DOGGY STYLE Modern Dog Turns 20
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DOGGY STYLE Modern Dog Turns 20
DOGGY STYLE Modern Dog Turns 20 by matthew porter “Modern Dog is 20? Get out. Robynne and Mike are 40-something? Stop!” The reaction of a close friend when I told her I was in Seattle for a story on the 20th anniversary of Modern Dog made me wince. Yes, we’re middle-aged. Grunge is dead. Mick is nearly dead. Modern Dog is 140 (dog years). Chronicle Books will mark the occasion with Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art (landing February ’08). So let us celebrate, too, but in a nonlinear way—no beginning, middle or end, no timelines. No candles. Unlike time, this will be more random and inexplicable. An ocean of non sequiturs and surprises. That’s their style, what Robynne Raye, Mike Strassburger, Vito Costarella, Rob Zwiebel and the others have done for two decades. Doggy style. the an[n]als of design history Robynne Raye and Mike Strassburger know their place in American design, but they are not boastful types. They know they have a national voice, and they know they are good. But they do not rub anyone’s nose in it. Confidence buys you freedom to be yourself, even if that self can be very bad when the mood strikes. For example, in unabashed partisan politics (see “Pardon My French: Fuck Bush”). Pissing oΩ an important client (see Modern Dog Pink Kitty Poster with Bin Laden and W among other piques and puns embedded in the fur that infuriated client Adobe). Funny, biting, scatological, un-PC and equal-opportunity spitball hurlers (see AssKisser Breath Spray, “Not Gay” Rainbow Magnets, Mullet Magnets and HandzOΩ Anti-Masturbatory Cream, all for Blue Q). Modern Dog has earned its place in the annals of American design. And in the hearts of anal Americans who can only wish to be this hip over 40. 64 november | december 2007 poster children Modern Dog knows posters. Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art contains more than 200 of their best. It has a bonus for readers: a conversation between Raye, Strassburger and their alter ego, the Dark Lord of American Design, the rational, cerebral Rick Valicenti. “What I liked about Rick’s questions was the fact that he didn’t try to kiss our ass,” says Raye. “He doesn’t totally ‘get’ us, but so what? So he called us out on things we’ve heard muttered behind our backs for years. To confront those issues face-to-face was way cool.” A selection from the interview follows: Valicenti: It seems to me that your work is the complete archaeological core sample of late 20th-century or maybe earlier American graphics. You just sort of put it in a Cuisinart and out it comes. At some point you have to know when you are done … “We sell a tangible commentary on society. We leverage people’s obsessions and pre-existing sentiments, giving it our own twist. We don’t ‘ discover.’ We mine pre-existing veins of societal riches. And Modern Dog is very good at helping us tap those veins and serve society what they want.” —Mitch Nash of Blue Q, purveyors of Cat Butt, Total Bitch, Phallic Produce, Mullet Magnets, Virgin/Slut, AssKisser, HandzOΩ Anti-Masturbatory Cream and other abominations before eternity left: 50 cent (2003). house of blues poster advertising 50 cent’s sold-out seattle show. designer/illustrator: michael strassburger. above: modern dog ohio (1996). poster announcing two modern dog lectures in ohio. designer/illustrator: strassburger. step inside design 65 Raye: Over time you develop an eye for what you are doing, and it’s intuitive. We use a gut instinct when it comes to stopping. Valicenti: I would say the intuition that comes through for me walks the thin line between “I wanted it just that way” or “I didn’t give a shit and ran out of time.” ms ♥ rr / rr ♥ ms, now more than ever Few know that Strassburger and Raye were once intimately involved. They met at KUGS, the Western Washington University radio station. Raye did not enjoy an easy youth. Her mother suΩered from severe mental illness, and Robynne ran away from home at 16. A good friend’s kind family looked after her until she went to college. Strassburger, on the other hand, enjoyed a happy life in a small town. His mom is Hawaiian of Filipino descent; his dad came from German stock. Mike is from Richland, Wash., a town in western Washington known for its atomic bombs and high school team, The Bombers. Whether it was due to his original DNA or a mutation caused by fallout, he grew to be delightfully oΩ register. You never know what is going to come out of his mouth—and onto a page, a website, a blog, a lapel button seconds later. Smart, quick, generous, spontaneous and always smiling, he was the perfect antidote to the deliciously darker and equally brilliant mind of Robynne Raye. She says, “We met in 1983. We were 19. He was my best friend. He made me laugh. And back then I needed to laugh more.” The two started a business and worked hard. They began saving money to buy a first house. Stress began to take its toll. Recalls Raye, “I finally said, ‘Hey Mike, fuck it all. Let’s travel.’ We bought tickets to travel the world for six months.” In Europe they traveled separately. They both needed some space. They met up again to travel together in India. (“We felt safer that way,” says Raye.) It was in India that two life-changing things happened. “We decided that we could no longer be in an intimate relationship, but we would try hard to maintain the bond of friendship. Then I got really sick from dysentery. Mike had to nurse me back to health.” That was the second lesson: They could always rely on each other. Raye got better, and they continued on their journey. Twenty-five years later, that journey continues.* la maison du chien modern I had developed a mental picture of Modern Dog’s workspace. I figured these random-rule-breakers would dwell in a well-ordered world, the opposite of their public personae … like Mies Van der Rohe, the 20th-century pioneer of modern architecture, who lived in a cluttered, brandied Chicago Victorian surrounded by dust. Right? Wrong. Modern Dog lies in the funky Phinney Ridge, a neighborhood—according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer—“where there are three dogs for every fire hydrant.” Bungalow style, teal in color, the house has shabby charm. Entering the place from the broad, deep front porch, you are at once struck by the mayhem. There is stuΩ everywhere. Visual cacophony. Five inhabitants. Five dogs. (“Hey, we cleaned up for you!” protested Mike when I noted the mess.) There is 1200 sq. ft. of o≈ce space. The living room serves as a relax room, media room, waiting area, meeting space and 66 november | december 2007 museum. Scattered about are thousands of samples and small objects as well as A/V and musical equipment in various stages of repair or neglect. Music posters dominate the walls. Blue Q products dominate everything else. The brown leatherette sofa with buttons looks like it was left over from Strassburger’s bachelor days. A trash can next to it sits empty, forlorn. Beyond the living room, the “studio” is the biggest room in the house. It was once two rooms, both dining and bed. Above, a hole big enough to suck in Raye, Strassburger and the intern yawns in the ceiling. “It’s on the list!” exclaims Strassburger. The entire staΩ—Raye, Strassburger, Costarella, Zwiebel and Brandy the mad *Strassburger is married to writer Anna McAllister. They have two children, Alice and Clara, and a minivan with gold trim. Raye dates Brent Smith, a Seattle dental technician, and dotes on her two four-legged children, Cairn Terriers Conan (O’Brien) and Winnie, the successors to beloved, departed Petey, the original Modern Dog. Raye bought her first new car in July, a tiny Honda Fit. Characteristically, this past August she and her vehicle were featured in newspapers around the world in an AP wire photo as an example of American car buyers’ changing preferences. facing page: olive soap lump, olive cookie snacks (2007). product development and packaging for olive. designer/illustrator: robynne Raye. this page: Voodoo soap (1999). packaging for blue q. designer/illustrator: Vittorio costarella. wtf? sour candy (2006). product development and packaging for blue q. Designer: raye; photographer (empty roll and dropped cone): Brent R. smith. “I’m not gay, i just really love rainbows” (2007). product development and packaging for blue q. designer/copywriter: robert zwiebel. air fresheners (2004–2007). product development and packaging for blue q. designers: strassburger, costarella; copywriters: strassburger, costarella, kelley lear; illustrators: strassburger, costarella, junichi tsuneoka. mega-mullets magnets (2001). product development and packaging for blue q. designer/copywriter: strassburger; illustrator: tsuneoka. handzoff anti-masturbatory gum (2002). product development and packaging for blue q. designer/copywriter: strassburger; product tester: Zwiebel. step inside design 67 68 november | december 2007 three-name intern—fits into this one modest room. I don’t, so I sit on the Naugahyde sofa, pitching questions that are fielded by either Raye or Strassburger between client calls and moments of deep