Colorola has created a new logo for Los Angeles photographer, Paige Craig, and we’re stoked about it.
Paige’s Farm
Her photography seems somehow analog, as if her sun drenched images were developed in a deep-red-lit darkroom— and then dipped in honey. She’s our darlin urban farm girl, natural and naughty in one. Photographer Paige Craig has allowed us to design her sexy new identity… we’ve now begun work on her new site and a video diary of a day on the farm, her bucolic retreat, a downtown adjacent pastoral retreat, where even the chickens are drop dead gorgeous.
We’re working on her new site, but in the meantime see her work at paigecraigphotography.com
The creative luminarias of Brook & Lyn have us absolutely dazzled.
More than ‘dots per inch’
We’re finally getting our wings! DPI, a Southern California avionics company that specializes in high caliber in-flight technology, is getting a brand refresh, and have elected Colorola to pilot the mission. Work starts in 2013, meanwhile we’ve got serious cabin fever.
Our Man in Texas
When Stuart Patterson, AD at Colorola, was commissioned by Texan socialite Natalie Renda to create a large ceiling mural for a new Dallas restaurant, he was quite certain that it was going to have something to do with the Ewing Ranch. The fact is, Patrizio, the actual venue, is located about 40 miles west of the famed Southfork in the equally affluent Southpark. Located in the new restaurant’s second floor lounge, the mural has been installed above the bar, covering roughly 180 square feet of ceiling. With references to archetypal Italian classic like Ferrari, Acqua di Parma, Alitalia and Cento, the mural complements the warm yet extravagant interior, designed by local design agency au courant, Duncan Miller.
In an ongoing effort to improve our services and stay on top of media trends, we pay close attention to a variety of services, technologies, pizza, where to find a great cup of coffee and of course comfy spots to relax and have a drink (or two). Fortunately for us, we are constantly being introduced to great new things and venues. This can often turn into new projects for Colorola. Post & Beam, Urbano Pizza Bar, Spring St, CoffeeBar, and the LibraryBar are examples of venturing just outside our downtown Los Angeles office.
Recently, we’ve been looking into keeping our pricing competitive in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) market. I’ll admit, we’re good at SEO. In a market survey of over 600 agencies of all sizes and geographies, contributing their pricing models and cost structures, Seomoz, a well respected SEO software service company came up with great results. We’ve got some excellent takeaways from the survey and I encourage you to read the seomoz cost of SEO article and the accompanying SEO Survey info graphic from AYTM if you’re interested in SEO services or their costs.
View the SEO cost survey – How much does seo cost
Creative Urban Redevelopment Alliance
Colorola is helping to organize a coalition of creatives with the intention of improving the urban setting. There is an enormous amount of highly talented people residing next to each other in Downtown Los Angeles, but many have no idea that their neighbor is a remarkable industrial designer, or that the person with the cute Pomeranians is a hugely innovative architectural student. These people would like to have an influence on their rapidly evolving neighborhood, but there are seemingly so few opportunities for getting involved. Everyone’s got their own agenda, so things like aesthetics, public-art, sustainability, architectural preservation or transportation get moved aside, or worse, administered by people who may have good intentions, but lack vision. Visit aduri.org
Urbano Pizza Bar, the creation of Acme Pubs, who’ve also brought us the Library Bar, CoffeeBar, and the Spring Street Bar, is opening up next month at 6th and Hope in LA, and they’ve let us create not one but 4 pizza boxes… we wanna make a fort out of them.
When I was asked to provide the poster artwork for Duran Duran’s Coachella performance, I saw it as an opportunity to finally pay homage to Patrick Nagel, an illustrator whose method and style influenced me more than any other. I had always found the Nagel illustrations in my dad’s Playboys to be far more interesting than the photos, and when Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ lp was released, I immediately recognized the cover art as the work of the maestro.
Thanks to my good friend, ace photographer Paige Craig, for modeling, and bearing her pendulous protuberances.
I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of Coachella, the music festival. I prefer my acts to perform on one stage rather than several at the same time. I’m also more comfortable in the rolling greens of Glastonbury, for example, than the scorching stretch of desert just east of Palm Springs. Actually, I’m more comfortable in Palm Springs, lounging by the pool of, say, an A. Quincy Jones retreat– replete with with all the mid-century details to which a beau monde like myself is accustomed. I just don’t do well with wristbands and porta-potties– especially if I’m, shall we say, mood-enhanced. So every Coachella I’ve been to seems to be all about, firstly, getting back-stage. But once we’ve arrived, we realize that what we really want is to achieve the un-Coachella– which means heading back to the rock-granite, succulently landscaped villa.
