How a pigeon became the perfect brand opportunity
I’m flipping the script this time, changing up the order of things to see how it plays. Tell me what you think of the shuffle.
The TL;DR
Why Jeff Staple has the BEST branding ever.
Are memberships the future of everything?
An artist that glimmers every chance they get.
The Finds gets a new name.
Living in the Creative Interstice
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been binging on a metric tonne of videos, podcasts, blog posts, and books on the topic of streetwear. That might seem odd because I’m definitely not the embodiment of a street fashionista, but once I saw a showing of Daniel Arsham’s work at the OCMA, and the extensive list of creative collaborators like Porsche, Adidas, Kith, and Pokemon, I realized there is a subculture of art that feels like traditional art but lives more in these other worlds.
One person the dwells in this space between creative worlds is Jeff Staple and he’s quickly become the most relatable figure because of his background in art and design. I heard about Jeff many years ago while watching a documentary about sneaker culture and the story behind his collaboration with Nike on the famed Pigeon Dunk. It’s an eye-opening story about how simple ideas executed in collaboration with the right people can teeter on the edge between fame and obscurity and you never know which way it falls until you’re too deep in it.
Side Note: I think Jeff’s use of a pigeon as his logo and mascot is absolutely brilliant, perhaps one of the more genius branding efforts of all time because every time I see a pigeon in my neighborhood, I think of Staple.
In Case You Missed It
I wrote a piece earlier this week about 14 creative individuals that exist in that nebulous utopia between art and fashion, Jeff Staple obviously included.
Not Just Sneakers
Part of my streetwear information binge has been in the form of books and my most recent consumption was Jeff Staple: Not Just Sneakers. In contrast to books like Authentic by Paul Van Doren and This is Not a T-Shirt by Bobby Hundreds, Not Just Sneakers is more of a monograph than a memoir. It’s a beautiful book, one I’m happy to own, but I do wish it had a bit more meaty story to it.
For sneakerheads and hype beasts, this book is a significant addition to the streetwear knowledge archives, and for the normies, a simple and colorful introduction to one of the most notable figures in the streetwear industry. Although not a detailed read, as I would hope, there is definitely plenty of inspiration to be found, especially for anyone who can visualize the crossover between art and fashion.
Are Monthly Subscriptions the Future of All Creative Things?
I might have heard the news last year and it didn’t stick at the time, but the digital assets marketplace, Creative Market has membership tiers, which was likely their response to increased competition from Envato Elements, Canva, and others.
Full disclosure, I’ve been a loyal subscriber to Envato Elements* for years, mostly because the subscription model allowed me to pull a wide variety of assets at any time needed, and not have to worry about whether I would get value from spending $20 to $50 on a digital asset pack from other marketplaces.
What started years ago with Shutterstock and Adobe, now permeates all aspects of our digital lives. We pay subscriptions for news, entertainment, mobile and wifi access, web apps, site hosting, clothing, and food service. At a certain point, each of us hits a point where we negotiate which monthly services to maintain and which to cancel. I haven’t been on AppleTV since I finished watching season two of Ted Lasso. I honestly wish someone would invent an app where all my membership services across all channels could be paused or restarted with the simple toggle of an on/off switch, like my iPhone notifications (which I’m sure would no doubt cost $29 a month).
As legacy news organizations start to drop their paywalls, what will the future of subscriptions look like? Netflix seems to waffle each quarter between revenue growth and shortfalls based on subscriber count, but they have been on a slow but steady decline for years now. Will their business model change again someday?
Whatever happens, personally, dealing with the constant deluge of monthly membership costs is tiresome and often makes me want to abandon everything and live a more analog existence. I can’t be alone in that, but maybe we’re part of the minority.
Finally, I recognize the potentially hypocritical nature of this post because I currently feature exclusive content that sits behind a paywall, which by the way, is chockfull of content including lots of digital assets for as little as $4.17 a month. However, I’m working hard to make the membership worth every bit of that investment. The trickiest part to this is showing exactly why the investment is worthwhile while also finding the type of content to make it worthwhile to you.
Look at THIS: Angie Crabtree
Angie Crabtree is an artist from Northern California that migrated south to Los Angeles and never left. Her dazzling and meticulous work inspires me and I appreciate her dedication to her craft. This month, she’s the featured artist at Loiter Galleries here in Long Beach.
Small Bites
Time Sensitive: Design Cuts is sharing a webinar on Lettering with Stamps on May 11th (8 am PDT / 11 am EDT)
If you ever had the inclination to start a podcast, THIS may be the time to do that (Google/YouTube always lean HARD into new features, and those who take advantage of them early…just sayin’).
I love beautiful books. Even more, I love beautiful books made for helping creative people, especially when the art direction comes from one of my favorite designers ever.
Steal This Idea: Paint other people’s memories and they’ll pay you handsomely.
As more and more political figures come under fire for fraud, assault, indifference, financial impropriety, and treason, it’s good to know there always have been and always will be poster designers to speak out.
I probably should have shared this link earlier, but hey, who wants free money for their art pursuits? How about a LONG list of artist grants offered this month?
That wraps it up. I’m truly interested to know your thoughts on the new (at least for this issue) format. My goal is to make turn this newsletter into something you never want to skip, and you definitely want to share. If you have thoughts, leave a comment.
Dessert
Florida police called to break up a fight between two escaped… [checks notes] GOATS!?