BLIK CUSTOM UPDATE: MATTEL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL UCLA, LEO BURNETT, GRUPO GALLEGOS & KEITH HARING POP SHOP

Our design studio, otherwise known as Blik Design/Build, has been insanely busy the past few of months. Last fall, we let you in on our work for Google’s new Venice campus and today we’ve got four more projects to share with you.

MATTEL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL UCLA
We are very excited to share our work for Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, part of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Mattel asked Blik to art direct all aspects of the project as well as design, manufacture and install wall graphics at the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA Play project. Housed within the I.M. Pei designed Ronald Reagan UCLA  Medical Center, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA was named with a generous gift from Mattel Children’s Foundation.

The facility is beautifully designed with minimalist details and clean lines. The goal of the Hospital Play project is to infuse the space with…well, a sense of playfulness essential to development, learning, healing and growth. The project started with a pilot phase, focusing on the 5th floor. We worked with one of our collaborators, Patrick Hruby, to create a magical world for the kids complete with an enchanted forest, whimsical garden and an undersea adventure. The big unveiling was during the hospital’s annual holiday party in December and was a huge hit with the patients and their parents. We think the photos tell the story best. The project will continue this year as it expands to other floors.



 


 
LEO BURNETT
Leo Burnett, the premiere, powerhouse international ad agency came to us to manufacture and install custom graphics throughout the 21st floor of their Chicago headquarters. The centerpiece was a giant illustrated mural spanning two walls and a glass door. The challenge was to create and install wall panels that appear seamless leaving only the spectacular artwork as the focal point. See the giant numbers below? We screen printed them directly onto the wall and each number was designed out of tiny, intricate elements such as rockets, text, slinkies and musical notes.



 


 

GRUPO GALLEGOS
Grupo Gallegos, an ad agency focusing on the Hispanic market, asked us to bring an original illustrated mural to life in their redesigned office space in sunny Huntington Beach, CA. The challenge of the large, 46′ x 9′ mural was to capture and maintain the integrity of the detailed sketched strokes through seemingly seamless full color printed panels.

 
KEITH HARING POP SHOP
Last October, Pace Prints in New York City had a Keith Haring exhibition of prints and small-scale multiples by Haring. The exhibit included a special Pop Shop installation. Blik was brought on board by the Keith Haring Foundation to help recreate the famed Pop Shop mural environment. Blik used original artwork from The Haring Estate to create wall panels and wrap the entire “pop-up” Pop Shop from floor to ceiling. We think you’ll agree that the exhibit really “popped!”

Whew. Just reading this makes us tired. Nice work team!

BLIK CUSTOM: IGN

We’ve got fresh new work from Blik Studio (the custom arm of Blik) to share with you. Today, we took a trip to IGN in Beverly Hills to install two custom pieces. If you’re not familiar with IGN, it’s only the premiere site for video game reviews, news, trailers and videos.

For the mural, we designed a sweet mash-up with IGN’s logo – crossing “IGN” with iconic video game characters (spot your favorites) to create a 20′ wide graphic for a prominent wall in their office. We also installed a 100′ long runner (yep, also designed by us) using various levels from Super Mario Bros.



 


 

Who is that masked man?

BLIK CUSTOM: GOOGLE VENICE

Did you hear that Google has come to Venice or what is now being referred to as “Silicon Beach?” We are excited to finally announce our involvement in the project and show you a few photos. Several months ago, we were selected to work on the LEED-certified project to custom design 100% eco-friendly glass and wall graphics for the 100,000-square-foot campus.

Custom eco-friendly wallpaper

Look closely - do you see the Griffith Observatory?

To prepare for today’s grand opening, we worked around the clock to design, manufacture and install artwork housed in the three adjacent buildings on Main Street (in Venice), including the Frank-Gehry designed Binocular Building. The artwork is comprised of local Los Angeles landmarks and images synonymous with the city. We also worked with HLW architects to create a veritable museum of past Google logos that reaches from floor to ceiling and wraps the walls and ceiling of the main entry into the space.

