Hm, something is oddly similar between the punk rock anti-corporate Minor Threat album art on the left, and a new poster from Nike, that major corporation, for their upcoming skateboarding tour shown on the right.

A representative from Dischord Records, the label that put out the Minor Threat record in 1981, says this when asked if Nike asked for permission:

No, they stole it and we’re not happy about it. Nike is a giant corporation which is attempting to manipulate the alternative skate culture to create an even wider demand for their already ubiquitous brand. Nike represents just about the antithesis of what Dischord stands for and it makes me sick to my stomach to think they are using this explicit imagery to fool kids into thinking that the general ethos of this label, and Minor Threat in particular, can somehow be linked to Nike’s mission. It’s disgusting.

I’ve returned from the HOW Design Conference that happened over the weekend in Chicago. It was a mediocre event, overall. The personal highlights were sessions with Stefan Sagmeister on his clever print production techniques and Brendan Dawes on his unusual computer interfaces (such as a snow globe with actual computer inputs). Disappointments were a typography session that was little more than an Extensis product pitch and Brian Collins of Olgivy’s Brand Integration Group giving a presentation that was identical to his talk from last year’s AIGA conference. (Hasn’t anything happened at Olgivy in the last year?)