Meet Alan

Beautiful people making beautiful work. Raindrop is full of talented and creative characters. Just Raindrop Things is a new blog series where we feature our Raindroppers.
Get to know your designer, Alan!  

What is your favorite brand and why?

I really like the apparel brand Mitchell & Ness, moreso for the type of products they offer than for their own visual identity. Mitchell & Ness specializes in clothing for retro sports brands, which in and of itself is an area I have a lot of interest in. For any organization or individual, a lot of history is stored in the visual identities of the past; that’s something that Mitchell & Ness celebrates. Most people close to me know I have an extensive hat collection – a lot of them are made by M&N and feature retro sports brands that I love!

What are your top 5 favorite logo designs?

Such a difficult question – I have a special appreciation for sports logos, and there are a lot of great ones to choose from. Here’s 5 of my favorites in no particular order: The NHL’s Minnesota Wild is an easy contender for the sheer amount of content that’s elegantly fit into one logo. It’s hard not to love a brand that slowly tells a story, letting your eyes discover all the small, deliberate elements of the Minnesota wilderness that coalesce into a fierce bear’s head.     Sticking with hockey, I’d be remiss not to include what might be one of the most perfect logos ever. The NHL’s now-defunct Hartford Whalers’ brilliant use of negative space highlight the team’s initialism while perfectly tying in a playful whale’s tail. Simple, sweet, bold, perfect.       With all the money, competitiveness, and media attention that professional sports bring, it can be easy to forget the feeling of being a kid with your eyes glued to the screen. This logo used from 1968-1993 by the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks harkens back to that spirit of youth, featuring an endlessly endearing cartoon buck that makes you want to hit the court with your friends as much as watch the game.     Couldn’t make it through this list without some San Diego love! The Padres’ original logo featuring the swingin’ Friar is vintage San Diego – a celebration of America’s Finest City’s uniqueness and charm. Sadly, the Padres’ visual identity has become muddled and generic as time has passed. However, its foundation remains strong, wrapped in colors exclusive to just a few teams in all the US. Bring back the Brown and Gold!     Making its way onto the list by virtue of sheer cleverness is this classic logo used from 1978–1993 by the Milwaukee Brewers. Fun and instantly recognizable, this logo provides a satisfying “aha!” moment when you first notice the “MB” initialism, the baseball mitt – or both!

   

If you had to describe yourself using three words, they would be…

Mellow, Kind, Risible

Word around the office is that you’re a pretty good disc golf player, mind telling us about how you got into the sport?

I discovered disc golf while hanging out with my friend Jeff – he played in high school and I noticed a stack of old discs in his garage. We went to play Morley Field here in San Diego and I was hooked! It’s a great sport, perfectly blending competition against yourself and against your peers. It also has an awesome community and offers an avenue to meeting people from many different walks of life. I’ve met two of my closest friends while playing disc golf and have a great group of guys I play with regularly!

If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?

Something I’ve lamented as an adult is that there’s never enough time to really enjoy the creative endeavors of others. There’s such an endless catalogue of great art in so many different mediums that it’s impossible to see everything in one lifetime – let alone give it all the time and analysis deserved. I’m very much a person who enjoys movies, shows, and books more the second time around; it allows for a better and deeper appreciation of the foreshadowing, symbology, and themes of the story. So if I had extra time, I might like to both experience more new art as well as re-experience stories I love.