit? His back pack is all messed up. Ill
fix it. May be I can go home after being nice. Crap I am on the front…OK
go go go. OK turning…Ill chill in the back for a bit…
Pow. HELL YES I flatted. Awesome I am going to coffee. What? Oh you guys are
helping? Great. Fix fix fix start rolling again. Not feeling any better but
now obligated. Pedal pedal dogs joggers, cars….oooh they squealed through the
light dang that’s dirt section is coming up. Stay with Michael…hey
Balloons… Balloons are pretty. Rocky Mountain High by john denver fades in
then is abruptly shut off as we…

Hit dirt, man this front tire is way too full of air I am sliding all over
the joint….ok Michael’s right there. Dang there goes Ben…pink is a nice
color. ITS OK… ALL IS WELL…NO its not but keep going…are JPs shorts
made of buck skin? Hes kind of frontier-y do it yourself kind of guy. He
like a Daniel Boone who is kicking my goddamn ass (sounds of John Denver kicks
in again…rocky mountain hi….oh shit I almost cooked that turn. Stay
focused. Stay with JP, he’s my only hope to make this…hey that looks like
Julie….stay with JP…I can see Michael and Ben…oooh shit Michael is
fading fuck were gonna catch em…go JP go  I am weak and am happy in your
wake…crap JP just pulled off…OK just go you pussy… Fuck try and
actually pedal on your own. Lil throw up in my mouth…but kind of feel
better.
ahh downhill …I like down hill. Downhill is nice.

Hmm this isn’t that bad. Oh shit I hate crossing this road it always takes
like a million …damn they’re crossing. And here comes more
dirt…great…ow ow ow ow ow…a slight sand blasting to the face and
legs…this is awesome. Keep pedaling round that big turn….lil stretch of
pavement…oh bens back …yay? Damn it hes gunning it….off the pavement
back to dirt another turn…steering not good…sliding out of line. OK back
in. ” hey  Ben sorry dude I cant pull thru Ill never make it. OK kind of
feeling better…back on everyone’s wheel. Going up that little hill
rounding onto that fucking canal road. It better not be oatmeal like last
time. Oh nice its ride able. And I am with…OK was with the guys. Its cool
just ride this thing…pedal thru turns just stay on it…doing good can
still see the guys…kind of…oh it cows? Whats is that ? Hey look
golfers…oh shit almost died…sliding…sliding…sliding…pedal you
pansy…Christ where did everyone go…hi horseys. I like horses. Why is
everyone standing on the other side of the culvert looking at me? Shit
wheres the coast guard? This is deliverance…ehhh  I’ll make it..
shit…damn I am swimming…are there sharks in Colorado? Or crocodiles? why
is the moots logo a crocodile? Fuck focus jay…get across before Kevin
bacon comes around the bend. I think Ben may be a lifeguard in addition to
tearing legs off professionally…what does he do for work? Does it matter?
He rips legs off…you can buy things and friends and influence people with
that. Right? Damn I am soaked. I swear there was too much air in my
tire…ok lets go…oh heres everyone else. Joe holds his bike up like a
good solider and makes the fjord…good job dude…oooh sorry Julie
Yeah its cold water. Great long dirt section…man my feet are soaked…I
should have gotten coffee. Stupid helpers of flats…oh Joes at the front
now…hes kind of going OK stay with it…and heres Ben and Michael
again…second descent I actually like this descent…man Michael
flying…its kind of rough I may die…joes here again…ok and Bens back
perfect stya on the wheels back on pavement…I really don’t feel like doing
this…oh and JPs here now…I am gonna get blown out the back right about
…
OK you can sit in a bit you big pansy…stay on the wheels holy shit JPs
gassing it and were like a mile from the barn…stay on it…look good for
the camera….my eyelids are peeling back now…and JPs still on the
gas…uhoh pop…here goes Ben. See you JP…Michael is drilling
it…owwwwwwww stop it the humanity… Fuck you guys ….stop the insanity
you bastards….owwwwwwwwww… OK fuck this I want ths over with now and I
mean now….ok thast it clunk clunk shift down …head down go go go what
happened…that was the barn…what the fuck just happened? Flip Michael and
Ben off for the pain they brought
I need coffee…can I go home now.

