Last night I saw the new DC Comics and DC Entertainment logos via Bleeding Cool, shown above. I spent the next hour or so scrutinizing this revised mark from top to bottom trying to formulate some kind of response, or just trying to make sense of it in my head. Instead, I just put out a tweet to see what my followers might have to say on the topic.

I was asked quite a bit last night what my thoughts were on this revision, so I decided to form it into a blog post because it seems the conversation is pretty heated, and ultimately 1-sided. The typical knee-jerk reaction to a big logo redesign is almost always negative, especially on the internet. Everyone thinks their opinion/idea is better than the one executed, so it quickly becomes a pissing match to see who can hate it the most using the most profanity. While at the same time, accomplishing nothing. I refer you to the Bleeding Cool comments.

My first reaction was confusion as I didn’t feel DC really needed to pursue an identity redesign considering they launched their previous logo only in 2005. It was met with mixed reviews, I dished out a few myself, but ultimately the logo did a great job of capturing youthful excitement (we ARE talking comic books here) and the animated version in their movie intro credits looked great. I was completely blindsided by yesterday’s launch, and woke up today with the same confused feeling. In short, why the redesign and the departure from their established legacy? Here’s the DC Comics logo history:

The new logo is quite nice. Combination of the D unveiling the C is pretty clever. The page-turn looks a little bit like a sticker being peeled away, but I can see what they were going for and an animated version for their movies might look pretty good. I would love to see a process piece written to show how they arrived at this conclusion, and what designs may have went unused.

I was recently having a cold one with my pal Dave Howlett who works at Strange Adventures, and he knows more about (and loves) comics more than anyone I know. He brought up that DC was looking to add more adult material to their comics because their audience had gotten older, ie. our generation of 30-somethings. But there are two problems here: 1) they would be completely disregarding the youth market who had supported them for decades, plus 2) they are turning off the longtime fans with all these sweeping changes to their beloved and familiar characters. This idea echoes in the new logo … the kids aren’t going to notice it, and the old-school fans might feel abandoned.

It’s a confusing move that has left me scratching my head. What do you think?

Addition: DC hasn’t made it clear exactly where this logo will be used. Of all my reading today, details have been a bit scarce. If anyone has any info, feel free to post.

• Getting ready to fire up the press.

• The Heidelberg tried to literally define "hot pink" with this small mishap.

Here is a little video I cut together after visiting Bounty Print this morning to sign-off on my DRIVE poster. They fired up the Heidelberg press when I was there so I shot a bit of footage. Amazing to see this beast of a press firing off my poster. The thing is bigger than my house.

The DRIVE poster launches on January 19, one week from today. Details here.

“Nightcall” by Kavinsky from the DRIVE soundtrack.

I’m being hit from all sides this past week regarding information on my DRIVE poster. Most of the emails, tweets and Facebook notes are asking the same questions so an official update on the blog is in order to get the information out there on all fronts. So, here’s how things will be going down.

The DRIVE posters are currently being set up over at Bounty Print in Halifax on their giant 6-colour Heidleberg press. They will be printed at 22″ x 28″ on Starbrite Velvet 80lb cover. Additionally, There will be a very small run of 24″ x 36″ oversized DRIVE posters available on semi-gloss poster stock. If you are looking at getting one of these ones on launch day I urge you to act fast as the numbers will be very low.

Here are the summarized details:

DRIVE poster launch: January 19, 2012. 1pm EST in the Signalnoise Store.
22″ x 28″ posters, edition of 300: $50.00 + shipping
24″ x 36″ posters, edition of 30: $90.00 + shipping

The Signalnoise Store will be activated on launch day to purchase the DRIVE posters. The absolute best way to get a head start is to follow my Twitter, as I will be posting the news as soon as they are available. To dispel any rumours, there is no lottery and the DRIVE posters will be available first come, first served. Mark your calendars.

If you have any questions, I urge you to ask via the comments on this post and I will update with any details needed. A huge thanks for all the interest in this design, everyone. This is the largest Signalnoise poster launch to date and the response so far has been amazing.

