CREATIVEsession x COLD SHOWDA x BASTA "Unseen Supreme"

As you know CreativeSession is about the creative collaboration with all forms of art making. This time around Keith hopped on a project with Dj Basta & Cold Showda in designing the graphics for their latest Mixtape "Unseen Supreme" Download here "Unseen Supreme" The collaboration took roughly a months time, during this period Keith spent time getting to know their music and setting up mini offsite photo shoots via antique fairs and small flea markets. The distinguished white van on the cover was the result of these photoshoots.

Cold Showda KICKIN IT:

Last night Anh, Keith and I drove to Oakland to hang out with Basta and Cold Showda to film the wrap-up video of our creative SESSION. We all had a good time, always good to network. We took a few more shots of Keith working with these guys so we can put together this sweet promo video.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO:

CreativeSESSION x Cold Showda x Dj Basta "Unseen Supreme" from CREATIVEsession on Vimeo.

Keith of CreativeSession just finished the design of "Unseen Supreme's" Mixtape. The collaboration took about a month between Keith, Dj Basta & Cold Showda

We just spent last night hanging out at the studio filming Basta, Cold Showda & Keith chatting about the process and kicking it.

Here is a promo video creative session knocked out - wrapping up the creative collaboration between all CRE SES, BASTA, COLD SHOWDA.

Dont forget to download the MIXTAPE: http://damansion.bandcamp.com/album/unseen-supreme-2

These are various shots taking through out the night (tell me they're not sweet!) The photographs where taking by a long time friend Paul Vu who runs his own joint called Paul Vu Photography. You can find his portfolio here Make sure you come back in a few days we've got an exclusive interview with Paul and stay tuned for the Intel project that Paul became involved in. He's responsible for the ultra high resolution images used within the project.

8 Color Print Coming soon.

So Keith came over last night to brain storms some ideas for his new 8 color press. YES, you heard right we are having an 8 color screen print press - no more of these weak single color prints no mo! We're stepping it up and from the excitement after the meeting I think we've got some pretty sweet designs coming soon. Us fucking around :

Knights of the round table - well... rectangle table throwing around ideas. You all need to come join the creative SESSION.

Had some fun laying out some random found objects around the house into the creativesession logo.

-Minty

Earn Your Stripes Iphone 4 CASE

YOU KNOW IT IS HAPPENING: We've been experimenting with iPhone accessories over at our CRESES lab. Jumping it all off is this transparent "Earn Your Stripes" version. We've been getting a lot of love for this design and we'd like to bring it back as much as we can.

-Soft touch Colors are next. We're looking for really good quality soft touch cases to have this done. Stay tune.

Peep the pics:

"I CREATIVEsession Around"

Back by popular demand, the I CS SF sweaters. This time around we're also making the I CS PDX version. It's only right that we carry the PDX edition to support our lovely hometown. Its been raining for weeks and it has been hard to do a photo shoot of these new sweaters (I guess it should of been obvious we take these photos in the rain since PDX rains 90% of the time anyway). Now that the rain is behind us and the lovely California sun is back, Brea and I set out to take photos of the "I CREATIVEsession Around" collection.

With the help of Lisa Bumanlag from SignScape Graphics, we produced these prototype sweaters in a timely manner and should be taking pre-orders for all interested buyers starting out very soon. Calling out all PDX kids.

Here are some of the outtakes of todays shoot (enjoy):

"I CREATIVESESSION AROUND"

Breanne Bumanlag - follow via Twitter

...and now we're having fun.

All photo shoots should have a wind machine right? The hair's got to be blowing in the wind... But aren't we inside? Haha

Back to Front- "I CS PDX" front and our medallion on the back near the neckline.

The crop is nice on this one.

Share this with your friends, people.

-Hoang

The Conception of Keith's Clothing Pin

CreativeSESSION's Keith Magruder is leaving us!!! He's branching out and starting his own company called SESSIONcreative. I kid.... So Keith is headed out to an interview with Old Navy tomorrow (a fashion design position). We talked about different ways he could show off his work - also a unique way in which he could leave his portfolio behind.

We figured for him to stand out from the rest of the crowd, we definitely need to leave something behind worthwhile, something memorable that would really leave a good impression.

We wanted it to be a USB drive; this is the easiest way to save his portfolio and be reusable later on. Keith wanted to do something crafty; something that is handmade to show his passion for the fine arts. Since his portfolio is so diverse, we wanted to design something that communicates his interest in both fashion and accessories. We sat down and brainstormed, "What clothing-related product can we use that will fit a thumb drive?" We had a ton of candidates: sewing needles, thumb tacks, wooden buttons, clothes pin, zippers, rivots, snaps, and scissors.

