[ Music ]
[ Michael Bierut: ] Ladies and
gentlemen, welcome to Memphis.
Welcome to season two of "Command
X: The Graphic Design Reality Show,"
where we will pick the next
great graphic designer.
I'm Michael Bierut, your host.
I'll be leading the proceedings as
we go through the next few days,
whittling down the next few
contestants to one lucky person.
Presented by our fine sponsors, Neenah
Paper, our supporting sponsors Fonts.com
by Monotype Imaging, and iStockphoto.
Thanks to these sponsors we will present on
this stage, seven young designers who will take
on a series of design challenges
throughout the conference.
The design projects they will
deal with will bring up problems
of identity, object, experience design.
It is all about creativity and
courage, as Al Bell told us,
and you're gonna see it writ large here
on the stage with our seven contestants.
But first allow me to introduce
our esteemed panel of judges.
First, from the design firm Number
17, I introduce Bonnie Siegler.
Please welcome her.
[ Applause ]
Next, bon vivant, man about
town, Charles "Chip" Kidd.
[ Applause ]
From the office of Paul Sahre,
please welcome Mr. Paul Sahre.
[ Applause ]
And finally this evening, we have a special
guest judge for the very first challenge,
the vice president/director
of Worldwide Licensing
for Elvis Presley Incorporated,
please welcome Carol Butler.
[ Applause ]
Are you ready?
Out of 80 young designers, our
judges have selected seven to compete
for the following fabulous prizes.
$1,000 in cash.
But wait, there's more.
There's more.
The Adobe CS4 Design Premium, a $1,799 value.
A complete set of priceless limited edition
Punc't posters provided by Neenah Paper.
An iPhone, you know those
things, with the Think Ink:
Color Unleashed application,
provided by Neenah Paper.
And a Monotype Library Open Type
Edition provided by Fonts.com
and Monotype Imaging: 1,033
fonts, a $3,499 value.
There's a lot at stake here.
Only one contestant walks off with the big
prize, so let's meet our seven contestants
and we'll look at their winning
portfolios as they join us on the stage.
First, please extend a warm welcome to,
from Elmont, New York, Mr. Matthew Carl.
Next say hello to, from San
Francisco, Mr. Ryan Fitzgibbon.
From Brooklyn, New York, Bobby Genalo.
From Lewisville, Texas, John Graziano.
You know, now that I think about it, I wish
that the women had sent better portfolios.
No, I'm just kidding.
From Silver Spring, Maryland,
Alison Yard Medland.
From Wheaton, Illinois, Monina Velarde.
And finally, from Chicago,
Illinois, Ms. Katherine Walker.
Each contestant was given the same assignment.
Let's get to it right now.
One week ago they received the following
invitation, was to design a new logo
for Graceland, the home of Elvis
Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll.
There's the current logo, a fine
piece of work, if you ask me.
But like anything else, like anything else,
I think it might be possible to improve it.
We make no guarantees, but let's see what
happens if we do a design exploration.
Keep the following things in mind, we told
these seven, the logos can be used on everything
from tickets to T-shirts, belt buckles to
signage, has to work small, has to work big.
Ten feet tall, just like Stefan said.
The contestants were invited
to include other words
like Elvis Presley or they
can just use Graceland.
They can say Graceland, home of Elvis
Presley, or Elvis Presley's Graceland
or Elvis Graceland Presley or Presley the Elvis
guy from Graceland, any combination thereof.
Let's see how creative they got with that.
They didn't have to use a
photograph, but they could.
They didn't have to use an
illustration, but they could.
And finally they were can asked to consider
the culture of Memphis, consider the culture
of Elvis Presley, celebrity rock
'n' roll daddy of Graceland itself.
This is the logo for a fan destination,
it needs to be appropriate for that world.
So, we will now see what our
contestants came up with.
So I'll invite each one of them in
turn to the center stage microphone.
They will present their work to you.
This ain't Design 101 anymore, back in school.
This is a big impressive auditorium with some
tough but sympathetic and friendly-looking faces
out there that really want you to succeed.
