Logan: Production company making people dance

6 Dec 2006 Category: Features, Film / Animation, Graphics, Music

Logan: Production company making people dance

If you haven't seen this you don't have a TV at home... Apple iPod "Seventy" TV spot featuring Wolfmother. Watch the spot!

There may be many people who haven’t heard of their name, but there aren’t many who haven’t seen their work. California-based young production company Logan got huge attention for the first time with their iPod spot for TV they created about two years ago. This very striking TV ad series which simply makes you want to dance certainly contributed immensly to the product’s huge success. But what else is LOGAN up to? PingMag asked founders Alexei and Ben about their other works and recent activities.

Written by Chiemi

LOGAN’s logo

Could you introduce yourselves, please?

Alexei Tylevich and Ben Conrad. We started Logan five years ago with the idea of having an independent production base for commercial and personal projects. In the beginning it was just the two of us, now the company has more than 20 people in two offices. We are based in Venice, California.


LOGAN’s studio in Venice, California

LOGAN’s studio. Nice!

What’s your position within the company?

We oversee and co-direct all the projects from the first concept all the way through execution, in addition to running the business side of the company. We work closely with our team of designers and animators with the help of our production staff.

I remember you used to do graphics with a southeast Asian taste a lot! Where did the idea come from?

Money Mark’s “Information Contraband”. Watch the MUSIC VIDEO here.

You are probably thinking of the music video for Money Mark’s “Information Contraband” that was the first video we directed as Logan, and what got a lot of attention. We are influenced by many things likewise. If you look at the range of our output, I am not sure if it’s possible to point to a single overall theme.

Music video for Felix Da Housecat’s “Rocket Ride”. Click here for the VIDEO.

Music video for Ken Ishii’s “Beep Twist”. Watch the VIDEO here.

Music video for No Doubt’s “Underneath It All”. See the VIDEO here.

And… Mr. Bob Dylan! Apple iPod “Acoustic”. Watch the VIDEO here.

How about the type of projects you get offered? A lot of your very known projects seem to be related to music…

The type of commercial projects we are approached with is incredibly varied. We direct TV commercials and music videos, in which case we work with ad agencies and record labels. We work directly with corporate clients like Apple on in-house projects like packaging design, environmental design, and product branding, etc. Probably a good example of this is an animated directory for the Apple store in Ginza, Tokyo.

Animated store directory for Apple store, Ginza. This animation is shown by the side of elevators on each floor. For international custmors, it’s written in both Japanese and English.

Animated store directory for Apple store, Ginza. It’s simple and very easy to understand.

We also do a lot of work in motion graphics, animation and special effects for a variety of advertising and broadcast clients. We get approached with projects that don’t fall into the commercial category like gallery shows and film festivals. The rest of the time is spent on self-initiated ideas that don’t involve clients. Music videos, like the one for Madonna that we finished a few months ago, reach people outside of the professional circles who may not have heard of us previously.


Festival identity, key visuals and opening titles for Onedotzero9 last year was designed by Logan.

key visuals for Onedotzero9

Music video for Madonna’s “Get Together”. See the VIDEO here.

Great that it all took off so quickly! Can you tell us a little more about your recent work?

We have a good mix of commercial and personal projects at any given time… at the moment we are busy with TV and packaging work for Apple, the BEAMS t-shirt collaboration with Masaru Ishiura/TGB Design, a number of commercial motion graphics and design projects, an experimental mobile phone service proposal in Vienna with Christian Muhr from liquid frontiers, several personal art projects… I’d say we are busy!

What was the project about where you transformed a Toy2R Qee toy?

“Mørk&Lys” was a project for an art show organized by the Mixi-Bang! gallery in Los Angeles. Each participant was given a blank Toy2R Qee toy and was then asked to customize it.

blank Toy2R Qee toy

The brief was completely open. Instead of applying a surface treatment to the toy we decided to deconstruct and change the shape itself while keeping the color and material identical to the original, thus essentially creating a new prototype. The process involved digitizing the base shape and matching the scale of the physical toy, applying a series of deformations to the 3D model. Then finally manufacturing these figures out of plastic using rapid prototyping technology.

The resulting toys are one-of-a-kind laser-cut 3D prints with movable parts. But it is conceivable to mass-produce them since this technology is intended for replication.

Lys from “Mørk & Lys”: Qee Toy customized by LOGAN (10″x15″x4.5″ white plastic)

Mørk from “Mørk & Lys”: Qee Toy customized by LOGAN (9″x11″x4.5″ black plastic)

Another exciting project we are involved with is working with Hideo Kojima and his team on some original content for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 video game, for which we also designed the logo. This time we are working on the intro of the game that involves generating original content. It’s obviously a confidential project so we can’t really talk about it yet… We’ve also been asked by Casio to design a custom Logan watch.

Nice stuff coming up!!! All of your projects sound very interesting, but so much variation in media and style!!! How do you manage it all and what kind of work do you actually feel most comfortable with?

Everything we do is informed by a strong design sense which translates into different applications. Because of our self-sufficient setup we are able to do everything here from generating concepts to directing live-action, design, animation, editing, sound…

We also do work in print, fashion, environmental design. We try to do it all. We like to think of it as a one-stop shop for our clients and a strong support base for our personal work.

Volkswagen “Logic” TV campaign

“Current TV”: Comprehensive network on-air design for Al Gore’s TV network, which included branding over 50 shows, as well as channel idents, bumpers, lower thirds, and other elements.

Don’t you ever run out of ideas?

