By The Bold Italic
Did you know the city’s flag hasn’t been altered since it was unveiled in 1900? Truth.
We asked artist and designer Shorty Fatz, a.k.a. Samuel Rodriguez, to take a stab at updating the historical pennant in our most recent magazine, Volume 3: SF By Design. Based on his lettering skillz and the beautiful work in his portfolio, we had a feeling he could give it the Midas touch.
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Curious about his process, we asked Shorty how he went about creating the flag. True to his training at the California College of the Arts, Shorty put pencil to paper and went through pages of sketches before arriving at this design.
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Once he knew he was headed in the right direction, he built out the file digitally to refine the image and typography.
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After applying broad strokes, Shorty went through many rounds of fine-tuning the composition. He checked and rechecked the color, line density, and spacial balance before finalizing the design.
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The new version he unveiled of the rising phoenix is a pretty fine upgrade, if we do say so ourselves. We were so excited with the results, we turned them into t-shirts. Now when do we get to see it hoisted at city hall?
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In Our Shop:
SF Flag T-shirt
Show your city pride! You can find Shorty Fatz’s new version of the San Francisco flag screen-printed on American Apparel T-shirts for men and women exclusively in our online Shop.
$25