[ Laughter ]
And judges that are pushovers, total pushovers
over there, so you have nothing to worry about.
Matthew, we'll start with you.
Please come up and tell us about your proposal.
[ Matthew Carl: ] Hi.
Before I get started I just want to say
that I'm honored just to be considered,
included in this group of
six other great designers,
and they're all great designers
and also great people.
So just to start with my logo, I started --
I wanted to make an icon that could work with
the Graceland logotype but also work by itself,
so it could work on a belt
buckle, it could work on a T-shirt,
it could work on a banner just by itself.
And I used the G clef as inspiration.
And just to add a little bit of
flourish, I curved it up on top to mimic,
you know, Elvis's iconic pompadour.
And also to add a little flair, I drew some
inspiration from his jumpsuits that he wore
in the Vegas years, and I pulled a pattern
and I put that around the outside just to kind
of give it a little more bling
and a little more Elvis to it.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Bling, indeed.
Judges, any observations or comments?
[ Applause ]
Paul?
[ Paul Sahre: ] You mentioned that's a G clef.
[ Matthew Carl: ] Oh, it's inspired by G clef.
It's based on it and I made it look a
little more like a G 'cause the G clef --
[ Paul Sahre: ] I'm just checking.
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] I'm not
sure this says Elvis so much.
I didn't get the pompadour thing,
I definitely didn't see that.
[ Matthew Carl: ] It's a
subtle thing, that you get it.
It's not just about Elvis, it's also
about Graceland and also about Memphis,
so Memphis is about music and Graceland
is about music 'cause Elvis wrote
so many great songs there and
he recorded so many songs there,
so it's about music, it's about Elvis.
It's about everything.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Bonnie,
you're being too literal.
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] I'm sorry?
[ Michael Bierut: ] Think bigger, Bonnie.
Not the literal.
[ Laughter ]
[ Chip Kidd: ] So you'd really want to
walk around with a T-shirt with that on it?
[ Matthew Carl: ] Yes, I do.
[ Laughter ]
[ Michael Bierut: ] Carol, anything to add?
[ Carol Butler: ] I like it.
I think I'm really pleased that he
brought the jumpsuit element into it.
I mean, that's nice and that's
thoughtful that he did that.
He's done some homework, and I enjoyed
that, seeing that in there as well.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Thank you, Carol.
[ Matthew Carl: ] Thanks.
[ Michael Bierut: ] And thank you, Matthew.
[ Applause ]
Next up, Ryan Fitzgibbon.
[ Applause ]
[ Ryan Fitzgibbon: ] So, thanks
for the lovely introduction.
I just wanted to send happy birthday to Matt.
It's his birthday today.
[ Applause ]
So my solution, I took the over-the-top flair
of Vegas and introduced it to the fluid form
of the Graceland gates, which
was my main inspiration.
The opening motion of it invites you into
Graceland and reveals an E in the negative space
that reminds you that you're in the
home of the great Elvis Presley.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Very good.
Judges, comments?
[ Applause ]
[ Chip Kidd: ] Two words: Love.
It.
[ Applause ]
[ Michael Bierut: ] Carol?
[ Carol Butler: ] It's beautiful
and I totally get it because,
of course, that's where I work every day.
The gates are beautiful.
The light element also brings in Vegas.
You've also done some homework.
It's a beautiful logo, it really is.
[ Michael Bierut: ] It also
reminds me of the lights
in the Comeback show too,
the big stage production.
Nice job. Thank you, Ryan.
[ Applause ]
So next up we have Bobby Genalo.
[ Bobby Genalo: ] Hi.
Hello. When I began the logo, I wanted to focus
on three themes: decadence, music and reverence.
The typeface, I actually was lucky
enough to have it donated to me
by a guy named Hubert Jocham in Germany.
And from the typeface, I found a lot of
decadence and that kind of inspired the body
of the guitar, which I was able to
manipulate into two E's mirrored,
if you look at it vertically, which I
was told we can't do, but that's fine.
