Case and point: Horizon Fire’s ’09 Touring Poster.

We’ll readily admit, we didn’t make the image on the left, someone else did. Someone with great skill and a good eye. We applaud them, and if they get their shorts in a bind that we have that image up, well then we’ll take it down. What MANVIL set out to do was to make that image entirely scale-able with Illustrator, and let us just say, it’s a pain in the arse to do it.

Lettering and shadowing, that can be done easily enough. Where illustrator makes the deal tough is in the projection of depth, the implied photo realism. Oh, we could have taken days on this and made it even better with 200 layers of shading and whatnot, but the challenge we set to ourselves was to put it together with fewer than 30 layers. Inevitable there are folks out there who can make it better looking. Innevitably we could have spent a week on this.

We had a day to play so we went for it. And we like it. (Some could do it faster as well, but they might not have had so much fun)

We looked for other work that the Horizon Fire poster might have been influenced by and found these.

Take a look at these General Dynamics annual report covers designed by the Eric Nitsche, we found them on Hyperakt‘s site. If you look closely, you can see where the relatively simple graphic might have gotten some ideas for depth. Beautiful images.

Hat’s off to General Dynamics. For a mammoth defense contractor, turning to Nitsche was a pretty cool and inspired idea. 

When we saw what Icon 4X4 was doing with their BR series, we were stunned. The BR is an all new build on one of America’s greatest four wheelers, the Ford Bronco. And it appears that they have the blessing of Henry’s company, so the project might just keep rolling on infinitely.

Not only do we have fond memories of the Bronco from our youth, the Bronco remains the only four wheel drive vehicle our dad might have bought… had we lived somewhere that would have allowed for off-road adventure.

Practicality. That’s what kept the family in wood paneled wagons as opposed to the first generation SUVs.

And on that note of practicality we submit this to the great designers at Icon: The Icon BR4. We like the looks of it. Good strong lines, room for 5 and if it were up to us, a 6 speed tranny with a little Tdi to keep the ownership costs down.

No matter what you think of it, take a look at Icon. They build great machines and deserve the recognition, and these days stand out work is good to see.

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!

Ford sent an e-mail today asking about what our first remembrances were about any Ford product.

Back in the day, at least in the last century, the fam had a Ford. Sure, it was a land yacht, but it had its purpose, and gas was cheap. You could run that old wagon with an enormous V-8 easily and quietly, comfortably cruising on America’s vast network of (then) well kept highways.

The idea of a 2 ton station wagon these days conjures an image of a big 5 series BMW or 300+ Benz, but in the late 60′s things of  such girth were American wagons. Wagons of fantastic size and remarkable abilities.

The Ford Country Squire and its ilk: The gargantuan lead sleds of old.

They were what there was for a family of 6 or more. They were what filled the lanes and parking lots of malls before the mini-van, with its anemic front wheel drive powered by four cylinders showed up.

In the late 60′s there were some predecessors to the SUV, but why would one bother buying that kind of rig when a wagon had all the clearance you needed for snow and light off-roading. Apparently we as Americans were once able to drive with just rear-wheel drive. What happened to that skill set?

Need to tow something? Those bloated, ladder-on-frame bastards could drag a Church uphill.

Some even came with manual transmissions for mom’s who had the wherewithal to bring home the bacon AND fry it up in the pan.

So what changed? Where did it all go so sideways?

Well, we changed a lot. We changed  the way we drive, the way we protect our environment, children, selves and ultimately, beyond our control the price of fuel changed.

As kids, we at MANVIL can recall being able to stand up and almost play tennis in the very back of our family’s big Country Squire. You could open a board game entirely in the vast expanse of the aft end, or you could pull out (with some effort) the hidden ‘rear tail-gunners” seat. The seat alone probably weighed 100 lbs.

So what does this all mean to the regular goings-on at MANVIL? Nothing. At times it’s just nice to wax nostalgic about the past. We have fond memories, and sometimes that’s what it takes to keep the ball rolling.

And in fairness, I’m not sure I’d want to drive a manual transmission in a rig that size. Clutches are expensive.