We ended up choosing the clothes pin. The width of the pin perfectly fits a small thumbdrive and the pin can be quite useful to clip papers or your clothes.

Check out our process:

Taking apart some clothes pins for measurement. Quick Sketching frame the background this round of design we did not need to make sexy design sketches since the product was a familiar object.

The smallest usb thumb drive we could find. It sits a bit wider than the clothes pin, this means we had to do some custom work.

I should be uploading some of our earlier prototypes. They were much more janky and primitive. These are the latest and greatest.

Thumb drive fits perfectly!

Excuse me for using my name on these earlier models, I just had to!

and here she is plug n' play

We had to do an in-context picture. Although this is not a likely situation, you could use your pin in this manner if you wanted to, but in actuality we imagine it clipping together documents and papers.

Things we like about this design - The top of the pin has Keith's number and the sides have his name. This will be a good way for employers to stay in touch with him.

Keith put together this packaging for his clip. Well designed, my man.

Recyclable black craft box, nice die-cut business card - with a seat for the clothing pin to sit right into. GIVE HIM A CALL!

HIS WEBSITE Keith's Website

In Conclusion: Some of the challenges we ran into while designing the clothes pin were:

• The final pin was about 3 millimeter wider than the original pin. If we wanted to use the compression spring of the original pin we needed to cut grooves along the side for the compression spring to sit flush and not obstruct the side walls, leaving a cleaner flat design.
• The USB drive needed at least a 11mm clearance. 11mm was challenging for the aesthetic of the design - one end of the pin would be longer, leaving the other end looking like an accident. Some of the design decisions we applied to solve this issue was to make the shorter pin side thinner and trim it off at an angle. For the USB side of the design, we slanted the transition from the front of the pin to the back near the USB, creating a thinner and less obstructive look.

This design used Keith's name and my name on the side, because we wanted the employer to remember him. We plan on mass producing this concept with a simpler form. Our options now are to make it in casted in bronze or a high gloss black resin; this way it hides the thumb drive.

STAY TUNED

-Hoang

The Foundation Event ft. EARN YOUR STRIPES gear and design

Updated: This is a guest post from Hieu Pham of Moon Patrol Crew, who is a good friend of ours in Portland. The longest running bboy competition in Portland, The Foundation has always been a jam that everyone looks forward to each year. For the longest time, there was no promotion involved; the event didn't even have a name. We knew it as "Reed", since it was at Reed College in the Sellwood area, and promotions were strictly word of mouth. When the 6th competition came around, Huy Pham, my older brother, decided to start calling the event "Foundation". The reason behind the name was because it was the jam where a lot of the Portland bboys made a name for themselves. That’s what this event was always about. The money was always just a bonus.

The team up with CREATIVEsession happened because of a shirt design that sparked all kinds of ideas in my head. This was the "Earn Your Stripes" shirt, designed by the creative minds of Hoang and Anh from CREATIVEsession. I always felt that traveling was essential to the growth of a dancer. You put yourself in a completely different city, where no one knows who you are. The real challenge of this experience is to meet the standards of that scene. Win, lose, or draw, the outcome of it all is a change of perspective and a raised standard coming back home. Since a lot of Portland are younger kids that haven't had the opportunity to experience this, I decided to invite crews from outside of Portland this year. This included crews from Seattle, Texas, California, and Arizona. This was our way of bringing the travel experience to Portland.

All in all the jam went very well. People seemed to have enjoyed it, competitors and spectators alike. Music was great, very classic battles went down, and generations old and new of dancers were inspired. I was super stressed during it all, but in the end it was all worth it. Big thanks to everyone that supported and helped out with the event, especially my crew, my brother Huy Pham who was also the DJ, and my girlfriend Sereyneth who helped me throughout the entire process. BIG shoutout to CREATIVEsession for the shirt design and flyer design. See y'all next year!

Check out the final battle below:

--

So this year "The Foundation" is throwing it down at Reed College; the breakdance event is bringing competitors from all around the country to Portland, Oregon. Some of their previous guests include: SuperCr3w (ABDC champs), Skills Methodz, Massive Monkees, and many others. The event dubbed "Earn Your Stripes" will be happening on Saturday, April 9th, 2011, and doors open at 6PM.

--

Here at the CREses kitchen we're cooking up some hot flyers and posters for the event. The event will be titled "Earn Your Stripes", taking the name from one of our successful t-shirt design.