What else?
So, also I loved how simple it was,
and I thought that a black-and-white
logo would really bring out, you know,
really bring out simplicity and
the reverence that I was going for.
[ Michael Bierut: ] It does work sideways.
I can testify to that even if
no else has the agility to.
Judges, comments?
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] I think it's really elegant
and surprising that that foofiness works.
I think it's because of the guitar.
If the guitar wasn't there, it would be
too feminine, but because of the lines
of the guitar, it's really sweet.
I like it.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Paul?
[ Paul Sahre: ] As you mentioned
it's a custom font.
You further customized it, correct?
[ Bobby Genalo: ] Yeah, I
adjusted some of the flourishes.
It actually, I sought this font out.
It's way too expensive for me to purchase, so
I contacted the typeface designer in Germany
and I was like, hey, I love your work.
Here's my deal.
And he's, like, that's great,
plug me in wherever you can.
[ Michael Bierut: ] And the
name of that designer again?
[ Bobby Genalo: ] Hubert Jocham.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Hubert
Jocham, if you require typefaces
from Germany, Hubert Jocham's your man.
[ Applause ]
[ Paul Sahre: ] Has he named the typeface yet?
I'm just curious.
[ Bobby Genalo: ] Yes, I think
it's -- I might butcher it.
I think it's Narizz.
[ Paul Sahre: ] Oh, that helps.
[ Bobby Genalo: ] N-A-R-I-Z-Z, maybe.
[ Paul Sahre: ] That definitely creates a very
specific picture in my mind now, thank you.
[ Laughter ]
[ Carol Butler: ] It's a very nice
logo, I get the guitar right away.
I picked that up on it, which we always like
to see, and it's very graceful, elegant,
which we think Graceland is, and I like it.
It's a little bit hard to read, but
I really like the gracefulness of it.
It's very nice.
[ Bobby Genalo: ] Thanks.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Thank you.
Thank you, Bob.
[ Applause ]
John Graziano.
[ John Graziano: ] Hello.
So I noticed with the original logo
they showed us that a lot of times
when it was being applied, the illustration
was taken away and it was simply used as type.
'Cause there wasn't enough pressure already, I
challenged myself to just do a type solution.
So this is about how Graceland is really just
like a container, it holds Elvis's personality
and it's his big charismatic personality
that really makes Graceland what it is.
[ Michael Bierut: ] And the E is right where?
[ John Graziano: ] In the middle.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Exactly,
mathematically, in the middle.
Well done.
Yeah, Chip?
[ Laughter ]
[ Chip Kidd: ] Well, I think
this is a good start.
I would say that sometimes our first
idea is not always our best idea.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Ooh.
Paul, step up there.
[ Paul Sahre: ] I'd just like to
follow that up with a question.
What kind of -- you didn't talk about,
you know, how this communicates.
You know you didn't really mention any kind of
like a feeling that this is supposed to elicit.
I mean, what were you going for?
[ John Graziano: ] I looked at a lot of '50s
signage, which is when Elvis acquired Graceland.
I was going for that initial,
like, fun, youthful energy.
[ Paul Sahre: ] But a '50s feel, yeah?
[ John Graziano: ] Yeah.
[ Paul Sahre: ] Okay.
[ Carol Butler: ] Well, you know what I noticed
right away is the E and it jumps out at you.
But you know Elvis by his closest
friends was called E a lot of times,
and I don't know if you knew that,
but it really jumps out in the logo.
And it does shout Elvis to me because we know
him and his friends know him as E, at times.
[ Michael Bierut: ] I just
think it's a miracle it's right
in the middle with four on either side.
It's a miracle.
How'd you do that?
Well done.
Okay, thank you very much, John.
[ Applause ]
Alison.
[ Alison Yard Medland: ] Hi.
So, the inspiration for my logo
is the headstock of a guitar.
I wanted to communicate something that
felt glamorous, which I think, you know,
the Vegas Elvis is very glamorous,
but also spoke to the rock 'n' roll blues
musical phenomenon that was happening
in the '50s, which Elvis was,
you know, an enormous part of.