We’ve worked with them on graphics as well as in the field. They’re a quality organization, and they love to get in the dirt in order to build rain gardens, bio-swales and hardscapes.

When we got word that they were in support of Portland’s Grey to Green initiative, which promotes bio-swales and whatnot, we were excited. Educating people on what a rain garden does is a relatively simple task, if you can literally talk to the people, but business doesn’t allow for dropping everything to chat with any looky-loo who walks by.

SRG had an idea for that, and they turned to MANVIL for the result. We put together a small graphic that can be left visible and on site in order to explain the benefits of rain gardens to people.

Now if folks have any curiosity, they can turn to the placard and figure out what they’re looking at.

We think the graphic covers the bases pretty well with a description of exactly what the rain garden does without going overboard on what it looks like. It comes in dirty on the top left side and leaves nice and clean, even when it’s still raining.

Way to go Stormwater Resource Group… now figure some other time to stop and chat. (Maybe next week they’ll hire us to refresh their site.)

As time passed, the client’s excitement for the idea waned, but the ball was rolling at MANVIL and we liked the possibilities. The plans for the cards had them made on coaster type material.

We liked it in concept, but the idea of motorcycle riders using bike themed coasters to nestle their beers in probably didn’t pass muster with the legal department. And although we can’t fault legal for finding issue with drinking and riding, (They should not mix, ever.) ee are a little bummed that the plan was nixed.

We think the cards look pretty damned nice, and we also like the idea of knowing your motorcycle types. As time permits, these might become MANVIL Cards Version R62 for our two wheel riding friends.

Let us know if you can suggest any motorcycles that deserve to be a part of the Motorcycle Icon series. We’ll look into the production possibilities.

The 2011 Jaguar XKR: A savage in a Seville Row suit

In an age when almost every manufacturer is trying to make a crossover Jaguar has designed the new, very non-crossover XKR to do one thing: inspire passionate driving.

Like the sidelines at a Milan catwalk, there are no bad angles to look at with the XKR. The front end is a testament to speed heritage; smooth, lightly adorned and muscular with the renowned ovoid grill that has been on fast Jags since the 60’s.

The rear is a broad-hipped swath of sculpture with a small blip of a spoiler and tail lamps that float over the four exhaust ports. Those ports ring like the bells of Saint Andrew’s when the hammer is dropped, but more on that later.

The lines from the hood to the tail are the kind of curvaceous visage that some manufacturers have simply chosen to give up on. And rightfully so, because it seems that Ian Callum and his cadre of Jag designers may well have raised the bar far beyond reach. To make the car more drop-dead gorgeous would be near impossible.

A priest seen driving the XKR would be excommunicated for impure thoughts long before the church knew the coffers were bare. It is that good looking.

The interior is no slouch either. Lavishly awash in double-stitched leather and smoothly varnished wood, with hints of brushed aluminum and chromed dials, the layout is as one might expect for a rear wheel drive coupe of this status. Everything is at arms reach, and everything is plainly available, in the finest fashion.

The zinc and stainless steel, periscope-like shifter knob sits center, forward of the armrest. The center stack provides the infotainment and A/C controls all combined into the touch-control screen. Curiously, there are still A/C dials for those who don’t care to use the touch screen to change their zone temperature.

Sitting behind the heated steering wheel, with ample headroom thanks to the 10-way adjustable heated seats, the feeling of luxury consumes the driver. One feels enveloped, almost coddled, but not confined in some firm leather throne. That sense of opulence continues unrelenting, until the ‘Start’ button is depressed.

510 HP. These days it really isn’t all that much power. There are lots of vehicles that tout 500+ horses, but the Jag’s Supercharged V-8 provides more than a hammer blow to the backside, it provides a cavalcade to the senses. The tone of the XKR while revving the engine would shoo an angry bear.

Inside the cabin, a tweak of the very responsive accelerator takes the already warming, heavy burble of the exhaust and skyrockets the throaty rhythm to reveal the engine’s secret. One feels so comfortable inside the cabin of the XKR that that kind of exclamation sends a smile across the driver’s face as opposed to a chill up their spine.

