Headblack
Untitled2

Picture4

Email Dan
Studio Simon Website

blogsubhead

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Surf and Turf

“Let’s go surfin’ now,
Everybody’s learnin’ how,
Come on and safari with me!”

For this New York-born, New Jersey-bred boy, those lyrics, and others just like them from the Beach Boys’ “Endless Summer” double-LP, painted an enticing picture of a far-away, sun-drenched Eden. Those words proved to be so irresistible that, not long after college graduation, I packed up my drawing table and whatever other belongings I could jam into my Audi 4000 and pointed the nose of my car in the direction of the setting sun in search of the mythical sand and surf of Southern California.

Though I never did buy me a Woody (or even a pair of Huarachi sandals, for that matter), I did spend my fair share of weekends soaking up the rays from Malibu down to Coronado Beach, and was totally stoked whenever I got the opportunity to incorporate my adopted lifestyle into my work.

I lived on the West Coast for 17+ years, so when the NFL called and asked to see San Diego-specific directions for the Super Bowl XXXVII logo, I was on it like wax on a shortboard, with no research trip necessary. Naturally, concepts explored and presented included several focusing on surf culture, plus others featuring other nautical themes and SoCal’s Spanish mission-style architecture.


The surf board solution shown above was a favorite of mine, as well as of the Executive Art Director of NFL Properties at the time, Brad Jansen. Although that logo was not chosen, we were fortunate enough to have another Studio Simon direction—one depicting San Diego’s historic Old Point Loma Lighthouse—selected to be the official mark of SB37.

With the SB36 logo already under the Studio Simon belt, it was a bodacious feeling to rip a second Super Bowl logo in a row. The Beach Boys weren’t kidding when they said, “Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world!”

4 comments:

  1. Spike, dance and chest bump. Nice stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really like your blog.
    Like everything you do, it's thoughtful and well done.
    This post reminds me of all the great NFL stuff we worked on together back in the day,
    How fun was that?
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's too bad the NFL is living up to the "No Fun League" billing with their design plans for the future. This was one of my favorites over the last 2o years and its going to be sad not to see them in the years ahead. Fortunately, I love the work you do for MiLB, a league that appreciates creativity.

    ReplyDelete