So I chose a typeface that was bold
and sans serif and a bit condensed,
which is all over the music
albums of the '50s, so...
[ Paul Sahre: ] Chip, you're in a band.
Did you see guitar?
[ Chip Kidd: ] I didn't see guitar,
but I think it doesn't matter.
I think this is very elegant.
It's very beautiful.
I think the only question that I have is that,
it doesn't say, like, 1976 super tacky at all,
which is just something you might --
[ Alison Yard Medland: ] Is
that a good thing, do you think?
[ Chip Kidd: ] I'm sorry, what?
[ Alison Yard Medland: ] Is
that a good thing, right?
[ Chip Kidd: ] I think it's a good thing.
[ Laughter ]
Definitely, yes.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Bonnie?
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] I think it's really it's
both strong and delicate at the same time,
which I like, but I definitely
didn't see the guitar at all either.
I thought it was a comb at the bottom.
[ Michael Bierut: ] All the better.
[ Alison Yard Medland: ] Interesting.
Well, that works too, right,
the Elvis hair thing?
[ Paul Sahre: ] We can actually see
logos down here so I just noticed that.
This is gonna be much more comfortable now.
You know, for me, there's such a disconnect
between what's going on with the typography
and what's going on with the rest of it.
I wish there was some formal meeting there.
[ Carol Butler: ] I might disappoint
everybody, but I really love this logo.
[ Applause ]
[ Alison Yard Medland: ] Thank you.
[ Carol Butler: ] You know,
this is where I work.
This is what I do every day, and the
crown, I noticed the crown right away.
Now, we've avoided the crown for many reasons,
but it's a very cool thing today to have a crown
and we're letting a crown in more
and more of our designs, actually.
We didn't used to do that so, and there's a
reason for that and I'll tell everybody later
if you want to know, but
I really love the design.
And after you said guitar,
I picked that up right away.
It was -- it's there.
I see it. But I really like this design.
[ Alison Yard Medland: ] Thank you.
Thank you.
[ Michael Bierut: ] So, and Carol,
any of these designs are available
to you for $200 million or something.
[ Paul Sahre: ] Also you know, you
gotta eliminate a couple people.
[ Carol Butler: ] I know, but
these are all very talented people.
I'm so excited to see these designs because
we have had our logo for many, many years
and it's nice to see these changes.
[ Michael Bierut: ] And we're not done yet.
Thank you very much, Alison.
[ Applause ]
Monina.
[ Monina Velarde: ] All right,
when creating this logo,
I really wanted to embody the
characteristic of Graceland and Elvis,
and since this is a fan destination, I felt that
it was really important to include that house
because it's such an iconic landmark.
And so I thought that having
that would give the logo a sense
of location for the fans and for the public.
[ Michael Bierut: ] The only one so far to
include the house itself actually, and Stefan,
I think, when he presented the music hall
in Portugal, he sort of made this point
that it's always a little bit kind of daunting
to have to include the building somehow in it.
But I think something like this, it sort of
really kind of says it if you're unfamiliar
with Graceland is indeed a home, a
literal home and a metaphoric home.
Bonnie?
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] I think it's really nice.
I just, I don't see the music
so much or Elvis's personality.
I like the reference with the lights
around the edge, but it feels like, to me,
it could be almost anybody's home.
I don't get Elvis Presley so much.
Did you think about that?
[ Monina Velarde: ] Yeah, actually I --
the shape around Graceland and the house
and the typography was inspired by the
gates of Graceland, so I outlined the gates
of Graceland to create that shape.
And the diamonds and the circles
around that shape was inspired
by his elaborate jumpsuits and costumes.
[ Chip Kidd: ] I think it's
kind of great, that shape
and then the word Graceland,
and we know what it is.
The only thing technically I would
question is, when you shrink this down,
and shrink it down really small,
all the detail in the drawing
of the building itself is gonna kind of
disintegrate, so that would be something
that I would encourage you to
kind of work on a little bit.
