With a name like CMYBacon how can you not be intrigued? Although Designer Martin Refsal has to “suppress my inner-geek from time to time to ensure that I don’t post too many things about Star Wars and Legos” he is the witty mastermind behind one of newest (and cleverest) design blogs on the webosphere. Launched in April 2010, CMYBacon is chock full of refreshingly unconventional, well-made, and quite often, humorous designs. And a lot of the funny stuff is specifically identifiable to designers too, like the tongue-in-cheek “I Went to School for Graphic Design – Would You Like Whipped Cream on That?” coffee poster or the “gif peanut butter” image.
Graphic Design Barista Poster by Adam Brackney
Gif Peanut Butter by Tymn Armstrong
But don’t expect to see a lot of name designers featured on the blog. Refsal explains, “If my finds are created by people that haven’t received much attention before, then all the better.” We caught up with this super busy Designer/MBA Student/Blogger – mainly because he cracks us up – but also to see what makes CMYBacon sizzle.
CMYBacon is such an awesome name! We love the play on CMYK. How did you get the idea for it?Coming up with a name for my blog was a more difficult process than I anticipated. I wanted a name that was related to art and design but also reflected my own personality. Non sequiturs and irreverent humor have always appealed to me so I decided that the name of my blog should be a nonsensical adaptation of a common graphic design term. The CMYK color model seemed like something that every designer could identify with, so I started combining “CMYK” with random and unrelated words. I finally settled on CMYBacon because it seemed appropriately random and funny, plus I love bacon.
Knitted Meat by Stephanie Casper
What do you do when you’re not featuring cool stuff on CMYBacon? What’s your day job?My days are spent designing and editing photos for The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel magazines. Our department is small so I get to wear many hats and have had the opportunity to see many of my big ideas come to fruition despite being one of the junior members on our team. I’m also pursuing my MBA, with a concentration in Media Management, at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business. I’m not the typical business school student, since my background is in art, but I love it. Some people are surprised by my seemingly disparate interests, but the fact is the success of many businesses depends on good design. The combination of grad school, a full-time job and CMYBacon keeps me pretty busy!
Traffic cones shaped like geese by Michael Savona
CMYBacon has a really fun, unique, humorous tone to it. Did you set out with the intention to feature funny stuff?My intention was to feature things that I enjoyed so I knew that that would sometimes include funny stuff, but I didn’t set out with the goal of creating a humor blog. I did, however, want the site to be an extension of myself so I allowed my own tastes to dictate the types of things I would feature rather than the textbook definition of “good design.” I have had to suppress my inner-geek from time to time, however, to ensure that I don’t post too many things about Star Wars and Legos. Since the site launched, it has evolved into a healthy mix of humorous creations interspersed with some more “traditional” works of art and design.
The Bermuda Triangle of Productivity (with sinking work ship) by Fuchsia Macaree
Do the designs you feature inspire your own work and fuel your creativity?The designs I feature, especially the illustrations and typographic pieces, definitely inspire my own work. I don’t do much painting or sculpture these days, but I do a lot of illustration and graphic design. The wealth of creativity that’s featured on CMYBacon energizes me to step up my own game and experiment with new techniques.
Popeye’s Dirty Little Secret by Martin Refsal
To see why “everything is better with bacon” check out Martin Refsal’s CMYBacon.