It is Saul Bass’ 93rd birthday. Google has payed tribute this iconic pioneer of graphic design with one of their signature doodles. All you have to do is visit www.google.com and hit play on the video above the search bar. After the video, Google takes you to their Saul Bass search results. It is funny how far we have come since graphic design according to Saul. He mostly designed by hand. It is only fitting that we pay tribute digitally.

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. During his 40-year career Bass worked for some of Hollywood’s most prominent filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Among his most famous title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict’s arm for Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm, the credits racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of a skyscraper in Hitchcock’sNorth by Northwest, and the disjointed text that races together and apart in Psycho.

Bass designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including the AT&T “bell” logo in 1969, as well as AT&T’s “globe” logo in 1983 after the breakup of the Bell System. He also designed Continental Airlines’ 1968 “jetstream” logo and United Airlines’ 1974 “tulip” logo which became some of the most recognized airline industry logos of the era. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At The College of Mount St. Joseph, we had to do a senior thesis on a designer from the 5o’s. I remember everyone wanting to write their paper on Saul Bass. If you know me, you know I like to be different. I did my thesis on Lester Beall. He was an equally influential designer for different reasons. You can check out my Lester Beall inspired posters in my portfolio.

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Sean and Colin Martin Have a Great Time Caving With The Scouts!

My Brother and I joined Boy Scout Troop 967 and members of the Rockcastle Karst Conservancy, Pete Stow and Tammy Otten, for a great day of spelunking (caving). It is hard to explain the feeling of exploring natural caves. If you have taken the tour through Mammoth Caves… not even close. It is a lot darker and more rugged for sure. there are no lights besides the ones on your helmet and definitely no hand rails! We went through some pretty tight crawls. I thought I was going to get stuck. But I was able to shimmy my way out so I can share this experience with you.

Make sure to check out the photos below to see how much fun we had caving. I’m still pretty sore today from all of the hiking, climbing, crawling, pushing, scooting and sliding! But it was all worth it to see all the beauty inside mother earth.

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This Cincinnati company hit a home run with new Louisville Slugger logo

By Steve Watkins, Staff Reporter-Business Courier

Next time you see Joey Votto, Jay Bruce or Brandon Phillips take a swing for the Cincinnati Reds, check out the logo on their bat. That Louisville Slugger trademark was designed by a hometown branding company.

Interbrand, whose consumer branding center of excellence is based right here in Cincinnati, came up with a new logo for the famed bat company late last year. It got rolled out publicly on Opening Day this year, replacing the iconic Louisville Slugger logo that had been around for more than 30 years. Will Kladakis, Interbrand’s account leader, said the project was pretty cool for him and his team. “I go to about 30 Reds games a year, and every time I look at the Jumbotron, I’m going to see that logo,” he said.

It’s such a cool thing to have the logo designed by a company in the town where the first professional baseball team startedWill Kladakis

Interbrand, which does a lot of work for Procter & Gamble Co. as well as other consumer packaged goods companies, found out about the job through Kyle Schlegel, vice president of marketing at Louisville Slugger parent Hillerich & Bradsby Co. He’s a former P&G guy who had worked with Interbrand in the past. Interbrand did its two-hour pitch about a year ago. But it had an ace in the hole. Its team is filled with people who are true baseball fans, Kladakis said. That became obvious when the bat company people took Interbrand folks on a tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum in downtown Louisville shortly after the pitch. “I was peppering them with questions,” Kladakis said. “They really understood we were passionate about the game.” On top of that, Kladakis had to rush back to Cincinnati for a 7 p.m. softball game. He didn’t have time to change clothes, so he batted in the first inning in his dress clothes to avoid costing his team an automatic out. He wound up diving headfirst into home plate and sent a photo to the Louisville Slugger people. “They asked if I got my clothes dry cleaned yet,” Kladakis said. But it won the job, too.