'Cause if you look at the
actual logo for Graceland,
they've kind of solved that
problem a little bit.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Yeah, or
just simply make it a rule
that it can never be reproduced small,
that's another approach as well.
Think about that.
Monina, thank you very much.
[ Monina Velarde: ] Thank you.
[ Applause ]
[ Michael Bierut: ] And finally Katherine.
[ Katherine Walker: ] This logo was actually
a timeline for both the man and the mansion.
Elvis was living the American
dream when he bought Graceland.
He started out as a Memphis rockabilly
heartthrob in blue suede shoes and went
into the Las Vegas glitzy
powerhouse that we know.
Also the logo needed to have glamour,
raw sex appeal, glitz and glitter
and basically it's also the same transition
that happened in Graceland's interior,
from the blue walls and the blue curtains
to the gold records, the gold TVs,
the gold leather couch, the gold-framed mirror.
So it mirrors that whole timeline
effect with the man and the mansion.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Going from left to right?
[ Katherine Walker: ] Yeah, and I don't know
if you can see it too well on the black,
but the tagline I used for it is 'Elvis Lives.'
[ Michael Bierut: ] Ah, yeah,
you can sort of see it right
up above the L there, kind of like tucked in.
[ Katherine Walker: ] Yeah,
it works in two ways.
Of course he resided in Graceland, but
also his spirit lives on there today.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Very good.
Judges?
[ Paul Sahre: ] I love this one.
I think that, something you didn't
mention is that it feels like it was --
it references the '50s, it
references the '70s era,
but also feels like something designed today,
which I think is really a
difficult thing to pull off.
[ Katherine Walker: ] It was important to
me to have that letter-pressed look in it
because Elvis actually was a client
of Hatch Show, and all his broadsides
and all of Johnny Cash's, everyone else
that he was around during that time,
all used that letter-pressed look.
[ Chip Kidd: ] I think conceptually
it's terrific.
I think formally as a logo,
I think it works really well.
I would just say, because of the
concept, I would have started
with much thinner letters and then gradually --
[ Laughter ]
[ Katherine Walker: ] I had to
balance it out a little bit.
[ Chip Kidd: ] You know where I'm going?
[ Katherine Walker: ] But I
understand where you're coming from.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Carol, you want to
comment on that idea from your fellow judge?
[ Katherine Walker: ] That was good.
[ Carol Butler: ] He and I have
to get to know each other later.
I got a few things I could like say to him.
Anyway, I love this logo too.
I totally get your story behind it.
It's beautiful.
It's elegant.
It's incorporated the crown,
which I saw in an earlier design.
And I forgot to, I didn't get to say
anything about the other young lady,
so I just want to say and yours with the
house, we love the house and thank you
for incorporating the house into your design.
I really like that about that.
And I love the colors and the
gracefulness of your logo.
I think I really like this one too.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Good.
Judges, thank you.
Contestants, thank you.
Thirty minutes.
[ Applause ]
Our judges have a half hour to
deliberate during the next presentation.
After that we'll come out and reveal
who stays, who goes and who, in fact,
gets to enjoy the rest of the conference
and what other ones have to kind
of have the conference ruined for them by
continuing to participate in Command X:
The Graphic Design Reality Show, Season 2.
We'll be right back.
Thank you.
[ Music ]
[ Michael Bierut: ] The judges
have come to their decision.
Is it written down on a crappy
little piece of paper?
Bonnie? Absolutely on a crappy
little piece of paper.
Here it is.
Seven are here on stage,
soon there'll only be five.
Any thoughts on the deliberation process, jury?
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] We were
pretty unanimous, I think.
It went pretty well.
We thought you all did an amazing
job and thank you for participating.
But we did -- it went pretty
smoothly and quickly, actually.
[ Paul Sahre: ] I just want to just say for
the record that Chip doesn't hit, he kicks.
[ Michael Bierut: ] That's mean.
[ Carol Butler: ] And Carol punches back.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Carol, thank you, thank you.
I knew someone has to.
