Led Zeppelin (left) and The White Stripes (right)
Matt Vee is a design student and collector of words. A self-described “third-time transfer student” hailing from Holland (Michigan, not Europe) who now attends the School of Visual Arts, Vee seeks out interesting word combinations. “Being a designer, I can’t help but to organize them into lists,” he says, “so I wanted to visualize them.”
Vee created B&WAGON, a guessing game he hopes one day will be played on the web and as an iOS app, allowing friends to compete. B&WAGON focuses on words found in band names. “I couldn’t seem to separate common words from the bands they were associated with,” Vee says. “It’s fascinating how the mind connects things. I’d hear beach and think boys, see animal and want to scribble in collective underneath. Even just radio would trigger ‘Paranoid Android’ playing in my head.”
Vee began fooling around with names on his trusty PC (!!!), and started creating word puzzles. “All of my favorite designs have that moment when the switch flips, and suddenly you get it,” he says. “I gravitate towards visual puns and was glad to have finally found a home for them.
“I’ve already had requests to make phone cases and t-shirts, and would love to see all of the cards on a huge, silkscreened poster. Ideally, the guidelines will allow fellow designers to submit their own ideas to the website, so there’d always be new content.”
Can anyone say Kickstarter?
The official B&WAGON logo
Couldn’t be easier
These are for the kids
Think 1990’s
Two great bands
The inevitable app
iPad not included with purchase
Kind of genius
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About Gail AndersonGail Anderson is a graphic designer, educator, and writer. She is co-author of several books with Steven Heller, and is still in search of the perfect curly hair gel (for her, not Steve). Gail was the senior art director at Rolling Stone, and creative director of design at SpotCo. She has taught at the School of Visual Arts for over 20 years.View all posts by Gail Anderson →