Name:
Chris Lee

Aka:  
C to the JL

Website:
ctothejl.com

Where are you from?
Holding it down for the NY/NJ area.

Who do you work for? 
Myself, I play for my own team.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
CtotheJL.com of course, and some other secrets I cannot speak about… ha.

Who would you love to work with?
I’d like to work with Nick Tershay, he’s the current owner and designer of Diamond Supply Co. his design are great, and he runs a very successful skateboarding company.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
Nike SB Diamond Supply Co. SB’s.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Right now, J.A.M.E.S. WATTS, KiD CuDi, Drake, and Wale.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Fried Chicken, Mac and cheese, and the uptown drink.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Standard ATL of course!

What are your Pet Peeves?
People who act like they know what’s up, but are complete jerk offs.

Shout outs?
All the supporters of CtotheJL.com, the CJL Crew, Lars, Matt, Kazar, Lisa. Big homey JLP, Nicky Diamonds, everyone whos been down since day one. ‘09 is going to be one hell of a year.

So this week I decided to do something a little lighter considering last week was kind of gloomy. You might have read the title and thought to yourself, “Oh great, Ross is doing another post about himself. Awesome.” But thats where you’re wrong! This weeks photographer might have the same name as me but its not me! After some google searching I found Ross’ work and was kind of surprised that there was another photographer out there with the same name as me. But not only does he have the same name but he’s also based in the Pacific Northwest which is where I was born! Martin used to be a staff photographer for a newspaper in Oregon before changing his focus to fine art landscape photography and moving to Seattle. Martin uses a 4×5 camera to make his photographs which I have to applaud. 4×5 cameras are a totally different beast and to be able to use one to make landscape images like this is a hard thing to do. Either way its kind of cool to find someone else out there with the same name doing the same thing that you do!

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I wanted to show the process behind a recently completed a logo I did for Miami Light Project / Nike Filmmakers Bootcamp. It’s a 4 week summer camp where Miami youth get to learn vital skills necessary to filmmaking. I wanted to illustrate a continuous strip of film spelling out the initials for Filmmakers Bootcamp, while incorporating equal parts of both sponsor identities. I did this by incorporating Miami Light Project’s logotype (completely spelled out) and placing a simple Swoosh in the top right hand corner of the mark. It wasn’t necessary to write “Nike” as well, as we are all aware of the equity already associated with the Swoosh.

More sketches after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Kevin Byrd

Here’s a photo of Bernard McCoy (the man behind Modern Atlanta) from the MA09 “Design is Human” Kickoff Party we attended last Friday evening. It was great hanging with all of our professional creative friends all under one roof for a few hours. Check out Kevin Byrd’s flickr photoset of the night here.

Awhile back, we gave you a look in a studio session involving Demun Jones and our in-house photographer, Ross Martin. The reason for that session was the creation for an album cover for his first iTunes single (coming out soon). Our goal was to portray “The Man in Black” with a “Cali” vibe.

I’ve been rocking Trainers for years and I’m happy to see Swoosh revisiting this old gem and breathing new design and life into it. This video is an example of why I can’t get down with other brands. Nike is about performance, design, and change. That resonates with me as an end-user regardless of whether or not I’m going to a workout or not. Every design decision is intentional. Why would I wear something that wasn’t designed for comfort and performance? I love Bo Jackson’s input at the end of the clip as well. Bo Knows.

Relish, the creative event design company that burst into the Atlanta scene planning and executing the PROCESS launch circuit in March is now up to something pretty big. Pretty big, pretty yummy, and totally free. Free Pie!

The catalysts, Melissa and Reena, have this to say: “The world is kinda crazy. FREE PIE isn’t. Join a burgeoning movement. Make a pie. Pick a spot. Give it Away. Yep, it’s that simple - no strings, no logos, no agenda - just a random act of kindness.”

This Saturday, May 16, starting at 2:00pm, free pieces of homemade pie will be given away at over a (baker’s) dozen locations around the city. Go here for more info on locations to grab a slice and how to sign up to help if you’re interested!

