I’ve been extremely busy for the last month and this blog has gotten the short end of the stick. I greatly enjoyed updating every day while I was in Berlin and then I dropped off. I still have yet to write about Paris or upload my photos. (It’s coming… I swear!) I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things very soon.

Unfortunately today I woke up unable to speak and given that my day job is nothing but speaking, I was unable to do said job. Well there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough so the time I would otherwise be spending in bed will be spent working on neglected projects and doing everything in my power not to get sicker.

So to get up to speed with what I’ve been doing lately…

You may have noticed a redesign of the site is under way, this is because I greatly be expanding it in the near future to encompass much more of my work and who I am. By no act of coincidence I have filed to be, and officially become a limited liability corporation. I’ve sort of followed in the footsteps of my good friend Leah Jones and Subism.com is now the home of Subism Studios LLC. (though I’ve yet to quit my job like Leah did.. she has more guts than I.) This legal status will aid me in my photographic / artistic pursuits but also gets me well setup for my next few big ventures the first of which, has been no big secret but hasn’t been formally announced until today.

Early next year I will be working with Chicago sketch comedy group Long Pork to produce their next original production. The project is still untitled but I’ve been involved in several planning meetings and the boys have come up with some really good stuff that I think people will love. I worked with the group a bit in May to help promote their show ‘Soda’ at the Apollo Theatre Studio and had a blast. Since then I’ve joined the team in a non acting role as their head of marketing which started off by redesigned their website. Taking on the producer role is to both parties a natural extension of our relationship and I’m really excited to work with them.

There are other projects I’m working on but I’ll talk about them when the time comes.

I’ve also had a few other jobs I had the pleasure of working on. The first was for Gals’ Guide where I designed the logo for the first ever Gals’ Guide Summit and acted as the official event photographer. For those unfamiliar, Gals’ Guide is a great website for career orientated women in their 20’s who live in major cities and want to start a network and connect. The Summit was their first ever gathering with lectures and information galore. All of this of course is put together by the wonderful Blagica Bottigliero who in addition to being a master organizer / promoter is about to have a baby any day now.  Her energy and drive absolutely astounds me in that regard. The event went extremely well and although I am a guy and not at all their target market I learned a lot. You can find my pictures of the event here.

The next job I had was only a few days ago and it’s one I was personally very excited about. The past two years I have attended An Event Apart Chicago. For the unintroduced An Event Apart is a conference for people who make websites. Put together by Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer, An Event Apart features the leading names in the field and offers rich content and astounding insight into where things are going. It’s been a blast every time I’ve gone, I always learn a ton and have wound up making some great contacts and friends from it. This year I got the opportunity to work the event as it’s official photographer and spent my time working on the images throughout the event and uploading them live through the show. This is something I had experimented with at the Gals’ Guide event but it had a much more profound effect at AEA, not only did my Flickr traffic go through the roof, but I had people stopping me in the conference halls to complement me on my work. This was a service I was glad to provide for the guests of An Event Apart and I look forward to more opportunities like this in the future.  You can find my photos here and Jeffrey Zeldman’s post conference wrap up here.

Lastly, next Saturday I start taking Level 1 Improv classes at iO Chicago. I’m not quite sure what my intention of doing so is but I’m really nervous and really excited at the same time.

With the exception of a few other topics that warrant their own entries (like Paris) this pretty much brings you up to speed on all things John. Look for a lot of changes to this site gradually over the next few weeks.

Hey friends, sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated routinely. Back in December my apartment got robbed and it’s taken me until just now to finally replace everything. Unfortunately this has prevented me from having access to my full Aperture library for some time and has made doing photo work a chore.

Hopefully now this will be a thing of the past, I just got a brand new iMac and I’ve been reunited with my library and workflow. I’ve gone ahead and posted a bunch of new photos on my Flickr account and plan to post many more in the coming days.

So what have I been up to in the last few months? Well…

In March I went to Austin for the South By Southwest Interactive conference with a bunch of friends, had a blast, learned a ton and made lots of new contacts.

