We are *so close* to 100,000 unique products on Cotton Bureau (96,397 and counting), but we need your help to make it all the way. Here’s what we’re going to do.
From now until the end of September, all new approved products earn you a chance to win an iPhone 16 Pro.
New t-shirt? It counts as one entry. New phone case, tumbler, or tote bag? One entry each, up to a maximum of 50 new products. As long as you have a Cotton Bureau account in good standing, you’re gold. Please note, we’ll be keeping a close eye on what is being sent in. We still want your best stuff. And don’t even think about having chatGPT do your homework.
Oh, every sale of a new product creates one (1) additional entry. Again, limit of 50 entries for new product sales. Maximum of 100 entries per person (50 new products + 50 sales of new products). Yeah?
Wait. Before you head out, there’s one more thing you should know. The only way to get to 100,000 products on Cotton Bureau is if we all work together. To encourage a spirit of camaraderie and interdependence, there’s a twist.
If we get to 100K, we’re going to 4X (!!) the prizes.
In addition to the iPhone 16 Pro, we’re also going to give away the latest generation iPad mini, Apple Watch, and AirPods. We’ll be randomly selecting four winners from all eligible entries (maximum one prize per person).
You have until the end of September to complete this mission. Good luck. We’re counting on you. You might want to tell your team, er, friends.
We’re back after a hot summer hiatus. Did you miss us?
Vernazza, Italy (photo by Cotton Bureau)
Creative Works East
It’s not too late to buy tickets for Creative Works East. Some of our best friends will be speaking including Jessica Hische, Kelli Anderson, Meg Lewis, Noah Jacobus, and Rogie King. (It doesn’t hurt that Josh Horton knows how to throw a mean conference. Hi Josh!) Also if you would like to be on our list of friends, we’re accepting applications.
Speaking of BrandNew, we’re suckers for anything design + sports, so here’s a light chaser. Anyone who grew up watching the Mighty Ducks movies will certainly appreciate the return of the flying v. (Quack.)
While we’re talking movies, I can’t help but weigh in on the Kleon family movie night with a hard agree. We’ve been running a (much less meticulously documented) Friday night homemade pizza + movie party for at least five years, and it’s super tough to find something we can all enjoy.
Is Mr Beast a fraud? I mean, yes, of course. But you should check out this video showing his deeply cynical approach anyway. Maybe share it with people you know who have kids who might be watching.
We had the privilege of seeing the premier of Tony and Taylor’s first YouTube video in eight years this weekend at XOXO (😢). Definitely worth a watch. You might see something that isn’t quite like the others. 😉
Hey hey, it's Feature Friday! Today we chat with Brie Skolaski about noisy snacks, relaxed farm friends, and a career full of problem solving. Check Brie out on Twitter after perusing her Cotton Bureau Collection here.
Hi Brie! Welcome to our designer interview series. You're the mastermind behind a few of my personal favorites on the site so I'm thinking we should start there. So tell me, where did the inspiration for the chillest llama on the internet come from?
Oh, good question! I love a good pun, especially an animal pun, however, I can't take credit for the pun itself. The inspiration to create the "No Prob-Llama" shirt came from seeing a hat with an animal pun while shopping on vacation, and my spouse and I started riffing on other animal puns that would make good shirts.
Haha I love that, who doesn't appreciate a good animal pun.
Okay, let's move on to cheese. I just googled "cheese curds v cheese sticks". Do you know what I found? I'm not kidding when I tell you the first thing that popped up said "cheese curds are more rubbery, hence the squeaking". Is your Wisco food squeaking at you Brie? Tell me what's going on over there.
Well, that's a fun fact! I was always told that cheese curds only squeak when fresh, which has also been my personal observation. But you're right, Wisconsin and cheese go together like peanut butter and jelly. It's no myth that Wisconsinites love cheese, we put it on all sorts of things, eat it plain, and have entire festivals centered around it.
Cheese festivals sound pretty legit, not gonna lie. Now here's a question for you, admittedly this was asked in a previous interview but it's relevant and I still wonder who the people out there are that are doing this. It kind of sounds like Wisconsin may be responsible. How do you feel about cheddar cheese on apple pie? Supposedly there are people who love this combo and it's become my mission to track them down and ask why.