(Anh Nguyen rocking an "EARN YOUR STRIPES" shirt)

I spend a few solid days to knock the conception of the design out. I wanted to stay true to the shirts original design intent. The flyers kept the striped text - but also played up the concept a bit more by adding additional colored stripes. Hope you like:

(general layout of the post card)

(some close ups)

<(Fliers printed to fit a 8.5 x 11 sheet. Realistically it should be 5x3. )

Google Magnify

"Google magnify is our attempt at design an object removing it self of clutter. It performs one specific task & the task well." - - Anh Nguyen

Google Magnify is the latest concept to be created by Anh Nguyen. This concept began with a funny email that he had been going around the office at his work. He went up to their intern, who just happened to be from France, before realizing that he would have a tough time reading it. After a little bit of confusion, the intern just copy and pasted the entire email into Google Translate and was cracking up just like everyone else after reading it.

Then the idea started to percolate in his mind; what if there was a device which was basically a window to the world, where everything would be translated into the language of your choosing? A modern take on the magnifying glass, which hasn't been updated much in its 800 years of existence. With a flip out handle, triple cameras, and text recognition software running through the Google Translate engine, the device just needs to be held in front of any text to be translated on the spot.

Just think how helpful this would be for tourists, students abroad, even our parents; the world wouldn't seem like such a scary place with help from Google Magnify.

Earn Your Stripes

--The Story:

Yo, one word. Keith, thats the word. So we've been working hard for the last week just to get the Karmaloop's promo video ready. Even though it was tough to put together, we had enough time to get these "EARN YOUR STRIPES" shirts done.

For serious, holler at Keith via keith@creativesession.us. We're all about making shit happen. After a hectic week, we slipped in a couple hours of work to get a few CREATIVEsession shirts to pass out at the KAZBAY party.

Check out the details, you should know we love to be a part of every aspect of our designs. From designing to screen printing; whatever the endeavor is, we want to connect at all levels.

Steven came after work to see the process through. Steven is all about the business aspect of our company, we admire that he wants to understand every detail of the business from designing, printing, and to marketing.

Make sure you make it out to Atmosphere on Friday, October 15th to grab a CREATIVEsession sample shirt. We've got so much in the works. Just stay tuned.

-Hoang

Business Cards

>Designed by: Anh Nguyen ( bi ) As we're getting more established as a business, we need to be able to keep making new connections. It'll be much easier now because "WE JUST RECEIVED OUR FIRST BUSINESS CARDS!" Having lunch today in the neighborhood, we called Clubcard Printing hoping we could come in and see a finished card or two. Them cats told us we could swing by to peep.

The designs of the cards are simple, clear and concise. Drawing inspiration from credit cards, we've implemented these aesthetics in detailing our own business cards. Breaking away from traditional business cards, we've shortened the height a few millimeters in constant reminder that our cards are nearly finished. The remaining info is filled in accordingly to our situation. This emphasizes spontaneity in all art, design, and networking opportunities.

If you get one from us, you know you're special. Each card takes a little effort, and it's totally customizable. We've blessed each one personally and you'll know each card is unique. Some might have just our name, some might have our numbers, and some might even have sketches on them. We've made distributing business cards a more intimate experience, and we're looking forward to giving them out to you and making those connections.

-Steven -Hoang -Arnelle

Thought Processes

While these may just look like sketches on a lowly notepad, they're actually the beginnings of an idea. The quick sketches, the crude lines, they come together to form features; these features are constantly evolving, with new ideas coming from everyday inspirations.

It's not all business, though. Sometimes it's just to pass the time. Sometimes, we use sketching as entertainment; an outlet to really express ourselves on our own time. It can range from silly and fun to concentrated and organized. But sometimes the greatest ideas and brainstorms for our projects can come from a quick sketch session while sitting in a lecture, or just passing the time.

These ideas come, and suddenly we want to see the idea from all angles. Purpose and real life application are added in the mixture and these sketches become fully formed ideas with shape, form, and utility.

With these ideas down, the design can really turn into something beautiful, like what you see below.

Work by Anh Nguyen

-Steven

KAZBAY Collaboration T-shirt

As we get closer and closer to October 15th (Karmaloop's KAZBAY Party in SF), we thought it'd be nice to update the readers with a detailed image of what the collaboration t-shirt we made looks like in its full glory, then speak a little about the process of creating and designing it. Coming into this project, we knew that there were more than 13 brands who would be attending the party; these brands are all separate entities, but will be coming together with the same intentions: to promote brand awareness, to network, and to have a wonderful night.

It'll be a party you shouldn't sleep on.

Conception: When we first started the project, NASCAR and the massive amounts of ads that are applied to a each car came to mind, since we would be working with over 13 logos in the design; thinking of NASCAR made sense at the start.

