In my opinion Levis has done an amazing job of creating a brand and marketing that brand over the years. I think that some of their marketing ads are just brilliant, and look outstanding. They have hit the mark in terms of visualizing a look. When you think of Levis, you think of cool. You think of a rough, yet durable product. You think of comfort. You think of something that lasts. You may also think of the type of young, tough, yet beautiful person who may wear these? Levis has also stayed true to their original branding from years past. But are they "Authentic"?
About AuthenticThis piece builds on a previous work I did for http://authenticauthenticity.com/authentic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/steveczajka/5890606321/in/photostream
The Authentic Authenticity website is a crowdsourced exploration of the meaning of the word authentic which i think is a pretty cool concept. This piece is a bit of a play on that exploration as I have branded and tagged this piece -- a very over commercialized look, a very forced look. I guess the question is, "can a brand be authentic even though it has been commercialized, or over commercialized?" In the example of Levis I would argue YES. Levis is an original, authentic brand that has lasted over the years. Levis set the mark for so many other products to follow -- so many other products that have come and gone. Notice how I used the word original. I keep relating authentic to original without even thinking about it. For me, authentic is original. While I appreciate graphic designers and marketing people using the past to convey a message, there is also nothing wrong with the present. If you look at the 1960s from a graphic design perspective it had a very distinctive look, helvetica was king, a very typeset looking world, a very clean pale look, tones of negative space, yet at the same time many creative hand drawn illustrations and hand lettering works that i value today. The 70s also had its own full, rich, colourful look, colour was king, wild and ugly unreadable fonts (with the exception of helvetica which has survived well into the 80s and 90s), and the 80s all together different. The 80s tried to be very much in the present with graphic design, the high tech look, the Miami Vice look, neon colours, etc... The graphic designs of the 80s almost completely ignored the past. The 90s started to change that with the grunge movement looking back to the past in some ways, the black and white era. I would say the 2000s graphic arts had a very clean HD look, overused radial gradient fill look, overused filtered look that i am so tired of today, the muted colours look -- yet there is a wider variety of old and new which keeps me interested and inspired. And 3D typography combined with metal surfaces are pretty cool to look at. I digress, but there is something to be said for developing an authentic look for this period in our history [the 10s]. Maybe the shiny glossy apps look will define this period in history's graphic arts look? What do you think? Getting back to the point, maybe authentic is today and doesn't have to always have to be the past? Provided that today is original.
About this Piece
You can read more about the calligraphy at: http://steveczajka.posterous.com/authentic The digital effects were produced in Inkscape for the lettering then imported into GIMP. The remainder of the work was done in GIMP. Digital effects I ran using GIMP included:
-Colours / Colour Mute (GIMP script)
-Colours / Warming and Cooling Filter (GIMP script)
-Filters / Generic / Film Grain (GIMP script)
-The stitching was generated using GIMP. This is done by creating a buffered selection around the lettering, then distorting the selection a bit, then stroking the selection using a dashed line. To complete this duplicate the layer and blur the duplicated layer to give the stitching some depth.
-The patch that the lettering rests on was also created in GIMP, using a simply cloth filter.
-The grunge look was achieved by adding in the layers listed below like paint splatter. Simply run Colours / Colour to Alpha to remove whites or other unwanted colours. Then desaturate these layers, and switch their mode to overlay and play with the opacity. I like this piece as it has a grunge look that I was clearly after. It also has that classic Levis tag attached to the Authentic word. I did this intentionally to drive home the point that brands try to attach themselves to authentic or original items -- and in my view there is absolutely nothing wrong with that provided it is not forced, as in my piece. I like the feel of this piece. I relate to the blue jeans look as I feel comfortable in a pair of jeans -- I'm at home in a pair of jeans.
Many thanks for others posting their incredible textures / photo works in a creative commons license: Jeans Levis Tag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoonabar/364406912/
Jeans on Wood Background:
Grunge:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/landofnodstudios/4876038141/ Paint:
Paint Splatter: 
A shout out to @anthonymarco for his study of manufacturing authentic. What do you think? Leave a comment on the blog. I would love to hear your opinion, or your recollection of graphic design periods over the years. Cheers Steve
