Keep Calm Detroit
Trademarked by Sean Gray (2008)
In the fall of 2007, my friend Sean Gray came to the shop with a little gift for me. It was a reproduction of the Keep Calm and Carry On poster that the British Ministry of Information printed during World War II. Mind you, this was before it showed up on every design blog on the planet and used for all sorts of merchandise, from floor rugs to band-aids and lip balm. I loved it, I framed it for myself, and I ordered a half-dozen more from the UK to sell at the shop.
In the spring of 2008, Sean shared his own spin on this idea for Detroit. In his mock-up he replaced the royal crown insignia with the Spirit of Detroit icon. "Do you think these would sell?" I thought it was brilliant -- clever idea, great timing. A global recession and Detroit's mayoral scandal were underway, and Detroiters were dragging. YES, let's absolutely make and sell 'em, I said.
I bugged him about it over the next six months, and then in August he agreed we should make posters and t-shirts to sell at Bureau of Urban Living. I referred him to the awesome Detroit screenprinter, The Highway Press, and I went to work on the graphic. I chose a font and typesetting to approximate the original, and then I enlisted the help of the talented Jamica Ingram to recreate the Spirit of Detroit icon pixel by pixel. All we had was a lo-res image we ganked from the interwebs, so we needed something better for large scale reproduction. (Jamica and I fussed over that damn spirit for days.)
Trademarked by Sean Gray (2008)
In the fall of 2007, my friend Sean Gray came to the shop with a little gift for me. It was a reproduction of the Keep Calm and Carry On poster that the British Ministry of Information printed during World War II. Mind you, this was before it showed up on every design blog on the planet and used for all sorts of merchandise, from floor rugs to band-aids and lip balm. I loved it, I framed it for myself, and I ordered a half-dozen more from the UK to sell at the shop.
In the spring of 2008, Sean shared his own spin on this idea for Detroit. In his mock-up he replaced the royal crown insignia with the Spirit of Detroit icon. "Do you think these would sell?" I thought it was brilliant -- clever idea, great timing. A global recession and Detroit's mayoral scandal were underway, and Detroiters were dragging. YES, let's absolutely make and sell 'em, I said.
I bugged him about it over the next six months, and then in August he agreed we should make posters and t-shirts to sell at Bureau of Urban Living. I referred him to the awesome Detroit screenprinter, The Highway Press, and I went to work on the graphic. I chose a font and typesetting to approximate the original, and then I enlisted the help of the talented Jamica Ingram to recreate the Spirit of Detroit icon pixel by pixel. All we had was a lo-res image we ganked from the interwebs, so we needed something better for large scale reproduction. (Jamica and I fussed over that damn spirit for days.)
Sean paid to print a limited run of 200 posters, and later t-shirts bearing the same design. I put together a website and pitched to Model D and WDET and others. We started selling them at Bureau in the fall of 2008.
What I loved most about the posters was the conversations they sparked with customers -- sometimes sad stories of illness or job loss, other times hopeful anecdotes about faith and fortitude. Sean gave me some extras that I framed and gave to retailers and restaurants around town, and the response was really wonderful. It was nice to see his idea resonate with so many people.
Sean and I would eventually have a falling out, which sadly meant the end of my association with the project. But I will always be proud of my involvement. It was a good message for a hard time.
