CSA: Coverage
2010 - 2009
2008 - 2007
2006 - 2005

Press Contact
Judy Kalvin
Kalvin Public Relations

114 Ogden Avenue, 2nd Fl
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
T 914.693.0123
F 914.693.5111
jkalvin@kalvinpr.com
July 2010
What makes a great partnership?


Crain's New York Business.com
Why do some pairings soar while others crash and burn? Mr. Wagner and Mr. Muller, authors of Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life, explore a number of factors that make for success, like complementary strengths, a common mission, mutual trust and open communication. Fine, but ask entrepreneurs with partners, and you'll hear about all that and more.
www.mycrains.crainsnewyork.com
PDF (Crain's printed journal)
PDF www.crainsnewyork.com
July 2010
Art Abounds! Ken Carbone’s Poster a Finalist in the 2010 Chicago International Poster Biennial

Chicago International Poster Biennial
Ken Carbone’s Frida & Diego poster, originally designed for the AGI-sponsored KahloRivera100 exhibition, will be on display later this summer for the second annual International Poster Biennial in Chicago. The Biennial honors designs that illicit an educational or emotional response, reaffirming the place of posters as a “quintessential public art form.” Carbone’s poster is a playful homage Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, emulating the structure of a playing card to demonstrate the duality of this royal couple in the history of art.
chicagobiennial.org
PDF

July 2010
Indestructible: The Design of Old Glory

fastcodesign.com
More American than apple pie, baseball and obesity is the American Flag. With Independence Day approaching “Old Glory” will be cele-
brated in bunting, at barbecues and with plenty of “bombs bursting in air” at fireworks displays. On the Fourth of July everyone is a patriot and no one seems to mind commercial exploitation of our national symbol.
fastcodesign.com
PDF
June 2010
CSA Work Featured in Graphic Design Solutions textbook

Graphic Design Solutions
Part how-to reference textbook and part showcase of graphic
design applications, Graphic Design Solutions, 4th edition, features a selection of CSA work. Taubman branding, W.L. Gore exhibition design, Aether Apparel logo and branding, and Ken Burns’ “Baseball” brand identity and merchandising program were all selected as prime examples of effective visual communication for this compendium of design education.
PDF

June 2010
If Texas License Plates Were More Badass

Swamplot.com
Whose idea was it to make the new standard-issue Texas license
plates look like cheezy souvenirs from some island celebration vacation? Well, this should fix that: Here’s Houston graphic designer Craig Minor’s new no-nonsense version, intended to look especially sharp below the front grille of one of those mean wader pickups
comin’ right atcha. And hey look, it’s bilingual!
Swamplot.com
PDF
June 2010
Toyota, Your Logo Is Broken

Jalopnik.com
In the space of a few short months, Toyota saw its public image go
from hero to zero. Fast Company's Ken Carbone takes a thoughtful, humorous look at why the big T's logo is due for a change.
Jalopnik.com
PDF

June 2010
The Potential of Plastic Cups
& Other Possibilities with Ken Carbone

NeenahPaperBlog.com
Ken Carbone is a smart man. He plays guitar. He is an accomplished speaker. He has a successful blog on Fast Company that gets folks riled up. He and his partner Leslie Smolan and other colleagues at Carbone Smolan (CSA) have a client roster that would bring tears of joys to the eyes of those of us who labor for less, um, erudite clients. The Louvre? Tiffany & Co.? Brooklyn Botanic? The High Museum
of Art in Atlanta? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And more.
www.neenahpaperblog.com
PDF
June 2010
How To Fix The American License Plate


Jalopnik.com
From a design standpoint, the American license plate is a mess — some states' efforts are simple and appealing, but others are visual disasters. Ken Carbone of Fast Company commissioned a few designs he thinks'll clean things up.
Jalopnik.com
PDF

