ADD TO THE KAJ COLLECTION

Last week we designed the WATCHDOG as an ironic  tribute to the KAJ watch that was destroyed by our favorite dog MANDU. What remained is the watchface, so we designed this holder for it. Check out the project here.  

Today, we ask all you amazing designers out there to design a version of your own. One of our buddies did  the "Whale,of a time." We want to see what you come up with. 

Download the watch CAD here.  Comment or email us your designs as they come here.  

One more thing. Here are a design criteria. 
1. HAVE A FUCKING CLEVER NAME!!! that's all. HAVE FUN. LOVE CS BROS.

Good listening adam vida - "tomorrow land"

A beautiful piece from our friends Adam, Mikos, L and Sam. Give this a listen if you enjoy good ol' hip-hop and great story telling. 

My first single as Adam Vida, produced by my brother, @MikosDaGawd. Follow him for amazing instrumentals and hip hop productions. Tomorrow Land, a song about how far we've come and how far we have left to go, because no day holds as much unrealized potential as Tomorrow. Off of my upcoming EP, set to drop April 2016. I chose to make this song my first single as Adam Vida, because it really represents the motivation I'm feeling at this part of my journey.. In life AND as a hip hop artist. Me and my friends I do this music with, we've come so far as a team, and I've come so far as A-1, but like all things in life I am changing. Adam Vida represents my growth as a human and as a musician, evolving from A-1 into something more worldly, more traveled, more experienced in life, hence the name "Vida". Hit me on Instagram and twitter: @adamraps And at facebook.com/callmeadam Peace ya'll, stay Thurl. Jahbahai.

talented or obsessed

"THERE'S NO TALENT HERE, THIS IS HARD WORK. THIS IS AN OBSESSION. TALENT DOES NOT EXIST, WE ARE ALL EQUAL AS HUMAN BEINGS. YOU COULD BE ANYONE IF YOU PUT IN THE TIME. YOU WILL REACH THE TOP, AND THAT IS THAT. I AM NOT TALENTED, I AM OBSESSED."

PROGRESS

"FAILURE DEFEATS LOSERS BUT INSPIRES WINNERS."

If your drawings suck, keep drawing. If your renderings suck, keep rendering. If your projects suck, keep working.

my journey to playground

From flopping around aimlessly we learn to courageously crawl, then to stand, slowly to walk and finally to leap. In between these moments we fall tirelessly without much control, but it's okay, we're evolving. 

Evolution is great, it means we're breaking habits and treading unfamiliar territory. Evolution is also frightening, and to some it's life or death - the beginning or end to ones career depending on the path they choose. 

Last year Hoang and I took one of the the biggest leaps of our lives. We joined Playground. 

Hoang had just left Amazon to join Matter as Principle and I had just filled a leadership role at Astro. Things were beyond exceptional, we were blessed and real comfortable. We both had no intentions of resignation for at least a few years; the ink of our promotion letters had barely dried. But it happened, somehow, some way.  

It came in the form of an email: "do you guys want a unicorn-grade ID gig?" Who doesn't like unicorns? Who wouldn't read? So we did, and to be frank, it was a bigger deal than we had expected. Things were going exceptionally well with clients, so we didn't need another exotic pony. Our situation was as flawless as flawless could be. 

To our parents we were idiots. With an ocean to sail, who in their right mind would abandon a perfectly fine ship for a pair of swimming fins? Us, I guess. 

"A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner."

To be extremely honest, this imperative moment left me feeling more vulnerable than I had ever felt in my adult life. As a designer, I had seen a few places, but Astro remained my first and only love. These were the guys who rescued me from the assembly lines of Jamba Juice, put a pen in my hand and told me I was made to create. In the design world, things like this don't happen often, especially for a premature sophomore who'. The spark they saw in me was nurtured into a flame and that's why we became family.

Walking away from Astro  meant submitting comfort, security and our house keys if things fall apart. It also meant rebuilding habits and taking on roles that brought shakes to my knees and sweat to my palms. I was truly scared again, for the first time in a very long time.

Interestingly enough, chasing discomfort was the reason why I left. As painful as failures are, and as stubborn as I am, I enjoy being a student. A student of everything. Some see evolution as age, I see it as wisdom, snowballing. 

If questioned today about my decisions, my answer would be yes I made the right choice. Not everything I produce will be perfect, not every product I pitch will change lives, but I'm learning and I'm trying. Best of all, these last 6 months felt like I went straight from crawling to jumping! 

Anh

Yesterday, Playground was featured on WIRED. Read more about our journey here. 

The misconception of followers

Let me start off by clarifying. We are HUGE fans of Instagram and genuine believers of all social platforms alike. Without them, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to reach giants like Audi, BMW, Nike, Adidas, etc. So trust us, when we say we are HUGE fans, we really are. 

Notoriety five years ago, meant creating an exceptional body of work, critique and refine; critique and refine; to finally post a web portfolio. A good artist received five to 10 views a day, a great artist 10 to 20 - and this took an overwhelming amount of physical effort. 

Today, engagement is granular. Those five to ten viewers  have become thousands to millions. Unlike Madison Square Garden, Instagram can not sell out and Twitter has no seating restraints. The internet has become our venue, and the couch, our stage. This is where the problem lies. 

One's success is often gauged by the number of followers he/she has and this is the major misconception.

If not all, most of the time, you find people's tongues rolled out and jaws on the floor when they meet a person with 100k+ followers. We've been approached by people with 200-300k followers, who have never handled a single legal document, written a proposal or touched a contract.  We've also worked with people who have less than a hundred followers who have changed the world in major ways. 

At the end of the day, avoid verifying ones experience or worthiness against followers. Don't let crowd building derail you. Stay focused, keep learning, keep doing, keep killing! Real world experience, over everything. 

Follow us :P

Futurecraft Tailored Fibre by Adidas

If you're like us and find beauty in the process, this video is for you. Layers, weaves, textures and patterns. A work of art. 

TIMBALAND IN THE HOUSE

Nothing but respect for Timb. This man musically shaped our generation and is responsible for some of the greatest artists of our time. Huge blessings to be able to sit down in one table and trade thoughts. The future is looking real bright.  

Shout outs to the squad - @Playground.Global @Subpac

The end.

The death of one sketchbook gives birth to another. Most pages are confidential, things I cannot legally share. Here are a few that I can!

Tackling Cinema 4D

We've always been an advocate for not falling into complacency. One way to avoid that is to continue to learn new things. Well, we're about to take on the bold task of learning Cinema 4d. Its capabilities are super attractive for both graphic and industrial design work we do. It'll be a long journey but we're excited none the less. 

Starting with what we know best. Building a highly detailed pair of headphones, so when we start to animate its construction, every detail matters. We're done building the headphones. Next up is throwing it into Cinema. 

Perspective

“Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air-until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.

”My God, this is terrible,” the wave says. “Look what’s going to happen to me!”

Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, “Why do you look so sad?”

The first wave says, “You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?”

The second wave says, “No, you don’t understand. You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”

-Tuesdays with Morrie (p.179)

Chucka Chucka

Mama says "no shoes in the house." So I put em on the table, and drew around em.