Some simple shape for a simple letter. Nothing to read into or analyze, just shapes and colors, with an N hidden within.

N is quite the entrepreneur. It has decided to start North South productions. They make compasses? Good call N, everyone gets a little lost from time to time. What better tool than a compass. As long as they all lead to In'N'Out you shouldn't have problem with business...

I know you see the 'N' hiding in that circle. Could be a dot on an i too. hmmmm.....

N picks up where M finished off, intertwined letter forms with a nice vintage cleanliness to them. Taking the letter N and creating another logo for a fictitious Design Quota project, "Nation Divided." The obvious split/divided 'N', and the cliche red, white and blue color motif, and bam; you have a divided nation logo. N wanted to get political. It's never a popular place to be, but N insisted. We can all agree, we are a Nation Divided indeed regardless of your leanings. N just calls it how it is.

I tried to have some fun with this one. Made up some initials, which happened to be short command for 'MOVE'. The MV is intertwined like DNA (coding) with some good movement to represent the name. Of course there are some things I would already change. Some spacing issues, tag-line font and other nuances... But this is a Design Quota, so it's time to move on. And now I present the MV logo for 'move'.

"mv (short for move) is a Unix command that moves one or more files or directories from one place to another. The original filename or directory name is no longer accessible. The new filename may be same in another directory and/or a different filename. When the original and new files are on the same file system, mv will rename the file instead. Write permission is required on all directories being modified." - Wikipedia

Head on over to the BRANDAID section for a new post on the identity of UNITED and Seattle's Best Coffee. Busy week for big companies...

I told you M was ambitious. It went off and started it's own airline. You know how much money and time that takes? Yup, leave it to M. They are headquartered in Chicago, as you can tell from the background image. I took this photo out of the window on my way to Madison, WI a few weeks back... Oh and yeah, that;s Wrigley Field in the bottom left-hand corner...

OK, so it may not qualify for a legit logo of brand identity, but I do feel more thought and effort was put into this airline identity in my 10 minute Design Quota post, than was put into UNITED's new identity. If you have not seen one of the most flat rebrandings (if you can call it that), take a look here. United and Continental merged, and have kept the United name, but everything else screams Continental. Wow, United gets rid of one of the most iconic and timeless identities (designed by legend Saul Bass) and settles for a generic, unimagintive identity that is the Continental 'globe'. Not to mention taking on all the emotional baggage that Continental has. I have purposely never flown on Continental because of all their headlines they seem to make, and now I have to be reminded of them when I fly United? No thanks...

This M's for you. Yup, you. 

An ambitious letter, M is. It got bored staying in side, fireside. It went for a hike and really found itself. In touch with mother nature and all that hippy stuff. Right on M. Bitchin.

This guy is is a professor, you can tell by the look of him. Maybe even a knighted Sir of England. Either way, he was curious about the letter M and it's origins, so he stopped on by. Please make him feel welcome...

Happy Monday and welcome to the L code. Not much of a code. Good job, you have just cracked 5 minutes of top secret work and research. Or have you?

Look deeper and you will be here all day.

Something about brown, red and white. Good colors, and they look good on L. Hmmmmmmmm

Happy Friday, and good weekend to all. I will be taklng a short break from graphic design this weekend to finish up a painting. I will post some pics of the paintings as it nears completion... 

The letter L has broke on to the scene and forgot to leave the 70s behind. Looks like a bad version of one of those wolf and moon tees. What was L thinking?

It's OK, letters have a hard time of letting go of the glory days, just like people. Here's to cut off shorts and mid-drift tees. Wow.

It was up to Rhythm yesterday to set up the photo studio. Working with some automatic, remote, flash bulbs. Funny, at the higher shutter speeds, the right umbrella flash lagged slightly behind, creating a shadow on the right side. Conundrum.

Overall it was succesful, and we found the magic aperature, iso, shutter speed and lighting. It's all a formula. If one is off, good luck...

Thanks to Paul for being our stand-in test model for the shoot. Real classy.

If any of you real photographers out there have any input or advice on product photography, my ears are open...

Stay tuned for the Rhythm USA surf catalog...

Nothing much to say here. Just a hedge with a K wedge.

Working on some grid systems right now. Getting ready for some catalog layouts for several clients. Bring it!

The letter K has gone incognito, invincible and all those other stealth, sneaky descriptions. Doing it's best impression of the Cheshire Cat. "You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself." Can you stand on your head?

Yup. There you have it... K

Happy Monday, and welcome Mr. K. Back to vector and pixels...

The letter J letting off some steam. It's been a long week for j, give it a break. Sticking to the whimsical hand lettering. Trying to change it up a bit from just typing a letter. Can't wait to have some letterpress and screen printing options. 3 months...

