http://paulrogersstudio.com Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:58:54 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=14008

p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } My friends at Milan Music in Paris called the other day to see if I’d be interested in designing a CD cover for a collection of soundtrack music from Alfred Hitchcock films. Of course I would, and I sent them three options. My favorite was the caricature of Hitchcock, playing records in the Bates Motel, but I wasn’t sure if the tone was too light and I added a couple of more serious Saul Bass-y designs. They picked the caricature and it’s in French record stores now.



]]> Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:26:26 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=13977

p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } With the SuperBowl returning this weekend to New Orleans, it seems like a good time to bring a project out from the archives. In Spring of 2001, my friend Brad Jansen was art director at the NFL, he called to ask if I’d be interested in designing the official poster for the 2002 Super Bowl to be played in The Crescent City. It was an intimidating assignment. There’s a long history of illustrated Super Bowl posters dating back to the first game in 1967 and a lot of great illustrators had their shot at it. Even though the formula was the same every year – The Vince Lombardy Trophy surrounded by visual elements of the host city and no football players, there were some wonderful posters produced by illustrators that I’d always admired. The art gets used on program covers, tickets, and lots of souvenir items and becomes a part of NFL history.



New Orleans has no shortage of visual imagery and Brad and I decided on a collage of architecture that kind shows a view from the French Quarter in the foreground up to the Superdome at the top with, of course, the Lombardi Trophy in the center. We needed an image of a jazz musician and I included my friend, the long-time Saints fan, Wynton Marsalis. The poster was approved without any big revisions and I looked forward to seeing it printed on all its applications.   Then, 9-11. All bets were off for a few weeks and football didn’t seem too important.The NFL cancelled some games, adjusted the playoff schedule and decided to scrap the official logo and poster for a patriotic theme. Brad asked me to send him some ideas for a new poster, the new brief was Red-White-and-Blue, Football Players as Heroes, Eagles, Flags, and The Vince Lombardi Trophy.







The sketches I sent all were rejected, and the new poster was a retouched photo, an image of the trophy with an American flag reflected in it.



The next year the Super Bowl was played in San Diego and Brad, being the mensch that he is, knew I was disappointed with the outcome from XXVI and asked me to design the poster for XXVII. We came up with a vintage travel poster vibe showing the Southern California coastline.



There have been a lot of changes at the NFL since 2002 and it seems to me that they have just stopped trying to design memorable posters.



]]> Fri, 01 Feb 2013 05:10:04 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=13954







]]> Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:33:54 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=13928

Last year, FutureBrand contacted me to contribute to their re-design of the logo for The George Washington University. My daughter did her undergrad at GW and she’s now in her last year of law school there, so I was already familiar with the university, it’s history and their existing logo.    



The  brief was to update, or modernize the logo for a bolder, cleaner, forward-looking design that could work well across all media, especially digital applications where the existing logo seemed soft and a little dusty. FutureBrand sent some photos of a famous bust of Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon as the model for the new image. On a project like this, I always feel like my role is a bit like a mind-reader, I'm never really sure where it’s headed, or how much of a departure from the existing logo the client is likely to accept. I decided to give them four approaches ranging from realistic to graphic and to deliver each approach in four possible color variations. I sent these off, they seemed to be well received, I got paid and never heard anything else about the project.









The new logo was unveiled this summer, it kind of makes you wonder why they bothered with a re-design at all.



For me, the finished re-design is a disappointment, not just because they didn’t go with one of my directions, but it seems to not be a bolder, cleaner, forward-looking logo. (but, at least George is facing right.) But it’s also not the gigantic logo disaster that the University of California just unveiled and quickly killed. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-logo-20121215,0,7912385.story

Here’s some responses to the new GW logo http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2012/08/27/gw-unveils-cyborg-george-washington-logo/ http://dcist.com/2012/08/why_we_all_need_to_go_into_brand_ma.php http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/george_washington_university.php

]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:18:04 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=13902 I haven’t yet seen the new movie by Walter Salles, but I’ve been assigning a book jacket project for Jack Kerouac’s On the Road to my Illustration Design class at Art Center for the past six or seven years. It's a great book that has had some sad covers issued in the last fifty-five years. At first, I was surprised how few students had already read it, but then I thought that if they don’t learn anything else from me, I’ll have introduced them to Kerouac, and the class will have that going for it. The assignment is to pick an idea or theme from the book and communicate it in a way that feels right for the story.  Research into Kerouac’s life and the way America looked right after World War II is a big part of the project. You’d be surprised how many 22-year olds don’t know suitcases didn’t always have wheels on them. Most of these covers were designed by students about halfway through their studies at Art Center, some have graduated, some are still in school. I’ve added links to their websites if you’d like to see what they are up to now.



Adriana Crespo



Alisha Amirkhanian



Allison Krumwiede



Angy Che



Ben Sanders



Celeste Byers



Christine Westrich



Cosimo Galluzzi



Christine Wu



David Jien



Jonathan Cruz



Juan Montes



Katy Wu



Li Kai Lai



Liz Mamont



Gary Musgrave



Osamu Shishime



Devin Troy Strother



Will Davies



Zach Mendoza

]]> Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:47:08 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=13864

Eileen O'Donnel at the Wall Street Journal called last week for some illustrations for their Books of the Year review. The list of books wasn't set yet, so she just asked for some images about books and reading. There's no big idea here, just find a style that could work. I sent her a bunch of drawings of people sitting in modern chairs reading and some Saul Bass-Art Goodman inspired lettering.





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