Illustration Throwback Thursday- Marlin Co!

For about 15 years I did work for a client called “The Marlin Company”, who provided signage and visuals for workplaces that helped employers communicate messages to their employees about things like handling stress, safety, etc. Their main product was called the “Marlin Board”, which was a wall frame with multiple different sized slots that accommodated various sized graphics and signage. Companies would subscribe to their service and periodically get new, industry-specific signs and graphics that would fit into the Marlin Board and replace the previous lot.

Nearly every month I did a 17″ x 17″ humorous illustration depicting something to do with teamwork, safety, stress, staying on task… different messages that addressed common issues for employees of a workforce. Some depicted specific industries like the medical field, but most were just funny scenes illustrating the message. That’s one at the top of this post… the caption was something about planning ahead to avoid last minute stress.

A few years ago Marlin switched over to all digital content. Instead of a board they now have a TV screen with modular short videos, messages, etc. For a little while I was doing images with layered figures, etc and one of the art directors these did some simple animations with them, but eventually they stopped with the illustrations. I haven’t done a piece for them in years.

That sounds like an “Ok, Boomer” lament, but it’s just how the ball rolls in the illustration biz. Clients come and go, the sources of your work change and you have to roll with it or find the work drying up.

Anyway, I have a huge library of these images, and I’ll post one a week on Thursdays for a while. They are fun, cartoony, and sometimes the message is timeless.