thought. To my astonishment, everyone works oΩ 15-in. Mac PowerBooks with Wacom tablets. There is little room left for anything else. Good thing they like each other. It’s tight. Raye can slap the back of Strassburger’s head, as necessary. Zwiebel can reach over and borrow Raye’s toothbrush without leaving his chair. Strassburger can talk from Raye’s phone if Costarella, behind him, is on his. Only the intern has room to grow and mature. The Phinney Doggy Rule is in eΩect: There are five real dogs on premise: Raye’s Cairn Terriers, Winnie and Conan, who ramble and romp; Strassburger’s aged Whippet, Rosie, who snoozes by his desk; Costarella’s sweet old Pit Bull, Carmen; and Zwiebel’s Australian Shepherd mix, Darwin, who joyfully licks everyone. Thank god for the Cat Butt Air Freshener. why a modern dog? “I get asked that a lot,” sighs Raye. “Mike and I were in a car one day when we passed some cheesy dog-groomer’s sign. Mike said, ‘Now there’s a Modern Dog.’ We both thought that it would be a good name for a company. Neither of us had a dog at the time. Even before Mike and I got a business license, we used the name as a credit on a poster, thinking it would hide our identity until we got real jobs down the road. We changed our company name to Modern Dog three months after we opened the business. Before that it was called ‘Raye-Strassburger,’ which sounded like some generic law firm. Because we work as a collective, everyone gets individual credit for the work they do here. So the genesis of the name was sort of random—but it’s worked well for us.” old dog, new tricks facing page: k2 snowboards product brochure (1995). one of many brochures created for K2 snowboards during modern dog’s more than 10-year relationship with the client (1989–2000). designers/illustrators: strassburger, raye, costarella, george Estrada. this page: act theatre stationery, building signage (2001). identity system for act theatre, seattle. designers: costarella, strassburger; building photo: brent r. smith. The rough edges and ceiling holes at funky 7903 Greenwood belie the high-tech nature of the place. Strassburger at 44 looks and thinks like a much younger man. He is all over new: toys, technology, music and media. His vigor is due in part to a strange sumo wrestling-taekwondo-jujitsu thing that he avidly participates in. It is hard to explain, but involves mounting other guys and manhandling them into submission. It’s rough. It’s sexy. “It’s also sick, and his wife is worried,” adds Raye. (See him in action on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dKa0oufo8U.) Beyond his physical powers, Strassburger’s other strength is his facile mind. Inquisitive and restless, the man-wrestler seeks and uses new technologies without hesitation—even before he has gained proficiency in them. Strassburger’s strategy is a tactic: Dive in and do it. Cannot is not a word he often uses. Marsha Savery of client Seattle Aquarium was surprised by Strassburger’s versatility. “Mike is a great listener. A selfless collaborator. A parent. He’s quick and very open to ideas from others. These were reasons enough to hire him. But then he started resolving a lot of our technical problems. He created all these new screens on our numerous interactive kiosks. I had no idea he had these skills in his bag of tricks. It added a whole new dimension to his work for us.” Gina Quiroga of Austin, Texas, appreciates the group’s collaborative process. Modern Dog is developing the identity and packaging for her start-up company Olive, maker of “Green Goods for Continued on page 72 step inside design 69 liz phair (2005). poster for the crocodile cafe, seattle. designer/illustrator: Raye. m butterfly (1991). poster for the seattle repertory theatre. designer/illustrator: strassburger. artwalk (2002). poster for annual neighborhood artwalk. designer/illustrator: Raye; client: phinney neighborhood association. damien jurado (2005). poster for the crocodile cafe. designer/illustrator: costarella. 