posted 10-17-2012 08:07 AM            

I appreciate Tim stepping in and confirming a few points until I was able to respond here. Unfortunately, the changes to this design were inadvertently a result of the reasoning behind the changes to the Expedition 37 design and the approval process for these patches is a lengthy and complicated one.

I did indeed work directly with the crew on incorporating the new elements and I was the only artist involved in making these changes so this was not a case of someone having to change another artist's design. We came up with a number of different options to add the new elements and this version was the best overall option that everyone was happy with.

Although I did specifically ask about including all of the elements you now see into the patch before I ever originally designed it, at the time, we decided to go for the sleeker, simpler, and overall bolder design that was approved a year ago.

To this day, there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to the original design's uniqueness by both this community and the NASA community which is why the last thing anyone wanted to do was completely scrap original design and start over. So we all opted to do our best to maintain the originality of the design but also get all of the necessary elements in there as well.

Does the new version suffer from this? Yes, I do feel we have lost a bit of that sleek simplicity the original had, but I believe it is still a tasteful and unique design and is one that I am still honored to have had the opportunity to create. I am so grateful I was given the freedom and trust to try something different and I believe this design will still pave the way for trying new techniques in the future.

By the way, I don't want to post the hi-res artwork until NASA officially releases it, but I will say that it actually doesn't feel quite as busy as the patch does. The names have more breathing room in the artwork and are not as bold as the thread made them so the design doesn't feel as claustrophobic.

posted 10-17-2012 01:26 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by hoorenz:
Blake, I really hope that for your next patch, and I am sure there will be, the process will be much smoother.

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posted 10-17-2012 06:42 PM               

Will Expedition 38, 39, 40, etc. continue this new trend or should we look at 36 and 37 as an aberration?

posted 10-18-2012 11:22 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dogcrew5369:
Will Expedition 38, 39, 40, etc. continue this new trend?

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posted 10-20-2012 11:26 AM               

The first version of the 36 artwork was never rejected, but was simply not presented for approval to all members of the crew. Some 20 months before the start of the expedition, it was made into a patch and handed to them.

This was so early, that some of the crew were still in the designing phase. Because NASA had already officially released the art, a compromise was reached to add the elements they had wanted to see, to Blake's design.

posted 10-21-2012 08:41 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by IconDesign29:
By the way, I don't want to post the hi-res artwork until NASA officially releases it, but I will say that it actually doesn't feel quite as busy as the patch does.

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posted 11-02-2012 07:42 PM            

The dynamic design of the Expedition 36 patch portrays the International Space Station's (ISS) iconic solar arrays. The slanted angles denote a kinetic energy leading from the Earth in the lower right to the upper left tip of the triangular shape of the patch, representing the infinite scientific research, education, and long-duration spaceflight capabilities the ISS provides with each mission, as well as our goal for future exploration beyond the Space Station.

The numbers 3 and 6 harmoniously intertwine to form expedition number 36 and its gray coloration signifies the unity and neutrality among all of the international partners of the ISS.

The blue and gold color scheme of the patch represents the subtle way the central gold orbit wraps around the number 36 to form a trident at its lower right tip. The trident also symbolizes the sea, air, and land, all of which make up the Earth from where the trident originates in the design.

posted 04-24-2013 10:43 AM               

Although a compromise was reached last summer with Pavel to add the Moon, Mars, names and flags to the patch that NASA released, he decided to also fly his own design as a personal memento and display it aboard the Russian section of the ISS. (Together with the Soyuz TMA-08M patch, which — not coincidentally — happens to be in the shape of his earlier Soyuz TMA-8 design).