A while ago, Georgios gave us a sneak peek at something he’d been working on for the PROCESS Summer 09 collection. Here’s another teaser of a graphic that will be part of the collection as well. I know the image isn’t revealing much yet, but here’s a hint: after having a pow-wow with Georgios, we decided on the concept of “East Coast meets Far East”, drawing from influences I’ve had growing-up in both Asian and American cultures. I’ll reveal more of the graphic as we get closer to release date. I’ve said to much as it is…

Click image to view Large

Modern Atlanta kicks off 2009’s series of modern home tours and design events in Atlanta this week. We’re featured in the MA09 Guidebook that you will receive when you purchase tickets for this weeks home tours and/or Kickoff Party this Friday, the 15th. Buy tickets here. Thanks to MA for placing us alongside ATL’s top design teams and stories. I really like the photo they chose to publish!

Does anyone know someone that works at Atlanta Spirit?

Firstly, Congrats to the Atlanta Hawks for their first playoff series victory in 10 years! It’s been amazing to watch the process of transforming the worst team in the league to one of the most exciting teams to watch.

While I was poking around on some sports uniform/logo blogs earlier today (yes, I totally nerd-out on sports aesthetics) it dawned on me how the late 2007 rebrand of the Atlanta Hawks didn’t include an alternate uniform. Also, they eliminated using Yellow (which had been a team color since ‘72), downplayed the use of Red, and introduced Navy Blue and Silver as team colors. Currently, they wear predominantly White uniforms at home and Navy Blue uniforms on the road. I’ve included a Hawks uniform timeline PDF here.

Since there is no current Hawks alternate uniform, I quickly comped an idea onto a Josh Smith photo from their 2007-2008 campaign; using Red as the predominant color and the ATL city abbreviation. I’m not sure if there is a possibility for Hawks management to introduce a new alternate uniform for next season, but now would be a great time in Hawks history to do so. ATL pride is high, David Stern could make more money, and I’d definitely spend my hard earned cheese on a Red-Alternate Zaza Pachulia jersey!

After years of having their feet planted firmly in the Atlanta lifestyle market, Standard opened the doors to it’s second location in Lenox Square. To commemorate the expansion, Standard has partnered up American footwear giant DC Shoes for their first collaborative efforts. The goal in this collaboration was to represent design elements that have always been strongly present in the motif of Standard. The true red color embodies the strong presence of red accents at both locations along with the green laces and insole, which represent the artificial turf that covers the floor at the new store, as well as the live turf used at various events at the original location.

Check out more at the Standard Blog.

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At the last Process x El Bar party, we gave this piece to Rob Wonder and Rosa. It was influenced by the El Bar Mary t-shirt that we collaborated on. We are working on something special with El Bar so stay tuned for more.

ATL’s best interior design company, Habachy Designs, came to Epidemik Coalition needing a new website. After a few meetings at their downtown Atlanta office, which has an amazing view of the city, we quickly had wireframes and site-structure in hand. It was only a matter of days to implement everything and get it live. It was a pleasure working with Michael and Evan on this project and we’re looking forward to future EC/Habachy collaborations.

Yesterday, a special package came in the mail from Quintin, a new hat company owned by some of our friends on the west coast. What sets them apart from the norm is that they specialize in fitted 5 panel caps, thus eliminating the need for a pesky adjustable strap and delivering some class to the 5 panel category. Their first wave of releases will take place on May 2nd, kicking off a summer of weekly releases bearing collaborations with many heavy-hitting design teams (the line sheet looks amazing). We’re honored to be included in this succession of releases and are currently tweaking the final details on the first PROCESS x Quintin collaboration set for later this summer. Read the rest of this entry »

Name:
Stefán Kjartansson

Aka:  
To my mom I’m Stebbi.

Website:
howdoyouspellkjartansson.com
armchairmedia.com/work/

Where are you from?
I was born in Siglufjörður, which is a small fishing town in a fjord north of Iceland.

Who do you work for? 
I’m a founding partner and designer at Armchair.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
Philips Van-Heusen, FusionBrands, SAT.

Who would you love to work with?
Peter Seville, I just want to see how he thinks. I would like to work with Michael Bierut to experience his process.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
I have two pairs of Tretorns. The high-tops could easily fetch $7.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Nate introduced me to this band today called Tuxedomoon. I plan listen to them obsessively.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Floataway Cafe, MF Sushi, Star Provisions, Top Flr

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Octane Coffee.

