UCLA EXTENSION (WINTER)
After working with UCLA Extension creative director InJu Sturgeon on their Fall 2007 catalog cover I had been convinced that she quietly hated my solution. I based this conviction purely on my own insecurity and on her saying, “I love it.” Which… you know… that could mean anything! Either way, my fear was real, and so was my surprise when InJu asked me to design another cover the following winter. If she did hate my first design, she was certainly going out of her way to disguise her true feelings.
Being asked back really did make me breathe a sigh of relief. I get in my head about these things sometimes. But now that I was feeling better, it was time to come up with a great second cover. Right around that time, I had started feeling a little bit self-conscious about using the Daily Monsters as my go-to solution on everything. I love drawing them, but I didn’t want to become a one trick pony. Instead I designed a bottle of UCLA Extension sunblock. Because… see… it’s the winter quarter! In Los Angeles. Get it?
OK, so it was a slight little gag, but I executed it lovingly. I shot a Coppertone® bottle, and designed a new label around Joe Bruin. This lotion is fast absorbing and “leaves brain firm and supple,” thanks to its active ingredient Cortexatrim.™ And of course, the bottle contains 11.6 fluid ounces. Which translates to 344 ml.
InJu thought it was funny, I thought it was funny. We got it ready for press. Then InJu said, “You know, I should run this past legal.” Turns out that people like to sue UCLA, because they think that there’s lots of money waiting for them. And I had used a Coppertone® bottle. And I’d based the lettering of the “ucla extension” title on the Coppertone® logo. And odds were that Coppertone® would have a legal department, too. Hm.
The solution was obvious: Design a new Monster-based cover overnight. Which worked out just fine, too. You can’t go wrong with a stylish Monster, some snow-covered 3D type, all on a background of icy blue rays. But it was definitely an instance where I crossed my fingers instead of addressing a foreseeable problem early on.
