Saturday, May 15, 2010

the icon range

Love it that St. Louis has an arch. Seattle has a space needle. What does Minnesota have? That #%$@ Spoonbridge! Ok, it's kind of neat to visit, but does it define our state, and our people? As a designer, clients usually want us to include that icon that represents us. A big fish? Paul Bunyan? Turns out that Ohio and Montana also think that Paul Bunyan is their icon too. He did stamp out all of the those lakes all over the country. Anyway, I spied this t-shirt at the thrift store last week. Some anonymous illustrator's take on icon-ry:
Just after I put up this post, I received this mailer from the MN Historical Society. It's done by Brett Schoonover. Super talented guy. http://www.brentschoonover.com/
Here's a close-up:


One thing about the shape of the state of Minnesota--all designers CHEAT the pointy shape on the upper right side. You always have to shorten it to fit on the page. Here's the true scale of the state:
But certianly more interesting than COLORADO! What is your favorite state shape?

1 comment:

  1. It's so funny how just a little article can send me in all sorts of directions. I saw the denim cover on Craft, so I visited the blog you have about decorating, saw the message that you had this blog, read all about your bake off (Congrats!!) and then started reading further until I got here. Now I have to comment, in novel form, because I can't do anything small.

    I'm from Michigan, so of course I think that's a pretty cool state shape and the U.P. of Michigan is truly one of the most deformed landmasses in print. Sometimes it doesn't even get included. I always feel so bad about that. I agree about Colorado.

    I googled the Spoonbridge, because I didn't know about that and yes, I have seen photos of it, but didn't know it was in MN. It doesn't define you all, you're right.

    I now live in Florida and Disney and the mouse do not define us either.

    It was great to hang out with you for an hour or so. I have an ice cream social to attend, so I have to run. Thanks!

    Kristin - The Goat

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