We recently connected with Mike Sulick and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Like many of my creative peers and other artists and designers around the world, I have a constant urge to keep creating. Whether it’s good or bad, something I’ve done a hundred times or something I’ve never done before, I always find myself making something. A good portion of my free time outside of work is dedicated to creating projects for myself, nothing to necessarily show people or make money off of, I just have this innate drive to keep designing and exploring new avenues in design by making things for myself. This often manifests itself in type design. I’ve made a decent number of experimental typefaces in the last few years, some available to purchase and some I make with no intention of selling. Some I even make with a total disregard for legibility. When there’s no client involved, things can get wild and weird. And it’s important to design weird things. It’s these sorts of typefaces that no one asks for that allows you to go off the creative deep end. In recent years I’ve made a typeface called Replicant built on repeating concentric lines, Amerikana which fuses Japanese katakana with Latin characters, and I’m currently reviving a variant of a font called Davison Art Nouveau that was used on Dune paperback novels in the 70s and never digitized in the modern era. No one asked for these typefaces, they have highly specific uses that only entice me, and they will most likely never be for sale. But I make them anyway. It’s a learning experience – delving into type design with loose intentions but tight restrictions, and there’s no added pressure of making it commercial viable because it just for me. I think these little pet projects are important for any designer to have; they allow you to explore strange avenues of design within your own set of parameters. The next challenge with these little experimental typeface projects for myself would be to actually commit to making them into something that could be used commercially for projects that aren’t just from the recesses of my mind. Keep making weird things!

Mike, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For those who don’t know me (most likely all of you), my name is Mike Sulick, and I’m a graphic designer who specializes in typography. For the last ten years, I’ve been working at a small studio in Montclair, New Jersey called Fanbrandz that specializes in graphic design for the sports industry, where I am currently the Design Director. I’ve been working hand-in-hand for the last decade with the design teams at Major League Baseball and National Hockey League, among a few other smaller leagues, in developing special event style guides and identity systems.

If you’re a sports fan and watch baseball or hockey, there’s a good chance you’ve seen my work! I’ve worked on a number of team identities, including the recent rebrand of the Miami Marlins, but the real bread and butter of what I do lies in designing special event identities. What’s a special event in the sport industry? These include large-scale tournaments for the leagues, such as the World Series or Stanley Cup Playoffs, the former being redesigned every season and the latter being built as a program that will last a decade. I also design one-off special events such as the yearly All-Star Game for MLB, and the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic programs for NHL. Each of these events is especially unique because these projects are always based in deep thematic research influenced by the host city, team, or stadium for the event. One of the most rewarding parts of this job is picking up on a theme for the location, building a full style guide of assets focused around that core theme, and seeing all the work come to life in the host city for the event, where locals and visitors alike embrace it. The most recent NHL All-Star I worked on was hosted in Las Vegas, so we at Fanbrandz developed an entire system of art inspired by the glitz and glamour, neon signs, and gambling culture of Vegas. This project and many more can be found on our website at fanbrandz.com.

Outside of sports design, I am also a type designer. I’ve made a number of typefaces, including some fun revival typefaces, available at jamaisvu.xyz where you can find my body of typographic work. The name “Jamais Vu” comes from the French term that is the opposite of déjà vu. With Déjà vu, you see or experience something new, but it feels like something you’ve seen before. Jamais Vu is the phenomenon where you see or experience something you know you should be familiar with, but it nonetheless feels unfamiliar or new, something “never seen,” which is the direct translation. I believe all design should elicit a sense of jamais vu, whereas design that elicits déjà vu has ultimately failed.

Under the banner of Jamais Vu, I’ve hosted a number of typographic workshops called “Gestalt Typography,” where I gather a group of friends and colleagues, give them a small set of supplies, and together build a “communal” typeface where everyone has input on each character.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I think at this point the world has moved on from NFTs, right? They were a get-rich-quick scheme and people that capitalized on it early on made a lot of money, those who came in after initial “gold rush” probably lost a decent amount of money. NFTs are valueless in my eyes. I don’t know if that’s inherently incorrect or closed-minded, it just seems that it was focusing on the “art” angle for the wrong reasons. The art was secondary to the receipt that acted as the proof-of-purchase, the “token” of the NFT. The art became devalued and irrelevant. Any air of creativity behind NFT projects was lost. I feel like it *could* have done something good for the world of art and design, but instead got overused and exploited to the point we’re at now, where no one is really talking about them anymore, and you’re more often than not greeted with a shrug when mentioning them. It was a fad, and I’m sort of glad I don’t have to hear about them anymore. Also, most NFTs I’ve seen are ugly generative art devoid of any artistic value. I’m sure they were great for money laundering. If you want to support the culture of fine art and graphic design, go to a museum or gallery opening and appreciate the art in person. Buy a painting or a print. Hang out with artists and designers.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

This one is going to seem painfully obvious, but I wish I read more books when I was in college. Not just design books, but novels as well. In high school and college I absorbed all of my design inspiration from the internet. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing, but I think students especially should get into the habit of opening design books new and old for inspiration and insight into the history and craft. I’m now sitting next to a bookshelf that is filled to max with design books, beautiful tomes of knowledge and inspiration that are portable, don’t need to be recharged, and are full of wisdom and insight. I think Unit Editions has done an especially good job at protecting and upholding the industry of design books that focus on such unique and eclectic subjects, from hundred-year-old magazine covers, punk album designs, and monographs featuring some design greats like Herb Lubalin, Paula Scher, and Lance Wyman.

In addition to design books, I’m also an avid reader of science fiction. It’s more of a hobby than a tool for inspiration, but many sci-fi books have been the impetus for personal design projects of mine, especially the Dune series.      

Contact Info:

• Website: jamaisvu.xyz & fanbrandz.com
• Instagram: mikesulick