I have tried cheddar cheese on apple pie, and it's pretty good, but I prefer vanilla ice cream. However, this trend likely dates back to England in the 17th century when using dairy-based sauces in pies evolved to topping pies with cheese instead. Wisconsin can't take credit, but we won't shun you for it either. Especially if you use Hooks 7-year-old cheddar. MMM.
Oh wow, interesting! I'd give it a taste but only if someone else commits to the cheese on theirs and lets me taste it and I have my clean pie as a safe back up. As much as I'd love to talk about cheese all day, let's move on to what you're up to now. Where are you working these days? Still in the design world?
That seems like a very solid pie plan!
I am still in the design world! I'm currently working on apps that interface with physical products. Since starting my career in 2005, I've had many job titles: Web Designer, UI Designer, Front End Developer, Senior Product Designer, and Senior UI/UX designer. The design industry and all the titles are a bit like the Wild West sometimes, especially across different companies. In reality, my career in design boils down to problem-solving. I love to solve all types of problems, from the large and complex user experience to creating a t-shirt that folks see and say "I NEED that shirt!"
Designing for Cotton Bureau has been my "creative outlet" over the years and I appreciate you all. Most creatives have their "day jobs" and their "art" which don't often overlap. It's wonderful to have an opportunity to create for others and have such a wide potential audience. I even ran into someone (who I didn't know) wearing one of my t-shirts once. It took all my strength not to run up to them and say "I DESIGNED THAT SHIRT!". It was a pretty cool feeling.
Wait... you saw someone wearing one of your shirts and you didn't say anything!? I'm not sure I'd have that kind of self control. That's so fun. I'm always trying to scout Cotton Bureau shirts. I've seen a couple out in the wild but it's hard to keep track of everyone's designs.
I love that you're able to boil down those jobs into something that we all can wrap our heads around. The job titles sound pretty intense but it seems like you really enjoy your work and I imagine that plays a part in how successful you are. How did you get started in the design field?
Yes, I did see someone in the wild but I thought it would be way too weird to say something! Especially if they received the shirt as a gift and were unaware of the designer/business model for CB.
I went to college for "Graphic Design" thinking that I'd get a print job somewhere doing wedding invites or magazines or posters, but quickly realized that print was dying, and that I'm a bit of a nerd. I love to build things and solve problems, so when it came to applying for jobs, I applied to a lot of software companies, thinking that might be a good fit. Turns out, it was!
Haha ok ok that makes sense. No prob-llama is indeed a great gift so that's plausible.
That's awesome, I think it's neat to hear how peoples plans evolve with the times. That said, we hope not *all* print is dying. Things should just be printed on shirts and totes instead of paper ;)
Well hey, it was so nice catching up with you Brie! Thank you for being a part of our designer interview series. We can't wait to see what you come up with next!
I agree! I hope not all print is dying too haha.
Thanks for including me!
P.S. Use code featurefriday20 for 20% off all Brie's products now through 8/23!
Illustrator of athletes, self-made thousandaire, and most importantly, long-time CB designer, Mario Zucca joins the program. We talk about Pittsburgh being the best city in the world and how the industry is changing. Check out his impressive work at mariozucca.com and his CB collection here.
Usually we start off easy and work our way up to the tough questions, but not this time. Let's get right down to business. Better city, Philly or Pittsburgh?
Haha, oh man, hardball question right off the bat. I'm gonna be political and say that Philly's great, but I miss Pittsburgh a lot and try to get back as often as I can. How's that for a non-answer?
I was hoping for some more shade thrown at Philly, but I guess this will do. Now that we got the important one out of the way, we can move on to other locations.
We're suckers for your hand-drawn maps. And the Greetings series is just so fun. How did you pick the locations for each of them? Are they your favorites places, destinations you've always wanted to visit, areas with great art communities?
I started off the map series with places I've lived (Philly, Pittsburgh, and Portland, OR). The reception to Portland was kind of lukewarm though, and that's when I realized Midwest/Rust Belt cities are sort of my sweet spot.
I like underdog cities that tend to get overlooked or dumped on a bit. They're the places where you find people who have the most rabid city pride, and, not coincidentally, they seem to be the most receptive and excited about my maps.
Well now I know you're a Pittsburgher at heart. You had us at 'underdog city.'
I am interested in the difference between these cities in terms of the art community though. Have you noticed any major contrasts between them? Maybe more support in certain areas or collaboration in others? Or are they all pretty tight knit due to the nature of the business.
