Zia McCabe

My friend Zia McCabe is the keyboardist and bassist for the world-renowned rock band The Dandy Warhols. I interviewed her about the band’s graphic design history as well as their logo’s homage to Andy Warhol’s “Banana” (1967).

Ron English + Andy Warhol

Ron English’s album art for the band’s 2003 release Welcome to the Monkey House caught my eye: blending elements of Andy Warhol’s “Banana” (1967) for The Velvet Underground’s album The Velvet Underground & Nico and Warhol’s concept for The Rolling Stones’ 1971 album Sticky Fingers.

Timber Jim

I then turned to the Portland Timbers MLS team. With origins dating back to the 70’s it was easy to find examples of their design aesthetic through the years online. Their original mascot Timber Jim had some fun design elements I thought would make the cut.

Dandy Warhols FC

• Colors from The Velvet Underground & Nico album art by Andy Warhol
• The Dandy Warhol’s “Banana” logo by Ron English

Portland Timbers

• Composition from Tom Sach’s “Chanel Chain Saw” (1996) influenced by Andy Warhol
• Timber Jim’s imagery

↑ Due to the elongated shape of the banana I wanted to include a crest to fill out the negative space. I left out the zipper in order to not fly too close to the original image.

↑ I included modern jersey elements as well as branding that sponsors the band currently, KORG synthesizers being one of them.

↑ I loved the idea from Tom Sach’s concept of incorporating lettering on the blade of the chainsaw. I landed on Widowmaker for the album name to bring a heavy metal sounding element.

Dandy Warhols FC

• Include color referencing the “peeled” Velvet Underground banana
• Include Portland text somehow
• Jersey needs more branding to look like a real MLS uniform.

The Timbers

• Play with angles of the chainsaw.
• The Timbers band name will need to be incorporated somehow.
• Needs a more visible Timber Jim reference.

← Overall I am happy with the color scheme and added pinstripe pattern. I kept text minimal as attempts with more became too cluttered. I think the banana on its own visually nods to all references outlined during research.

← Text for The Timbers snuck onto the chainsaw handle which worked great since any use of the text around the chainsaw seemed to ruin the unmistakable silhouette. I brought out a bit of realism to the saw but still kept an illustrated or painted look.

Dandy Warhols FC

• Carefully balance the strong colors on the jersey.
• Add motion to the garment mock-up.
• KISS: Keep It Super Simple… also another rock n’ roll reference!

The Timbers

• Still need to incorporate a stronger Timber Jim reference: The solution will be to add the “You Are My Sunshine” text to the back of the merch shirt.
• Bring in another background color besides white.