June 2010
Rebranding the License Plate:
4 Designers Clean Up Graphic Road Kill

FastCompany.com
"Back to the future" best describes the new license plate issued by New York State in April. The "Empire Gold" design which is now appearing on streets, has been deemed "quite unappealing" by more than 80 percent of New Yorkers polled by WCBSTV.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
May 2010
Seattle’s Best Coffee Logo Is a Blend of the Bland


FastCompany.com
In the spirit of full disclosure, I confess that I drank my last cup of coffee 35 years ago. So I shouldn’t care about the re-branding of a legacy Seattle coffee merchant. However, the new logo introduced last week by Seattle’s Best Coffee deserves a branding taste test.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

May 2010
ICFF: The Best Branding Behind the Brands

FastCompany.com
It's fair to say that 99 percent of people on the planet would see ICFF as 145,000 square feet of "unnecessary." However, for the remaining one percent of us who love design, it is an annual bazaar of the new and notable from the commercial and domestic landscapes that is not to be missed.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
April 2010
The Toyota Crisis Calls for a Logo Tune-Up

FastCompany.com
The bad news at Toyota is in overdrive. Since the recall of the Prius
for its deadly acceleration problems, the carmaker has been hemorrhaging sales and consumer confidence. Now, even its luxury brand, Lexus, is under investigation for "stability" problems. Ouch!
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

April 2010
The New Benjamin? Not So Money

FastCompany.com
It may be more legend than fact but when it was time to choose a symbol for our new nation it is said that Benjamin Franklin preferred
the turkey to the bald eagle. Wish granted. The new $100 note that
the Treasury introduced on Wednesday is a missed design opportu-
nity. It was created with the criminal mind in mind and it looks it.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
April 2010
Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson: Father of Photojournalism

FastCompany.com
What is photography? What is a photographer? And, what is photo-
journalism today? These three questions came to mind as I studied
the 300 photographs at the new Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition that opened at MoMA last week. The show entitled The Modern Century focuses on the master's most productive decades, the 1930s through 1960s. Curated by Peter Galassi, the show features iconic images
that brilliantly chronicle the joy and tragedy of the human condition,
all in black and white.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

April 2010
"American Trademarks" Traces the Origins of Our Logo Lust


FastCompany.com
In the year 100,010, some evolved species will be digging through ancient digital rubble and find a strange visual iconography made of tiny colorful squares with rounded corners. They will diligently attempt to decipher what we meant by "I am T-Pain," "Doodle Jump," and "Zombie Farm." Finally, they will conclude that our native tongue was something called Apps.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
March 2010
London, We Have a Problem: U.K. Space Logo Proves Graphic Design Is Rocket Science

FastCompany.com
Last week Great Britain announced the formation of a new space agency. At the event Science and Innovation Minister, Lord Drayson, said: "The action we're taking today shows that we're really serious about space. The U.K. Space Agency will give the sector the muscle
it needs to fulfill its ambition." Britain's space industry can grow to £40bn a year and create 100,000 jobs in 20 years." This all sounds exciting, but the new agency's logo unveiled at the event is nothing
to cheer about.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

February 2010
Stone-Age Animation in a Digital World: William Kentridge
at MoMA

FastCompany.com
Opening today at the Museum of Modern Art an exhibition entitled William Kentridge: Five Themes celebrates the work of the enormously influential South African artist who is a dominant force in contemporary art. Kentridge emerged from relative obscurity in the late '90s with a series of animated films entitled "Nine Drawings for Projection." These were films of expressionistic drawings done in stop motion technique
or what Kentridge calls "stone-age animation."
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
February 2010
Iran: Looking Towards a Bright Future?


FastCompany.com
True, every picture tells a story. But which one? The front-page photo
in Monday's Wall Street Journal gave me a chill. Did Iran detonate
a nuclear device? The Cold War era image of stern men donning protective glasses shielding them from an atomic blaze came to mind.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

February 2010
Super Bowl XLIV Ad Quiz: 30 Brands. 30 One-Second Ads.
How Many Can You Spot?

