…but it’s awesome to see the Atlanta Hawks in the #1 spot! They have 3 home games this coming week. Who wants to check out a game or two?

Sweet stickers Hank! photo by Roger Wong

Congrats to Portfolio Center’s, Hank Richardson, for being the recipient of The Art Director’s Club’s Grandmaster Award. Hank is an amazing teacher and mentor to anyone looking to have a career in design. However, I’m not really grasping what the term “grandmaster” really means here. Maybe it means Hank gets black tees and John Lennon spectacles for life?

Seriously though, (I think I can speak for most people who have gone through the Portfolio Center curriculum), Hank has been one of the most influential figures in my life. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life until I randomly met Hank one day. After talking with him for several hours, I decided to take a risk, leave my job, and go to school at Portfolio Center.

Over the next few years, I was frequently subjected to his unorthodox teaching style which included 6am classes, weekend classes, marathon 12 hour classes, and the destruction of countless sketchbooks. I learned a tremendous amount from him on how to work hard, work smart, develop concepts, talk to clients, draft logos, work with type, and most importantly, believe in my abilities. He even invited me to return to Portfolio Center to teach a class of my own. I’m now teaching the class that I always wanted to take while I was at PC, Music Industry/Album Cover Design, and I’m having a blast doing so.

The above photo of Hank and I was taken by a classmate, Roger Wong, a few years ago when I was working with a live client on wine bottle designs while I was still a student. I have Hank to thank for setting up that experience, guiding me through the initial stages of the project, and letting me fly on my own. That bro totally changed my life!

A few weeks back, I spent some time in Hong Kong made a point to “look-under-the-hood” of the inner workings of Hypebeast as I spent the afternoon with Managing Editor, Eugene Kan. This was a great chance to put a face to a name on someone I’ve only had contact through the internet and also an opportunity to “take things in” as a curious contributor to the EC/PROCESS brands. We spent the afternoon discussing the current state of streetwear and the global economy’s effect on all of us as consumers. Eugene also agreed to this exclusive interview with me based on our conversations of that day.

Check it out after the jump.

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Contest winner, Kedarius Peoples, on stage performing in the GameChangers “Beat The Odds” tee designed by Epidemik Coalition’s Georgios Saliaris. Photo by Ross Martin

Atlanta high school students got together this morning to compete in a spoken word showdown on the subject of GameChangers in celebration of Black History Month. GameChanger’s emcee & “voice of Atlanta”, DJ Greg Street, introduced speaker Divine Bradley who came with a message to inspire the youth in attendance to follow their dreams. Georgios, Ross, and myself were really impressed with his presence and ability to motivate.

Soon afterward, the spoken word contestants assumed the stage while their student counterparts cheered them on with fervor. I was blown away with their performances and passion for changing-the-game with subject matter ranging from family members who inspire them, Rosa Parks, Correta Scott King, and Barack Obama’s ideal of change for America.

A panel of celebrity judges included Angelo Taylor (4-time Olympic Gold Medalist) and current Atlanta Falcons players Curtis Lofton and Jamaal Anderson. They crowned Kedarius Peoples of Cedar Grove High School (Senior) as the 1st place winner. He took home a $1,000 scholarship to pursue his dreams and a pair of the exclusive Nike Sportswear Black History Month Air Force 1 sneakers that were designed and inspired by the rich history of African American culture.

It’s great to see Nike’s involvement in the Atlanta community and as always, they do it right and they do it BIG.

EC’s own, Ross Martin, took some great shots of the event. Check out our selects from today after the jump. More to come in next week’s Photo Friday…

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Jeremy Abernathy from ArtVoices Magazine conducted a phone interview with me back in October, as his coverage of the LeFlash event in Castleberry Hill. The interview was just published in the December issue of this print-only magazine, which has distribution in New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, DC, NYC, LA, and Seattle.

The article mentions Epidemik Coalition and an installation called THE WALL which was featured in Art House Gallery the night of the event. For those who remember, THE WALL is a project I designed which accepts user-submitted images via email and throws them up large-scale in a public space to create a sort of live, electronic, community billboard. Your neighbor’s new baby, an absurd situation in the grocery store, your friends clinking their beer glasses: anything you would photo-blog from your cell phone cam is fair-game for this system that publicizes these images in an outdoor setting. (instead of being stuck in a private setting on your home laptop).

Although brief, the article touches on the point of the project and something all of the EC crew is aiming for: using design to build better and stronger places and people. Until I can get my hands on a copy of the printed magazine to have around the studio, click here to link to the full-page scan of the write-up.