Our favorite touch (besides the Blik graphics, of course) are the surfboards available for check-out. Nice SoCal touch! More photos to come shortly.

Tunnel of Google logos

 

 


 

 

 

Beyond Eden x Blik

In case you haven’t heard, Beyond Eden is hosting its 3rd annual multi-gallery event this weekend celebrating the new contemporary art scene in Los Angeles. The past two years of the show were a great success, drawing in over 5,000 people to the gorgeous Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park.

This year, we are a sponsor of Beyond Eden and are creating custom signage for the participating artists and galleries. The show is showcasing the works of a half dozen galleries including some of our personal favorites: C.A.V.E. Gallery, Copro Gallery, Gallery Nucleus, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Toy Art Gallery and Thinkspace Gallery. Come for the opening reception Saturday, October 1 at 6-11pm for live painting, sponsored bar and DJ Mr. NumberOnederful. Get a sneak peek of the show here.

So, if you live in LA, love art and stunning views of LA…DON’T MISS this show. Plus, did we mention that admission is free? For directions and more information, visit the Beyond Eden website. See you there!

Blik Custom: SIGGRAPH 2011

Curious about what Blik has been up to lately, eh? Earlier this month, we ventured to picturesque Vancouver, Canada to participate in SIGGRAPH, the world’s premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Blik took part in The Studio at SIGGRAPH where attendees were encouraged to roll their sleeves up and get hands-on in the Home of Creative Invention. It was an amazing space where experts and attendees both experimented with the latest technologies like large-format printing, motion capture, interactive music, software suites, high-end computing workstations, and laser scanning.

Your pals at Blik sponsored an interactive collaboration piece where attendees were each given a custom-designed decal to place on the wall. The collaborative wall was very popular (we hear that The Studio staff even had to make sure that no one walked away with the decals) and evolved throughout the week. Take a look for yourself. And if you were lucky enough to attend SIGGRAPH, let us know how the conference was for you.

SUPER COOL SUPER IAM8BIT

Have you heard about the amazing SUPER iam8bit art show opening tonight in LA? It’s going to be awesome! It’s coming to you from our friends at iam8bit, who are a production company, a marketing boutique and an events producer. Just think of them as a jack-of-all-trades. With a mandate of “making awesome things,” you know it will be good.

About the Show. SUPER iam8bit is a celebration of art inspired by 80′s video games. Over 100 artists will re-imagine their 80′s gaming nostalgic fantasies through all sorts of media — painting, sculpture, plush, and even some more interactive experimentation. Highlights include an interactive, “retro-fied” Kinect hack from Double Fine super-artist Drew Skillman (see him below in the green shirt). We’re looking forward to that.

Blik is Proud to Participate. iam8bit asked Blik to bring an exciting gaming energy to the space and transform the entire gallery into an 80′s gaming wonderland. Our designers constructed collages (inside each collage are over 50 games including PAC-MAN, Super Mario Bros, TRON, Qbert and Punch-Out)  that were blown-up and cut into panels and wrapped around the space. In addition to all the graphics inside, we also designed the window glass graphics and iam8bit’s giant logo.

Galaga’s 30th Anniversary! The show will also feature a special tribute to Galaga’s 30th anniversary with the world’s largest “arcade cabinet” that was designed by us. This giant Galaga will have an enormous projection of live gaming going on at the show. And how cool is this? The player with the highest score will win an original Galaga arcade game.

If you’re not already excited about this art show, here is a sneak preview of a few of our installation photos. This show is going to be the LA art show to attend this summer. But don’t just take our word for it, get over there and check it out for yourself! The show runs from August 11 until September 10. For location details, visit iam8bit.

