Morgan
Studio by Wes Morgan
Morgans
probably remember some of this stuff that made up Morgan Studio back in the
day. (I am cc'ing Lindsey, Ben and my pal Dave Cox in case they are
interested in list of the retro art studio (state of the art in its time). I
remember all about the Morgan Studio format. The “right handed” set up with the
T-Squares and Northern Light exposure. God forbid someone try to work at Morgan
Studio and be left handed. At its peak, Morgan Studio was a well-oiled machine.
Here
are some of the things I remember:
Razor
Blades – as many as you need. The rule was to throw them away often so you
always had a good edge. X-Acto blades were for other designers – not Morgan
Studio designers because the extra time and cost of X-Acto products lead to
less efficiency.
Morgan
Studio Pencils – as many as you need or want. Soft enough lead to make a nice
bold line. (Not quite a #2 pencil.)
If
you can’t finish up a job. You have to put it back on the production table.
(This way if the artist calls in sick the next day, someone else can pick up
where he/she left off. A truly industrial manufacturing approach. Henry Ford
would have loved it.)
Don’t
even think of reading the newspaper at your drawing table. Even if you come in
early – the culture at Morgan Studio frowns on that sort of thing. Read your
paper at home. (Radios are highly discouraged too.)
If
you think you are fooling anyone with that portfolio case at lunchtime – you
are wrong. Morgan Studio will start planning for your replacement the first
time you are spotted carrying one at lunch time. It’s just obvious you are
looking for another job.
Technology
– Morgan Studio was innovative for it’s time. The Typographic Machine and the
Stat Camera and the Color Key equipment. All those photo chemicals and all
those fancy screens (for Mezzotints and effects). Why spend a bunch of money at
Boehme & Blinkman when you can mock up a pretty sharp looking package
design or annual report with all these great tools.
Tab
Type – How about that summer I spent dusting off the tab type. Interesting
concept – but not much flexibility with spacing. Again – it beats spending too
much money at Arnie Boehme’s place. (He sure has a pretty nice tan for February
most years.)
Press
Type – Why does it seam like you always run out of S’s on those sheets.
You can’t even fake an S with press type.
Airbrush
– only a few highly skilled artists can handle this equipment. Chances are
you’ll have to send it out.
Job
Tracking – those time sheets at every work station. Seems reasonable enough.
But I’m sure glad that I don’t have to account for every billable half hour in
a day. I’d have too many of those 9000 “in house” projects on my time sheet.
Then again – someone’s gotta do those Claig Playhouse programs, Lake Erie Tap
Water Labels and stats of the World’s Tallest Ferris Wheel (for the flats).
Jack
Leg Carpentry – as long as you keep white paper board on top of all the
surfaces you can have clean areas to work on things (Flap and Tissue, Trimming
Keyline boards, building flaired envelopes for deliveries “West” etc.)
Sell
what you got – As long as Dick Mahoney is on board we can propose an annual
report with a lot of loose illustrations of business people in meetings,
shaking hands and doing business (Acrylic and ink mostly). But if you have a
guy that’s a little bit stronger with type design – recommend against the
illustration approach.
Sign
Painting – Ernie could sure do a nice hand painted sign. Not too much call for
it – but as long as Morgan Studio has that dimension let’s leverage that skill
for the Cleveland Federal Savings Holiday Window Display.
Guarding
the fort – What a great set up that office had for the Mr. Morgan. You only
have two ways to gain access. As you have said the flow was East (only a couple
dared head West – Jane “Can Do No Wrong” Geiger and Mary). The only other way
in was by having the audacity to sneak around Mary’s desk. Kinda like the
“Wizard of Oz” (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain…)
Limitless
supply of Communication Arts Magazine, Graphis, Print and other annuals. When
in doubt, steal an idea from the great ones (Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser,
Paul Rand or who-ever).
Type
Books Galore – If you wonder what Bodoni Bold looks like in 12 point type with
6 point leading…just pull out one of those books. Safest thing to do is keep
most body copy in the Times Roman family and Headlines in Univers or Helvetica
family. Ya can’t miss. But sometimes you can have a little fun with the
miscellaneous decorative faces with names like Smoke or Olive Antique. If
you’re really bored see if you can name the typeface without looking: Garamond,
Caslon, Univers, Helvetica, Times, Futura, Bookman, Gothic. And what could be
more fun than imaging words using the alternative letters with an extra swoosh
or flourish.
Awards
– Morgan Studio was never obsessed with winning awards. I’ve worked at several
advertising agencies that spend thousands of dollars each year entering design
and advertising awards competitions. Still Morgan Studio had a respectable wall
of awards from various sources – none of them for awards shows requiring entry
fees.
Points,
Picas, and Pocket Pal. Rulers and gadgets that showed you about how much space
you needed to leave in a layout if you were considering say a standard Times
Roman face in maybe 12 point type.
Rubylith,
Amberlith – Morgan Sudio had drawers of stuff like this. It usually came in
sheets and was stored in big old flat file drawers with Acetate and kept near
the drawer with the register marks that were printed on rolls of what otherwise
looked like scotch tape. All these films had a very specific purpose – to produce
Keylines. Keylines that told printers exactly what they had to do.
Cold
Press and Hot Press board. Railroad board. Poster Board. Tag Board. Vellum.
Tissue paper. Shoot – even wrapping paper if you needed it. And if you needed
it and it wasn’t there – It could be delivered in no time by a messenger from
the Art Supply store.
Bonfoeys
– Need something framed. Just drop it off and it will be ready in a
few days. Rex Art in Miami was no match for this place.
Flap
and Tissue. This is Morgan Studio 101. You simply must learn how to catch
the edge of the flap and the tissue and coordinate it with a well-placed
double-sided tape. Do it wrong? Do it over.
Krylon
spray paint in just about any color. Take the dowl pins you bought from Kohler
Brothers across the street. Saw them into Lip Smacker-sized cylinders and spray
them to suit every flavor. But do it across the hall. And open the window. And
when they are dry, wrap the color keys around those cylinders with careful
precision and just a twizer square of double sided scotch tape and
presto: “You’ll have 6-12 design options for Rootin’Tooty Fruity Lip
Smacker in time to ‘head west’ by 5:15pm.” Jim Grace won’t believe how fast
Morgan Studio rose to the challenge – Again!
RC
Photo Prints – Bonne Bell wants 200 prints by tomorrow. Greg is printing them
as fast as he can (and this RC paper dries pretty fast) but he might not have
it done by 5:15.
...and
one more thing....we work 9 to 5 around here. Be on time. Work a full day.
Wesley
A. Morgan
Morgan
Studio/East
cell
314 402-1202
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