’tis the season.
We’re thankful for …
all of our incredible clients, they are among some of the best.
our amazing design team and staff. Who all share dish-washing duty even if it’s someone else’s month.
our vendors who build, print, produce and make it all come to life!
weekly trips to Nike World Headquarters, a beautiful and lively campus we never want to leave.
Joy’s cakes for all occasions and no occasion at all. Read the full post
Nike recently (like, last Thursday) opened a retail store in downtown Westport in Ontario, Canada–considered to be a regional retail hub. Located on 69 Main Street, this Nike location is a running specialty store offering merchandise within three main categories: Running, Sportswear and Athletic Training. It also offers NikeID service, where customers can order customized and personalized merchandise. Read the full post
Fall is here! Let us help you stay current by offering our forecast on this season’s top sweaters trends. Take a peep at the Beege’s Fall/Winter lookbook as modeled by fellow giants: Jason, Katie, Cecilia, Sheri and Ryan.
Can we get a “Meow” up in here? Yup, you heard right …
Our beloved Bikini Bottom resident, Spongebob Squarepants has got vinyl toy collectors and UNKL fans squirming. Read the full post
Successful projects and pure talent speak for themselves. Or in this case, why try and come up with a better summary of this project when there is already a great blurb written by the lead designer, Ada Mayer on her blog? Mmhmm.
“The Nike Maxim Awards. The task was to re-vamp the event’s identity and graphics and to create a gallery-like display of the company’s history and current 2011 award nominees. Filtering 40 years of athlete, business, product innovation and pop culture stories and archival items, as well as 35 nominee stories and videos was no small task. Read the full post
TITLE: DESIGNER / 3-5 years experience
FOCUS:
Experienced designer interested in driving 2D and 3D creative solutions independently and collaboratively to meet client’s business needs in interesting and innovative ways. Willing to get outside of their comfort zone and push themselves from a creative and business standpoint. Read the full post
Some smart a** posters for our friends.
This past weekend our very own Joy shepherd a bunch of delightful sheeps and peeps into the studio. Yellow peeps were not marshmallow filled as you might think, but made from fluffy lemon cake and heart-shaped candied feet. Pearly white little lambs tasted of vanilla cake with black licorice limbs.
And so we ask, “Where do bunnies fit into this Easter picture?”
This week Kathy and newbie design manager Cecilia spearheaded an exciting creative strategy implementation in the beege kitchen. First to come was assembling a new dining table that will never ever be used. Secondly, a fresh coat of chalk-friendly paint for intricate cat caricatures.
Coffee’s to the left.
We’re all pretty excited about the new intern. With a name like Hiller Goodspeed, who wouldn’t be? After finding the shape of a Tinpo in a pancake, he left his home in Orlando, FL, and journeyed 3,018 miles by foot, relying solely on his keen sense of direction. When he found himself on the banks of the Willamette river in Portland, OR, he knew he had reached his destination.
He is a true talent with a ballpoint, and has a knack for getting shit done. He’s already earned 5 gold stars for extra-overtime, dressing sharp and efficiently extinguishing fires. We’re sure he’s got a bright future ahead. Welcome Mr. Goodspeed.
The fine folks at Kid Robot have put together yet another great book on the world of Vinyl. They’ve covered some serious ground with this one and devoted two spreads of it to our very own UNKL toys. This follow up to “I Am Plastic” is even better and once again, it’s cool to see so much of it in one place. If you’re thumbing through this impressive hardback and find yourself asking, “Why in the world do those UNKL toys stand out so much?”, the answer is simple: our toys were shot here at Big-Giant by our very own Scott Thomason. Old Woody’s boy is top shelf.
Check it out at your local bookseller if you get a chance, or better yet pick up a few of the real things at our website: www.unklbrand.com.
That’s right. Wool & Waffles. What better way to stay warm and cozy on one of Portland’s coldest winter days?
Each giant came to work wearing one part wool and enjoyed savory waffles made by resident chef, Jason Bacon. It was even better than his last cooking debut - Frittata Friday! Winter never felt, or tasted, so good. See for yourself…
Believe the hype, it’s Frittata Friday!