Last week I mentioned that you’d be able to become an El Bar V.I.P. and not have to pay a cover during 2009. All you have to do is pre-purchase a $20 ticket to El Bar’s New Years Eve event. There are also many more benefits listed below.

Your $20 Ticket includes:
-Name on Guest List
-El Bar “V.I.P./No Cover” for 2009
-Champagne at Midnight
-New El Bar Tee by PROCESS
-Bag of goodies from sponsors such as StreetLocal, PROCESS, The Joneses, and more…
-Also, there will be a Mariachi band, hopefully playing crazy crunk covers…

The presale starts Thursday the 18th of December.

Contact elbaratl@gmail.com for more information, or come out Thursday night and pay Colleen or Rosa over the bar.

The folks at CMYK love our resident photographer Jorge Menes. His portrait of Bruce Turkel and his harmonica has been published in CMYK magazine issue #42. Nice job!

Here are some photos from the past month showcasing the murals we did for the Standard Lenox Square store interior. It’s interesting to look back at the store without all the grass, racks, and clothes. There are some different photos over on their blog as well.

Check out the photos after the jump.
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About 2 months ago, Georgios and I participated in the Atlanta version of a speaker series called Pecha Kucha. The funny name is derived from a Japanese term for the sound of conversation (”chit-chat”).

The key to Pecha Kucha is the simple formula: 20 slides for 20 seconds each. Each invited speaker has the spotlight for 6 minutes 40 seconds to share and show off their work before the program moves on to the next presentation.

This was the first time I had done any public speaking since I presented my design school portfolio upon graduation, so it might be a little shaky, but it’s worth a listen if you are interested in how our house brand, PROCESS, came to life.

Download from iTunes: PROCESS Pecha Kucha Podcast

Thanks to Fredo and Sabir from Atlanta Pecha Kucha for inviting us to tell our story!

This might be the only reason to wake up early on Black Friday. Sneakerhead extraordinaire, DJ Clark Kent, collaborated with Nike on this Air Force 1 sneaker that comes out this Friday.

“So I went to the fabric library, picked the prime suspects and went to work on the design,” said Clark Kent. “The end result…Something Black, Luxurious & Fly, and FRESH!!!! What better way to start the holiday shopping season?!?!”

Now I understand that you can’t tell what they look like from the teaser photo above, but word on the street is that they’re the best-looking pair to drop this year. We’ll see…

If you happen to be near 21 Mercer in NYC, Concepts in Boston, or Shoe Gallery in Miami, you’ll have a chance to grab a pair. Apparently the launch will begin at 4am at the 21 Mercer store. Clark will then travel to Boston and deliver the 10am launch at Concepts. He will then fly to Miami for the 8pm delivery at Shoe Gallery. What a day! I hope he packs his “day-after-Thanksgiving” sandwiches.

No word on an Atlanta release just yet, but let’s keep our fingers-crossed.

The cat’s out of the bag! The hush-hush project we’ve been working on for the past month is revealed. We’ve been helping Standard get their store ready for their big opening which is today. EC was enlisted to hand-paint their wall murals (inspired by Lichtenstein) on the store’s interior and we’ve also spent time helping with odds and ends to get the store up and running. This is one of my favorite projects we’ve done this past year and definitely another great 3D space to add to the portfolio. Thanks to the Standard family for choosing EC for their top-notch project.

Last night Standard Lenox Square had a special store preview for friends and family. Check out those photos after the jump. Oh, and we’ll post some “making of” photos in the next few days. For now, let’s enjoy the finished product…

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This Saturday, I taught the last class of a 3 session program called Push for Essential2life. Push was started by E2L to to instill marketable skills in youth from low-income areas. These skills will enable these youth to pursue careers in fields that they would not have been exposed to due to the lack of opportunities present. I was lucky enough to have a great group of kids from Douglass High that were excited to learn Photoshop and InDesign. I plan to work with the PUSH program some more in the future, so keep a lookout for more updates.

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Seeing as how I love to criticize music and the music business, the Standard family invited me to be a guest writer/music editor on their new music blog, Listen Up! Check the site for constant updates, leaks, and reviews. We are going to focus on bringing you stuff that we like, whether it be major or an unsigned artist. And don’t worry. We’ll still be posting music here on Epidemik Coalition just as often.

What an amazing evening! Thanks to Ross, Stefan, Ben, Georgios, and Ted for helping to capture the images from last night. Check out all the photos from last night after the jump. There are a lot of them, so be patient as they load-in.
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