I’ve been spending some time at Nike’s 7ON High School Football tournament here in Beaverton, OR and I happened to run across this helmet in a product display cases.

Can someone explain this logo? Is it the new Arizona Cardinals logo? Did the Cardinals pull off a re-re-brand? Is this a college team logo that I haven’t seen before? Who knows more about this thing?

Nevertheless, it’s super-clean and if this happens to be a new look for the Arizona Cardinals, I’m all for it.

You might not be worthy of that Atlanta cap, sir.

It’s been less than 24 hours since LeBron’s ego-maniacal TV special and more importantly for Hawks fans, since Joe Johnson signed a $123 million dollar contract for 6-years of service with the Atlanta Hawks. I still can’t believe he’s going to be making the most out of all the free agents out there, considering that many of them are so much more talented than JJ.

Are we to assume the Hawks’ summer isn’t over, and that they’ll be making more moves to improve? Will there be more money to spend on Al Horford and Smoove in the upcoming off-seasons? As far as I’m concerned, those 2 players are definitely more fan-friendly than the bro who dissed ATL fans last post-season.

In an interview yesterday with AJC’s Michael Cunningham, Joe explained himself saying, “It was just in the heat of the moment. We had a tough battle against a great team in Orlando. I think I can speak for a lot of guys on the team [that] there was some frustrating moments. I was just really speaking out of frustration.” and “There is nothing I can do about it now. I just look forward to the season and getting out there and playing. This is my job; this is what I do. I am going to come out and try to have fun and hopefully change their minds.”

Having fun only matters if they win! I think the only way to make us change our minds is if he actually takes over this team as a leader and they win the games that matter. I’m talking about beating LA, Orlando, Boston, and Miami.

Dominate Joe. We have no choice but to continue backing the Hawks and we’re certainly not switching our allegiances over to Miami.

We just created some letterpressed business cards with our good friends at Red Bird Ink in historic Conyers! We’ll have a video of the process coming soon!

If you happen to be vacationing in the Hamptons right now, then tomorrow is your lucky day. Nike will release a special edition for all your uppity parties on July 10th, as a tribute to one of the East Coast’s most famous vacation spots. Available only at Blue and Cream.

More pics after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s another look into the Bespoke Air Force 1 session I had at 21 Mercer last month. That’s black waterproof denim I’m holding. It was great to have so many deluxe materials at my fingertips. It made the design process very intense, yet it was also very liberating to know my custom pair will be one of a kind.

If things go according to schedule, it’ll only be a few more weeks until the bad-boys show up!

Summer is so hot in the Dirty South that you sweat through several tees a day. Luckily, our summer collection of PROCESS focuses on our favorite article of clothing and is in production right now. It’s just a few short weeks until our next drop. For now, enjoy this teaser of one of Georgios’ best illustrations to date.

It doesn’t matter who you are. If you’re a creative, it makes sense to sketch as much as possible. Even our resident photographer, Jorge Menes, sketches all the time. As much as this looks like chicken-scratch, it actually means something to him!

Top Row [Left to Right]: Stephanie, Addie, Dave, Nichole, Alicia. Bottom Row [Left to Right]: Alyssa & Catherine.

It’s the start of another quarter at Portfolio Center and I have another enthusiastic group that I’ll be working with on Tuesday nights. They come from all over and they’ve had a wealth of experiences in their lives that should help their logo creating processes; including drinking drano, collecting 3D cat posters, and busting their asses in front of Michael Jordan.

When I attended PC, I recall my favorite class was a logo class with school president, Hank Richardson. Imagine my surprise and delight when I received a call from him requesting that I bear the torch he’s carried for so long. I said, “Hank, you need to realize that you’re giving the reigns to a crazy person! Who knows what will become of this experiment.” Nevertheless, he’s down with Larry, and he’s going to let me do what I want (within reason).

If you spend any time with me, you’ll realize that I’m a huge sports fan and I’m also obsessed with the aesthetic of sports. I’ve decided to take this obsession a little bit further by having my students work on new primary logos (and possible brand identity systems) for several sports franchises that have terrible logos, or are on the cusp of achieving greatness, but are in desperate need of a re-brand.

Here’s what everyone will be working on, if I remember correctly:
Stephanie - Bakersfield Blaze
Addie - Kansas City Wizards
Dave - Atlanta Thrashers
Nichole - Oklahoma City Thunder
Alicia - Atlanta Apollos (MLS Bid)
Alyssa - New Jersey Nets
Catherine - Charlotte Bobcats

I would definitely cop one of these babies!

As most of you know, the Atlanta Hawks plan on inking Joe Johnson to a max-contract upwards of $120 million for 6 years. I honestly don’t see how this benefits anyone other than Joe Johnson. With the current state of the Hawks, it’s hard to understand why they would want to keep the current floor general unless they are committed to making further moves to win NOW. Certainly, the current ownership group doesn’t plan on owning the Hawks when Joe’s deal runs out. Joe will be 34 years old and making entirely too much for a 34-year old NBA player.

We could talk about Joe for days, but a recent rumor that the Hawks have offered Shaquille O’Neal a 2-year deal might just be the move the Hawks need to make to show everyone in ATL (and beyond) that they are committed to winning in the short term.

One can argue that Shaq brings a lot of negatives with him, but I don’t buy that. I’m one to think that the positives will outweigh those negatives. Think about what Shaq-Fu in an ATL jersey means:

1) He’s a true center. Something WE DON’T HAVE & NEED!

2) Finally, media attention will be brought to ATL.

3) Veteran leadership. Shaq has won before and can give our young Hawks more of a killer instinct, instead of laying dead on the road.

4) Even at limited minutes per night, Shaq dominates the paint and allows Horford to slide over to power forward. Ultimately, this helps Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia so much. Zaza could change from a solid back-up center to an outstanding back-up center. Our big guys’ confidence will go up with Shaq around.

5) Can you imagine the block-party that would ensue with Smoove and Shaq on defense?

6) Ticket sales will go through the roof with Shaq on the floor every night.

7) I can’t wait to hear what Ryan Cameron’s nickname for the big dude will be. “Big Bird”? Can we steal that from Chris Anderson from the Nuggets?

8) More personality from our Hawks. Finally, we’ll enjoy the opposite of lackluster and monotone post-game soundbites that we’re used to hearing from Joe, Smoove, and Marvin.

A new portal for our design, illustration, photo, & web services is coming soon to ECDesignCo.com or as we like to call it, EC/DC. Stay tuned!