First post of the year goes to 22-year old Andrey Danilov (Twitter) currently residing in Hangzhou, China. Andrey spent a bit of time during his holidays to put together these lovely images featuring my Signalnoise rainbow sun as a neon sign. All shined up complete with wires and galaxies. Man, the little sucker never looked better.

I can’t even tell you how much this warms my heart. I’ve been up to my neck in project planning over here, then this shows up out of the blue. Wasn’t asked for, just a little gift from the other side of the world.

Signalnoise salutes you, Andrey!

As of tomorrow I’ll be getting on the road to head to the parents place for the White Family Christmas celebration. Updates to the blog will be slow over the next week as I’m away, but I’ll still be on Twitter from time to time.

To all my friends, clients, new pals, arch-enemies, colleagues, agents and all in between  … wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday as we bring 2011 to a close. Have fun!

When Steve Jobs passed away on October 5th, like most designers I was watching my Twitter stream the entire evening. Parked in front of the computer watching tweets go by, dominated with news, stories and tributes to Jobs. I popped open Illustrator and created a little Sad Mac icon … my own little tribute. Nothing original, obviously, but my own little version.

I ended up sending the icon to Newsweek magazine which was used it in their Steve Jobs commemorative issue, which just landed on my doorstep. My little Mac sits at the center of the inside front cover, on full black. A perfect spot for the little tribute, now seen by people worldwide.

• Jason Mewes and myself after the show. Photo by Chris Toms.

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The past 3 weeks have been an absolute blur. As you can see on the blog and Twitter I’m doing an awful lot of posting and jawing about Kevin Smith and everything that has been going on. This all started with that one Canadian tour poster I designed on a whim after seeing a tweet from Kevin asking Canadians to show any art for a potential tour poster. Being a fan and always trying to do things a bit differently, I set some time aside to design up something cool. Something fun.

Well, Kevin was all over it and I was contacted within hours by his troop. That little tour poster hit that mark, and the following week I was hired to design the Plus One Live II poster for a gig in London, England, working with Kevin directly on the goods. At the same time, a much larger project was thrown my way, he asked me to design 10 Jay and Bob posters … one for each Canadian province. Being a fan of his work and a proud Canadian, I can’t think of a better project to be taking on. So pumped. In production now.

Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes were in Halifax this past Monday for their Jay and Silent Bob Get Old show, and near the end of the show Kevin Smith gave a wonderful shout-out and told the story of the posters, how it all came together, and what we will be working on next (see MP3 above). He nails all the points, especially the part about doing what you love. Chasing those projects you truly want to do. That’s just a clip above, be sure to listen to the entire Halifax show.

This post isn’t meant to be self-serving. I want to tell the story as it’s evidence that you should be doing those personal projects, the things that mean a lot to you as an artist. It’s easy to get wrapped up in doing work for other people, but it will always be the stuff you do for yourself that shouts the loudest. You never know where these things might lead, and the only way to find out is to give it a shot. Build your own reality, man.

Thanks to Chris Toms for the photo above.

I’m super excited to show my newest identity work, a logo re-design for my friends at the mighty FITC Events, who are going through some heavy changes and redefinement. Check out the full details right here.

I’ve been attending FITC events for the last 3 years, and have had the opportunity to speak twice in Toronto. I’ve gotten to know much of the people behind the event as well as friends whom I only see at FITC. I look forward to my annual trek to Toronto each year and I hope to attend the other events around the globe at some point.

While attending FITC Toronto 2010 in May of this year, I was approached by my pal Shawn Pucknell (the Grand Poobah of FITC) to develop the creative for the following year’s event, FITC Toronto 2012. I’ve spoken at FITC twice so far and being a huge fan of the event and the entire crew behind it, I jumped at the opportunity to work with my friends. Shawn gave me creative freedom to develop the bits and pieces they will be using to promote and showcase at the event next year. I started looking at everything including the FITC identity which, at the time, had no idea if it would be used or not.

Here are a couple of snips as I worked on the identity, but you can check out the full FITC Logo Process over on Web Design Wall. All kinds of behind-the-scenes images and babbling. Be sure to check it out.

I’m super proud to have been able to work with my pals at FITC, and I’ll see you all at FITC Toronto 2012 next April!