Rick James the Conqueror: Revisiting the Style of 1982′s Throwin’ Down

Though perhaps most well known to the Millennial Generation from Dave Chappelle’s hysterically funny series of skits from 2003, Rick James in his prime was a musical and creative tour de force. Most famous for hits such as “Give It to Me, Baby,” “You and I” and “Mary Jane,” James was a pioneer in the fusion of rock and funk styles.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Rick James’ 1982 album, Throwin’ Down, Creative Allies has teamed up with the musician’s estate (Rick James passed away in 2004) to give artists, designers and fans a chance to create an official commemorative T-shirt for Throwin’ Down.

To give tee designers some background and inspiration, we took a look at the style of the self-proclaimed “King of Punk Funk.”

(more…)

Check Out These 30 All-Star Allies: Our Finalists for 2011 Ally of the Year

The nominations are in, and we’re proud to present the full list of 30 Ally of the Year candidates. Next week, after a round of judging by a panel of industry professionals, one of these talented members of the Creative Allies community will win a trip to Hangout Music Festival in May.

The list was compiled based on nominations from the Creative Allies community on Facebook and staff picks. Nominations were based on the originality and quality of each designer’s submissions to Creative Allies as well as their volume of activity and engagement on the site throughout 2011.

See all 30 finailsts for Ally of the Year 2011.

Thanks to all of the artists, designers and illustrators who participate on Creative Allies. Good luck to these finalists!

Who Designed The Doors’ Logo?

Graphic designers love great logos. A well-designed logo becomes synonymous with the company, band or product it represents — and to designers, a logo can become synonymous with its creator as well. IBM = Paul Rand. I ♥ NY = Milton Glaser. AC/DC = Gerard Huerta.

If you were to make a list of Rock & Roll’s Top 5 Most Iconic Band Logos, chances are that one of those logos belongs to the Doors. The simple, bold geometric shapes. The reflective double-O’s. The tiny but essential psychedelic/art nouveau “the” in the upper-left.

In honor of Creative Allies’ collaboration with the Doors to let fans re-create an updated version of the iconic Doors logo (submissions are open until February 22, 2012), we here at Creative Allies wanted to give our community of graphic designers and illustrators some insight into the story behind the logo. Who originally created the logotype, what inspired its distinctive design and how does that design fit into the creator’s overall body of work?

Interestingly, however, we soon realized that no one seems to know. Though we uncovered a bit of conjecture, a few anecdotes and some shreds of evidence, we couldn’t find a definitive answer for who is credited with creating the logo. What we did learn, however, is that the logo’s story intersected with a few great graphic designers and shed some light on the business of rock & roll graphic design over the past 50 years. (more…)

Katie Campbell’s Ally of the Year Scrapbook

Last year, Savannah-based graphic artist and SCAD graduate Katie Campbell edged out a close victory against a tough field of competitors for 2010 Ally of the Year Award on Creative Allies. Katie has been a frequent contributor to Creative Allies and has continued to wow us with her seemingly effortless style and creativity.

As part of her prize for last year’s Ally of the Year Award, we sent Katie to Sunset Sessions, an intimate music industry-only retreat in Palm Springs, CA. Katie got to spend the weekend hanging out with music industry royalty and enjoying private sets by some of music’s hottest new acts. She even curated her own gallery of her favorite Creative Allies art. Take a look at her visual recap of the event below. (more…)

Best and Worst Album Covers of 2011

Genius or meaningless? What do you think?

This week, as we take the time to highlight some of Creative Allies’ most active contributors of 2011 with the second-annual Ally of the Year Award (don’t forget to nominate yourself or another deserving Ally!), we here at Creative Allies have also been reflecting on some of the best and worst recent examples of that pillar of music/art fusion, the album cover. Check out the links below to our favorite year-end collections of great and not-so-great album art. (more…)

Watch This Ally-Created Letterpress Process Video for Robert Glasper

We love peeking into the creative processes of our Allies!

Creative Allies member Zaina Collective recently submitted a number of handmade letterpress posters to the Robert Glasper Experiment poster design contest on Creative Allies. Each submission’s description included a link to the following video by Patrice Barnabé showing process shots from the letterpress session. We liked the mix of close-up studio vignettes with Robert Glasper’s expressive piano and thought we should share it here on the blog.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

About Zaina Collective: Zaina Collective is an interdisciplinar group of designers established in 2011. Their work is mainly represented in the field of graphic design (print, typography, branding…). Zaina Collective’s philosophy and creative process are based on the idea that every design should take care of the past while always looking forward in order to reach a brand new concept, coherent, distinct and unexpected.

Letterpress & Robert Glasper Experiment from Patrice Barnabé on Vimeo.

Ally Spotlight: Iration Contest Winner Cole Lemke

Winning Iration poster design by Cole Lemke

Creative Ally Cole Lemke just picked up a contest win with his eye-catching illustrated gig poster for Hawaiian reggae-rock band Iration’s New Year’s Eve show at the Anaheim House of Blues. We caught up with Lemke to discuss his inspiration for the winning poster design and life as a burgeoning creative.

(more…)

Album Design Inspiration from The New Assembly

Indie synth-pop band The New Assembly are looking for a poster design for their upcoming album, Variable, due for release in early 2012. When we asked the band to provide some design tips for creatives looking to design The New Assembly’s new album cover, they kept their answers concise, reflecting their wishes for a winning album design: minimal, refined and letting the music speak for itself. (more…)

On the Road with South Africa’s The Parlotones

South African rockers The Parlotones recently approached the Creative Allies community for the second time to give fans and designers the chance to create an original vintage-style T-shirt using their iconic megaphone logo. Currently on tour in the US, The Parlotones were able to spare a moment to answer our questions about their music and visual style and share their thoughts on vintage chic, redneck cops and playing fake words in Scrabble. (more…)

Embrace The Singularity: Logo Design Tips from Casey Driessen

Casey Driessen weaves layers of sounds from his violin — from percussive rhythms made by tapping the body of the violin to languid melodies produced with his sweeping bow — and you might say Driessan’s career is as layered as his music. Driessan established a solid musical foundation when he began playing fiddle as a child. Later he was accepted into the Berklee School of Music in Boston; after graduating he moved to Nashville, TN where he has collaborated with a bevy of musicians including Béla Fleck and Steve Earle, and his band The Colorfools.

In 2012 Driessen  will embark on a solo tour around the US, called, appropriately, The Singularity Tour. Driessen is looking for a logo that captures the many layers and facets of his electronic sound to be used on T-shirts and posters. Driessen spoke with us to share some thoughts on his process and what he’s looking for in a winning logo design. (more…)