The process of design that I have learned over time seems to creep into everything. Including the Pinewood Derby. My sons Started the derby unsure of what they wanted, so like I do with my clients I asked them what they wanted. In this case it was Speed or Style? Speed won out but we did a little on the style side. So the kids became the clients.

STEP 1. ROUGHING OUT THE IDEAS / SKETCHES























STEP 2. PLANNING THE DETAILS / LOW FIDELITY LAYOUT























STEP 3. DELIVER

The Process: Sketch -to- Low Fidelity -to- Ship (or race in this case).

In this post I try to illustrate how we designed the Dirt militia Logo. I cut the actual images from 60 to 30 in hopes of showing the clear evolution of the design.

The story starts with the client meeting. We talk about purpose, we talk about goals, we talk about dreams.
Basic info: Billy Schuller is a BMX racer. Billy LOVES his sport, he is passionate. (this is a requirement for a great story) and has decided to start a business surrounded by that passion.

Billy has a name and Loves the name “Dirt Militia” We feel that the name Billy has chosen is perfect for the BMX world and the story make for a compelling brand. or a good fit of name and story.

We brainstorm with the BIlly on visual elements associated with the name and story. Billy’s story is “a bad ass group of riders banding together in an aggressive take no prisoners style of riding”.

1 Doodles
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The brainstorm kicks out a slew of visual elements i.e.
Militia: Dog Tags, Camouflage, Badges, Stripes, Helmets, Skulls, airborne, etc
Dirt: Tire Tread, Mud Splatter, Goggles, Jumps, Dirty Jerseys, etc
Story: Crew, brotherhood, aggressive, fight to the end, etc.

You can see on the post its a strong military direction. I have left out some of the other veins that were considered to focus on the dev of this particular train of thought.

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2 “DM”, “CM” whatever
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Starting with the initials “DM” making them look like a modern stencil and using a reversed “D”. Yes I know at this point it looks like a “CM” but I belive that I can over come this issue with further refinement.

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3 Moving right along

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Try to make the “CM” less of “CM” and more “DM” by adding the military style badge. Still clearly a “CM” so the slight of hand is not working.

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4 Back to the drawing board
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Still trying to salvage the reversed “D” creating a stylized Stencil look. Here the graphic is really strong and so I think I am on to something.

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5 Not so Much
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I try to get the strong graphic into the badge concept.

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6 Another try
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Still pushing

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7 Yet again
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This is going to work in the baadge, I can feel IT!

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8 I know, I know
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I am forcing it! I see that it could be read as “GM”, great maybe I can get a government bailout. Maybe not the log looks like Citroen motors.

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9 If you can’t make it good make it shiny (or add color in this case)
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Even at this point I know it’s a bad idea. Some thing happened with the Dyslexia and I am now reading it as “MD”

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10 One last try with the crow bar
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Yup Spelling it out reaffirms my suspicion it is Dead! Time of Death? Anyone?

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11 Second guessing. Back to the post it notes.
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At this point I give up on the badge thing idea. It just did not feel right so I go back to the post it notes at the top for some fresh perspective. Billy in our first meeting felt strongly that lower case “dm” was the way to go, so I think maybe he was onto something. But here we lose the military story.

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12 Hey I might be onto something
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The shapes are really working well together. why didn’t I think of this before?

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13 Did someone say Delorean?
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The shapes are really playing well together and there is a really good feel about the readability and the balance. However I notice it looks like a 1980s yuppie logo. It no longer matches Billy’s vision. No story.

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14 Military Police look
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back to the story in a bland way.

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15 Back to the Stencil “DM”
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Now this icon is readable, It also has a powerful presence.

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16 Playing with other possible elements
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Trying to get a feel for how the icon will work or play with others.

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17 trying to incorporate “Militia” symbols
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Keeping it simple makes it look like Chevron.

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18 More of a badge
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Still keeping the chevrons but in a badge sort of way.

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19 Flip it
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In my research I learn the British military chevrons point away from the head. U.S. point towards the head. So being a U.S. company we gotta go towards the head. Seriously it just looked better.

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20 I think I am onto something
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I really like what is happening with the icon so it is time to start woking int he other elements.