70 november | december 2007 heartbreak house (1993). poster for seattle repertory theatre. designer/illustrator: costarella. flaming lips (1994). poster for moe’s moroccan cafe, seattle. designer/illustrator: costarella. tunnel vision (2005). poster for aiga los angeles. designer: strassburger. fremont fair (1993). poster for annual event. designer/illustrator: costarella. step inside design 71 Continued from page 69 Modern Dogs.” Quiroga and her partner are putting their own money into the venture. Several leading Austin designers rejected her before she found Modern Dog through a web search. “I had no experience with graphic design,” says Quiroga. “I certainly didn’t know Modern Dog. But from the very beginning they included us in the process. As we went along, the dialogue led to a broad range of Olive-branded goods. We agreed to a financial arrangement that allows them to participate in our success and allows us access to their exceptional skills. We couldn’t be happier.” The Olive website goes live in the fall. There might be some second thoughts among a few designers in Austin. well-trained dogs One source of Modern Dog’s steady stream of young talent has been Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where both Raye and Strassburger have taught for a decade or so. We asked many of the interns to wish Modern Dog a Happy 140th Birthday. Unfortunately, we have room for just two gems. Junichi Tsuneoka is from Japan. He was a student of Raye’s at Cornish and later an intern, then an employee. “One of my duties at Modern Dog was to take phone calls and give Robynne and Mike precise messages. One day one of our best clients, Mitch from Blue Q, called, and I answered the phone. ‘Hi Jun, is Mike there?’ he asked. ‘No, he is out for lunch right now,’ I told him. ‘That bitch!’ said Mitch and hung up the phone. So I told Mike, ‘Mitch said you are a bitch.’ Mike told me, ‘Can you call Mitch back and say he is a bitch?’ One of my duties at Modern Dog was to listen to my boss, so I called Mitch and said, ‘Hi Mitch, I forgot to tell you, you are a bitch,’ and I hung up. A few minutes later, we received a fax from Blue Q saying we were fired. It’s a true story … of course we weren’t fired, though. There is a proof. I was working on Cat Butt Gum package design at that moment, and I was writing the copy on the back of the package. After this job was done, Mitch put ‘Copy by Jun. He is a bitch.’ on the back of the package. The gum is still sold everywhere: If you don’t believe me, take a look at the back of the gum.” Meg Paradise is from Scranton, Penn. She was interested in an internship, applied three times and finally got it. “I think a lot of times people want to look at their work and say ‘I don’t get it. What does it mean?’ And I think they really enjoy that. Sometimes it’s just what it seems—like the skateboarding sheep with the missing leg poster they did a while ago. Lots of people want to know what it’s all about, but it’s exactly what it seems—a sheep with a missing leg. It’s funny just because it is, no deep meanings. A lot of their ideas develop really organically like that one. They just sort of happen. One more thing: When a client www.hughjassel.com modern dog: 20 years of poster art (2008). featuring 226 posters and flocks of anecdotes, this book is published by chronicle books. introduction by steven heller, interviews by rick valicenti and james victore. designers/copywriters: raye, strassburger; inside “dog” jacket illustration: zwiebel. sends them a confusing e-mail, and they don’t really know what [the client is] talking about, they’ll reply and say, ‘We’re not really sure what you were talking about, but here’s a picture of a bunny wearing a pancake for a hat.’ It really is an enjoyable image.” barking up the right tree So, Happy Birthday Modern Dog! Whatever you’re drinking and eating these days, keep it up. At 20 (140), you’re still looking good. We Americans still need your Cat Butts, Kentucky Waterfall Mullets, “I’m Not Gay I Just Really Love Rainbows” stickers, Hugh Jassel campaigns, etc. Twenty more, please. www.moderndog.com Sometimes Mike Strassburger’s projects have nothing to do with paying work. He just does things to amuse himself. Take, for instance, the 2006 website for faux Republican Senatorial candidate Hugh “I’m Always Right” Jassel, a morphed and ghastly composite of Cheney, Rummy, W and George “Macaca” Allen. One has to see this to believe it. It took hundreds of hours to design, write and produce. For fun. “I did it as a release from another horrible campaign season,” says Strassburger. “I was certain these freaks were going to win again.” They didn’t. Hugh sure put up a fight. But was he right? You judge. 72 november | december 2007 kinky friedman cd (2006). packaging for shout records. designer: strassburger. america dreaming (2007). book cover for little, brown and company. designer/illustrator: zwiebel. hits trade magazine ad (1992). designer/illustrator: strassburger; client: warner bros. records. Reproduced with permission of step inside design magazine, NOV/ dec 2007, V23N6, © 2007, Dynamic Graphics Inc., www.stepinside design.com step inside design 73
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