In April I took a trip home to visit friends and family, while there I caught the opening of the new Yankee Stadium.

A few weeks ago I went to the Chicago Red Stars home opener with the Chicago Local 134 in support of the team and my friend CEO Peter Wilt.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go with Aki and Mark to play “Journey To The End of The Night”, a city wide street game akin to manhunt/tag/hide and go seek.

I’ve also taken over PR / Marketing and Brand Identity for Long Pork and we’re having a blast with it. Right now we’ve got a show running every Saturday at the Apollo Studio Theater at 8pm through the 23rd. You should check us out.

Some of my photography is now part of a local collective called NMA Artists an unofficial group of artists, writers and photographers who happen to work at a certain major retail store on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Lastly I’ve had the pleasure of consulting on the Chicago Tribune’s new ChicagoNow project. I can’t wait for the site to launch, it’s going to be big.

That’s all for now, life is pretty good, I hope to get the chance to update more often. Thanks for reading!

My friends, submitted for your approval on this fine New Years Day is a pamphlet found in the attic of my parent’s house.

What you see is just part of a piece of 1950’s Cold War propaganda in the vein of such nonsense as “Duck and Cover,” This particular piece was produced by New York state in association with Time Inc.’s Life Magazine as a civil service and is bound by no copyright. A pamphlet like this one would have been distributed to help individuals prepare for “The Bomb” which at that point many felt was inevitable. Nevermind the fact that in an actual atomic blast these methods would do very little, if anything, to save one’s life. They both created and eased fear among the populous while fostering dependency and loyalty to the government.

To me it’s an amazing piece of American history both from a psychological and a design standpoint.  My grandfather was a chemist and member of the Nassau Country Civil Defense Commission and near as I can tell this was his, there may be more. If I come across anything else I’ll post it as well.

Enjoy.

Today I put the wraps on a project that has been ongoing for about a year now. While the delays on both ends were frustrating I’m very proud to announce that I have completed my work on the new SinnermanEnsemble.org website.

For those unfamiliar with Sinnerman, they are an amazingly talented up and coming theater group here in Chicago. Their performances of The Incredibly Famous Willy Rivers and most recently their production of their original piece Sweet Confinement have both been met with huge success and critical acclaim.

I am proud to have worked with them and to finally be able to launch this site.

It’s worth noting that the group has plans to do some exciting things with social media that I don’t think any other theater companies have tapped into yet. Including a Twitter Account and a Flickr page.

Stay tuned to Sinnerman’s blog for more info. They have a new show planned for March with a working title of “Bible B-Sides” that will run from March 23rd 2009-April 25th 2009 at the Viaduct Theater. I wish them all the luck in the world.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week I had the opportunity to attend An Event Apart Chicago, the conference for people who make websites. There I got the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people, hear some amazing lectures and learn more in two days than I have in a few years.

An Event Apart is a great way to refresh your thinking and get exposed to amazing new concepts in web design. I would recommend it to anyone who does any sort of web design or development work.

I’ve posted some shots of some of the presenters on my Flickr. Please feel free to check them out.

Many thanks to Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer for putting together a great group of speakers and an amazing event. I went last year and it was worth it, I’m glad I got the opportunity to go again this year.

Keeping in my ’seeking out inspiration’ kick, I just registered for the Seed conference with Jason Fried, Jim Coudal and Carlos Segura on October 29th. I’m looking forward to it, I hope to learn a lot. I’m also really enjoying networking as of late. I’ve been astounded by the people I’ve been meeting lately and it started with An Event Apart.

Coming out here to Chicago has been a huge opportunity for me, there is always something new and inspiring going on that fascinates me. So much to learn.

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a screening of Wes Anderson’s Hotel Chevalier at the Apple Store. The screening was hosted by producer Roman Coppola. Afterwards Roman stuck around for Q&A. The crowd was excellent and his rapport with them was phenominal. While film is not my field of choice listening to Roman was really inspiring. He spoke about starting a project, from researching it and making compromises to achieve a vision. I’m really looking forward to The Darjeeling Limited.