It faced some big challenges. This is only the second major change Louisville Slugger has made to its logo since it first made a bat in 1884. It has used an oval as part of the logo for 129 years. Interbrandwas told to think out of the box, but it decided to keep the heritage and equity of that logo, said Jamey Wagner, Interbrand’s executive creative director. It also needed to create some element of the logo that could serve as a shorthand version where the full logo doesn’t fit, such as on a glove, Wagner said. So it put the “LS” symbol in a baseball diamond at the top of the logo. “That would be our Nike swoosh,” Wagner said.

Interbrand fully understand the enormity of what it was designing. Louisville Slugger is one of the best-known brands in the world. Kladakis said one of Interbrand’s New Zealand employees said he had never seen a baseball game but he knew that Louisville Slugger meant baseball. Greats from years gone by, such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, used the company’s bats to clout home runs. Williams, in fact, used to help John Hillerich, fifth-generation CEO of Louisville Slugger parent Hillerich & Bradsby, with his homework when he was a kid. Who wouldn’t want that kind of help?

By October, they had the design ready. It got rolled out to Major League Baseball players during spring training and had its public release to coincide with Opening Day. “It’s such a cool thing to have the logo designed by a company in the town where the first professional baseball team started,” Kladakis said.

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Reds Win! Redlegs Nation Sends Cubbies Back to Hiber-Nation.

“That was huge. It never gets old – those walk-offs. We came back and didn’t give up, that says a lot about our team.”Jay Bruce

I never thought the Reds would win the battle with the baby bears last night. The game took forever as pitching duels usually do. It looked bad from the beginning as Mike Leake gave up a home run to David Dejesus. Their first batter. Then Darwin Barney scored off of a Starlin Castro hit in the third. The Reds remained down by 2 until Jay Bruce knocked in two with his first home run of the season. Tied game. Extra baseball!

The 13th inning was when I really thought that the Red’s luck had worn off. They tried numerous times to give the game to the Cubs including a nutmeg error by Todd Frazier. Bad guys ended up scoring 2 in that extra inning, but I knew it wasn’t over. The Redlegs had the top of the order coming up and they were all due for hits. I told my dad, “If they can’t do it with this part of the batting order, then they can’t do it at all.” They did it! The Cub Cadets gave up a hit to Xavier Paul putting runners on second and third. Jay Bruce hit a double tying the game and Ceaser Izturis, of all people, knocked Jay in to win the game.

The Cubs fans were talking some alcohol-fueled trash after they scored in the 13th. Just remember from now on that the home team has the last laugh and the Reds are kings of the comeback! But, don’t worry little bear cubs, you can leave Redlegs Nation in a couple days and go back to Hiber-Nation. For that fan that screamed, “What the f#@% is a Red anyway,” in earshot of some little kids… prepare to get schooled…

Although many of the players on these clubs were de facto professionals, the first openly all-professional team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings, an amateur team that turned professional and began a successful barnstorming tour in 1869. The fame of this team spelled the end of the high-level “amateur” version of the game. It also inspired the use of team colors serving a dual role as the team nickname. Examples: Boston Red Stockings (Red Sox), Chicago White Stockings (White Sox), Cincinnati Red Stockings (Reds), Hartford Dark Blues (Blues), Louisville Grays, Mutual Green Stockings, St. Louis Brown Stockings (Browns), St. Louis Red Stockings.

… So there you go. If you have any more questions, you can use Wikipedia to get the answers before shouting obscenities. Thanks.

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It is time for the first Reds vs Cubs game of the season! I am very pleased to have tickets for tonight’s epic battle between Cincinnati Red, Mike Leake and former Cincinnati Red, Travis Wood. Both pitchers came up through the Reds organization to the big show at the same time (2010). Travis Wood had a couple trips back to the Minors and ultimately ended up as part of a trade to the Chicago Cubs. I remember there being a choice between these two pitchers on who would go to Chicago and who would stay in Cincinnati. I think we got the better end of the deal.