FastCompany.com
What do you do if you want to advertise on the Big Game but only
have a $100,000 ad budget? Try a one–second "blink" ad. It's a daunting design challenge to get a powerful brand message to stick.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
January 2010
Hey Stupid! Diesel Thinks You’re Awesome


FastCompany.com
Earlier this week I saw a couple of striking posters that caught my eye. They were bold, typographic and used hot colors. That was the good part. Then I read the message: SMART LISTENS TO THE HEAD. STUPID LISTENS TO THE HEART. BE STUPID.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

December 2010
Guilty by Association: The Colors of Christmas
(and Other Holidays)

FastCompany.com
Banished to the fringes of the spectrum are innocent color combina-
tions that are doomed forever to be associated with holidays. This
time of year the world is awash in red and green signaling the spirit
of Christmas, good will toward men and mass hysteria at the mall.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
December 2010
Inspiration or Rip-Off? From “I Heart NY” Tees to Amex Smiley Face Ads

FastCompany.com
Years ago, I participated in a brainstorming session with Richard Saul Wurman, the entrepreneurial wiz and founder of the TED Conference. During our meeting he made a simple statement: "Ideas are free, it's what you do with them that counts." A chill ran up my spine. I said nothing for the rest of the meeting, for fear that any creative spark
I offered would be fair game.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

December 2009
CSA Sells, YOU Buy

School of Visual Arts: MFA Designer As Author
School of Visual Arts (SVA) faculty member Ken Carbone puts his products where his mouth is with CSA’s 2009 holiday card, which
was highlighted on SVA’s MFA in Design News blog. A “decidedly entrepreneurial venture,” the card doubles as a chocolate gift guide, matching personalities to products from a range of high-quality chocolatiers. Surprise “The Tree Hugger” in your life with a treat from Original Beans chocolate, or personalize a LogoChoco bar for “The Brand Guru” executive, all with the help of CSA’s resourceful greeting.
www.design.sva.edu
www.carbonesmolan.com/ecard2009
PDF
December 2009
Heard on the Field

The Wall Street Journal
With all the talk about brain injuries, Ken Carbone may be the only person lamenting the outside of football helmets these days. The New York graphic designer praises the symmetry of the Vikings’, Rams’ and Eagles’ helmets, the simplicity of the Cowboys’ and Browns’ and the tiger-stripe pattern of the Bengals’ helmet.
PDF

November 2009
We Won! Print Magazine Declares CSA a Winner in their 2009 Regional Design Annual

Print Magazine
This month, Print magazine selected a logo that CSA designed as the winner of their 2009 New York City Regional Design Annual. Chosen from nearly 5,000 entries, the logo, created for Aether Apparel, em-
bodies the brand’s sophisticated functionality and portrays an infinity sign circling a mountain peak. Check out the logo, along with infor-
mation about the designer’s inspiration, in the magazine out on the stands in November.
PDF
November 2009
CSA Work Featured in Brand & Branding Publication


Brand & Branding
First a brand is born, then it is made. Carbone Smolan Agency’s
NIZUC resort campaign and Aether sportswear identity secured spots in Brand & Branding, a painstaking selection of branding projects and corporate images from around the world whose appeal lies in their convincing graphics.
Aether PDF
Nizuc PDF

November 2009
The Case Against Lowercase: Design Experts on Re-branded Aol.

FastCompany.com
Aol.’s new rebranding, which includes modified capitalization, punctuation, imagery and campaigns, has received attention across blogs and media. Fast Company posted a sneak peek of Aol.’s new campaign, and some design crticism from Ken Carbone and a variety
of other experts.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
November 2009
Man Ray: An Artist Any Designer Could Love

FastCompany.com
Man Ray has one of the coolest names in the history of art. However, he was born Emmanuel Radnitzky. He rejected his birth name moved
to Paris in 1921 and became the sole American in the vanguard of Parisian Modernism. This transformation represented a conflicted identity and his deep desire to escape the limitations of his Russian Jewish past.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

November 2009
Penalty! Unnecessary Blandness! Redesigning the Worst NFL Helmet Graphics

