mytwitface+

all this social media makes me miss my real life friends.

i should find an agent like all the athletes and celebrities out there and have them tweet, post, like, and circle everything for me. oh, and they can constantly update my linkedin profile too. can't forget that one. and make sure my spotify profile has me listening to the best music ever. music people haven't even written yet.

i promised myself that i would keep writing

at least once a month.

i've been learning a lot about structure lately. structure to ideas, to passion points, to tackling the unknowns, to learning how to manage what's in front of me. i probably like structure so i can build something up and break it to pieces. i'm kind of destructive like that.

new tag lines:
1. you can only pour out what's being poured into you.
2. manage the chaos in front of you before it manages you.
3. new day, every day.

i'm a trademark company.™

planning

for a summer line-up. when people actually wear t-shirts. and it's wedding invite season. hip hip.

know what you like.

"Bad artists copy. Great artists steal." - Pablo Picasso

mood boards

my illustrator palette is full of inspiration graphics, pictures, and phrases. i hope they help me generate the next round of tee's and apparel (crewneck sweatshirts!). accessories would be really fun to get into. let's figure out how to get costs down without going out of the country.

logo sponsorship!

why is this the easiest form of branding/adverting? it's so sad but so easy. it's the like button of marketing.

creating coupon codes on paypal

for the life of me i'm just ready to sign up for big cartel.

if you didn't build your buttons through paypal it's pretty easy:

https://www.x.com/message/172550#172550

if you built your buttons within paypal and you're managing inventory, good luck. third party here i come!

love/hate risk.

what's the best way to build courage in life?

shirt blanks.

Lessons learned so far so you don't fire blanks. har har.
- Organic cotton shrinks after its first wash
- American Apparel is not built for all Americans. It's only for people who are thin, have long torsos, like snug fits, or are super models.
- Have pictures of how shirts fit. Sizing charts are sometimes hard to understand.
- If you're using discharge inks, how they blend onto cottons can look really sweet or really bad. make sure the ink dries correctly. have your vendor do a test wash for you.

a fresh set of downs

I've learned a few things so far from starting panicandrun.com. 1) Find good storage space (so there's minimal clutter in the hallway). 2) Manage your resources (time and money) effectively. 3) Do a few things right from the start.

There are always a bajillion things we want to do with our ideas but if you're committed, you'll execute each of them over time. If only we had a bajillion years.

Uno.
Find good vendors and ask them lots of questions if this is your first rodeo. They help make dreams come true. Learn their lingo, process, and costs. GO to press checks. GET samples and GIVE feedback. For the Panic&Run x Campbell tee, we went through four different prints and eight different screens on-site to get the colors right.

Dos.
Work on a roll-out. Given that we all have limited resources, map out everything you want to do and space out what makes sense now and what makes sense later. Does project x release one month away? One year away? Three years away? A bajillion years away? This process will keep evolving but you'll quickly start filtering and finding your true goals. For me, releasing four designs felt the most manageable and gave my friends/family/fans/fools a variety of work to check out. If you need a kick start, think about what story you want to tell people over time. I thank all my current real-world bosses for teaching me that lesson.

Tres.
Stay inspired. The internet is amazing so make it make you happy. All the things that inspire you (brands, businesses, athletes, artists, and a-z list celebrities) are online and are encouraged when common folk get in touch with them or give them props for what they're doing. Don't be afraid to check out stuff in real life too (Yes, go to new places!). Your environment, your travels, and people around you help shape who you are.

Quatro.
If you start bringing in a little income, find a good accountant. If death and taxes are the two inevitable things in life, writing things off will make tax season feel like heaven.

Stay tuned for more goodies from Panic&Run!

new products.

i've printed some shirts. i'm very happy with them. hopefully i will open my own shop someday.

check them all out:


$20.00


$24.00


$32.00


$24.00


$24.00

boomjoshalaka

jean shop rocker indigo selvage denim

I should get my jeans a birthday card in December.
They were born on December 20, 2007.
I've had them for over two years.
I've worn them nearly every day and yes they've only been washed three times (Jan 09, June 09, and July 10 -- It's like a baptism and you should keep track of these things).
They're starting crack along the crotch but the fade and fit are incredible.

It's been with me through London, NY, Amsterdam, LA, first dates, last dates, Disney World, the Olympics, a honeymoon, rock shows, and Oregon's finest.

I think it's experienced more life than most people. Buy nice or buy twice.

let's prep for the nba lockout

if stern wanted ratings galore before the lock out: 1) cp3 and carmelo end up on the knicks 2) jeremy lin gets traded to the rockets (and china and taiwan solve all political conflicts) 3) kobe and lebron enter the dunk contest 4) cavs vs heat in eastern conference finals 5) bieber plays for the raptors

Big Apple Crunch Bread

i've learned from traveling that it's much more fun doing a few things well than trying to cram everything together. it's either that or i think i'm getting old and my stamina is deteriorating.

so here's how we did new york. there were plenty of narcissistic highlights for facebook and here are the best ones below:

mike, i actually took some pictures (and stole better ones from the web).

the shops:

REED SPACE:


Look how great Amber matches the 1000% Fragment Design and Chogokin Bearbricks. Unfortunately we're getting this one for our house:


DAVE'S QUALITY MEAT:


THE HUNDREDS (NY):


One of the souvenirs.
I wanted this shirt though.