Cincinnati Reds weekday home games are usually sparse. That is unless the Yankees, Cardinals, Brewers or Cubs are in town. It is refreshing to see such a big crowd on a Monday night. That being said, I wish we had any other fans in town besides Cubs fans. Just kidding. At least you are not Cardinals fans! They can take a long walk off of Navy Pier! Am I right Cubbies…

… Anyway, if you are going to the game tonight I will see you there. I will be the person right behind the Kroger K’s clapping loud enough that you could hear it in Chicago!  - Buy Tickets Here -

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W:Cingrani (1-0)   L:Fernandez (0-1)

The only big league starting pitcher in the building Thursday night with less experience than prized Marlins rookie Jose Fernandez was coveted Reds lefty Tony Cingrani.By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com

Cingrani’s “Soft Opening”

When you open a new restaurant or retail store, you do a “soft opening” to get used to daily operations. It is expected that you will make mistakes along the way. Cingrani had the most softest of “soft openings” last night as he made his first Major League start against the Miami Marlins. He did make some mistakes though, and shouldn’t think that every team will be that easy. ”It could have been a little better overall, but I’m happy with it,” said Cingrani, who gave up one run and five hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. I like a guy that knows he had a great start, but could do better. It always seems like the person with the “I am the greatest” attitude is destined NOT to live up to their hype. Heck, we are still waiting for the Phenom, Homer Bailey, to catch up to his reputation.

I was very worried when our star pitcher was put on the DL. I thought it was going to be a tough road. But, the schedule has been beyond forgiving and we had a good rookie pitcher that stepped up in his place. Is it time for Cingrani to be up here for good? No, not even close. He came up here for a great cup of coffee, but he would benefit from a couple more years in the minors. If he keeps working though, you can bet that we will see Tony Cingrani again!

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I am working on some animated GIF images for a new website. I don’t think it is such a good idea to have three animated GIFs right next to each other on the same page, but it is best to keep quiet and do the best job that I can. The people that own the website like it and that is what counts. You shouldn’t put 3 animations together for a few reasons…

• The first reason is timing. When the animations start together it looks great. It all depends on the load time. If they do not load at the same time, the animations will not sync up. I have a fast internet connection. So I have no problem with load time and they look awesome! But I know that most people don’t have internet speed on their side. It is part of my job to think about those things.
• The second reason is that animated GIF images look terrible on older versions of Internet Explorer. The images took good on Firefox, Chrome and IE9. But, not everyone has upgraded from Internet Explorer 8 or Vista.
• Third, it is so confusing to have three animations competing for your attention! I am all about simplicity, speed and easy user experience. There is nothing simple, quick or easy about trying to get information from an animation. You have no choice but to sit there and wait for it. Sliders are a little better, because the user can control when it advances to the next slide.

There are probably many more reasons not to put three animated GIFs together on the same page, but I will let you folks think about it. Take a look at the examples that I have posted below and come up with your own conclusions.

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It is no secret that I like to tinker with things. My latest tinkering project is the Sean Martin Design website. Most of you probably thought it looked okay before. You are probably right. But, I have the curse that all artists suffer from… The “Nothing is Ever Perfect” curse! If you look at something and think of ten different ways you would change it, then you have the curse too.

It all began when I didn’t like the way that my portfolio was being handled by the WordPress template that I was using. Then I found other things that I didn’t like about it. So, just like that, the search began for a new template. When I found one that I loved, I began to tinker with it. I added a custom logo. Then I added the background that I like. Finally, I started working on my portfolio.

I do have to make a few apologies for some broken links on my Facebook page. The blog entries that I created before looked weird with the new template. So I erased them and started from scratch. All of the posts that I created before this one will now have a broken link. Even downloading posters from my page will be a little bit different.

A big thank you has to go out to the creators of the “Atlantis” theme. It has everything that I wanted out of a website template and it was fairly cheap! This should be the last big overhaul of my website. I can now concentrate on providing some great content!

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