FastCompany.com
The conservative columnist George Will once said football combines the two worst things about America: violence punctuated by committee meetings. As a designer who occasionally gets caught up in the fury of the game, I'd like to add graphic design to what's wrong with football.
www.fastcompany.com
www.howdesign.com
www.tmagazine.com
www.thewallstreetjournal.com
PDF
November 2009
Big League Chew: Phils Out-Spit Yanks


FastCompany.com
To quote the late, great sportscaster Jim McKay, "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" never looked better than in high-definition TV. The pristine, crystal clarity of the widescreen image adoringly captures an athlete's grace, strength, speed and--in the case of baseball--his saliva.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

September 2009
Creepy, Crawly, Crafty: A Tapestry Woven by Eight-Legged Artists


FastCompany.com
What could possibly drive two men to spend $500,000 of their own money over four years, become employers of a million female spiders, and rekindle an indigenous tradition on the island of Madagascar?
The answer: To create an incredibly beautiful artifact that is unique
in the world.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
September 2009
Full Throttle: Vintage Motorcycles, Custom Choppers,
and Racing Machines

FastCompany.com
This slideshow highlights five of my favorite custom bikes from the exhibition, Full Throttle: Vintage Motorcycles, Custom Choppers, and Racing Machines at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.
I’ve limited the technical information because I have no idea how to describe the impressive features of these motorcycles. More import-
antly, I want to avoid incurring the wrath of any burly bikers who may
be reading this should I confuse a brake caliper with a clutch housing. The exhibition is up until October 25, 2009.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

September 2009
Designed to be Wild: Full Throttle Choppers In Vermont


FastCompany.com
I've never ridden a motorcycle and probably never will. Too fast, too dangerous. However, this conviction was seriously challenged when
I visited Full Throttle: Vintage Motorcycles, Custom Choppers and Racing Machines at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont this past summer. Now I can almost imagine leather pants, a cut off denim jacket, and maybe a star-spangled helmet in my designer wardrobe.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
September 2009
Why Does My Firm Own Everything I Do?
Intellectual Property & You

Core77
For young designers at a firm, the lines are often blurred when it comes to the ownership of their work. Does it belong to the employers, the employees, or the clients? To alleviate some of the confusion, Ken Carbone weighs in on intellectual property rights issues for an article
by Katy Frankel in Core77 magazine. He offers up a few of CSA’s
policies, which are constructed to allow for “the platform for creative entrepreneurialism.” By providing designers the appropriate recog-
nition for their original work, Ken says it “ensures that the best
creative ideas stream through the firm.”
www.core77.com
PDF

September 2009
The Customer Is Always Right. Really.


Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
Leslie Smolan makes a case for the customer in her new article for Sales and Marketing Management magazine. When Canon USA, leaders in imaging and printing, gave its “customers” (CSA designers) the chance to be the first to explore the innovative possibilities of the new imagePress C1+, CSA knew they had to think big. By using the printer to invent a new brand and marketing campaign for an imagi-
nary bakery named Zest, CSA proved that “creative users will find unexpected ways to use the equipment and create more markets for the printer.” Along with an overview of the Zest project, Leslie also
lets us in on tips for any successful new product launch—all of which point to the power of the customer.
www.salesandmarketing.com
PDF
September 2009
A Better Way to Health Care Reform: We Need an Information Design S.W.A.T. Team

FastCompany.com
Long before the "town brawls", "grass roots vs. Astro-Turf," and "death panels" became the three rings of the health care media circus, an op-ed piece appeared in the Washington Post positing that the U.S. health-care system was critically ill. The diagnosis? Terminal Information Design.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

August 2009
Les Paul: The Guitar, the Logo, the Legend

FastCompany.com
Guitarist, entertainer, pioneer, inventor, audio engineer, hit maker, Grammy winner, "Architect of Rock & Roll": Les Paul earned all
of these titles. He's best known for creating the first functioning solid body guitar back in 1941. Other inventions include multi-track recor-
ding and special effects that changed the course of 20th-century music. If you could imagine a Mount Rushmore of innovation featuring Thomas Edison, Edwin Land, and Tim Berners-Lee, Les Paul would be in their company.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
August 2009
Bill and Kim's Excellently-Posed Adventure

