Jazz (design)

Last updated

Jazz Solo Jazz design.jpg
Jazz

Jazz is a trademarked design that is featured on disposable cups. [1] The design was introduced in 1992, and is considered an icon of 1990s culture. Jazz has also become a meme and has gained a cult following. Fans have applied the design to various objects, including automobiles, shirts, and shoes. Cups with the Jazz design were initially manufactured by Sweetheart Cup Company, which was later purchased by Solo Cup Company in 2004. Solo continued production of the disposable cups, and the Jazz design would become known unofficially as Solo Jazz. [2]

Contents

Design

The Jazz design consists of a broad, jagged, crayon-like brushstroke of teal coloring, topped by a finer zig-zagged brushstroke of purple coloring. [3] [4]

Until 2015, the identity of Jazz's designer had remained largely unknown. The popularity of the design led to a Reddit inquiry that year as to who created it, ultimately revealing Gina Ekiss as the designer. [3] [5] [6] During the same year, Stephanie Miller claimed on Reddit to be the true creator of the Jazz design. [3] [7] Some reports credited Ekiss as the creator but this has not been confirmed by Solo Cup Company. [8] [4] [9] [2] [5] [6] [10] [11]

Kasey Skala, spokesperson for Solo Cup Company, subsequently said that the company did some internal research on the creator of Jazz. However, Skala stated that most of the people who worked on the Jazz project were no longer with Solo following its acquisition of Sweetheart Cup Company. According to Skala, "At this time, our best assumption is that a former employee named Gina created the design, but we are unable to confirm whether this is accurate or not." [7] [12]

Gina Ekiss

Gina Ekiss (then known as Gina Boyd-Burgess) began working at Sweetheart Cup Company in 1987, after graduating from Missouri State University. She was one of approximately 32 artists working for Sweetheart's art department, based in Springfield, Missouri. During the late 1980s, Sweetheart planned to replace its disposable cup design, "Preference," which featured a gray base with a thin red line that formed two leaves. Sweetheart became disappointed with the new designs submitted by external agencies. [3] Dennis Marsh, a manager for the company, said that the design agencies did not understand the specifics of the company's printing process, and that their designs were too complicated to use. [12]

In 1989, a company contest was announced to choose a new stock image for the disposable cups that would have wide appeal, as the company's cups were used in various locations such as hospitals and fast-food restaurants. [3] Marsh was influential in the company's decision to hold the contest. [12] One of the new design's limitations was that it could only have one or two colors, due to the high speed of the printing press. [8] At the time, Sweetheart was transitioning to digital technology, and Ekiss was one of the few workers who was skilled in computer design. [9]

Ekiss submitted three or four design ideas. [3] In 1991, Sweetheart chose Ekiss's design, which utilized her favorite colors: teal and purple. Jazz was based on an earlier image named Razzi that Ekiss had designed while she was in college. [3] [9] The original image was drawn on vellum using charcoal; [9] according to Ekiss, "I think I probably just had some [charcoal] on hand at my desk and was just messing around and I liked what came out." [8] To create Jazz, Ekiss remade her Razzi image digitally by scanning it. [9] Ekiss later recalled that she had no idea what to call her cup design when it was chosen: "I had to come up with a name for it, so we just called it jazz." [3] The name is a variation of her earlier Razzi image. [9]

Ekiss did not receive a bonus payment for her design, and did not receive royalties as Sweetheart took ownership of the design. Full production of the Jazz disposable cups began in early 1992, and the design was also used for disposable bowls and plates. [3] [4] [7] Ekiss worked for Sweetheart until 2002, when the company relocated its art department. [3] [12] At the time, Jazz was the company's top-grossing stock design. [3]

Stephanie Miller

In the late 1980s, Stephanie Miller worked as a graphic designer for Imperial Bondware, a paper and plastic cup manufacturer based in Ohio. [3] [7] According to Miller, Imperial Bondware held a contest for its three graphic designers to create a new cup design. [7] She used paint brushes and ink to create the winning design, [3] [13] and she designed it in a way that it would be easy to print: [7] "The whole idea was that it would be easier to be printed, because the design didn't have to line up at all. You didn't have to worry about edges lining up." [13] Miller later said that she believed her design was titled "Brush Strokes", but she could not remember for sure. [7] According to Miller, officials for Imperial Bondware considered her new design too "forward thinking" and stopped using it after approximately one year. [3] Miller acknowledged she did not have proof that she created the design, although she wrote on Reddit in 2015: [3]

Someone from Sweetheart picked it up, liked it, set it on Gina's desk and asked to tweak it just a little to avoid copyright issues. That design came out of my head. Same colors, same everything, except Gina made the purple line a little smaller. This was a common practice between the cup companies, and Gina was just doing what she was told. But she's not being truthful if she's claiming that she designed it.

