Where does innovative art & design begin?

I contemplate this question daily. Some designers would say that there is no innovation at all. Others would argue that design innovation is the specialty of big teams & creative collectives. Large networks produce big ideas.

But what if real design innovation always starts when you head in the opposite direction from the group? What if insight comes from the inner-voice? This quote from the book Party of One by Anneli Rufus is compelling in that it exposes the heart of innovation. A small subculture known as: You. Far too often it’s the loner isolated from external influence that must navigate their way thru the fog, and in doing so cultivates an uniquely fresh voice. At a time where there is countless pressure to conform to the mainstream, “The mob follows us” gives credence to the idea that innovation of all variety begins deep within. You are the proving ground. Not the other way around.

Weekly Intel is an ongoing compilation by M.80 Design of notable quotes relating to design, subculture, philosophy, and art. Each week we pull from our reading list to share creative insights shaping our internal conversations with the world around us.

One of the great things about the rainy winter climate in Oregon is that there isn’t much to do other than work, snowboard, and get yourself busy on a personal project. Check out some of our latest hand-painted board graphics.

We just got the word that we’ve been included in the upcoming book, Inside the World of Board Graphics, put out by Rockport. Our 5 submissions (a snow deck for Signal and our skate series by Bacon) have been included in both the hard and soft cover editions.

Read more about the book here.

On a recent trip to the Boise Airport, I found myself feeling a bit parched as I took my last step off the escalator to the baggage claim area. I gave the room a quick scan, looking for the nearest indication that a water-line was nearby. I was quite pleased that directly in sight, was the typical double fountain. Complete hydration was only within a few short steps.

After bringing the ol’ water line back to normal carry capacity, I stood before the fountain and pondered how much better I felt. But this sense of peace was disrupted when I stared directly at a small silvery placard mounted above the fountain. At this moment, I realized that drinking water from a fountain wasn’t a right, it was a privilege – one that could be traced to one special man in the community. This visionary was Wayne E. Pfost. You see, Wayne felt that water fountains should be made accessible to all, which up until that point, I had only thought was common knowledge in designing an airport facility. How wrong I was, because in Boise, your only right is that you get off the plane. Should nature call, or should you need a little drinkie-drink with that heart pill…..forget it, you should have thought about that before you decided to get on a plane in the first place. Had it not been for Wayne “the game-changer and visionary”, we’d all be dry-mouthed fools drinking from the faucet in the baggage claim restroom.

So here’s to the renegades. Here’s to Wayne and to cool, clear water.

While on vacation in Hood River, OR, I came across Richard Ford’s collection of short stories entitled, Rock Springs. I had to take a minute to rave over this book. It’s one of those reads that goes fast and when it’s done, you wish you could start all over. There wasn’t a story in the collection that I didn’t come away with feeling attached to in one way or another.

In my humble opinion, Richard Ford has the unique ability to create the feeling that you are sitting right next to a main character. His writing creates a complete sense of the space right down to the smell of the air and the amount of light coming through a particular window. If you are a fan of dialogue-driven literature and authentic American experience, do yourself a favor and add this one to your list.

Midnight Riot, Moon Over Soho, and Whispers Underground continue to get great placement in stores. We found them front and center at Barnes & Noble and Powell’s Books.

Lots of photos of the boards we designed for Signal’s 2012 line are starting to surface on the web. Can’t wait to give them each a go on Hood this coming winter. We love working with Signal and look forward to starting 2013 real soon.

This is the Lost Formats Project, in which I’ve opted to forego file based music for the fascinating world of music that comes in a package. It’s not about “poo-pooing” digital music ( I have a lot of it), rather it’s to embrace the experience of listening to music, the process of discovering new material, and the people taking up space around you who share a similar aural passion.

For this week, I picked this record up from Crossroads music on Hawthorne Blvd. For those who may not be familiar to Portland, this would be on the South East side of the city and around 20th St. It’s conveniently located right next to another great music shop called Artichoke Music.

Crossroads is literally filled with crates and crates of records aligned in rows, and randomly organized by individual sellers categories. The experience can be described as mostly combing through each category ie- Jazz, Country, Blues, Rock with the thumb and index finger working in an alternating pattern. You might call this “fingerstyle”. The store itself feels like wall to wall records. Playbills and concert flyers line the ceiling and special store selects are randomly displayed throughout the space. The far corner has a pile of Record players and other stereo equipment in various states of play. I’ve not fully tapped the potential of this section as of yet.

As a lover of Jazz, this is usually the section I hit first for two reasons: The covers tend to be well designed and the listening experience tends to be highly pleasurable for the ear. On this particular day, I couldn’t resist this Bellson record because of the wild collage and that fact that screened in red on the back it says “flaming” on the neon sign. Design mistake or intentional indication of the intensity of this record? You decide.

As for it’s effect on the ear canal, I can say that Sweet Georgia Brown, the final track on side 2 is rich indeed.

This begins the journey into 1 full year with nothing but lost formats. Nothing but vinyl, tape, acetate, reel to reel, and anything else you can hold in your hand or requires you to sit down with it and truly listen.

This week’s entry is a great 8-Track by Hank Williams. I’d never listened to an 8 track prior to this one. I expected it to be terrible and I was surprised to find that it actually has a unique and warm feel. Granted there is a fair amount of tape hiss, but I grew up with tape, so it hasn’t bothered me. This album sounds like what you would expect to find playing in a remote bar in some far away place. The sound is full and has the slightest echo to it.

One thing I like about this particular album and the format is that it made me hear Hank Williams all over again. My first Hank experience was on cd and at first listen, I couldn’t get over how thick his twang was. I think it took a full day to absorb his quality and understand that what I was listening to was incredibly profound.

I’ll try to include an audio post soon.

On November 9th 2010, we celebrated two years in the business by opening up the studio to the public. This coincided with our building’s annual open house, an event not to be missed since there are 5 floors of photography, art, and design. There’s also a fair amount of free local beer provided by each studio if you know what I mean. We had the studio keg filled with Widmer Broken Halo.

For the open house, we turned the studio into a gallery and invited two of our favorite artists to show their wares. EATCHO covered the walls with recent illustrations and Robert Delahanty showed documentary photography from time he spent with Mark Borchart while in production of his latest movie.

Through the course of the night we had around 900 people come through the doors. I should make a special note that we managed to book Elvis for two 20min performances which were met with rave reviews.