Ideas are never a problem. The bigger issue is filtering out ideas that are harmful and detrimental to the creative process. In order to keep focused on realizing a creative idea in it’s purest form on projects which require teamwork and resources, it’s hard not to get side-tracked with other issues like budget limitations, difficult production schedules, changing deadlines, etc. These issues are a part of any client-based interaction and are perfectly normal. But there’s always that tension that needs to be dealt with.

You certainly have a lot of energy! Hope you can keep up the variety and level of creativity. Any particular future plans yet?

To grow and develop intuitively without a five-year plan.

Alexei (left) and Ben (right) from LOGAN

Alexei and Ben, thank you for showing us your great portfolio today!

19 Comments

  1. Nice Article! Very interesting!
    You guys keep on rocking pingmag!

    Posted by: Telmen Dzjind on December 6th, 2006 at 10:29 pm

  2. Wow. These guys are amazing. :)

    Posted by: The Augustus on December 6th, 2006 at 11:35 pm

  3. Great interview, but it would have been nice to know a little bit more about their backgrounds and process — how they formed their studio, where they studied, what tools they use, where they are from, etc. etc.

    Posted by: DC1974 on December 7th, 2006 at 12:12 am

  4. The Apple Ginza Store Directory is so Blade Runner.

    Posted by: Doane on December 7th, 2006 at 7:24 am

  5. [...] Aaaaaaaah, justement, je me demandais qui avait bien pu réaliser les derniers spots Tv des Ipod à base de motion-graphics, eh bien voilà ! Logan réalise des spots télé. Elle est basée en Californie, et une interview est disponible sur le site de pingMag. Allez sur le site, et n’hésitez pas à regarder les autres créations. Il y a des idées, et pas mal de maitrise. [...]

    Posted by: Hebi Flash Blog » Les spots tv de Logan on December 7th, 2006 at 8:42 am

  6. Great works from LOGAN! I’m loving Ken Ishii.

    Posted by: nico on December 7th, 2006 at 11:37 am

  7. I like the style of LOGAN: colorful and vivid

    Posted by: keanu on December 7th, 2006 at 1:03 pm

  8. Another great article. I really have not heard of Logan until now. They work are awesome.

    Posted by: Wee Keat on December 7th, 2006 at 1:32 pm

  9. Hey! I’ve been catching-up with the newest updates of pingmag ever since I discovered it… And, this is the best article yet!! =) =) Very interesting

    Posted by: weird science on December 7th, 2006 at 7:26 pm

  10. Amazing work they’ve made. I really like their sense of design, colours and shades. Once again, thank you for showing me new and wonderful work to appreciate and inspire from, PingMag!

    Posted by: G on December 7th, 2006 at 10:18 pm

  11. great story! ping mag #1!

    Posted by: J on December 8th, 2006 at 3:55 pm

  12. Great article. Fantastic work. I had never heard of them before. Will certainly be checking-in on them.

    Posted by: Ryan Nalepinski on December 9th, 2006 at 2:34 am

  13. The video for Madonna’s “Get Together” is amazing, it caught my attention since the very first day I saw it.

    Posted by: Lu on December 11th, 2006 at 3:05 am

  14. [...] Lean la entrevista acá . [...]

    Posted by: Bold Blog de Alejandro Bernales Logan: La Agencia Audiovisual que nos hace Bailar on December 12th, 2006 at 9:48 pm

  15. [...] Mucha gente no ha oído nunca su nombre pero no hay muchos que no hayan visto nunca nada de su trabajo. Logan es una compañía Californiana que crea anuncios para televisión (Apple, Motorola, MTV…) o videoclips musicales (Madonna, No Doubt, Jurassic 5…). En su demoreel os podeis hacer una idea de lo que hacen y aquí teneis una entrevista con sus creadores. [...]

    Posted by: numerof.com » Logan- Fotografia | Video | Edicion | Postproduccion | Cine | Efectos especiales | Animacion digital | Hardware | Software | Curiosidades on December 18th, 2006 at 8:58 pm

  16. [...] Foreign designers/filmmakers come along, too. And yes, PingMag has made an interview with someone we met here before, too. So thank you, Snack Nagako! [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" » Archive » Snack Nagako: Hybrid Salon only for Grown-Ups on January 18th, 2007 at 10:15 pm

  17. [...] What’s next for LOGAN? Lots of projects, that’s for sure. One G-Shock fans will be interested in is a custom designed watch for Casio, according to a 2006 interview featured in PingMag. Note in the image above, both are wearing G-Shocks. The article says that having LOGAN, one of the hottest production companies working in TV advertising today, work with G-Shock makes sense because Casio’s legendary hockey puck commercial made such a big impression in America in the ’80s. The photo of Tylevich and Conrad came from G-Shock Jack magazine. The cover is shown below. [...]

    Posted by: GMT+9 » Blog Archive » G-Shock + LOGAN on February 22nd, 2007 at 3:27 pm

  18. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Logan: Product… (tags: motion) [...]

    Posted by: » Blog Archive » links for 2008-01-15 on January 20th, 2008 at 4:12 am

  19. [...] So what or who is Logan you might be asking yourself. Logan is the studio founded by Ben Conrad and Alex Tylevich. Logan is the studio I am currently booked at until March or so. I have been there since October working on some fun projects meeting some cool people. This is Logan’s site. And here is an interview via one of my favorite online mags Ping Mag. [...]

    Posted by: since78.briangossett.com » HELLO LOGAN on December 19th, 2008 at 2:47 am

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