Interview with a Designer
-by Jen
Recently, I had the pleasure (and I use that word loosely) of interviewing Sockeye Designer Rob Wees about his efforts surrounding Sockeye’s new apparel line, PLUCK, now available at the Portland State Bookstore.
Jen: Tell me about PLUCK, Rob.
Rob: If Pete and Andy could have a child, it would be PLUCK.
Jen: Do go on.
Rob: We created extensive brand ID standards for PSU about four years ago. The student groups were doing some funky things with the logo— which they could get away with because they weren’t subject to University Communications knocking on their door from logo misuse. They came to us and asked us about breaking some of the very rules we’d written. Sounded like a good time, so we took the bait.
Jen: How did you choose the name PLUCK?
Rob: We had a very scientific naming process.
Jen: I remember it well. My choice did not get picked out of the hat.
Rob: We had a company-wide email soliciting names. Andy picked a small handful and let people vote for their favorites. I must have been sleep deprived because I got fussy and demanded new options.
Jen: Ah, the good old democratic process in action.
Rob: One of my names from the original batch was Pluck. I believe that was one of Erin’s contributions. I wanted the name to be fun to say. “I’m gonna pluck me one of them tees off the tree, I mean, shelf.”
Jen: How many beers have you had?
Rob: So, I was tasked to purposefully bastardize the very logo we had created. You know, something that would be cool for the kiddies. I reached out to Fritz Mesenbrink and Cari Vander Yacht—two hilarious freelance designers who had graduated from PSU. I laughed the first time I saw both of their designs. Fritz had a bike with a helmet for handlebars and a mammoth fur bike seat. And Cari’s “tree huger” design…what to say? I don’t know the best way to describe it, but I would say it’s an obese tree with chubby arms and itty bitty hands holding the letters “PSU.” Kinda like a boddisatvha. Without any of the respect.
Jen: Tell us, what inspires you as a designer, Rob?
Rob: I like shiny things.
Jen: Like a crow. What else?
Rob: Fuzzy things.
Jen: Thank you Rob, that concludes our interview. PLUCK you very much and have a lovely day!
