About
George Bangs is me. I illustrate, art direct, design, and live in Boulder, CO (but I’m happy to stretch my wings). I’ve worked big and small–from true blue DIY to fancytown ad agency–and I bring that flexibility with me wherever I go. My passion is branding and making artwork for creative people, especially when there’s music involved.
If you’d like to work together, or just say hi here’s my email & phone number.
If you’d like to work together, or just say hi here’s my email & phone number.
PopSockets
At the dawn of PopSockets–circa 2012–there was one fun, weird, circular phone accesory, the PopGrip. It had endless design options and eventually an option to create your own. The company started in Boulder and just shipped throughout the USA. Life was simple. But, that was then.
When I joined the creative team in late 2018 PopSockets was preparing to launch that one fun, weird, circular phone accesory onto a global stage (also, it’s swappable now, very cool).
With this goal in mind we set to work on a new brand identity campaign that embodied the seriously fashionable and fun nature of PopSockets. The campaign brought us to Asia & Europe for the first time, included a revamped look for Poptivism (PopSockets charity partnership program), and launched a slew of new products (nearly a dozen) over the course of 2019.
Below are some of the highlights.
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Back to School
On this campaign we brought back doodling in the margins. With illustrations by Elle Levy, Mr Kiji, and me! The fun wobbling goofiness is meant to put an optimistic shine on the dog days of summer; amplifying the fun parts of getting back to school.
At the dawn of PopSockets–circa 2012–there was one fun, weird, circular phone accesory, the PopGrip. It had endless design options and eventually an option to create your own. The company started in Boulder and just shipped throughout the USA. Life was simple. But, that was then.
When I joined the creative team in late 2018 PopSockets was preparing to launch that one fun, weird, circular phone accesory onto a global stage (also, it’s swappable now, very cool).
With this goal in mind we set to work on a new brand identity campaign that embodied the seriously fashionable and fun nature of PopSockets. The campaign brought us to Asia & Europe for the first time, included a revamped look for Poptivism (PopSockets charity partnership program), and launched a slew of new products (nearly a dozen) over the course of 2019.
Below are some of the highlights.
Back to School
On this campaign we brought back doodling in the margins. With illustrations by Elle Levy, Mr Kiji, and me! The fun wobbling goofiness is meant to put an optimistic shine on the dog days of summer; amplifying the fun parts of getting back to school.
Express Yourself
The Express Yourself campaign starred a cast of diverse women from history brought to life in the age of the smartphone. We photographed vignettes around the lives of Marie, Joan, Frida, and Cleo, imagining how they would style their world–and phone. On this one I got to concept and co-direct the shoot.
The Holidays
Winter brought along our first global holiday campaign. We looked back at the illustrative, rosy, shine and sparkle of 50s & 60s holiday catalogues and brought that sense of everyday glamour to life in our shoot. For this I contributed the core concept and some sweet typography set like cheerful storefront windows.
PopSockets at Times Square
The biggest celebration of the rebranded PopSockets (at least in terms of square footage) was our takeover of the Godzilla billboard in Times Square, complemented with wall to wall print ads in Penn Station.
First Base Tapes
First Base Tapes (RIP), was a dreamboat Boulder, CO record label that put out sweet punk, alt, and experimental tunes n’ croons for discerning local music lovers. I made a bunch of illustrations for shows, tapes, merch, and the web. Plus I had the distinct honor of designing the art cards for the first Bummeroo Video Music Festival (watch it with sound here.)
First Base Tapes (RIP), was a dreamboat Boulder, CO record label that put out sweet punk, alt, and experimental tunes n’ croons for discerning local music lovers. I made a bunch of illustrations for shows, tapes, merch, and the web. Plus I had the distinct honor of designing the art cards for the first Bummeroo Video Music Festival (watch it with sound here.)
Releases don’t happen much anynore but you can still listen and enjoy over on bandcamp. Yessir, those are some fond memories :,-)
Terriffico
Terriffico is a personal arts & branding project that allows me to make liberated wierd stuff that nobody asked for. It’s a great opportunity to collaborate with other artists, organizations, and friends. So far there have been shirts, stickers, patches, hats, and some one of a kind objects.
In 2019 I started working with Buffalo Exchange Boulder to plan pop-up shops and got to throw a mini concert in the store with local bands.
Who knows what’s next. Until then here’s the store.
Terriffico is a personal arts & branding project that allows me to make liberated wierd stuff that nobody asked for. It’s a great opportunity to collaborate with other artists, organizations, and friends. So far there have been shirts, stickers, patches, hats, and some one of a kind objects.
In 2019 I started working with Buffalo Exchange Boulder to plan pop-up shops and got to throw a mini concert in the store with local bands.
Who knows what’s next. Until then here’s the store.
Fruits of Our Labor
With this project I worked with Jes Voight (Fruits of Our Labor founder and CEO) on art direction, illustrations, animation, and typography for the brand.
We wanted to find a balance between sophistication and surprise. A brand that felt inviting and honest to creative people of any age or experience level. The solution arrived in a series of sketched fruit silhouetes that come to life as goofy characters. F0r typography we landed on the open-source typeface Syne for its wide range of expression & quirk.
“Fruits of Our Labor is a creative space for the weird, wacky, curious and crafty.
Our mission is amplify non-conforming creativity through events, retail and mentorship”
-Jes Voight, Founder & CEO
-Jes Voight, Founder & CEO