It’s weird but I spent years in New York, the “cultural center of the world”, and somehow I missed opportunities like this. I think I’m just more in tune with the world around me now.

I’m excited.

I completely agree with the critics like John Gruber: The London 2012 Olympic games logo is hideous. It’s just inexcusably ugly.

Coudal Partners attempts to defend the logo but to me I almost find their defense offensive to common sense. They attempt to state 10 reasons why it should be loved, they make no comment of the fact it’s visually unpleasant. Regardless of why we ’should love it,’ the fact remains still that the logo is ugly. No amout of politicing in it’s favor will change that fact. However, for the sake of argument I’ll bite and respond to their defense:

It’s not boring. The bright colors and distinctive design definitely DO stand out and it’s immediately recognizable. Everyone’s talking about it. Designers always complain about the status quo, so we find it surprising that so very few are taking a stand for a somewhat radical design.

It looks like something out of the Flintstones. Just because it stands out doesn’t mean it’s good. I’m kinda insulted by the end of that statement really… The whole ‘designers always’ comment. Just because it’s a radical design doesn’t mean it’s good. I’m all for daring and unique if you can pull it off well and it looks good. Yeah this logo is definitely daring and definitely unique, but it doesn’t look good.

It’s different. It avoids all the go-to pratfalls of current logo design. No brushstrokes! No feathered drop shadows! No mirrored reflections! No gradients, patriotic colors, rainbows, ribbons, landmarks, symbols of unity, maps, swooshes or globes!

Yes it avoids a ton of cliché’s, and that is a good thing, but it subscribes to several others, most notable the neon pink ‘futuristic’ look of the early 1990s children’s toys and TV. I feel like I should be watching Saved By The Bell.

It’s reproducable. Aside from the word “London” going chunky when sloppily rendered for the web (notably on the BBC reproduction that ended up on every site critiquing the logo), it’s good to see a logo that’s so easily printable, broadcastable, embroiderable and moldable (think of how horrible those 9-color rainbow brushstroke logos look when they’re process-printed out-of-register with a 100 line screen on a McDonalds Cup!). It even looks pretty great in black and white.

It’s flexible. A variety of color combinations, shapes, and patterns are available, keeping the logo slightly different on each view, but consistent (the BBC showed only the pink and yellow version, which didn’t help its case). Also, keep in mind that an Olympic logo is almost always saddled with the logos of corporate partners. This square, bold mark will hold up.

It’s the basis for a graphic system. Events require a complicated system of signage, identification, ornamentation, and even architecture. This logo and its associated colors, shapes, type and patterns are the perfect starting point for some fantastic signage, event icons, banners, tickets, uniforms and merchandise.

So… basically it meets the requirements for being a logo? The whole point of creating a logo is to be able to create a brand image around it. Anything that can’t be printed with other logos or in different sizes would be simply unacceptable. Just because this logo can do these things doesn’t mean it should be picked.

The last part in that group actually scares me… ‘a basis for a graphic system’ ugggg a whole theme based around this hideous thing… yuck!

It’s timeless. We’ve read complaints that it’s reminiscent of Tangrams (popular since the 1800s), Jamie Reid’s “Never Mind the Bollocks” cover (1977), MTV (1981), ’80s new wave design (Swatch, Bennetton), Emigre Magazine, early 90s television titles (Wacaday, Going Live, The Ben Stiller Show). We’ve read complaints that it’s too ‘current’ and it’ll look dated by 2012. We’ve also read complaints that it’s too futuristic or modern. As far as we’re concerned, all design is influenced by other design. This design rises above its influences, yet remains simple enough to stand on its own. If current trends continue (towards four color, “computery” 3-D), this logo will be even more fresh in five years.

I hate this defense.. just because there is a lot of bad design out there that seem to have a lot of similar conventions which this one lacks doesn’t mean this is good. It just means this one manages to stand on it’s own with it’s ugliness, it succeeds in being ugly in a completely refreshing way.

