photo credit: Ross Martin Photography

Frozen treats don’t stand a chance during the summer months here in Hotlanta. Neither do my sneakers. I like to wear them sans socks, and you know how that goes. Luckily, we’ll have a few weeks of distractions from the heat starting next weekend on August 8th, 2008 with the start of the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

There’s a lot of significance and superstition behind the number 8 in Chinese culture, therefore the opening ceremony of the Olympics will take place at 8:08:08 pm on 8.8.08. To commemorate the event, Nike has a number of sportswear releases dropping in stores everywhere (including your favorite ATL spots) next week on the 8th.

My favorites are these Nike Dunk High Supremes that come in Blue, Black, Red, Yellow, Green, and White (colors of the Olympic Rings & background color) that are made entirely of quilted patent leather. Details include octagon shapes resembling the Olympic Rings on the tongue. The Dunk is one of Nike’s four footwear icons, the others being the Air Force 1, Air Max 90, & the Cortez so it’s nice to see them as part of the Olympic celebration. Keep an eye out for a full blown version of NikeSportswear.com that will feature more octagon related releases and information. I hear the site will be officially launching next Friday [8.8.08]. Tell your friends so they don’t feel left out.

Name:
Daniel Hall

Aka:
Decatur Dan (Please just call me Dan tho)

Website:
www.standardatl.com/blog
www.antennamag.com
www.vaporsmagazine.com

Where are you from?
It isn’t obvious (laughs)? Decatur, born and raised. For those who don’t know there are 2 parts of Decatur, City of Decatur (Downtown Decatur) and just Decatur which is actually pretty large. I was blessed with the best of both worlds. I grew up off of Wesley Chapel and Candler. Moved to City of Decatur in my high-school years, Oakhurst District specifically.

Who do you work for?
I have quite a few jobs. Of course I work at STANDARD which I call home. I do everything there from taking out trash to helping with buys. I also help maintain our store blog which has really taken off, it is a lot of work but I really enjoy it. I’m also a contributing editor for VAPORS Magazine. There are some good articles coming out this August that I hope everyone likes. I’m a contributing Web Editor for ANTENNA Magazine which just entails me updating their site with new product. And then I do a bunch of odd jobs for all my good friends like STREETLOCAL and DONE TO DEATH. I like to help out whenever I can because they help me. But I must say I wouldn’t have any of these titles if Farshad (owner at STANDARD) didn’t give the opportunity over 2 years back. Working there has really set me up for a lot of things and I am forever grateful to him for that.

What are your Current Project(s)?
Working on printing more Decatur Dan t-shirts. I have had a lot of people calling asking where they can buy them so I may sell some at the store. I want to put out another mixtape soon, but have no commercial rappers, just all underground local cats. There is some really good music in ATL right now that I would like to help expose. Besides that I’m just maintaining trying to get the Decatur Dan movement going which I haven’t really figured out what exactly it is yet (laughs).

Who would you love to work with?
Anyone who is down to make cool shit, and wants to blow up. Honestly. I want to possibly do some collaborations with STREETLOCAL and PROCESS whether it be shirts or promo items. There are some big things happening in the city and the next few years are going to be exciting.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
Let’s see here… Just leave me with a clean pair of my blue VANS Authentics and I’ll be good. Those are my every-day-ers.

What’s on your iPod right now?
I’m listening to a lot of older T.I. like the In Da Streets Volumes with P$C. Some older Jeezy like the Trap Or Die Mixtape that is classic. I’ve also been listening to The Mix-tape About Nothing by Wale. Also been feeling my boy Mums Fp and a lot of his tracks. A lot of hip hop right now for some reason, haha, I’m usually very versatile.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Hands Down Taqueria Del Sol. But only the Decatur or Howell Mill locations.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Where everybody knows my name and there are cheap drinks. When someone finds that spot, please text it to me.

What are your Pet Peeves?
I hate when customers ask “What size you got this in?” Like, do you really want me to name each size we have? Why not just ask for your size, wouldn’t that be easier? Oh and red lipstick, I’m sorry ladies I just don’t like it. I like the natural look.

Shout outs?
In no particular order: Farshad Arshid, Germaine Bly, C. Black, PJ Canale, Kaity Valez, Ryan and Tim at STREETLOCAL, Vik Singh, Kneese and Lola, Coach K, Don Cannon, Jerrald @ Rarefootage, Keatin Willis, and last but not least Larry and Georgios, the guys who think I’m worthy enough to be asked these questions haha. All my good friends, I hope I didn’t leave you out. If I did, sorry, you’ll get over it. Thanks for all the Support!