This message brought to you by Jays inner voice…”rocky mountain high…

The other night night I was having a conversation with resident creative genius Christian Seichrist and we were chatting about work ethic etc. We were wondering why aren’t ALL designers today, especially in this economy, aren’t applying themselves. I read something like this story about one designer trying to make it and I have hope. The real story here is how it’s about setting a bar for yourself, working late…just TRYING. That’s what our craft is about, trying and never giving up. So what does this have to do with war and why does it matter to me?

Well, I know war is an awful thing, but its makes for great stories and lessons from which many things can be learned. I grew up the son of a U.S. Marine. My house was filled with books about Chester Puller and stories of the 47 Ronin. Listening to Marines talk is like listening in on history lesson with reverence and respect. Somehow that filters down to the kids on the periphery of the dinner table. Namely me. I realize today how much of that sunk in…how much it taught me to go learn on my own and explore more. Which now that I think about it really is a lot like how my interaction with clients go. I listen to their stories.  I ask questions. Then go learn more on my own. Usually the result of my projects attempt to honor some original concept with the intent of an arrival at something new, engaging and communicative.

War is awful…I already said that right? But from it we can learn and I will tell you soldiers don’t wanna fight a war that’s already been fought. Just as designers don’t want to design things that have been done before.  But Learning from history to apply to the future so that new ground can be broken and the same mistakes can be avoided is another parallel I see in my upbringing that has a direct influence on my work ethic regarding my craft and approach of being a designer. I recently read “A little history of the world” by E.H. Gombrich…which I read excerpts from to my kids. Gombrich’s writing reads wonderfully, aloud. One story in particular struck me. The story of the battle of Thermopylae, recently retold as the visually stunning 300 . This battle was lore in the Marines and countless dinners and parades I attended as a child had references to it and until now it I only thought because it was an epic battle. It was this conversation with Christian Seichrist where in a round about discussion what what it was like growing up in the Marines and the influence of my Dad on me…it came to me. The story isn’t told because 300 ( there were actually some other Greek city states that enlisted in the fight but lets stay focused here) men died in a really bloody battle. The story is told because 300 men never gave up in the face of adversity in an effort to honor their craft. The craft of the Spartans happened to be making war. War was the very essence of their upbringing. They honored it. It was their trade, profession and art.

Its a bit extreme to apply this way of life to the craft of being a designer in whole. But in a sense its not completely outrageous either. You gotta work your ass off to be successful in this arena. I heard once that someone said to Stevie Wonder, that he writes seem to write songs so easily, implying that everything he did was successful. Wonder countered and he is successful because he writes 200 songs a day. Translation: he works hard…nothing comes easy. I would never have thought of coming up through the ranks and telling my CD “I am too busy”, or “I can’t do that”. Why? Because…you can and you’re just not trying hard enough, you can always be replaced. All of us can. Work at things until they bleed I say. The answer is always there, more often than not it just takes a lot of work to find it., and that work rarely fits neatly between 9am and 5pm. There is so much amazing work being done out there. The commonality I’ll put money on is…they are all trying. In an effort to honor their craft and the trade they signed up for.

So yes, I learned a lot from war. I may be getting a bit miltant about my apporach to problem solving and the work from other creatives that I represent and that in turn represents me. Because we are only as good as the last thing we’ve done. But this is serious business this design thing, and these are serious times..and yeah I really enjoy what I do…but I work hard to enjoy it and attempt in every project to do some really thinkning and deliver something that solves an problem while being engaging, and I expect the same from everyone I work with. Shouldn’t we all? Now go take that hill…errr… project, opportunity, whatever.