It’s English. The two names that come to mind when we hear “british design” are two of our favorite designers of all time: Neville Brody and Peter Saville. Without being a direct knockoff, the 2012 logo is evocative of their work, the punk and new-wave movements, rave culture and everything we like about the United Kingdom.

What? Because it’s jagged and neon it evokes all these things? I kinda find that demeaning to those cultural movements.

When we hear “my kid could have done that!” we think “success.” Some of the greatest logos of all time involve two lines (the Christian cross) or three lines and a circle (Mercedes). Your kid COULD have done that, but she didn’t. Nor did she design the graphics standards manual that goes with it. So give it a rest. Or send us her resume.

There is a difference between this logo and a Jackson Pollock painting. Sure they both have that same criticism of them, and that defense. But the fact of the matter is Pollock’s work managed to have an air of excitement and interest around it, bottom line, it was good. This logo is just ugly. Just because it’s simple or different doesn’t make it good, this defense could be raised to almost any piece of art that is simple, doesn’t mean it’s right or worth defending, and it detracts from the real instances where this defense is important. It comes off as that elitist ‘art for art’s sake’ attitude that so often leads people to think all artists are self righteous nut-jobs. It hurts the design community as a whole when you use this excuse on something not worthwhile.

It cost £400,000. That’s probably a bargain for an incredibly high-profile complete graphic identity system for an international company/event designed by experienced professionals. Anyone valuing the importance of design should give that argument a rest, too. We wouldn’t have taken the job for a shilling less.

Do you know what that translates to in Dollars… shit. I’d kill for a gig like that and laugh all the way to the bank. I cannot believe London’s olympic committee got suckered into that. It’s comparable to the emperor’s new wardrobe. Someone must have convinced them this was smart when the fact is they got takenL The emperor has no clothes on.

It’s unexpected. Chicago is bidding for the 2016 Olympics and the temporary logo is a perfectly decent design. It’s attractive, memorable and generally liked. It even generated a fair amount of internet buzz. But those brushstrokes and gradients don’t reproduce well, the narrow vertical orientation complicates usage and by 2016, the Sears Tower is likely to be Chicago’s third-tallest building. More than anything, the London logo takes the Olympic logo to a new level of boldness, abstraction and simplicity. And we’re a bit jealous.

Just because it’s unique doesn’t mean it’s good. It doesn’t hide the fact that it’s ugly. Yes it stands out.. because it’s ugly.

To make matters worse it says nothing about the olympics ANY logo could be put in the middle of that zero and it would symbolize that. The logo cannot stand alone and evoke any sort of meaning. It cannot exist and say ‘olympics,’ ’sports,’ ‘competition,’ or anything for that matter without the olympic rings in it. seeing things like this make me miss people like Paul Rand who knew how to use symbolism to make something meaningful, is there no one like him left these days? There is a point where abstraction without meaning is just dumb and any function is lost. This is way past that point. Is there really a whole generation of designers out there that meaning and symbolism is lost on? That scares me really.

I’m seriously considering going to ‘An Event Apart: Chicago.’ I’m very out of the loop design wise and I think it might be a really good idea. That and maybe finally joining AIGA, I wonder if they have a Chicago branch?

So I’ve decided I’m going to publish a book of my photography. I’m not entirely sure of the timetable for this but I plan to take as long as I need to get it done.The book will be titled “Nothing Left” (you’ll understand eventually) and will be a study of communication in the modern world. Photographs focusing on nothing but signage and power lines. The two most common yet overlooked ways that the human race in the 21st century communicates.I often joke of my fascination with powerlines and signs but in truth they both amaze me. I plan to devote a lot of time and energy to this project over the next year. I’m also sure it will inevitably require travel. If I want to be taken serious as photographer I need to treat this seriously and I’m excited at the possibilities.Check out my work in progress on Flickr. There will be much added in the coming days / weeks.