About 8r14n

Origin

I created 8r14n a long time ago, I think it was 1997. I was working for a marketing agency in Westport, CT with a group of bright, intelligent and creative people who had alter identities the likes of ‘CRT’ and ‘Epsilon 7.’

One day, for some wild project we were working on outside of the agency, we decided that I needed a name to follow suit in their ranks. I changed a few letters of my name into numbers – so BRIAN became 8R14N. If you squint your eyes it still kinda looks like ‘Brian’.

Brand

The brand has developed qualities I would describe as a brand not for everyone. 8r14n goes against everything I know about branding. It’s difficult to remember, never mind spell, so I’ve nicknamed it the anti-brand. It’s a brand targeting myself and frankly, those with advanced cognitive skills who are capable to engage with it.

At one point I gave the brand a tagline, ‘Not Something Just Anyone Can Remember.’ It’s kinda crazy for a marketing guy to have a personal brand that’s hard to read and challenging for most to remember. I like it. It’s rebellious.

Logo

In 1998 I was living and working in NYC above Vincent’s on Hester Street in Little Italy. I kept the name and developed a logo so I could use it on 8r14n.com. I chose a logo font that resembled an odometer and I liked the fragmented look it created.

In the spirit of the anti-brand, the colors have always been black and white. The logo design tries to embellish the anti-brand qualities visually without being impossible to read.

The logo started out as a square. I wanted a simple shape and a black square was a primitive movieclip I was using in all of my Shockwave Flash ActionScript work – so I used that. I eventually dropped the square but I’ll admit I bring it back occasionally.

8r14n.com

8r14n.com has always been an experimental domain for me to explore web development and try new open source code. Many of my personal projects have been born here. It’s mainly been for my eyes only. Today you see another experiment, a cell phone photo gallery. I’m enjoying myself.

I’ve tried a million times to make a site for 8r14n.com and I have to say it’s been challenging to follow everything I know about building a brand and make something successful. In the least, 8r14n.com has been a real test and learning playground. Successful or not, I still like it.