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21looking for balance
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Trying to keep one element from over powering the other.

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22 More of the same.
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Subduing the “militia” looking to emphasize the “Dirt”

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23 Another shot
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It is amazing how often simple is better. Not so much here but we have to try.

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24 Seeing Stars
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Nautical Stars. This element came up i our brainstorm. The nautical star as a symbol is pretty well know to be a tattoo icon. But the “Star” theme in the military is a good vein to tap into to. So we thought we would give it a go with nautical to get some of the “Bad Assitude” (new hybrid word Ass + Attidude).

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25 Just the Stars Folks
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Billy was not a fan of the icon. Said it was a little to “Tonka” so we tried this. Cool but a little generic.

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26 Sharpening the Chevrons
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Made the badge a little more real and less graphical.

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27 Now we are cooking with GAS!
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Icon, Star, and badge are all looking good.

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28 Add Color
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Still Feels right!

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29 Client is Happy
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Billy is happy with the icon but says “it needs to feel more punk” or “punch you in the face angry”

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30 Punk
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It is my belief that the icon needs to be clean for readability but the way you use it can be versatile and should be “punch you in the face angry” Billy now LOVES the logo. Not just the logo but the story the real heart of a brand. Now Billy is making shirts whit this logo plastered all over them, that is when you know you have something, it goes on a tee.

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Artists have always been creating teapots, chairs, and lamps as a way to think creatively for new solutions to old functions. So I Found these lamps on a Russian website that I troll the only text is “CREATIVE APPROACH TO THE CREATIVE LAMPS”. If anyone knows the name of the artist please post it I would love to give credit.

May these inspire your work:

The Great thing about being a Designer is the diversity of the work that I get to touch. One of our latest projects is Risqi, our client Dawn Griffith came to Skybend looking to start an apparel company from scratch. Dawn like every client had a lot of great ideas but the reason Dawn has been great to work with is that she communicates her ideas and then lets me use my imagination to create.

The nice thing about the relationship is that Dawn trusts me, the designer, to produce her concepts into visual representations. Dawn also comes to us regularly with “half baked” (in a good way) ideas where we then brainstorm and develop her concepts into realistic and visually rich solutions. So far it has been an awesome collaboration with a lot of great results and a lot of fun, it has also been very artistic where Dawn encourages the use of imagination and values the collaboration and serendipitous nature of the process, rather than viewing the designer as merely a production tool.

Here is the Dawn’s Logo for RISQI and an initial tee design concept, The best part is Dawn is Happy. Dawn said “I am Beyond lovin it! Lovin it x 3!!!”
My logo sketches can be found below.

risqi sketches

I consider myself an artist. Creativity just happens. The funny thing is that my creativity is all over the map. My Hammock under my desk My Desks, My life, My T-shirt Designs, and My sketch books are filled with ideas in creative solutions for all kinds of things.

The engine of creativity:
I have a Ribs recipe that I worked on for nearly a decade until the ribs were the flavor I had imagined at the onset of the process. Now I am not an experienced cook by any stretch of the imagination but the exploration was an enjoyable education. Once the Ribs were done I set out on a quest for the perfect BBQ sauce. I could not find one, so the creative process started again. The process has setbacks and complete failures for that matter but success is a wonderful reward to the imagination.

Latest Creative Outlet
Artisan pizza. I purchased a ceramic BBQ pit knowing I needed to get a true smokey wood fired flavor. I chose the Big Green Egg. I am a complete novice in artisan pizza but the exploration and experimentation has been creative fuel and the results are pretty tasty. I make a couple of safe best that I know will taste classic. Then I flip the mad scientist switch and create the FRANKEN PIZZAS.





This is my BBQ Chicken Pizza, not so original, but my BBQ Sauce Recipe contains Chipotle so the pizza really takes on a life of its own and becomes unique.





This is my Blue Wing Pizza, Inspired by a burger joint that I frequent. It is a Buffalo wing pizza with a spicy hot sauce and blue cheese which work great together for an awesome flavor punch.

The key to a happy soul: Strive to be creative in whatever it is you do. Sharing the results with family and friends makes it even better.