-PEACE!

photos by Ted Ullrich

We moved into a new studio in downtown Atlanta today. The new place is right in the heart of the city and we couldn’t be happier. We’re sharing the space with Ted Ullrich who we’ve been working with all summer long. We figured we’d go ahead make it an official partnership. The space has plenty of room for photo shoots, upstairs and downstairs work stations, our screen-printing set up, a kitchen, a bathroom, and we’re even planning on hanging Medusa Armada from the ceiling by the spiral staircase. We’re going to have to come up with a nickname for our new work space. Any ideas?

I’ll post another update as we get the place up to snuff.

It’s on! The PROCESS Season One photo shoot at El Bar had such a good turnout, that we’re going to ask our friends to blow it out again with a One Night Only release of the PROCESS Tomahawk tee in a colorway inspired by the Mexican flag. The tees will be for sale on a first-come, first-served basis at a serious “homeboy discount”. We’ll be taking happy snaps for our website as well. If that’s not enough reason to show up, the fact that Rob Wonder will be in the house should have you writing “EL BARZZZ SHAWTY” on your calendars for Thursday, August 14th. More details on coming soon.

A couple months ago our good friend, Jean-Pierre Chery, approached us with an idea he had for a messenger bag to hold his portfolio. His graphic was comprised of local Atlanta company logos (including ours) that were arranged in a similar fashion to Lou Dorfsman & Herb Lubain’s classic typography wall known as, Gastrotypographicalassemblage. We helped him screen-print the graphic onto fabric and he brought the completed prints to Lynn at Transit Bags across town and she did an amazing job constructing one of the most-exciting messenger bags I’ve seen around.

Follow the entire design process here.

From left to right: Slugger, Prince Presto, and Cristo Disco

Atlanta’s most notorious DJs, Nite Ratz (Slugger, Prince Presto, and Cristo Disco) came by for some photos by Ross Martin the other day. I snapped this one on my MacBook Pro while Ross was changing out his memory cards. I know it looks pretty raw, but I can guarantee that Ross’ snaps will look great on all the applications we have planned.

We’re turning our partnership with the Nite Ratz into a branding/identity project that you’ll see more of in the weeks to come (I’m not allowed to give it all away just yet). The project has been such a success that we can guarantee several new mixtapes by the Nite Ratz throughout the rest of the summer. For now, download Prince Presto’s mixtape he did for the PROCESS line here.

This graphic will be worn on the jerseys of United States Olympic teams at the Beijing Olympics next month. It reminds me a lot of the cut-paper-posters we had to design during our first few months at Portfolio Center (current and former students know where I’m coming from). The “Nike We the People Graphic” draws inspiration from a number of cultural elements and design influences to create a bold aesthetic specific to the USA. When creating the graphic, Nike designers were drawn to tattoos as the first point of inspiration, specifically looking at how the graphic design could align directly to the athlete’s body. The multi-faceted graphic tells the story of many cultures coming together under the common theme of victory. Just like a tattoo on the body, the pattern of the graphic is darker than the base color surrounding it.

Specific elements of the design include:
- The Statue of Liberty, represented by the torch
- Stars and stripes representing the 50 American states
- The date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence
- Decorative elements from our nations’ currency
- The olive branch and arrows from the talons of the American eagle in the Presidential seal
- Celtic, African and Native American symbols and influences
- A bleeding heart representing Hispanic culture

On July 14th, Museum of Design Atlanta held a first in a series of quarterly parties at Trois which coincided with Bastille Day. The purpose of the gatherings called, MODA Mondays, are for supporters and members of the museum to meet, greet, network, and to increase membership registration. I highly encourage ATLiens to come out next time for drink specials and complimentary appetizers.

We decided that the PROCESS campaign needed a new sound that would both represent our scene and push the boundaries of the typical “Atlanta Sound”. We enlisted the help of one of Atlanta’s most infamous DJs, Prince Presto, to take care of the dirty work. After showing him the line, and what we were about, he grinded-out a mixtape that fit our aesthetic and attitude.

Head over to the PROCESS blog to download PROCESS Mixtape One by Prince Presto.

If you ever see Prince Presto playing out, tell him “Nice Shirt” but don’t try to make any requests unless you want him to get on the mic and tell everyone you wanted to hear 867-5309.

First record in the Geographic North subscription series, You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever. 2 exclusive tracks from A Sunny Day in Glasgow.

Geographic North is a new Atlanta-based record label started by our friends Farbod Kokabi & Farzad Moghaddam. They’re making limited edition 7-inch records in a series called, You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever. $36 buys you a 6-month subscription to their releases, which figures to be roughly 6 records, special gifts, and free shipping.