Pop Art Blog

Steve Sandstrom likes "verbena" scented things. Steve Sandstrom also enjoys the smell of his wife's neck. Steve Sandstrom is married. Steve Sandstrom became a vegan 8 months ago. Steve Sandstrom likes marionberry pie. Steve Sandstrom has a child who was conceived accidentally. Steve Sandstrom is fond of people who are fond of large belt buckles. Steve Sandstrom deserves his PAF lifetime achievement award. Read More...

Today is our 10-Year Anniversary party, and the office is buzzing with last-minute preparations. The beer, wine, and martini fixin's are here. Cocktail tables are being installed, tablecloths unfurled. The new sign is lit (look for another post, forthcoming, or just take a stroll down Broadway in downtown Portland. And, the makings for our special interactive art project are complete. Last night, Ben Fogarty, Justin and myself spent hours laying out a 20 foot wide grid of three-inch squares onto... Read More...

Today, I got a haircut. A big one. My summer chop-off. Buzzville, USA, Population: Me. I also had a very entertaining barber, from the Bay Area. He regaled me with stories of pimped out Buicks, drug dealers, and a special summer drink his cousins used to make with equal parts Mickey’s and Gallo Sangria. Drink half a grenade, fill with sangria, and add ice. Sounds filthy, but he claimed “some very high class girls” loved it after getting over the initial hesitation. He also claimed the physical limit... Read More...

Every once in a while, I see a movie that excites me as a designer. The opening titles for Panic Room, combined with that film’s amazing camera work. Fight Club, with it’s “IKEA catalog” sequences and David Carson-like typography. Last night, I saw another such film, Stranger Than Fiction . The great typography and motion graphics first started my design pulse racing, with a great opening sequence. Harold Crick (Will Farrell) is an IRS agent with a boring life. He has an amazing gift for numbers... Read More...

1. “Real World” Interfaces. Yeah, the menu should totally be on a banner pulled behind an airplane. Get it? It’s a “fly out.” Leave the real world to the real world. To borrow from Clement Greenburg, “screen is screen, pixels are pixels.” You’ve got a million colors and several million pixels to play with, unlimited fonts, and the only thing you can think of is a coffee table? But the telephone links to “contact us.” Get it? Apple pioneered this interface in 1995, and your idea is neither new nor... Read More...