FastCompany.com
There they are, sitting side by side in a photographic balance of power. President Bill Clinton looking his sartorial best and Chairman Kim Jong Il looking his janitorial worst. This photo released yesterday by the Korean Central News Agency, is designed to demand the respect the totalitarian state of North Korean so desperately wants. This tableau
is so perfectly choreographed that it begs visual analysis.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

August 2009
Ron Arad at MoMA: Who Needs Discipline?

FastCompany.com
Ron Arad's exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is a
lot about "no." No limits. No right angles. No expense spared. Entitled No Discipline, this show is the first major retrospective of Arad's work in the United States. He is well known for his creative versatility and the experimental way he fuses technology, manufacturing processes and a daring array of materials into objects, furniture and architecture.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
August 2009
Angst Hotel and Residence featured in HOW magazine

HOW, Creative Talent
Angst Hotel and Residence, once a premier luxury resort on the
Italian Riviera, is returning to its origins with the help of Carbone Smolan Agency. New owners Bizzi & Partners turned to CSA to “bring the property back to life” after being abandoned for years. In order to create a contrast from the strong name itself, the rebranding reflects
a “refined, somewhat feminine, soft, elegant and delicately ornamented” design to achieve a balance in the new identity of the hotels and residences.
PDF

July 2009
François Robert Finds a Face for FLOR

FastCompany.com
The unintended consequence of industrial design and manufacturing is the parallel humanity that lives in the objects of our lives. It's a global population and they surround us. A wall outlet seems to be expressing a face of fear. A baby's pacifier possesses a bulbous nose. The front end of a vintage roadster can suggest some fierce facial features.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
July 2009
Aether Featured on Brand New

Brand New
Aether Apparel is a new line of sportswear specifically made for the
“outdoor enthusiast who wants the function of outdoor garments with-
out sacrificing modern design aesthetics.” The icon is meant to evoke “infinity and clouds circling a mountain peak” and supports the lofty name of Aether, which can poetically mean “the heavens” or at the
very least, the air and space above and beyond the clouds.
www.underconsideration.com
PDF

July 2009
Architecture In Golden Gate Park: A Matter Of Life And Lifeless

FastCompany.com
During a recent trip to San Francisco I had the pleasure of visiting Golden Gate Park, which has undergone a wonderful transformation since my last visit almost ten years ago. I had planned to spend the
day there and was pleased to see that I was not alone. The park was packed and so was my agenda. I wanted to visit both the de Young Museum designed by Herzog & de Meuron that opened in 2005 and
the recently debuted California Academy of Sciences by Renzo Piano.
I had seen press coverage of both and was anticipating a delicious serving of world-class architecture.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
July 2009
Dear SyFy, Imagine Greater – Please!

FastCompany.com
We have been warned. The Sci Fi channel announced that it was changing its name to SyFy a few months ago, and the switch happens tomorrow. Unfortunately Bruce Willis is not going to rescue us from this colossal attack of bad branding and phonetic foolishness. This name change has been widely criticized, so I’m only adding a final pinch of salt to the wound on the eve of its debut.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

June 2009
Cell Phone Roundtable

FastCompany.com
They follow the speed of developing technology and new gadget lust. As "must have" features are offered we see tempting new ways to simplify life. However, let's face it, there's also status to owning the latest and a stigma to having the old.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
May 2009
GDUSA announces Ken’s Blog

GDUSA
May’s issue of GDUSA announced Ken’s recent and on going blogging stint with Fast Company. Ken’s blog, ‘Yes to Less’ centers around design critiques of a broad array of subjects that he rates from Flaw-
less to Clueless. Fast Company kicked off the blog in April, with a video highlighting Ken’s Curiously Curious habit of documenting life in his private journals.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