Ekiss denied that she took the design from Miller. [3] International Paper, which purchased Imperial Bondware, was unable to find the design in its company archives. Miller said, "I feel frustrated. I know in my heart this thing came straight from my head. […] I am not doing this because I want the money. I want credit for what I designed. This is my work." [7]

Popularity

The Jazz design is considered an icon of 1990s culture, often being associated with the decade. [2] [10] [13] [4] [11] The design ultimately became a meme, [10] [9] [13] and gained a cult following. [4] [9] [13] It gained popularity among Internet artists in 2010 or 2011. The fan community sold shirts featuring the design, and also created fan pages for Jazz on Facebook and Tumblr to document various instances of the design's expanded usage, [3] including automobiles, [3] [9] [2] shoes, [14] bicycle helmets, [8] tattoos, [9] nail art, [2] and others. [13] The design was also used as the profile image for the Instagram account fuckjerry. [5] [15] In 2018, the Springfield Cardinals wore jerseys featuring the Jazz design during a game. The jerseys were then auctioned to benefit cancer patients. [16] [17] [18] [19]

Disposable Jazz cups remained available as of 2015. [3] That year, Ekiss was asked how she felt about having designed something that became part of 1990s culture and that would be remembered for generations; she laughed and responded, "I'm not sure how to answer that. It just seems so insane to me." [3] She was thrilled that the design remained popular, [8] and was surprised by how popular it had become: "I was pretty shocked, to say the least. It just seems like such a random thing to me after all this time." [9] Miller, in 2015, said she did not know why people were interested in the design, and said "I had no idea it would get the crazy cult following that it has now. But I think it's awesome!" [13]

In Oliver Tree's 2018 music video for "All That x Alien Boy", the Jazz design is featured on clothing and a monster truck. Solo was upset with the design's usage and requested that Tree not feature it in any subsequent videos. [20] Solo has also sought to remove online listings of merchandise featuring the design, noting that it is trademarked. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smiley</span> Stylized image of a smiling face

A smiley, sometimes called a smiley face, is a basic ideogram representing a smiling face. Since the 1950s, it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram or as a form of communication, such as emoticons. The smiley began as two dots and a line representing eyes and a mouth. More elaborate designs in the 1950s emerged, with noses, eyebrows, and outlines. New York radio station WMCA used a yellow and black design for its "Good Guys" campaign in the early 1960s. More yellow-and-black designs appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, including works by Harvey Ross Ball in 1963, and Franklin Loufrani in 1971. Today, The Smiley Company founded by Franklin Loufrani claims to hold the rights to the smiley face in over 100 countries. It has become one of the top 100 licensing companies globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dusty Springfield</span> British singer (1939–1999)

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dramatic ballads, with French chanson, country, and jazz also in her repertoire. During her 1960s peak, she ranked among the most successful British female performers on both sides of the Atlantic. Her image–marked by a peroxide blonde bouffant/beehive hairstyle, heavy makeup and evening gowns, as well as stylised, gestural performances–made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Lord</span> English musician and composer (1941–2012)

John Douglas "Jon" Lord was an English keyboardist and composer. In 1968, Lord co-founded the hard rock band Deep Purple, and he became regarded as its leader in the early years. Lord performed on most of the band's most popular songs; he and drummer Ian Paice were the only continuous members in the band between 1968 and 1976, and also from when it was re-established in 1984 until Lord's retirement in 2002. He also spent time in the bands Whitesnake, Paice Ashton Lord, the Artwoods, the Flower Pot Men and Santa Barbara Machine Head.

<i>Purple</i> (Stone Temple Pilots album) 1994 studio album by Stone Temple Pilots

Purple is the second studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on June 7, 1994, by Atlantic Records. The album, building on the foundation laid by the band's debut album Core (1992), was a major commercial success, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 252,000 copies sold in its first week. It remained at the top of the chart for three weeks, eventually selling over six million copies. It spawned a number of successful singles; "Vasoline" and "Interstate Love Song" both topped the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and reached number 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, while "Big Empty" also reached the top ten on both charts. Lesser known album cuts "Pretty Penny" and "Unglued" were released as promotional radio singles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Kare</span> American artist and graphic designer (born 1954)

Susan Kare is an American artist and graphic designer, who contributed interface elements and typefaces for the first Apple Macintosh personal computer from 1983 to 1986. She was employee #10 and creative director at NeXT, the company formed by Steve Jobs after he left Apple in 1985. She has worked as a design consultant to Microsoft, IBM, Sony Pictures, Facebook, and Pinterest. As of 2023 Kare has been an employee of Niantic Labs. As a pioneer of pixel art and of the graphical computer interface, she has been celebrated as one of the most significant designers of modern technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donatella Versace</span> Italian fashion luxury designer (born 1955)