Have a great weekend. K will be here on Monday with arms wide open. Please show it the respect you have shown J...

The j took a visit to the Getty yesterday, and so did I. I as in me, not the letter i. Such a great place with more than enough to keep the camera busy. Then you have the Da Vinci exhibit, and that took it to another level. The 'sketches' and sculptures were something else. If I was an art writer or critic, I would have all sorts of great words and emotions to describe the pieces, but I am not. So, I say, they were fantasmic. Got it?

The statue sculptures by Rustici were my favorite. Their scale and emotion immediately captivated the viewers, and they were drawn in from surrounding rooms. Keep in mind, when looking at the photo below, that I am about 6'4 and I came to just about their knees. Wow, dudes are big.

Photo Below: John the Baptist Preaching to a Pharisee and a Levite, 1506–11, Giovan Francesco Rustici. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence. Courtesy the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence. Photo: Mike Jensen, 2009

It looks like the alphabet has taken a turn to the hand-drawn side of things. Getting a little burnt out on the computer this week. This screen is frying my brain! OK, so it's not that bad, I just felt like doodling some letters, alright?

Heading up to The Getty to check out the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit. A true inventor. Can't wait. I will post some pics, in a post to come...  For now, hold hands and keep the letter j company.

The i remains lowercase. However, it decided to let lose and take off the 9-5 suit and tie. A little more loose and laid back, taking it easy at the beach. Might need a wetsuit, as the water temps are staying rather chilly.

What?

The letter i loves the tea cup ride. I hate tea cups. Spin until your sick...

Hello to all my loyal followers. Myself (Brian Lindstrom, that's who I am), Newbaric Design Co., and all thing good have been featured in the OC Gazette. Pick up a copy at your local business, or if you are somewhere else on this lovely planet, surf on over to the OC GAZETTE's website to see the article.

Thank you again to Lisa, Blythe and the rest of the crew holding it down at the Gazette.

Letter i wanted to show of it's iconic potential with it's debut post. Not sure what it's an icon of. Just some silly spinny randomness. I call this iLogo 2.0.

Check out the OC Gazette article on Newbaric here.  We talk about life, design and how I do my deal. You can't miss this one, or maybe you can...? Thanks to Lisa and Blythe and everyone at the Gazette for writing the article, much appreciated. I will post an official OC Gazette post next...

This is the letter H's last performance, and it's decided to go solo. H thought it was time to strip back all the visual clutter and focus all the attention on itself. Selfish? Maybe. A mistake? Only time will tell. Necessary? Absolutely.

Wardrobe provided by Garamond.

Head on over to the Brandaid section to read about Australia's attack on the branding of tobacco companies. 

The letter H has gone plaid. Baskerville looks good with plaid, I think. What's your thought on the state of plaid and flannels? H is all ears...

A simple update from yesterday. H, all grown up. Found it's way, and moved all the way across the page.

Not much to see here as far as ground breaking creativity, just a nice jump-start to the day of design. The design quota is a nice little work shop for good and bad ideas. Carry on...

Welcome H. Make yourself at home, for the next few days. 

I am planning a change of direction in the near future. I will come back to the alphabet later, but something fresh is being called upon. More to come...

Newbaric's buddy-ol-pal, Joe Turpel, will be announcing the WCT Billabong Santa Catarina event in Brazil this week. Tune in to hear 'the voice' narrate the turn by turn of surfers like Slater, Irons, Jordy, Dane and the rest of surfing's heavy weights. Playing with the big dogs. Congrats Mr. Turpel, have fun in Brazil... Tune in here for live coverage.

I know WCT is now the ASP World tour. Old habits. WCT still has a nice ring...

After the contest is over and Joe is back in the states, you can catch him on Thursday nights at the Hill Street Coffee House's open mic in Oceanside. Good tunes by this up and coming singer/songwriter. See you there...

The G is going lower case today. Keeping it in the Rockwell family. It's fun to see the lower case shapes playing against the uppercase. Sits nicely within the capital G. Same color scheme, with some new shapes added. Shapes create movement, and this g is dancing. You can use that...

This is the sibling of yesterday's TDQ G. The positive space. I really like the vibe that comes through with these colors and subtle texture. A little sense of nostalgia from design's past. If I do say so myself... Brought to you by the typeface, Rockwell. Of course with the addition of the wedge on the counter of the G. The arrow may be the cheapest trick to create movement and motion, but it just works. 

The letter G is up and ready to show off. A little display of negative space. Funny how your eyes will complete an image, especially when you know what to look for. Welcome Mr. G. Welcome...