The thought of the amounts of logos to put on a t-shirt design AND make it appealing was overwhelming. Maybe we'd have to change up our idea of how to go about this design.

We decided that NASCAR frame of mind for the design wasn't going to be attractive or appealing to pop culture, and definitely not something popular to used by the urban heads in the KAZBAH store. The question was now, "what could we use?" What popular product, vehicle, or character would suffice for this job? We dug back into our youth and the idea of Transformers came to mind - then Voltron.  Voltron is a classic figure that most of these brands could gravitate towards.

Quickly after vectorization, we realized that trying to fit the Voltron figurine on a t-shirt and have enough room to fit 13 plus logos  on it as well would be quite difficult, especially if we want each and every logo to be clear. That idea was tossed.

Then it came to me! Why not mix these logos into a nice sleeved tattoo design, but with a twist. We would use traditional japanese tattoo sleeve imagery, but mix in images that all these brands could relate to, such as things they sell; we wanted to include products like hats, shoes, ect.

The following are sketches, images and progress jpegs.

Marriage of Sound and Light

Many of the best ideas discovered are stumbled upon by accident. What we're about to show you is the epitome of that realization. In an attempt to create a completely redesigned set of speakers, Hoang and Anh of CREATIVESESSION, alongside their friend Poom Puttorngul, eventually came up with Sound Bulb.

Originally, they had planned on taking the hardware of a speaker and outfitting it in a custom design that was completely brand new and innovative. They decided that the simplicity of that was too elementary, so the idea was developed from trying to figure out the best way to make an evolved speaker that offered more than just exceptional resonance. The Sound Bulb is a seamless collision of light and sound.

The idea is that you can wirelessly stream whatever you want to either a series of synced multiple bulbs, or to a single individual bulb. For example, if you place yourself in a restaurant setting, the restaurant would have the option of playing their choice of music for all the customers, OR to make the experience more intimate and memorable, they could give the customers the freedom to stream whatever they want to the bulb installed above their table.

This concept has gotten them tons of press online, reeling in more than 30k hits on Yanko Design. It was also featured on Engadget and Gizmodo, plus if you google search "Sound Bulb", there are multiple results pages with links to sites that highlight their design.

We all dream up the most random ideas. The beauty of having people like Hoang and Anh on your team, is the fact that they can gather the accurate info and execute an actual reasonable visual manifestation of our dreams. Making our dreams into a reality within reach.

Take a close look at the photos to see how they made this idea feasible.

Beautiful isn't it?

Sneak Peek at our CRE SES Sweaters!

(note: these are on back order, new shipment should be available soon.) With the short time that we had, Anh and I put together a few designs then went over them with the crew. We chose four designs that stood out to us based on appeal, brand presentation, impression and pure awesomeness. A photo shoot will be schedule midweek or so, please stay tuned for them.

Come to the KAZBAY party to see more exclusive gear.  October 15th

Shout out to Brea & Lisa Bumanlag: Steven and I drove to see Brea and consulted with her Mom at Signscape Graphics. If you need signs or shirts made, feel free to email Lisa at lisa@signscapegraphics.com They do quick and quality work, very affordable.

Another work day, another video!

If you didn't know, we work HARD! We spend our days and nights in this apartment, providing content worthy for our clients and fans. Here's just a video of us hard at work on several different products; Anh sketching and Me (Steven) working on some blogs, social media, and some business development.

-Steven

Sony Eclipse on Yanko Design

Most of us in the design world know about YankoDesign.com; Personally, Yanko Design is one of my favorite sites to check out. They're always updating with new designs that are often very inspirational.

Yanko just published the Sony Eclipse, made by my brother and I. Check it out : http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/10/01/music-by-the-window/

UPDATE (10/2/10) : Our Sony Eclipse is the top post on the front page of Yanko Design! Check it out before it's gone!

UPDATE (10/4/10) : It's gone, but you can see it right here at this link: http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/10/01/music-by-the-window/

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Sony Eclipse

A few weeks ago, Anh and I had a chance to sit down and brainstorm some fun conceptual projects that we could whip up quickly. We like to do these quick projects often to brush up on our design thinking - but also keep our minds fresh and to spice up our portfolio. The Sony Eclipse was the result of that weekend. Like the analogy of a name - The Eclipse lives on your window and collects energy to power itself.

Watching a full solar eclipse is something that rarely happens in a lifetime, and this concept draws inspiration from such a situation.

Drawing inspiration from a solar eclipse, we designed a personal media player. The media player draws on a set of photovoltaic cells on the back panel, harnessing the power of solar energy and providing a renewable and sustainable power source that can keep the device working through the night.