Resident chef, Jason Bacon, made his cooking debut this morning with this gourmet frittata. Read the full post
It used to be that only serial killers were known by three names…but now let it be proclaimed from the mount that Sisters are too. Introducing Joy Wilson Stoelting in her debut role as the Iron Maiden.
Dutifully bound and soulfully devoted to a righteous setlist, this no nonsense nun will save the wretched and wayward listeners of the music masses! Are you ready to rawk? Say three Hail Mary’s and raise your devil-fingered fists in the air!
The next installment of the B-G cinema poster series follows the adventures of KP, otherwise known as The Finnisher.
She’ll shoot you as soon as look at you. With a 35mm in hand and a thousand yard stare, she could shoot the wings off a mosquito at forty paces. Amelia Earhart, Diane Arbus, and Annie Oakley rolled into one. Kinda like a Little Debbie Swiss Roll, but bigger and Finnish. Big Kathleen Finnish Roll, anyone?
Coming soon…straight to video, Major Idaho.
Frontier justice, served on a gold platter. Action. Adventure. Intrigue. Romance. Hair. Cereal. This one has it all. Featuring Scott Thomason in the role he was born to play. A man’s man, amongst men, in a world full of women.
The second poster in the Big-Giant Cinema Series, explodes off the screen and into your lap. Sounds a bit uncomfortable. And it ought to be, because Lady Baltimore, like her name sake, takes no prisoners. As is evident in the art, LB is all about class, class, class. Her mascara is trying to tell you something…Run!
It’s like this: Mastodon wasn’t going to make it to Portland until October, so our resident metal head, DW, decided to head to Spokane to see them last month.
Before the show, DW thought Spokane deserved an honest to blog full on silk screened poster announcing the show, so he dun it.
Most folks who’ve known us for a while are familiar with our weakness for doughnuts.
Today, of all days, is perhaps when we are at our weakest point with regards to those fried, doughy, holed, sugary pillows.
The first poster in a series which is sure to be highly collectable by people who know, has just been released. The BIG-GIANT, featuring DW as “The Sultan” comes out swinging. The poster series, created by our very own Jason Bacon, includes a cast of favorites, with each individual member of the studio exploited, er focused on, for each poster.
Here at Big-Giant, we like to say we don’t really have a mission statement or sugary wording to represent what we do. We do, however, have four principles we live by…A four word philosophy, if you will. Even if you won’t, we will.
Think you can figure out what that mess of letters means?
The Art Director’s Club of Metropolitan Washington Show Judging, Speaking & Whatnot.
Perfectly clear, eh?
A (very) short story from Derek…
One morning I was enjoying a bowl of Marshmallow Treasures (the Fred Meyer version of Lucky Charms).
Putting down the sports page for a moment, I glanced at the milk carton next to the cereal box. I was suddenly inspired to create a cleaner, more graphic version of the carton. Read the full post
A couple of years back, we thought it might be nice to design an electrical
themed poster to cover an eyesore of an electrical panel in the studio.
So we did. Design a poster, that is.
The TinPo’s have been busy working up some new schemes. Secret capers we
can’t talk about.
A good friend of ours, one Cari Mackey, started a merino wool apparel company called World Fibers. We love a healthy dose of fiber, so naturally (as it were) we had to get involved. Big-Giant created the branding and the look and feel of the website.
Some of you may remember our last sidewalk sale. Some of you may not. Either way, we’re having another one. Here at UNKL HQ we have quite a collection of odds and ends. Some figures are gently damaged and some have been put through the ringer.
We have deals galore with this sale, so come on down to UNKL HQ and check it out.
We’re not big on entering work for magazines and shows ‘n whatnot, mostly
because we have always felt the best recognition for our work comes from
happy clients.
Here at Big-Giant we’re not all about us (just mostly).
We’ve been teamed up with Dell for a while now and have been lucky enough to join forces with some great artists and friends while collaborating on some killer projects.
In this case, Filth, AKA Lucas Irwin.
“What would it be like if the United States had currency as cool or cooler than any other country? We deserve to have good lookin’ scratch don’t we? Well, I think so.
A different approach to the same old thing…
This type exploration is loaded with the little goodies that turn us on about dirty type. ENJOY!
Here are a few pics from the UNKL show at the Compound Gallery. Thanks to everyone that made it out.