Someone has to.
It's a cliche, but you seven are all winners.
[ Laughter ]
[ Chip Kidd: ] What a lie.
[ Michael Bierut: ] But five of
you are really, really winners.
So I have the two that are being eliminated.
Please rise, all of you.
Take one step forward, not so fast.
Matthew, I'm sorry, you're Command
X'ed out of the competition.
Thank you so much for playing along.
Have a great time at the rest of the conference.
[ Applause ]
How old are you?
Twenty-six, get drunk as hell.
And sorry, John, your Command X'ed as well.
Thank you, again, for participating.
[ Applause ]
And I think the judges decided this time
around to award a meaningless prize to the best
in competition, the winner in this round gets no
extra money, gets no immunity, whatever that is,
just simply gets a little vote of confidence to
kind of carry on and perhaps an overinflated ego
that will sabotage him or
her in the coming round.
That's what I'm sort of hoping for, myself.
Have you made a selection about
your winner, quote, unquote?
Saying the word winner on it.
Any observations about the deliberations
that led to selecting the best in round?
[ Paul Sahre: ] We weren't unanimous.
[ Laughter ]
[ Michael Bierut: ] Okay.
I'm really sorry I asked, but the winner
is selected by a non-unanimous vote,
we might add, is Ryan Fitzgibbon.
[ Applause ]
The now perhaps doomed to choking
in the next round, Ryan Fitzgibbon.
What led you to select Ryan's
mark as your favorite?
[ Carol Butler: ] Well, it really
wasn't easy to get down to these five
because these five are very strong designs.
We like them all.
The gates of Graceland, they
are a symbol of his home.
We did get the movement and
the welcoming factor, the gold.
Another thing I like about this design
is that we can use any color we'd like.
We can go to gold or we can change
the colors and use multiple colors.
We can easily change the colors to
the designer, the T-shirt color.
[ Laughter ]
The gold is nice, but --
[ Michael Bierut: ] Carol,
and you should because --
[ Carol Butler: ] Right, on
merchandise which I have to think about.
[ Michael Bierut: ] I think
these are strengths of the logo.
Now Carol, as a client, don't you think they
would look better if there were lines underneath
and over the E so you can really, really see it?
[ Laughter ]
[ Carol Butler: ] You know
we did talk about that.
[ Michael Bierut: ] I'm just kidding.
I'm just having a little fun with you.
You have surprisingly good taste.
[ Laughter ]
No, no, I'm sorry.
I mean you have predictably good taste.
Sorry.
[ Carol Butler: ] I don't know what to say.
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] Well, another thing
we really liked about this logo was
that if you took Elvis Presley's Graceland away,
you could pretty much guess what it was for,
so it was really strong in
and of itself, just the mark.
[ Michael Bierut: ] It's a nice little puzzle.
So, well done, contestants.
Take your seat.
We're gonna show you what the next challenge is.
Oh, anything else to add?
[ Paul Sahre: ] Well, I was
the dissenting vote on this.
I like this, but I feel like it's too -- it's
kind of a little too one dimensional, in a way.
You know it definitely doesn't feel campy
at all, and it feels very Vegas to me,
but not so Graceland having been there.
But I also wanted to make another little comment
while I had the mic in my hands about another
of the logos that kind of just squeaked through.
Can we bring the other logos out?
[ Michael Bierut: ] Go back one.
[ Paul Sahre: ] I just wanted to --
I can't remember everyone's name yet
but the Graceland logo that's made out of
the guitar was on the edge there for us,
not because of any formal reasons because
I think that it's very carefully made and
but it just, you know, it's
communicating something I think is,
that we felt like is very not
Graceland or maybe even not Elvis.
[ Michael Bierut: ] And even
a little too German, perhaps.
[ Paul Sahre: ] Maybe.
[ Chip Kidd: ] It actually reminded
me of the logo for Big Country.
Do you remember that?
[ Michael Bierut: ] Yeah, that's right.
[ Chip Kidd: ] Which is good.
It's feminine.