Blik Custom: Sneak Peek

At Blik, we are constantly working on super-cool custom projects. Here is a taste of some upcoming projects:

IGN: If you’re a gamer then you know IGN, the premiere site for video game reviews, news, trailers and videos. We designed a sweet mash-up with IGN’s logo – crossing “IGN” with iconic video game characters (spot your favorites) to create a 20′ wide graphic for their Beverly Hills office. We will manufacture and install it in the coming weeks. We’ll also be installing a 100′ long runner (yep, designed by Blik) using various levels from Super Mario Bros.

IGN logo - concept art

Hub: Pop Quiz: What do My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and Batman have in common (besides being some of your favorites as a kid)? They are all on Hub TV! The Hub is a fun, new destination that brings kids and their families together to enjoy clever stories and engaging characters in new and classic comedies, animated adventures, movies, and live-action shows. We designed 2,226 square feet of wall graphics, based on their lively mix of assets, to brand and bring some of their best-known characters to life inside their Burbank headquarters. We will manufacture and install the graphics in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for photos.

Batman

Strawberry Shortcake

Dan Vs.

Family Game Night

Moon Gets Blik’d

It looks like space is no longer the final frontier as Blik, the innovative maker of self-adhesive surface graphics, announces an exciting new project with NASA. After spending over 11 years on a top-secret assignment, Blik is happy to announce that they’ve Blik’d the moon. You heard that right, the moon.

According to Scott Flora, Blik’s managing partner, “This partnership not only allows NASA to finally add some color to the otherwise drab looking moon, but it allows us to conduct qualitative research on how our products hold up in zero gravity situations. Something we think will come in handy in the future.”

While NASA officials are keeping quiet, Blik’s very own team of highly-trained scientists have been busy preparing for the lunar exhibit, which will permanently display Blik designs on the surface of the moon starting tonight, April 1, 2011.

Of course, the deadline was pushed up with concern that competing space decal programs would get there first. Professor Paul Alvarado claims, “We knew the Chinese were working on a similar program, and of course the Russians are never far behind.”

Luckily Blik and NASA have met the demands with little hassle, and tonight, “People all over the world will be able to see the moon as something other than just ‘another boring rock’ in our solar system”, says Nick Martin, Chief Scientist at Blik’s Interplanetary Graphic Initiative Center (BLIK-IGIC). He also adds, “Keep watching the full moon tonight. You certainly won’t believe what you see.”

With the anticipated wild success of Bliking the moon, Blik hopes to expand their creative reach beyond the public consciousness, and enter the more prized subconsciousness. To see more about Blik’s latest projects, visit www.whatisblik.com, or just stare up at the moon tonight, April 1.

As Seen In: InStyle, April 2011

We’ve been waiting patiently for the mailman to come and drop off the April issue of InStyle. Sadly, it’s still not here. If you’ve gotten your copy already, you’ll see the magazine mentions oversized circles being available at Blik. The overzied circles are part of the color package story where the design-savvy editors give readers tips on how to use color in unexpected ways around their home.

The story recommends Blik as a resource for custom circle decals with prices starting at $40 for a 3′ circle, but the circles can be customized to your specifications.

Color Choices: Color choices are here. Custom coloring is also available for an additional $50.

To Order: Orders must be placed with Customer Service. Please call 866.262.BLIK (2545) x1 to order. Sorry, since these are custom circles, orders can’t be placed online.


Blik Custom: Here come the magnets!

Can’t get enough of the City of Angels? We can’t, and neither can Georgia and Breck, the patrons of our recent Blik custom project. They approached Blik to help them bring Los Angeles to life on the walls of their home. With their inspired idea, Blik is breaking new ground. We created an entire cityscape of die cut Blik’d magnets!

The graphic magnets were specifically designed so that little fingers (Breck and Georgia’s cute kids) could easily lift the shapes off the wall without any trouble. The 150-piece set includes the iconic Hollywood sign, the futuristic Encounter restaurant at LAX, plus as many planes, helicopters and cars as the real La-La Land.





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