What are your Pet Peeves?
Designers that are not passionate about their work.

Shout outs?
I wanna give a shout out to my Armchairs: Scott, Dave, Kenny, Kevin,
Farbod, Nate, Tiffany, Marta, Aaron, Michelle, Travis, Reena, Erick,
Emily, Darcey, Alice, Erica, Rebecca, Jamie. I also wanna give a shout
out to Elise and Thor. And God.

I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately… Asia, New York, New Orleans. On each of the trips, design has been at the reigns. I’d like to take a minute to describe my travels to Asia during one week in March and share a once-in-a-lifetime project I’ve been involved with at Georgia Tech this spring.

A group of 9 architects, 1 industrial designer (me), 1 anthropologist, and 2 health system engineers have been working since January to design a health clinic for a village in Sukadana, West Kalimantan. Kalimantan, otherwise known as Borneo to us westerners, is an island in Indonesia situated on the equator, exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. The weather is a constant 85° with 90% humidity, making HOTlanta seem like the arctic.

Who are we working for? An American MD named Kinari Webb and her health organization named Health in Harmony provides integrated essential health care and environmental education to the citizens of Sukadana. It is one of Health in Harmony’s missions to reduce the local illegal logging industry towards preservation of the Bornean rainforest, home to one of the planet’s largest assets of flora and fauna including wild orangutans! It turns out Dr. Webb had a connection to a fellow at Georgia Tech, who pulled resources to organize the course.

After months of work, six students from our group were sent to Borneo (expenses paid via a grant) to present architectural plans as proposals to the organization. During an intense 3-day charette, we gathered their feedback in order to create a more informed design. Those involved in the charette included Dr. Webb, her health clinic staff, and the community who would ultimately be using and building the clinic. Each day of the design discussions took place at Health in Harmony’s current health clinic which is a 3-room house next to the ocean.

We returned from Asia full of ideas, rice, and a realistic outlook on what life looks like in Indonesia. On a personal note, it was humbling to be in a place so disconnected from western culture and so full of noise and LIFE. This information is being pumped into a final, refined design that will be handed over to the Health in Harmony group in a few weeks at a final presentation in Atlanta. Those architectural plans will be used to gather funding in America to be put towards construction starting in November.

See some pics of my journey after the jump
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We just finished redesigning the Fugees Family website. Their unique story has been featured on CNN, The New York Times, NPR, and Sports Illustrated. I can’t say enough for the organization and what they do for refugee families. Head over to fugeesfamily.org to find out more. It was a pleasure to work with Luma Mufleh and the rest of the Fugees Family organization on this project. Head over to their new site, and donate if you’re down with the cause.

You may remember me showing a teaser of this a while back. The M-26-7 project was commissioned by Erik Hansson after discovering the Cohiba pieces in our portfolio. He wanted something similar for his living space so we decided to meet up and brainstorm. After Erik expressed his like for anything communist related, I decided to create these pieces of the 4 Comandantes (Castro, Che, Raul & Camilo) of the Cuban Revolution. The M-26-7 stands for the 26th of July Movement.

I’m working on another piece for some friends of EC so stayed tuned.

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So this week I am going to introduce you to one of my favorite photographers of all time. His name is Gregory Crewdson. Crewdson is a photographer unlike most others in that his productions for his images are probably the most elaborate I have ever seen. His images are narratives in themselves which leave the viewer with numerous story possibilities. Its pretty amazing when you look at these images in person and can see all the details up close and tell all of the time and effort that is put into making a single image. I once saw a lighting diagram for his images and its incredible all the lights that are used to make a single image, but I guess that is what you get when you hire a Director of Photography to light your images for you. Either way I hope you enjoy the images and if you’re interested in hearing a better explanation of the process involved in the making of his images you can see an interesting interview here and there is a really awesome interactive article with production photos here.

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A while back, I mentioned this project as we had just completed designing the mark for Yaari.com’s rebrand. Since this project was deeply a social-networking site with lots of bulk, EC was challenged with making hierarchical decisions on content as well as coding the CSS for the newly relaunched Yaari.com. After handing over our comps, we’ve been anxious to see the results over the past few months. It’s great to see our work come to life. That’ll never get old.

There are a few new websites we’ve recently completed that are about to launch very soon. Stay tuned for updates!