While idling in park the exhaust mumbles quietly as a sound of refined restraint. It is the look of the beauty as she sees she could easily slay all of those around her. Press the arch of a loafer deeply into the gas pedal and all that power is sent directly to the gates, howling wildly, only to be controlled, and sensibly so, by the anti-skid/traction control system and Jaguar’s Active Differential Control. With 510 horses on tap in a rear-wheel drive package in rainy Portland, nobody wants to show off a beautiful car by spinning it out at an intersection or on an off-ramp.

The electric nanny controls the tumult of power to the rear wheels with great ease, and even under very heavy acceleration in very wet conditions the XKR was a blast to drive.

The svelte coupe felt light and nimble in the corners. The steering almost begged to be played with as the cat carved rounds and pushed hard through spaces where fun could be cut from the tedium of Portland’s west hills. It seems that only fools and racetracks might approach the limits of her capabilities.

The lithe two door absolutely ate up pavement, leaving little in the rear-view but objects getting smaller, rapidly. And then the XKR did something only a Jag could do. When it was time to drive like an upstanding citizen, it rode like a Jag.

Not only did the XKR drive like a Jag, with comfort, panache and manners, it did so while whispering silently as though it was trying to hide its real intent. Driving through town the interior noise level was miniscule. Over muddled pavement, rail trestles, and construction sites the loudest noise in the car was a back seat A/C blower, and it was whisper silent.

So maybe Jaguar does build a crossover after all. In the XKR they’ve managed to cross the sublime handling and unrepentant, loin shaking power of a super car with the good looks and sophistication of a two-door luxury tourer.

If you’re in the market for a car that can flex its lithe and extraordinary muscles while dressed in a Savile Row suit, feel free to call Dave Soots at Monte Shelton Jaguar. (503) 224-3232

Initially we saw them as a means to educate kids and perhaps rehabilitate traumatic brain injury sufferers. We haven’t changed the goal, we’ve just continued producing the designs like we had the money to get the flashcard company off the ground, which we don’t, but that’s not important right now.

What is important is that our NEXT series of cards will be Series Sw. 625: Musical Instruments Flashcards.

Why would somebody need these? We’d venture to guess that in some venues, if a roadie were to hand the lead guitarist a Les Paul Custom as opposed to a Flying V or vice-versa, said roady would spend the rest of the evening wandering the streets back to their home, jobless.

Fight unemployment for America’s future Road Travelling Band Support Teams: Let your kid know the difference between a Gibson and another Gibson, or an oboe and a kazoo, or maybe  snare drum and a washboard.

You wouldn’t want to be the one who asks your kid to go get the cowbell only to have them return with the triangle. (And what the hell are you doing with a triangle anyway? Who are you, Martin Short?)

Anyway, that’s why we’re moving forward in Series Sw. 625: Musical Instrument Flashcards.

Those of you out there who are curious about the naming of this product can take the time and listen to the only redeaming track from Def Leppard’s Euro/butt-rock extravaganza High N’ Dry. Enjoy!

While watching Mad Men a few weeks back we were taken by the response of one of the characters Layne Pryce (played by Jared Harris) to an affront made by a wise-assed Pete Campbell. (played by Vincent Kartheiser)

After the younger upstart Campbell insults the very proper Mr. Pryce with a series of ‘off the cuff’ verbal jabs, Mr. Pryce turns the tables asunder by preparing to stuff those jabs back down Campbell’s throat manually.

In a curiously formal and very respectful invitation, as shirt sleeves are being rolled and blood levels are being raised, we see Layne Pryce: Englishman, rope towwer, and Financial Director turn to the last thing we thought we’d see from him, a serious and visceral response to an insult. Apparently there are some things that truly can’t wash off a ducks back. Sometimes they must be knocked off with force.

In the scene that followed the wise-assed Campbell is shut down quickly and with certainty. His quick wit and sassy banter proving unable to defend himself against the focussed jabs and longer arms of the bean-counter Pryce.

So we put this little image together and worked in an amalgum of one of Dave Chappelle’s lines for the Wayne Brady sketch, which is not at all safe for work or kids, but it is funny as hell.

So here’s to old time solutions to problems, may they be faced with a willingness to roll up one’s sleeve and get down to business… with all the energy, but less of the pugilism.