May 2009
Hot Diggity Dog! Design That's Good Enough to Eat

FastCompany.com
If you're looking for a tasty lunch wrapped in tasty design, DOGMATIC is for you. Located on a street full of fast food fare near New York City's Union Square, DOGMATIC stands above the rest. They opened their doors last October just as the world was imploding, but their top-
to-bottom commitment to great design shows no sign of compromise.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
May 2009
One in a Billion: iHandy Level - A 'Yes to Less' Review

FastCompany.com
One app in particular is quite ingenious and employs the iPhone's built-in accelerometer to great effect. The iHandy Level, one of five
tools in the iHandy Carpenter suite, is a virtual bubble level and is very cool. Just to be certain, I calibrated it with my "real" bubble level, and then began straightening picture frames around my house. It works
and it even allows you to adjust the bubble sensitivity for greater accuracy. The illustrative design of the interface mimics the look of
real tools in nice detail including the feel of machined metal and wood grain. Now, I might not trust this for serious measurement, due to the short 3-inch span of the iPhone screen, but as a portable design aid
it's pretty sweet.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

April 2009
Ken Carbone: A Look Inside His Private Journals

The Donut Project
Ken Carbone is eternally curious. The Carbone Smolan Agency cofounder has been documenting his life in journals for 15 years, recording a wealth of visual inspiration collected from his daily activities. The Donut Project recently blogged about these troves of art, linking to coverage from the first installment of Carbone’s Fast Company blog, “From Yes to Less,” where he critiques worldwide design on a scale from “Flawless” to “Clueless.” The journals are also the basis of one of Carbone’s popular talks, “Curiously Curious: Celebrating Analog in a Digital World.”
www.thedonutproject.com
PDF
April 2009
Flawless to Clueless, Part III: Peanut Birdfeeder

FastCompany.com
Five years ago our family moved out of Manhattan to Palisades, New York, 30 miles north on the Hudson River. One of the great joys of living there is that it is teaming with wildlife. Among this host of fauna, I'm most fond of the wild birds that I keep happy with a daily feeding of
nuts and seeds. Unfortunately, I've been unimpressed with the many birdfeeders that are commonly available. Most look more like cages
and lack any design merit.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

April 2009
Flawless to Clueless, Part II: The Fender Telecaster

FastCompany.com
What constitutes a "game changer?" It's usually an idea so bold that
its effect completely alters preconceived notions of what something
can do or should be. Think Apple's iPhone, Toyota's Prius or even the typeface Helvetica.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
April 2009
Curious

Fast Company magazine Features Ken Carbone Guest Blogger
Ken Carbone is featured as a guest blogger for Fast Company Magazine Online. His blog entitled “Yes to Less” will critique some design classics, some personal favorites and a few latest and greatest that celebrate simplicity. The spectrum will be very broad and include graphics, industrial design, architecture, interiors, web sites, digital applications and curiously brilliant design solutions found in nature.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF

April 2009
Viva Le Louvre!

FastCompany.com
From the moment I.M. Pei's design for the pyramidal addition to the Musée du Louvre was introduced in 1985, it was the subject of con-
troversy and international attention, derided as a violation of the museum's classical integrity. But two decades later, it is one of the top tourist attractions in Paris, attracting some 8.5 million annual visitors.
www.fastcompany.com
PDF
January/February 2009
Nizuc

Communication Arts: Exhibit
Carbone Smolan Agency’s NIZUC campaign was recognized in Communication Arts Magazine’s Exhibit, a monthly showcase of ‘outstanding examples of graphic design.’ Leslie explains CSA’s unique approach to designing for a resort that didn’t yet exist, “We brought the brand to life by combining the essence of Mayan culture with a modern aesthetic and developed the brand strategy, name, identity, sales and marketing collateral, Website, advertising and promotions. This brand platform became the concept from which
all decisions about the hotel and resort flowed.”
www.commarts.com
PDF