MANVIL

Since the mid 80′s MANVIL has had a place in its heart for a small, now defunct Swedish auto manufacturer.

Maybe the love is brought on because it was a smaller, quirky European brand with odd designs and a utilitarian nature. Perhaps the love was exacerbated due to the overbuilt, somewhat simple design that featured safety over cosmetics, and driver comfort over several aspects of style. Maybe it was the city-proof bumpers, the oddly mounted motors and transmissions, or maybe it was the place they stuck the ignition keys. Whatever it was we still love mid-80′s early 90′s Saabs.

So when one of our clients mentioned the fact that they were going to attend Sweden’s Midnight Sun Rally, we were pretty jazzed.

When we learned that one of our client’s sponsor companies was named S2AB (spell it out people) we thought that would be a great graphic and we set to work on it.

Now the Swedish auto manufacturer WE love may not run with the “masculine” symbol, but we think the MANVIL S2AB logo works pretty well displaying the love we have for Saab. We also think it works pretty well in general, with a heart that is not overbearing, but clearly visible, and in just the right font.

Clean lines, the right color and a nice solid, pronounced font. We thought that would work for any company, and we still do.

Subsequently we learned that the folks at S2AB have their own logo. We humbly ask them to reconsider it. They design and produce innovative, world leading automotive projects, we at MANVIL wish they would look the part. (But we’re biased)

Good luck Travis!

We at MANVIL have been working pretty closely with some of our new clients. (Linkwall and City Farm) And we’re being literal when we say that. The “you get one end we’ll get the other” kinda literal, because one person could do the lifting alone, but teamwork makes for light lifting. And that’s just how we like it.

As we were at it, and recognizing that Portlanders do a lot of things well, with pride and in town, we noticed that nobody really makes mention of being Portlandic. And when we say that we don’t mean passive aggressive with a grumbly voice.

In a town where we have more strip-clubs, coffee bars, brew pubs, restaurants, people who use libraries and college educated people from other states per capita, it’s time to make a shout out if you will.

Whatever it is that is made here, multi-tools, sunglasses, gloves, athletic gear, stone walls, shoe design, notebooks, or stuff with birds on it (ugh) make note. This Northwestern bastion of smart, well read, beer drinking, weirdos and provocateurs shall say aloud: We may have been raised in town, or somewhere else, but we were all assembled in Portland.

Celebrate it. The mark is right on point, but the circle is a little left of center… and maybe a little high.

A few years back MANVIL built a logo for DownForceMotoring. The client loved it, and ran with it. We liked it, they liked it, we all won, held hands and have downed a few cold ones over it.

Subsequently, the client changed their focus, and in doing so asked that the image be changed to suit DownForce Media without hacking up the previous logo that they liked so much.

OK, we’re game. We promised not to futz with the image too much. We promised to make the image something strong, and honest… of course without mussing it up.

To know the staff at DownForce, you can read into the image what you will. There aren’t any cowboys, there aren’t any eagles with talons full of arrows, but neither is the flag upside down or tattered.

We kinda like this addition to an already proud image. Go get em DownForceMedia. (Still on downforcemotoring.com)

Today MANVIL began working on a project that would hopefully add a little spice to the direction of an old friend’s pizza joint logo.

After seven years with an older graphic, we started to work on a new one for them. Something different, something that did more to promote the cool location the pizza joint is located in, and something that touched on the old graphic.

In the heart of St. John’s in North, North Portland, is a small pie hut called Signal Station Pizza. The spot used to be a SIGNAL petroleum refueling station… can you imagine?!

So the building is an old filling station which honestly, was probably a designer’s dream and the builder’s nightmare. Now it’s a hungry person’s nirvana with fresh pies coming out to order and a great beer selection. Later in the year, when the sun pops out and the outdoor seating is well underway, I intend to take a few hours off and enjoy the fine pies over a cold one. For now, we’ll keep working out this image, because it’s close, but it’s nowhere near done. Perhaps we’ll get back to it on a full stomach.

We at MANVIL can’t profess to be the most travelled souls on the planet. Sure, we’ve enjoyed some pretty wonderful treks, seen a few beautiful places, and met some really great folks, but we don’t fly for a living.

That said, we know a few folks who do travel a lot, and on the last several jaunts out and about this great nation and beyond we’ve all noticed a somewhat disturbing trend: Carry-ons as big as tractor tires jammed in and about the cabin overheads.

Sure there are those silly things at the gates that will give you an idea whether your carry on will fit in the overhead, but they’re rarely used. And when they are, the flier at hand is usually glassy eyed and standing on their recently unpacked baggage.

Curiously proud and atop the dreaded “carry on baggage guide” they plead to the staff at the gate.

“See, it fits!” They’ll state, in a weepy tone with their most favoured worldly possessions strewn out around the baggage crammed sizing contraption. The gate staff shake their heads at the soon to be carry-on-less passenger. Now the bag-less faces will flow emotions that will run the gamut from disgruntled and confused to still drunk and blurrily resentful.

A purse, a fanny pack, OK. A briefcase or a small back-pack, we can agree with. But a duffel bag the size of manatees midsection? Get the hell out of here. That’s why we’re proposing this to the good people at Virgin America, who are opening a new flight path from LAX, and SFO to Portland’s PDX: Keep Calm: No Carry On.

If the gal at check-in can’t lift it above her head with ease… it goes underneath. You’re flying Virgin America, hayseed. If you need a big bag to prove your worth, you’ve chosen the wrong airline. Virgin isn’t a cattle car, nor is it a school bus. This, sir/madam, is a limo in the sky for beautiful people to mingle in. It has nothing to do with punching nylon into an overhead until it fits.