What do you get when you put a station wagon, some guns, the color pink and a little filth into a mixing bowl and stir it up?
Well, when WE do it, we end up with an UNKL-ized Urban Assault Vehicle. Read the full post
The Big-Giant movie is progressing nicely. We are through the casting phase. Below are the actors that have committed to the project. Co-directed by Michael Bay and Woody Allen, filming is scheduled to start Summer 2009. So, come on down. We’re looking for extras… Read the full post
We are getting close to wrapping up the new BG site and thought we’d give a little behind the scenes look at the apparel section’s photoshoot. We teamed up with photographer Anthony Georgis and stylist Katie Simon to have a little fun and capture a small sampling of the apparel graphics we have done.
Sticky is a typeface that was inspired by a trip to one of our favorite breakfast joints, Stepping Stone Cafe. Syrup spilling over gigantic “mancakes” got us thinking about an entire face that would be created with hand poured syrup. We rounded up a few bottles of golden griddle knock-off corn syrup, the real stuff doesn’t work all that well, and added a little black food coloring to pull it off. The result was almost as satisfying as the mancakes. Check it out.
We’ve been working with Dell on a whole mess of projects for over a year now.
Together we’ve created some great stuff. And who knew that the art we created for some of the laptops would make such great dance partners? What are we talking about? Check out the new ad featuring a couple of our pieces including the final unit with art created by our very own Brittany “Twitter Bug” Waldner.
Not too long ago a desolate drive across four states produced a second set of Interstate posters. This time the focus is mostly on the simple oasis like truckstops and gas stations along the way.
If you haven’t tried the Rip Stick, you should. It’s a wacky, two-wheeled stick-type thingy.
Brittany said of the Rip Stick, “It’s the most fun I’ve had since I was seven years old at SkateWorld.”
Derek said, “I tried it once, and I’ll never try it again.”
Miranda said, “It’s sickter, bro.”
We’re pretty sure the creators of the Rip Stick didn’t intend it to be used the way we used it. C’mon, not like that…you know what we mean.
We’re big fans of meetings here at Big-Giant. We’re bigger fans of lunch. Put the two together and it’s pure gold. One particular day we had a hankering for some spicy food to accompany our meeting. We’d heard the legend of the Great Balls of Fire.
Here is our second print of the year! Another instructional piece for our women’s room. Just like the men’s poster printed earlier this month, it informs bathroom goers on how to use the facilities here at the beege. See it in the making here…along with the men’s room poster framed and hung!
check back for our next prints… Read the full post
Sometimes when there is nothing, there is actually something.
Check the flickr link to see more of this colorlessness. Is that a word?
Last weekend I headed to Fort Worth to see a man about a horse. No kiddin’. The horse didn’t work out, but the three hour strait shot up I-35 was awesome. When you got a Texan in the office that has driven that stretch more times than can be counted, you get the line on some pretty cool spots along the way. Can you say Kolaches at the Czech Stop in beautiful West!! The result: a poster series about a road trip from Austin to Fort Worth and back.
We just got back from Austin, Texas last week and we’re headed back again this week. We’re growing rather fond of this gem of a city. The feel of the city is a lot like PDX so it makes the transition a bit easier. It’s like a southwestern Portland or maybe Portland’s a Northwest Austin. Who can say. All we know is that we had a great time and loved the texture of the city. Take a look at some of the pics.
Or check out the Flickr link and see them all. Vomanos Amigos!
Big-Giant’s studio art director, Jason Miranda, designed three custom Unipos for our friends at Converse. Take a peek… Read the full post
One of our giants is a bit of a sandwich artist. While he didn’t pass Subway’s background check, he continued making sandwich art on his own.
Here are some New Year’s resolutions from a few of the giants. Some real, some fake, some downright impossible!
Check out the Holiday cards we printed. Well, silk screened anyway. That’s printing isn’t it?
They look great by the way, so don’t let the fact that they are mostly covered by a manila envelope detract from the visual power they possess. See all four here….
We like to silk screen. We like you too. So what did we do?
We put the two together and printed up a series of four holiday cards for you.
We love the Sharpie! Here are a few things we do with the ever evolving pile we keep around.
