I Blank New York is a blog devoted to cataloging examples of the world’s myriad ripoffs, spoofs, and derivations of Milton Glaser’s ubiquitous, iconic ‘I Love New York’ Logo.

Categorized in: Pop Culture, The Internet
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WordPress development is a favorite pasttime here at Magnetic State. I’m a believer in the platform, which was introduced and recommended to me by Ryan Germick, who used it to build my first website almost a decade ago. Below is a screenshot of my latest WordPress site design: an author site for poet Marisa Crawford. Visit Marisa’s site and see if you notice any ghostly faces hidden in the background.

All of my WordPress themes are hand-coded from scratch. I have built custom, magazine-style layouts for Coldfront (whose homepage utilizes a vast array of WordPress loops) and Five Chapters.

People used to think of WordPress as a blogging platform but it has evolved into so much more. The software is versatile enough to deliver a variety of innovative web solutions for literary/news sites, portfolio sites, social networking platforms, and more. The sky’s the limit with this thing, really.

Please send me an email if you’re seeking WordPress development or simply need to discuss your upcoming website project. Thanks!

Categorized in: Web Design
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Above: two-color Greenpoint logo.

I’m happy to present my Greenpoint logo and full brand identity for the Greenpoint Business Alliance. As I mentioned earlier, I was hired by the GBA for what was easily the most personal challenge of my design career: to brand my home of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. What I have developed is a flexible brand identity that can be presented as a one-word Greenpoint logo or a full brand identity for the GBA, depending on the context. These elements will be visible around the neighborhood this weekend on a holiday shopping brochure that I designed.

Categorized in: Branding, By Magnetic State
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During the past few decades, brand identity has come to life, walked off the page, and danced. The days of the static logo are over, and on November 5th, some of the designers responsible for the liberation of identity gave presentations at the Brand New Conference in New York City.

Motion and animation emerged in identity during the 1980’s when brands like MTV and Nickelodeon adapted their identities for the television format. Those themes have only recently become dominant factors in the industry. Today, identity is adapting to a variety of emerging and evolving formats: 3D and the handheld web among them. Here’s a look at some of today’s advancements in identity design that have the potential to grow into major themes.

Categorized in: Branding, Logo Design, Must Reads
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Michael Johnson Interview

Dan Redding: In your presentation, you described a sea change in identity during the last few decades – as though it’s been liberated. Do you have any desires or predictions about how it will go in the next couple of decades?
Michael Johnson: I think you’re right… twenty years ago, everything was so static, and so fixed, and people wouldn’t want to be a logo designer. The fact that people are interested – the fact that there’s a conference about it – that itself is a sign. If people are progressively seeing identity and branding as the core of a project, of an organization, and then things spin off it, that’s very exciting. I tend to think that it can only get better from here, actually. If twenty years ago, [identity designers only worked on] blue chip organizations and now, we’re doing charities and cities and countries…
There’s something infectious about it.
There is something infectious about it! I’m naturally quite optimistic, but I do think that people will always want to identify themselves somehow. In fact, they’ll want to do it more and more. Progressively more and more.
And if you’re taking risks, as you advised in your speech-
Well I am small enough to take risks, to be fair.
If we all do that, then we’ll decide where identity goes.

Armin Vit Interview

Dan Redding: During the last couple of decades, we’ve seen a sea change – identity’s been liberated, it’s come to life with animation, et cetera. What do you see in the next couple of decades? Are there any trends you think will catch on?
Armin Vit: Well, I think the work that has been going on in the past twenty years – moving away from just a simple icon into something that’s a little bit more flexible – I think we’re seeing it pay off now. I think that in the next few years, there’s gonna be more animated identities that can do different things and react to the different mediums… like the iPad. So I think we’ll see a lot more interactivity with identities. You can see that with the PwC identity that Wolf Ollins did. For a corporate client, it’s amazingly interactive, within the context. You’ll see a lot more identities coming to life, just because of all of the different mediums that it has to exist in now.
Are there any other identities recently that you think will have a big impact or will be imitated?
I think the AOL identity – and I’m not a PR person for Wolff Olins – but what they did is starting to have the effect where other brands are saying, “Things can be a little more abstract and ethereal. We don’t have to be so literal.” I think AOL is having repercussions. On the other end of the spectrum, Gap has some big repercussions. It showed that if you don’t it right, it’s gonna come back and bite you on the ass. You have to get it right.

Categorized in: Branding, Interviews
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The image below is a detail of a huge Greenpoint map made by Mahon Publishing Company in 1980. You can also see a framed copy of this map on the wall in Italy Pizza on Manhattan Avenue.

Greenpoint, Brooklyn has been my home for roughly eight years. I was recently hired to brand the neighborhood for the Greenpoint Business Alliance. To say that this was enormously exciting for me is probably an understatement. I submitted a proposal for the job many months ago and seriously desired to work on this project, which is very personal to me. I’m happy to say that the logo is complete and we’re very happy with it. We’ll be unveiling the logo and other materials next week.

For now, I highly recommend reading the ‘I Remember Greenpoint’ section at this site. Greenpoint residents from as far back as the 1930′s share memories of the days when the McCarren Park Pool was actually a pool, Manhattan Avenue was lined with movie theaters, and the neighborhood was still known as ‘The Garden Spot of the World.’ My favorite quote comes from one fond former Greenpointer, who wrote, ‎”It’s been said that I live in the past. Who could blame me when I come from Greenpoint?” And that’s not the only tearjerker you’re likely to read!

More on this project very soon.

Categorized in: Branding, Diary
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I designed the website for Coldfront, an online poetry magazine. The WordPress-based site includes an ambitious tiered homepage layout. I also branded Coldfront with a logo that I developed using a cloud image that existed as a decorative element on the previous site.

Categorized in: By Magnetic State, Web Design
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