If you haven’t picked one up yet I would recommend the latest issue of Print Magazine (July/August 2007). There is a great article on page 90 called “Total Fakers,” about the design firm Schein Berlin that designs fake products for use in TV and film. The firm inadvertently raises some interesting questions about the meaning of brand and it sounds like, has a ton of fun in the process.

They did a lot of the design work seen in V for Vendetta saying, “All the institutions had to be designed: The ruling party, police, military, TV stations, newspapers, and the postal service were integrally connected to the story. The question was how would life have developed under these conditions, namely a dictatorship in Great Britain.”

I’d love to work there.

Yesterday I visited the Brooklyn Superhero Store and talked to a volunteer named Laura about the project. If you haven’t heard about the place before it’s a store in Brooklyn New York that sells really well designed products for superhero’s and those wishing to become a superhero and aside from that run creative writing workshops for kids. They are closely affiliated with the Pirate Store at 826 Valencia in San Francisco and a handful of other stores in major cities across America.

Apparently one guy (in the process of contacting him) does all the design work and as I looked around I noticed that he had 3 companies going that were producing all of the superhero products. One was called Bugayenko Laboratories, which was more chemical oriented (Shape Shifting Elixer, Faster Reflexes, etc.), one was called Mt. Fortress and specialized in superhero gear (Tights, Masks, Capes, etc.) and the other was an older looking brand called Ardvark that had a wide range of products available.

Everything about the store held up the concept. From the directional signs to the way items were displayed to the fitting rooms and you could actually buy the products and take them home with you.

Check out the brief conversation(PDF) I had with Laura about the store.

I just posted some more of my graduate work up on Flickr. The photos are far from professional at this point but if you’re interested in what I’ve been up to this past year at school feel free to visit: www.flickr.com/photos/12686624@N00/sets/72157594498927421/

Thesis Development is complete and I’ll be taking a little break before Fall semester starts up again. Over the break I’ll be heading back to the east coast for a few weeks and trying to finish off some topic related books I’ve started as well as check out some galleries in New York. Sadly I’ll be missing Zag week here in San Francisco but am looking forward to time off before the madness of school starts up again.

I’m looking for anyone who might be interested in helping out with writing some satirical corporate mumbo-jumbo copy for an Introduction to Anarkon booklet and an Annual Report I will be working on in the coming months. At the moment I wouldn’t have anything to offer you aside from a little bit of fame and recognition when the project is complete.

I’m also hoping to find a photographer a little farther down the line and have just begun the search for a gallery to display my final project in even farther down the line.

If anyone has any recommendations or knows anyone who might be interested give me a shout.