By Mark Kaufman
Here are a couple of surplus illustrations from an article on surplus stores. I did four illustrations for Seattle Metropolitan Magazine but these two weren't used. Surplus surplus!

By Mark Kaufman
Fred Hilliard an artist that I admired from afar long before I ever moved to Seattle, passed away suddenly on Friday, February, 23, 2007. Fred was a fantastic conceptual artist, with a unique style, and clever wit, whose work for Williams, Boeing and other financial and business institutions always lept off the pages of the Wall Street Journal with it’s humor and low key style. My condolences to his family and friends.

By Mark Kaufman
I found out a while ago that some of the work I did for radio station WFMU back in the 1980’s will be part of a new book to be published by Princeton Architectural Press. The work in question was produced for the radio station’s now defunct magazine/program guide LCD (Lowest Common Denominator). Here is an example of my work back in the day. While the same cynical world view is on display, stylistically the work has changed a great deal. I think for the better, but that comes with age and a willingness to keep trying new things. I still like this piece, some of the others if they make it into the book are pretty raw, and frankly pretty embarrassing, but it is an honor to be included in the book. LCD had quite a roster of great illustrators, cartoonists and writers over the years, so I’ll be in fine company. Check this list of contributors; Danny Hellman, Mary Fleener, Domenic Priore, Andy Breckman, Seth Tobocman, Kaz, Wayno, Drew Friedman, Josh Alan Friedman, Dennis Worden, Ward Sutton, Jonathan Rosen, Mark Newgarden, Carol Moiseiwitsch, David Sandlin, and the list goes on. Fine company indeed. I’ll let you know when the book is published. Big thanks to Dave "the Spazz" Abramson for including me in this tome.

By Mark Kaufman
A piece on the Adult Swim panic. 

By Mark Kaufman
No. Not Paul Ford. Although he certainly deserves one. Alan Arkin finally gets an Academy Award 40 years after being nominated and starring in The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming. Congratulations. A little known fact about Mr. Arkin is that he is a childrens book author, so he regularly works with illustrators. Alan Arkin is money. So is Jack Davis here is his illustration for the TRACTRAC movie poster.

By Mark Kaufman
Sure I have a dark side. But not as dark as this! Here is a detail of something I found hidden in my attic over the weekend. It was painted many, many years ago and tucked away in the furthest reaches of the attic space in my house. At the bottom is a stitched together version of the entire piece. It was painted on wall board and is about 8 feet long, from left to right is abstract fire (?!), followed by a tree with leaves falling off, and at the center of it all is a floating Jesus figure with no legs, moving right you will see a blob like figure going up in smoke, is it an egg, is it part of the crumbling city scape? And then finally the best part, the city scape gives way to a trio of creepy characters, a dog like head with white pinpoint eyes,  some sort of brown, zombie/devil face, and then a worried looking man’s head with a unibrow. It has some sort of biblical meaning that I do not understand, If anyone knows what the meaning of the piece is, please let me know! It is a fine example of outsider art, and was signed by someone named  Dick Hauser. The only problem is that it was found deep inside my house. I found another piece on the same substrate, but it was only a bad Pollock like imitation. Bad things man.

By Mark Kaufman
I have been wanting to do a piece on the Bush administration stagecraft  for a while now. All of the banners behind the POTUS are real.

By Mark Kaufman
I was planning on getting to the Tom Vilsack for President logo down the line, but since he has dropped out of the race today, I am stepping up to the plate and talking about it before people forget all about the former Iowa governor. Unfortunately for Mr. Vilsack the most memorable thing about him and his campaign was his logo! Again I am not the first to say it, but it is reminiscent of V for Vendetta, or the old sci-fi television series V. Although it is different, it is bold it does use a beautiful typeface, that typeface choice is a little too close to Fascist Italian or Soviet propaganda for comfort. While it does stand out, it stands out in a bad way, it seems like there was a staffer or consultant well versed in design, but totally, absolutely unschooled in political history. On another note, the letterspacing on the logo is terrible. Take a look at the A + C in Vilsack? How am I going to trust you if you can’t do that right? Anyway, Vilsack is toast. Maybe the V stands for VEEP?

By Mark Kaufman
Rats, roaches, mold and red tape. Support the troops indeed.

By Mark Kaufman
In the second installment of the Logo campaign we take a look at the mark of presidential frontrunner, Senator John McCain. Here is the McCain 2008 logo, and below it is the McCain Foods mark. Now I am not the first to say it, but there is a bit of a resemblance between the two. In fact that’s what immediately came to mind, there’s not much John McCain can do short of changing his name and that’s not going to happen. It’s unfortunate that a candidate that has to fight off the perception that he’s too old has to the same name as a frozen food company, but as Donald Rumsfeld once said “...you go to war with the army you have--not the army you might want or wish to have...”