We are a luxuriously appointed staff, crew and cabin that make getting from point A to point B a delight… and carrying a bag through the airport, any airport, is not luxurious. So leave the bags to us, enjoy the flight and we’ll let you have your baggage back when you leave. We’re kinda like the psychiatrist in the sky you know you’ve needed for a long, long time.

Of course there are drawbacks for MANVIL in this plan… we’d need to win BIG with the good folks at Poker.dk in order to afford that grand flight to the UK this summer! But it never hurts to dream, does it Sir Richard.

Months ago we produced a hoodie and tees for a longtime client, Pete Wilson Stoneworks. We went to our usual high-end production facility (OSI) and the results were awesome, but we took one risk. We went for another type of hoodie from our usual apparel vendor. (SANMAR) They SWORE the new hoodies were thicker, better built and warmer. We took a risk and so did the client. We bought a new, unproven garment.

It proved amazingly successful. The Sport-Tek F281: 13 ounces of heft, warmth and precision built hoodie. They’re not cheap, in price AND durability, but they rocked it this year for the boys on the lines who build Portland’s best drystack walls. But then comes the real dilemma, supply and demand.

Apparently a lot of Americans like the idea of a long lasting, thick, totally warm pull-overs. Especially in the Pacific Northwest, where damp can be the norm. When we went back to produce a second round of the now favored F281 hoodies, there were no black hoodies to be seen in the entire US. Which turned into a problem for me. What color next?

Seriously, this is a great thing for Sport-Tek, but it leaves me hanging when the client considers reprinting. After thought amongst the ranks, it was decided that Red would be a good replacement color.

There is no problem with Red as a hoodie color. The problem is contrasting colors on the graphic. It needs to be seen or the point of the hoodie is made useless. So I’ll try to pass this on to my client, and we’ll see how it’s received. Who knows, the hoodie is a great color, which gets seen and is therefor useful for more than simply marketing reasons. Maybe they’ll put me on the safety committee.

At MANVIL, even before we were an actual company, we were making the graphics for the Rusty Iron. The enjoyment we derived from the experience helped to form MANVIL, so we are glad we could put it together back then. We are priveleged and excited to do it again this year.

With the advent of last years lovingly rendered and really fun “tiki” graphic we decided to retouch the original event graphic. The logo for the event itself: The Rusty Iron.

On this, the 15th year of the running of the race, which is the first race in the Pacific Northwest Outrigger Canoe Racing Association’s schedule, MANVIL chose to make the event image the focal point. MANVIL didn’t name the race the Rusty Iron, but the graphic easily references the name, and anybody would see that the shadow of the iron makes the outrigger canoe. For this year we are considering putting a Warhol effect to the image, but those plans are still out for review by the clients.

We thought we’d throw it out there for review from site visitors as well. If you like the image, let us know. If not, let us know. Maybe you tell your friends and get their take on it. If anybody has problems with the distressed image looking a bit worn and cliché, also let us know. This design will be reviewed, and if it all works out, maybe we can front you an event shirt. (No Promises)

Cheers to all, maybe we’ll see you at the races.

Here at MANVIL, we’ve had the great opportunity to work some pretty hands-on jobs. Anybody who’s seen prior work will see that Pete Wilson Stoneworks has been a major player in MANVIL’s work. We love working with Pete and his crew, and we like the feeling of a hard day of work making the city of Portland a better looking place.

So it comes as little surprise that when our client Link-Wall came a calling, we were excited to help. Simple enough in concept, yet thoroughly researched and supported by actual engineering math, the Link-Wall product is getting the ball rolling for some handsome, stout, structurally sound soil retention.

As graphics go, the product speaks for itself: thick, simple and effective. Our hat goes off to the designer and fabricator, a good friend and supporter of Soapbox. How could we not accept the challenge?!

Our hat is off to the Link-Wall project! Efficient, adaptable and good looking is not and easy product to put forth unless it has been thought out thoroughly. Cheers guys!

Some weeks sit well in our consciousness, and thankfully this is one of them. We’re not really a touchy feely design squad. We like things pretty straight forward, with little drama, and almost a little heavy handed simplicity.

A client of ours came to us with two great needs. Graphics for a guy who does big metal, and graphics for his own substantial ideas. And when the starting gun was off, we were off to the races and glad for it.

Jack Jones Designs produces objects a lot more substantial than the UK clothier of the same name. Think molten metal, pounding hammers and  sweaty toil as opposed to twee British picnic table plaid light cotton shirts.

MANVIL loves this graphic, with a font so strong it sides every highway, and an image so stout it’ll hold a tanker in place with cold, solid precision. Here’s to you Jack Jones Design, solidworks has a new meaning.

Olive drab is a funny color. For some, it’s the costume de rigueur, for others it’s all about the fashion sense. For the folks at MANVIL, it’s easy to keep clean, looks good, and as long as the shirt isn’t falling to pieces… we’ll wear it.

Once a client is keen on it, we’re in with both feet, so when Kolorwerx had an inclination to move towards an olive colored workshirt for staff, we jumped on it.

Behold a brave shot at the Kolorwerx tees. Pronouncing the bosses’ car color (No neither Holden, Vauxhall or Pontiac ever made an Olive G8, nor Commodore) The vehicle is wrapped entirely in matte olive vinyl. (And yes, it looks awesome and like factory paint.)

Cheers to all, the car is a great sight, and the shirts will look rad too!