Right outside:


And we ate and ate and ate. Lunch at Blue Ribbon:

w/ these fine folks (Hey Ma, I'm on the internet!): 1 2 3 4 5 and yes, even he dropped by: 6

Peter Pan Donuts (#2 to Portland's VooDoo's) and a Polish Dinner with fine folks from Eugene, Oregon who've ported themselves to Brooklyn.


And after traveling 12 hours straight (NY > Boston > PDX) , we rushed to see Mumford and Sons at the Crystal. It was probably the only reason we didn't stay in NY for the weekend. It was also exhausting since they didn't go on until 11p PST / 2a EST. My wife was a trooper. Her type of concert involves dressing up and sitting on a balcony where you don't need earplugs. This concert didn't allow either:


Finally, here's a shot from the Empire State Building where they try to sell you everything under the sun as you ride your way up. I'm surprised their elevator doesn't run off of quarters.



We'll be back.

All the black inside me is slowly seeping from the bone. Everything I cherish is slowly dying or it's gone.

testing, testing, 1, 2, 3.

i'm sure there are programs out there that you can install on your website to make sure that all links and content are synced and working. no broken links, no broken bones.

my friend once took a look at how i coded and i think he hated how sloppy it was. i think as long as i get the product out there i'm fine to have a messy back end right? as long as the food tastes good, no one needs to know what my kitchen looks like.

although if someone tells me that i can optimize my site to load faster, i may consider recoding. did i tell you that it's ipad and mobile compatible? boom. 31st century. kanye style.

new kings of leon is good.
a leon, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing.

victorious

prepare for like and share buttons all over the new site.

blind date

blind impressions will impress all the ladies out there.



Beast Pieces, Minneapolis, MN

and to that point on logos and mascots

"The goal is to have 32 strong clubs," says [NFL] commissioner Roger Goodell. "That includes developing a brand and an identity for each of the franchises. There's something for everybody. And sometimes in there you do get the old issue of good versus evil." - Sports Illustrated, 9/20/10

I'll let him know what I think about the Browns.

momentum

momentum can be easily killed by legal or business affairs.

and then the thrill can start back up when you decide to do things behind their backs.

i love sports team logos. personal favorites include the oakland raiders, miami hurricanes, old and new school chicago white sox, a ton of the MLS ones, and the St. Mary's Gaels. the thought that each one represents a city and their hopes for victories, championships, and dynasties is pretty powerful.

i think they're all iconic except for the cleveland browns. they kind of don't have a logo you can rally around. it's more of a color. and their brown is more of an orange. they probably didn't have a pantone color matching system back in the day.

free samples

when it comes to purchasing anything in bulk (ie. heavy machinery, business products, food at costco, etc.), make sure you try and test samples to make sure it suits your standards. and keep sampling until it's right.

the last thing you want is a high quantity of something you ordered to be all wrong. imagine being disappointed with a thousand things, literally. and to recoup your losses, you end up searching for a buyer on craigslist, ebay, or dumping it all in the lake - such a waste of time and resources.

it may take time and patience, but one and done and one night stands don't cut it. keep sampling until it's right. wait, that didn't sound right. scratch that. don't sample at all unless you know what you need first.

campaign of the year.

i think the approval committee was very cruel.


Great moments in collegiate marketing: Drake University’s ‘D+’ campaign

"The marketing team that dreamed up Drake University's latest campaign, 'The D+ Advantage,' got so carried away by an apparent allusion to positively charged molecules that it thought it could either ignore or, alternately, capitalize on one obvious fact: the logo is the grade for pathetically under-average schoolwork, a D-plus."

font licensing

this was a good pick me up today from Germany:

nautinger font reel from Mau Zentauri on Vimeo.

i've started purchasing fonts recently. not because i look at fonts as good art but mostly because i'm going to sell out and use them for commercial purposes. my soul and lawyers will feel at rest.

seal the deal

in the realm of making your logo stand out on a business card, thank you card, baseball card, i think there are only four ways to go:

foil stamping:


letter pressing:



embossing (pop up!):


thermography (raised printing although it would be cool to get some infrared involved like how everyone else understands the name):


and that's the order of printing costs from the most expensive the most economical (i'll save you the time if you're hunting for estimates in portland, oregon) unless you've converted diamonds into an ink for your thermography printing needs. oh yeah. and how good looking is that blind letter press printing too? subliminal messages never looked so good.

diamond ink. i need to get some of that.

starting the store.

some one liners on what i've learned so far. i can't wait to get into jackets:

sticking to your budget is hard.

negotiate like mad.

get to know all your local vendors. go USA.

don't get too carried away with the peripherals - it makes products fun, but focus on the overall utility.

and to that point, don't sacrifice quality for cost - you may have to roll that peripheral or utility out later when the cash flow is right. keep it in your back pocket and don't cheapen it by coming up with a quick fix alternative.

and if that idea is expensive to begin with and has high utility and high quality, tell me and we'll pitch it together to venture capitalists.

dreams.

i had a dream last night that brett favre came back to play for the packers.

fall line up.

i think we're entering one of my favorite times of the year. probably because i'll be glued to a television watching sports 24/7 while it starts getting cold.

kaws x be@rbrick 1000%. all day, all night. he'll be watching with me.

best summer ever.

search function restored.

i think i'm okay with the fact that google knows more about me than i probably know about myself. if i was a kid, i'd have google look at my browsing tendencies and suggest what i should do with my life. i heard a good line last week.

really digging this.

THE SMALL STAKES

daily drop cap. love it.

props: jessica hische