Such was the inspiration for the artwork I created for Kanye West’s dressing-room. I’ll let it go in my place. And perhaps I’ll see you later on at Mr. Parkers.
Saturday November 13. 1O pm -‘till / Indigo Raw Label Party / Downtown Los Angeles.
Music by Mirus Loewe Indigo Raw / Blakkat Shaboom Records / Blackliquid HSOLA
Visual Decor by MC This
Special Event : Fundraiser for Homegirl Industries
Invite only RSVP : mark@shaboomrecords.com or info@peaceyogagallery.com
Peace Yoga Gallery, 903 South Main Street, LA
The Barcelona dance label, Indigo Raw, is about to unleash their 10th release, Retrac’s Lost (Myself) ep, with remixes from Paris dj/producer, Djebali, known for his popular Freak n’ Chic night at Batofar, the fabulous floating night club on the Seine. From the beginning, Colorola has designed the look and packaging for Indigo, working with the label’s founder, Barcelona dj/producer Mirus Loewe. Mirus will be in LA for the single’s release party on Saturday November 13th. Hit us back if you’d like to attend, and we’ll get you on the list.
Audio Animal, a new Los Angeles recording project created by local dj/producers Oodee and Malio, is attempting to secure quick online presence for their wide selection of dance tracks. They want to elicit a style that’s unique and unpredictable, as well as a brand image that’s ample enough to encompass a wide array of musical genres from dance to indie to experimental soundtracks and ambient.
With the preponderance of digital downloading, and an international nightclub crowd that is constantly expanding, the electronic music scene is now more saturated, diverse, and competitive than ever. To succeed, a new label must have sufficient talent and ingenuity, as well as a grasp of the nuances of the marketplace and its shifting trends. A good-looking Brand ID can help, especially if the core values of the brand are effectively typified by the design, and just as importantly, the application and usage of the logotype.
Audio Animal, as a name, ostensibly stands out – and it might be tempting to create a figurative interpretation of the phrase, combining the image of an ‘animal’ with some representation of ‘audio’, likely a speaker (in fact, we’ve included at least one direction that is comprised of those two depictions) – but simple literal deduction does not necessarily arouse interest beyond the merely visible. There are numerous solutions for a logotype that can evoke the descriptive components of a title like Audio Animal – most of them quite obvious. It’s the conspicuousness that presents the challenge: how can we create a unique and impressionable brand ID, if the look of it is predictable, and therefore manifestly unremarkable? Which is not to say that an obvious solution will fail; in fact it might just be the harbinger of commercial success, and it’s why we’ve included at least one direction that is outwardly unsurprising. However, if the label is to present itself as a product that’s original and captivating, a bit of exploration, abstraction and innovation might also pay off.
Here’s the main image for LATC’s Face of the World, aka, their Fall season. I feel like the Historic Core, as it’s been designated by downtown LA booster types, saw it’s heyday just around the Wall Street Crash of 29. With the exception of a few New Deal building constructed for civic aims, the late 20′s was when all construction pretty much halted. So the neighborhood around Spring, Main and Broadway between 2nd and 9th is like a time capsule of the era. Stunning facades abound (and regrettably several completely dilapidated, and others facing a worse fate from callous developers), and the uninterrupted collection of 20′s buildings along 7th Street is a favorite for film shoots looking for a plausible Manhattan street scene.
As the LATC is pretty much in the thick of it all, we’ve attempted to encapsulate the historic charm of the neighborhood, add bit of postmodern irony, an lure people into the high drama that is downtown Los Angeles.
The LATC’s fall season, Face of the World starts in September, which means we’ve got to go to print with the collateral last week. Keeping the posters very title-centric, which might prove to be a more attractive solution than the time consuming illustrations that I had planned to do. I’m going to try out that ‘less is more’ thing. These are the first two production posters, 6 more to go.
Published in 1984, Aradi Nora So-Ky Kepzomuveszeti Kiado Aradi Nora, is a collection of 34 posters created by the Hungarian design duo, So-Ky. I picked it up in Budapest when was traveling in the Eastern Bloc as a student in the late 80′s, and since then it’s been one of my most influential and inspirational possessions. I’m going to try and get a translation of the text, all of which is in Hungarian, and I suspect reveals quite a bit about the political and aesthetic motivations of this most prodigious team. I’ve managed to find one copy selling for €50 at the Parisian rare-book store, Librairie la Poussière du Temps, located in Saint-Germain at 16 Rue de Tournon, and it’s also available online through the same link. I highly recommend that you get your hands on this collection, it’s peerless as both as a memento of late European Communism, as well as a stunning exemplar of the graphics that accompanied this tumultuous age. In addition to the poster collection, a 30 page black and white catalog of earlier poster work, as well as a selection of late-communist era logotypes, is included.