Donatella Francesca Versace, sometimes simply referred to mononymously as Donatella, is an Italian fashion designer, businesswoman, socialite, and model. She is the sister of Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion company Versace, with whom she worked closely on the development of the brand and in particular its combining of Italian luxury with pop culture and celebrity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweetheart Cup Company</span>

Sweetheart Cup Company was a North American company that made paper cups, plastic cups and related products. In 2004, Sweetheart was acquired by the Solo Cup Company, which itself was acquired by Dart Container on May 4, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Love New York</span> Slogan and song promoting New York state

I Love New York is a slogan, a logo, and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign developed by the marketing firm Wells, Rich, and Greene under the directorship of Mary Wells Lawrence used since 1977 to promote tourism in the state of New York. The service marked logo, owned by the New York State Department of Economic Development, appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the state, some licensed, many not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee cup</span> Tableware product

A coffee cup is a cup for serving coffee and coffee-based drinks. There are three major types: conventional cups used with saucers, mugs used without saucers, and disposable cups. Cups and mugs generally have a handle. Disposable paper cups used for take-out sometimes have fold-out handles, but are more often used with an insulating coffee cup sleeve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthora</span> Coffee cup design

The Anthora is a design for a disposable paper cup for coffee that has become iconic of New York City daily life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Louboutin</span> French fashion designer (born 1964)

Christian Louboutin is a French fashion designer. His stiletto footwear incorporates shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature. Initially a freelance designer for fashion houses, he started his shoe salon in Paris, with his shoes finding favour with celebrity clientele. He has partnered with other organizations for projects including limited edition pieces, gallery exhibits, and a custom bar. His company has since branched out into men's luxury footwear, handbags, fragrances, and makeup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Miss Kier</span> American musician (born 1963)

Kierin Magenta Kirby, known professionally as Lady Miss Kier, is an American singer, songwriter and DJ. Lady Miss Kier was the vocalist for the band Deee-Lite. She is a social, environmental, and human rights activist.

Solo Cup Company is an American manufacturer of disposable consumer products including beverage cups, disposable plates, and bowls. Solo Cup Company is located in Lake Forest, Illinois, and in 2006 had sales of $2.4 billion. On May 4, 2012, Solo Cup Company was acquired by Dart Container.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth E. Carter</span> American costume designer

Ruth E. Carter is an American costume designer for film and television. She is best known for her collaborations with Spike Lee, John Singleton, and Ryan Coogler. During her film career, Carter has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, for her work on Lee's biographical film Malcolm X (1992), Steven Spielberg's historical drama film Amistad (1997), and winning twice for Coogler's Marvel superhero films Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). She was the first African-American to win and be nominated for Best Costume Design and the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category. Her other film credits include Do the Right Thing (1989), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Love & Basketball (2000), Serenity (2005), The Butler (2013), Selma (2014), Marshall (2017), Dolemite Is My Name (2019), and Coming 2 America (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Bass (artist)</span> American motorsports artist (1961–2019)

Samuel Mark Bass was an American motorsports artist known for being NASCAR's first officially licensed artist. A lifelong NASCAR fan, he began working on designing drivers' cars paint schemes with Bobby Allison in 1988. He later designed various paint schemes for drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, and designed and painted dozens of Race program covers for races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lil Debbie</span> American rapper

Jordan Mary Capozzi, better known by her stage name Lil Debbie, is an American rapper, model, baker and fashion designer. Debbie started her career in 2011 as part of the now-defunct group White Girl Mob, with rappers Kreayshawn and V-Nasty. In 2012, Debbie started a solo career, releasing a series of singles with rappers Riff Raff and former White Girl Mob group member V-Nasty, some of which ended up on her first solo project, a mixtape titled Keep It Lit. In October 2013, Debbie released her first EP, titled Queen D. In March 2014, Debbie released her second EP, California Sweetheart, followed by California Sweetheart Pt. 2 later in the same year. In November 2014, Debbie released her second mixtape, Young B!tch. Debbie also DJs under the moniker 'CAPOZZI'.

