Our Two Americas -The PInk States and the Chamo States

I couldn't help picking up a NEWSWEEK magazine, out of pure boredom perhaps, but since my 94 year old father gets at least 4 subscriptions ( hey, he can't say no!) I discoverd the fine writing within (as if I should ever comment of ones writing! um....spell check Matt?). I then discoverd journalist Evan Thomas' piece entitled THE CLOSING OF AMERICAS MIND; a work that examines partisian warrierism in America, and our sad polarized culture which clearly can be separated into two types of people - the whole red state -blue state thing.

"America is populated by ignorant,racist, fascist knuckle-dragging NASCAR-obsessed cousin-marrying road kill-eating tobacco-juice-dribbling gun-fondling religios fanatic rednecks" and then the "Godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving leftwing Communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts".


When I read this joke, quipped from collumnist Dave Berry, I can clearly see how design consumption clearly divides along the same path. Sadly, I can understand this division - religion may seem evil to many blue staters - even me, but deep inside, I want to beleive that there is some sort of religion - I don't believe that religion is fundamentally bad, just fundamental religionists are because of thier brainwashed closed mindness - generally speaking of course. I must believe that deep inside all humans is that very fundamental need to believe that they are doing GOOD. And religions of all types are still fundamentally based on doing GOOD, and what is RIGHT. As a gay male American, raised as a Catholic, attending Catholic college and even church- alter boy and Sunday mass, volunteering etc until I came "out of the closet" at 21 years old and painfully discovered how naive I was about trusting mass religion, and discovering that indeed I was not "loved' or even "good", I too lost faith in what I believed was "right".

Now, as a creative.....imagine our creative partisan culture.....it too divides in much the same way....right, wrong, White Bread Amrican/Eurotrash, Educated/Ignorant, but in the end, it's really all about fear. FEAR of 'different', FEAR of Originality, FEAR of not belonging. In a world fighting over beliefs more than borders, the idea of BELONGING, is suddenly becoming much more important than where one originally comes from. In the end, we are all wanting to belong to some sort of TRIBE. God forbid we stand alone, vulnerable, independant, for then, would we really "belong" to anything?

Ornament it.

2006 Target Back To School. Designed by OFFICE.

Dutch designer Tord Boontje Holiday theme for Target 2006.

I am frequently asked to either create, direct, or define the vector ornament style that has grown into the visual style of the moment. Thanks to early adopters like Target, the style which is composed of primarily vector silhouettes continues to evolve as more and more adopters and adapters craft the look that continues to feel fresh.


Coke bottles for European nightclub promotion.

Fancy, fanciful ornament is now expressed everywhere, in many styles. Sure, I wonder too, what designers might use next, but most likely, this movement of ornament will continue to evolve, as creative people use motion and different technology to continue this trend of visual design which hold the distinction of appealing to most everyone.


I personally beleive that the looks public exposure began in the mid 1990's with contemporary artist RYAN MCGUINESS whose installations of vector forms and sillo's inspired a generation of young artists who saw the style as a retaliation against a digital 1990's world of Photoshop photorealism, filters and solarflares. Oh yeah, it happens to be beautiful too.



"McGinness’s consumer-culture-inspired motifs have made their way from the corporate office to skateboards and coffee mugs to the image-heavy mandalalike painting and prints…. Moving from context to context, he has kept the concepts of marketing and branding as a launch pad for endless permutations of a consistent vision—simulacrums of the consumer environment." Excerpt from gallery guide.