As far as the logo goes I actually like it. As for the typeface I don’t usually like the Optima typeface but I think it suits McCain. It falls somewhere in the netherworld between the usual Bush/Cheney bold, sans serif, manly, Republican typeface and the Kerry/Edwards serif, dainty, progressive typeface. I also like the restrained use of the star, it is reminiscent of a military star or medal, reminding us that the Senator is a true American hero and of his military service without bashing you in the face with it. So far I have only seen the logo on the McCain website and it is only shown in black and white, no red, white and blue, no flags. It fits in well with the overall McCain 2008 brand, the site and the logo are no nonsense, use black and white photos, and a use limited color pallette. So overall a thumbs up from me. It could have been worse. Take a look at the McCain 2000 website here. Even if you are not crazy about the new logo, you must admit that the 2008 brand a vast improvement over the old one.

By Mark Kaufman
I had a dream the other night that my wife and I were flying somewhere on vacation and she insisted that we take a futon with us. The futon in question has been sitting in our basement for 5 years and must weigh 150 lbs. I don’t know what this means. I do not know what this spread from my sketchbook means either.

By Mark Kaufman
Drawmark is now an official sponsor of AIGA Seattle’s Into the Woods conference. Let your mind grow wild. Into the Woods will be held April 20-22, 2007 at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat in Leavenworth, Washington-about a two-hour drive from Seattle-five keynote speakers and more than twenty hands-on workshops will foster an atmosphere of intense creative exploration, while hikes, bonfires and parties in the gorgeous surroundings will provide opportunities to make professional connections with the design community in Seattle and beyond. Space is running out and registration for this inspiring event increases by 100 bucks at the end of the month. Register today!

By Mark Kaufman
I’ve had several opportunities to meet and talk to Lloyd Dangle. In fact I have been several feet away from him, my wife knows him from their work for the Graphic Artists Guild, and yet I blew it. I admire Lloyd’s style, and his humor and yet even though I had those opportunities to introduce myself and strike up a conversation I was too lame to do so. What the heck is wrong with me? I have no problem walking up to, introducing myself and talking to most people in and out of the business. I don't even mind the awkward silences that inevitably stop a conversation dead in it’s tracks, but for some strange reason I declined to talk to Mr. Dangle. I promise that the next time the opportunity presents itself I will say “ Hi Lloyd, I'm Mark Kaufman and I love your work.

By Mark Kaufman
Happy President’s Day. On this auspicious occasion, a day off for most Americans, I want to roll out critiques of the various 2008 presidential contenders. Inspired by the famous Paula Scher editorial in the New York Times during the 2004 beauty contest, I will be looking at the way the “contenders” of both major parties brand themselves. At one point when there are 2 candidates left standing (sorry Ralph Nader), the brand mark is sure to change when a running mate is chosen, so we will address the head to head match up then.

What prompted me to think about doing this, besides the fact that I am a logo nerd, was seeing the Barack Obama logo for the first time last week. As a logo nerd it certainly did make me sit up and take notice, it is unusual to have something more than a word mark to brand a candidate, I know that former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack also has a bug + wordmark, and I will address his brand at a later date. I figure I would start off with Obama. I love the logo, I find it to be bright and open, strong and simple, and the use of the round sans-serif O invites the viewer in, asks us to go along for the ride.  Another nice touch is the use of the red and white stripes from the American flag as both the landscape of the country and a horizon line, again offering us something far off in the future, a bright, white, clean future perhaps? The interesting thing I find about the O device is that there are no straight lines, no right angles, no sharp edges, yet it is bold at the same time. It also strikes me that much like the candidate himself, the O is an empty vessel, allowing the viewer to see what they want in Obama, most have a positive view of the man, although they don't know why. Therefore the empty vessel can be filled with hope and optimism and a new day. Those that don't like the candidate, although they too are unsure why, will probably get the feeling that there is no “there”, there, it’s pretty to look at but in the end says nothing, and stands for nothing.

As far as the word mark is concerned, I'm not so sure. Yes, the serif typeface is a nice counterpoint to the bold O, but I feel it looks weak. It is also another example of Democrats over thinking things. The big thing I have a problem with is the apostrophe before 08. Sure it’s proper English, the correct thing to do, but it seems unnecessary. It seems that the majority of Americans will see it as yet another liberal, wine drinking, effete Democrat that thinks they’re smarter than me. The John Kerry, Al Gore syndrome all over again.  I would suggest that they ditch the apostrophe in order avoid making people uncomfortable with their poor punctuation skills. Obama probably is smarter than most Americans, but would you have a beer with some pointy headed English major? I think not.

Finally, although I love the Obama branding effort, I have a problem with it. As a designer it seems that most of the things that I and my ilk respect, from logos, to films, to television shows, books, ad campaigns, packaging, etc., are disliked by the majority of the public. Conversely, things such as the AFLAC duck, celebrity gossip, NASCAR, reality shows, the Donald, the things that Americans, absolutely, positively LOVE, I can't stand. I’m afraid that the Obama logo is too damn good for its own good.

By Mark Kaufman
Another installment of my new comic strip. Amore a tutti.