Ellen Mirojnick is an American costume designer. She is a frequent collaborator of actor Michael Douglas, having overseen the costume design for the films Fatal Attraction (1987), Wall Street (1987), Basic Instinct (1992), A Perfect Murder (1998), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) and Behind the Candelabra (2013). The wardrobe which she created for the character of Gordon Gekko inspired a fashion trend in the late 1980s and early 1990s for boldly patterned ties, sleek suits, crisp white shirts, and colorful suspenders in men's business wear. She has also been a frequent collaborator of directors Jan de Bont and Paul Verhoeven, acting as costume designer on de Bont's films Speed (1994), Twister (1996) and The Haunting (1999), as well as Verhoeven's films Basic Instinct (1992), Showgirls (1995), Starship Troopers (1997) and Hollow Man (2000).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Leo Hulseman</span>

Robert Leo Hulseman was an American businessman and entrepreneur who was best known as the inventor of the red solo cup, which is produced by his family's company, Solo Cup Company. He also co-designed the Traveler Lid, which prevents foam from hot beverages such as lattes and cappuccinos from touching the drinker's nose, now widely used by Starbucks and other brands. Hulseman joined the staff of the Solo Cup Company, which had been founded in 1936 by his father Leo Hulseman, when he was 18 years old. Hulseman spent more than 60 years at the Solo Cup Company, including as the company's President and CEO from 1980 until 2006.

Misa Hylton is an American stylist and fashion designer. Known as a pioneer in the fashion industry, she has styled many hip-hop and R&B artists since the 1990s, most notably Lil' Kim and Mary J. Blige. Hylton's style, referred to as "hip-hop glamorous," has been credited with influencing fashion trends in popular culture. Hylton is a global creative partner for MCM and was the centerpiece of the 2019 documentary The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion.

Mona May is a costume designer who has worked on over 70 movie and television programs. With her trademark feminine style, using bold colors and feathery boas, May has been designing costumes since 1989.

References

  1. ↑ "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval: 16". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Taylor, Kate (June 22, 2015). "The World Now Knows Who Created This Iconic '90s Solo Cup Pattern". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Gounley, Thomas (June 17, 2015). "The Internet is looking for who designed this cup. What does Springfield have to do with it?". Springfield News-Leader . Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Campbell-Dollaghan, Kelsey (June 19, 2015). "The Lost Designer of This Classic 90s Pattern Has Finally Been Found". Gizmodo. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 Haskell, Will (June 19, 2015). "Redditors were determined to track down the mystery person behind one of the most iconic designs ever — and they found her". Business Insider. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  6. 1 2 Thompson, Helen (July 1, 2015). "How the Internet Tracked Down the Designer of the Beloved Jazz Paper Cup". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Topey, Melissa (July 5, 2015). "Iconic design is hers". Sandusky Register . Retrieved June 30, 2024– via NewsLibrary.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Murphy, Eliza (June 24, 2015). "The Internet is Freaking Out Over Finding the Designer of '90s 'Jazz' Cup". ABC News. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Chayka, Kyle (October 28, 2015). "12 Moments in the History of the Solo Jazz Cup". Mental Floss. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 Bergado, Gabe (June 22, 2015). "Designer behind that iconic '90s jazz cup pattern finally revealed". The Daily Dot. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  11. 1 2 Yam, Kimberly (June 26, 2015). "You Know That Waxy Turquoise And Purple Cup That's So '90s? Meet Its Genius Designer". HuffPost. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Gounley, Thomas (July 4, 2015). "A proud son, a prouder mom and that iconic Jazz cup design". Springfield News-Leader. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Potraz, Kathryn (July 9, 2015). "How a Disposable Cup Became a Lasting Icon of the '90s". Paste . Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  14. ↑ Weiss, Suzannah (June 23, 2015). "The 'Jazz Cup' Design By Gina Ekiss Has An Unexpectedly Rich History, So Here Are 8 Things You Didn't Know About It". Bustle. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  15. ↑ Byrne, Fiona (July 10, 2018). "FuckJerry's SoHo Office Has an Apartment-Meets-Library Vibe We Love". Architectural Digest. Retrieved July 11, 2019. FuckJerry adopted the dixie cup Jazz wave as its signature, so it had to be included somewhere in the office. (The Jazz wave was designed by a woman named Gina Ekiss […]
  16. ↑ Chesterton, Eric (August 30, 2018). "The Springfield Cardinals will throw it back to the '90s with teal and purple jerseys". MLB . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  17. ↑ Caputo, Paul (August 30, 2018). "Springfield Cardinals have some amazing 90s uniforms". SportsLogos.net . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  18. ↑ Rehwald, Jackie (August 30, 2018). "Springfield Cardinals to don Jazz cup jerseys Saturday. Here's how to get one". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  19. ↑ Inman, Jesse (September 2, 2018). "SGF Cards Themed Jerseys Raise Cancer Awareness". KOLR . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  20. ↑ Deahl, Dani; Holowaty Krales, Amelia (May 3, 2019). "What's in your bag, Oliver Tree?". The Verge. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  21. ↑ Gault, Matthew (September 15, 2021). "Solo Cup Company Got Artist's Instagram Nuked for Using Famous Jazz Pattern". Vice. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.