Why Create a Globally Distributed Business School?

Here’s a thought-provoking piece for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business created by Solutionset, a bay area Brand and Technology agency, with its Boulder Based Creative director (me), in partnership with local Denver motion graphics firm Spillt. Together, they were charged with executing their vision for what a new business school should be.

http://fuqua.duke.edu/wakeup/

Received a few wonderful words today from one of the smartest and bravest clients I’ve ever worked with at Fuqua, Duke School of Business, today.

“I will share with you the many positive comments we received from each stakeholder group, but while it was on my mind wanted to go ahead and pull out feedback from the distribution list of staff running communications at each of Duke’s schools and units – comments below – and in a separate string with Mike Schoenfeld, VP of Public Affairs who is the chief communications officer at Duke who said: “ It is much happier Tuesday having seen this. The video is fabulous — I love the concept AND the execution, and can see other applications for the idea.”

Thanks Dean Sheppard and Team…if you haven’t seen the video…check it out here www.fuqua.duke.edu/wakeup

We’ve been through this before. Haven’t we? Recessions, slumps and economic boom and dot com busts. And I’ll say it…design has helped us survive it all. I am not only talking about the aesthetic part of design (the visual forms it often results in), what I am concerned with today is the thinking and ideas part. Design, its thinking and ideas, has come to our rescue more than once in mans sordid past. The industrial revolution itself was an effort of design thinking. Man realized he needed to to develop faster more productive ways for the creation of goods for the exploding population of the time. A few major wars forced design to rethink technology and communication. The great depression made design really look at how to make more, or at least the same, with less. I could go on.

OK, so history has had ups and downs. I would dare to say that design and its thinking can be found at the upslope of every period in history as a return to “normal” was resumed. Ford, in the industrial revolution gave us the affordable automobile, the car itself was remarkable…but the thinking which allowed it to be built (and everything else from here on) for the masses was the real gem. Lester Beall helped our country emerge from the great depression creating engaging communication that rallied a nation into service. The period after the second world war, gave us Ray and Charles Eames designed beautiful, useful things with a bit of whimsy out of materials we would have never consider had we not been forced to. All in an effort to help us feel better about a horrible war that we were leaving behind.

So why should now be any different. Everywhere you read about companies of all types scaling back. Investors are recommending that cuts be made. CEO’s want more return with less. Marketers are being forced to stop marketing. The crisis were all facing is making some businesses close for good or temporarily shut down their avenues for discussion by eliminating marketing and design initiatives, as they are often thought of as extraneous or non-critical. Nothing could be further from the truth.

So when you’re drowning…are you going to stop calling out for help or letting folks at least know you’re there? No. Are you going to stop thinking about ways to save yourself? No. This is the time for design to be leveraged heavily. Design is the most affordable way to solve a problem. Design can improve or simplify your product itself and or the way it is made. Design can help you innovate on how it’s sold and how it’s marketed. In times of hardship the first thing to go out the window should be doing what’s considered “traditional”, not innovative thinking. The commonality between today and all the periods in the past is that to speed the return to “normal” requires new thinking. That is why NOW is the time to invest in design. Because design is thinking…sure it can also be pictures that result in brochures, new websites, widgets or packaging. But deep down it’s really about figuring out how to achieve a goal within a set of confined requirements. And if this economy isn’t a requirement I don’t know what is. All that takes is thinking and new ideas. That’s what we as design thinkers get hired to do: to produce thinking and the ideas that get you heard while others drown silently because they have shut off their avenues for discussion.

Determining the right solution for you to be heard is design…is that a giant community website? It may be. But it could also be a short film to create engagement. Or a speaking tour to that communicates your unique approach. It could be a new piece of technology, explained simply and clearly so that sales increase. It could be User Interface that makes your product easier to use. Whatever the situation, whatever the political environment, whatever the economic climate… design really is a good idea. Especially now.