It's tough to speak to the art communities in the cities where I haven't spent much time, but based solely on the reception my illustrated maps have received, it definitely seems like some cities have a more welcoming mentality.
In Buffalo, for example, their main newspaper, The Buffalo News, ran a feature on my work, and a local printer up there secured funding to turn it into a mural on one of their main art corridors, Hertel Ave.
That's incredible! Hertel Ave is beautiful. That's gotta feel good to be featured among other impressive artists.
You've partnered with a bunch of awesome brands like Crayola, Dr. Pepper, ESPN, and about a million others. Have there been any real 'pinch me' moments getting to collab with so many high profile companies? I'm a huge sports fan, so having work featured in an NHL arena is just incredibly cool to me.
Any chance I've had to work for a sports team has been incredible, but the Sheetz truck graphic I designed a few years back was probably my all-time favorite project. It's the project that people have commented on the most, and it's never not surreal seeing my artwork driving down the highway.
Mario Zucca's illustration on the Sheetz fleet
Sheetz is the best answer here. Clearly superior to Wawa. Assuming you're a one-truck-and-done guy, what's up next for you? Anything really outside the box? Expansion of old concepts or collabs? Selfishly I hope it's a continuation of your sports work.
I definitely want to keep making sports work, and I plan to build out more Burgh-specific stuff in the months ahead. I'm actually working on a board game right now, which has been a fun departure. I don't want to give out too many details just yet, but it's a resource-management game centered around food truck culture.
Speaking of trucks...Sheetz all the way.
Now we're talking. From what I understand, you and Dan Levy are very close friends. At least that's what it seems like in Happiest Season. On a scale from 1 to fries-on-a-sandwich, can you tell me how awesome it was to see your work in an actual movie?
Haha, that was definitely fries-on-a-sandwich! I've had artwork in the background of a couple other film sets, but never up front and center like that.
Your art has such a natural flow to it. The theme and consistency really stands out. Do you feel like these types of details will disappear with the introduction of AI? Designers we've chatted with have used AI as a tool, but could it become more than that for opportunists who want to get ahead without putting in the time and effort?
Oh man, that's the million dollar question.
For all the advancements AI has made, it's still just a derivative tool with a lot of limitations, and it's still very easy to spot AI-generated art. That may change in the years ahead, but for now it seems like there's still no replacement for well-researched and conceptualized, hand-drawn art made by a human being.
Fair enough. AI art might not be a sincere form of flattery, but it's sort of an imitation so let's roll with it. Have you molded your work off of anyone? Folks that have been an inspiration to you or that you aspire to be like?
Learning how successful designers get to where they're at is so important for the next generation. Your style is unique but I'm assuming it was based on specific pieces somewhere along the way.
Definitely. I've been inspired by a pretty eclectic mix of art, but mostly by the art of Martin Handford (Where's Waldo), R. Crumb's crosshatch style, the amazing portraits of Philip Burke, and fellow map illustrators like John Roman and Aaron Meshon.
I'm also constantly inspired by other PA-based illustrators/designers like Mark Bender, Martha Rich, Tim Gough, Hawk Krall...the list could go on and on, but I'll stop there.
You're definitely in great company with those names.
Thanks so much for taking the time out to chat with us, Mario. We love to joke about Philly, but just to make it clear, it's a great city… that's just not quite as great as ours 😉.
Talking video games, national parks, smart writing, and happy birthdays today.
Factorio: Space Age
The folks at Wube Software made possibly my favorite PC game ever with the original Factorio (which you can and should buy right now if you haven’t already). They also write what may be the best game development blog on the internet.
The most recent Friday Facts is just a quick overview of the last few years, but it’s a good place to jump in to the more technical posts if you are so inclined.
Sure, the amount of content out there is overwhelming. All the more reason to follow Ted Gioia and purge a few energy vampires in your life. Interesting, thoughtful, direct. Easily one of my favorite writers.
For people of a certain age, no game was bigger than NCAA Football, and for the first time in over 10 years, it’s back. It’s been so long since the last game that the biggest names from the class of 2013 (Travis Kelce, DeAndre Hopkins, Keenan Allen) are at the tail end of their careers. We’re talking two entire console generations!
Almost everything about college football has changed in the meantime. Players can move freely between schools and earn money for their names, images, and likenesses. Deion Sanders is the most famous coach in America. Conferences are unrecognizable.
My only question: can players in the game earn NIL money in the game? Does College Football 25 exist in the College Football 25 universe?
