With baseball season winding down (and my precious Cubbies’ season ending months ago), all eyes are on the fall ritual of college football. And as with every season, the rivalry games are not to be missed. Last year, Nike decided to jump on the opportunity to promote their new Pro Combat football gear by creating some unique uniforms for a select few teams to sport during their most heated rivalry games. The concept is simple and genius: Nike gets to promote its new gear to teams that may otherwise not buy into it while flexing its design muscles to make each of these teams feel like the University of Oregon. Even if it’s only for a game or two. Read the rest of the entry >

A few months ago, I had an idea for a new personal project. Over the years I had amassed quite a few pairs of shoes. Nothing crazy, but a nice, modest collection that I was really into. Just for Kicks started as an idea to illustrate each pair of my shoes and put them together in a blog (and a book). Every shoe will be illustrated and documented. After those are done, I’m moving onto friends’ and colleagues’ shoes. Shoes are one thing we all have in common. We likely all have a favorite pair – and I want to document that.

The idea behind it was quite simple, really: I wanted to illustrate more. And I needed to create something new to keep myself inspired. A fellow designer  (and close friend), Mig Reyes, spoke to the importance of this idea of “passion projects” recently at HOW (PDF). The presentation was great – and I can’t really replicate it  – but essentially:

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