[ Carol Butler: ] Elvis did
visit Germany and we like that.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Oh, shoot!
Genius! He was stationed in Germany in the army.
Brilliant.
You should have said that in the
presentation, that would have -- okay.
Anything else to add?
[ Bonnie Siegler: ] I just want to
thank Carol for joining us this evening.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Carol, thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
Usually as a designer, I'm well outnumbered by
the clients in the room, so she's gone right
into the lion's den here and
come out, I think, in good humor
and completely unscarred, so congratulations.
Can we talk about the next assignment?
They've only got less than 24 hours to do
it, and we just keep wasting time brooding
about the past, so let's move on.
We thought -- we were looking for
something a little bit more serious here.
So we thought, we looked around
on the shelves and thought,
is there something that could use a redesign?
We thought perhaps Cap'n Crunch cereal.
It appeals to me already, as an adult, but I
find the box unnerving to look at and I sort
of yearn for something a bit
more adult-like, I would say.
We have some pictures of the
box, I think, in case you forgot.
Now, little did I know and perhaps little did
you know, but the captain actually presides now
over now a vast domain of branded merchandise,
all of which is good and good for you
and will give you the pep you
need to get throughout the day.
There's a nice little back-story
to Cap'n Crunch.
It was back in the early '60s when Quaker Oats
decided they needed a new cereal and instead
of doing it the usual way, making
some cereal and then trying
to sell it, they did it sort of backwards.
They hired the animator and genius Jay
Ward, the creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle,
to come up with a character that
could be used to sell a new cereal,
and Jay Ward came up with the idea
of Cap'n Crunch and a zany crew
of cereal-loving shipmates and filmed some
commercials for the captain and only then,
and only then, did Quaker Oats start
actually trying to figure out what kind
of cereal this brand should actually represent.
So image coming before reality.
[ Chip Kidd: ] Can I just point out that
they all look like they're about to die.
[ Michael Bierut: ] They look
a little manic, don't they?
Sort of they're exhibiting manic behavior.
[ Chip Kidd: ] It's gotta be fun.
[ Michael Bierut: ] Yeah, it's fun.
I can tell it's supposed to be fun.
It's supposed to be popping off the shelf,
but it's sort of popping off a bit much
for first thing in the morning, in my opinion.
So, the contestants here had a
week to do their Graceland thing.
This thing they get less than 24 hours.
We're gonna be back tomorrow to look at this.
The rules of the game are
on the front of the package.
That's the only thing you're doing.
You don't have to do the sides.
You don't have to do the nutrition facts.
You don't have to do the barcode
and the stuff on the back.
You can -- you should spell out Captain
and/or amend the name but you have to sort
of have a connection to the original Cap'n
Crunch somehow or other, so I think it's one
of those classic challenges, short of retaining
the brand equity that's so beloved by millions
yet expanding it to new audiences who
heretofore perhaps have been repulsed
by that same brand equity.
An easy project to solve, we're
asked to do it all the time and so,
why shouldn't we ask these five
to take a crack at it themselves?
Just in case, it's cereal, right?
Number one, it's cereal.
It's fortified with B vitamins and iron.
It's made by Quaker Oats, okay?
Is there anything else you want to elaborate
before these kids can start their life-saving
work here?
So, tomorrow afternoon, these five
come back with their solutions
to this seemingly intractable challenge.
If you want to check in on them, see how your
favorite contestant is doing along the way,
there's a Command X workstation
at the Design Fair,
where in a sort of museum-like setting
the five contestants will be working
out in the open before your very eyes.
It'll be -- there'll be cheer-leaded on,
cheer-led on by Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka
who will be there kind of
functioning as Tim Gunn.
I thought I was Tim Gunn but Sean is Tim Gunn,
that makes me Heidi Klum, so
you can do the math yourself.
I am Heidi Klum.
So these kids have to get to work.
It's time for the next part of the show.
Have a good time.
Don't stay up too late, or
stay up all night if you want.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, judges.
Thank you, Carol.
See you tomorrow.
[ Music ]