In the creative process, you often create moodboards as part of the visual stage. But before I get to the moodboard, I go old school. It’s pen and paper, and then I find rabbit holes that might be suitable.
So here you go , this is earlier in my mind than I usually share. Hope it makes sense.
LA intrigues me for multiple reasons. The book I mentioned in the last moodboard touches on a lot of it. But it’s a place that nearly every person in the world who has a TV knows about. Los Angeles.
Hollywood.
Everybody knows it and all that comes with it.
It’s the ‘all that comes with it’ where I’m most interested.
I’m working on something for fun, which, if you’re on this mailing list, you’ve probably worn once or twice.
There are some key moments that are particularly relevant to me and the lens through which D5ive looks.
Let’s focus on the first one.
Date: June 12, 1991.
Location: The Great Western Forum here in LA.
What: Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Who: Michael Jordan’s Bulls vs Magic Johnson’s Lakers.
Why: Jordan’s first championship and the official passing of the guard from the Showtime Lakers of Magic Johnson to Jordan’s Bulls.
While I’m working on this project and completing the necessary sourcing, I’ve been consuming as much content about the 1991 Finals as possible.
This is still very much phase 1, so don’t get too excited.
I’ve got some magazines from eBay being delivered this week, but YouTube is also getting a workout.
My Sunday night viewing is Game 1 of the Finals:
You might ask, Why would you watch that? Are you that much of an MJ or basketball sicko?
The answer is no.
But this era in time is something that brings me a lot of inspiration and constantly has my brain going, even thinking, ‘what would (insert interests here) look like back in the 90s?‘
Side note: Have you ever wondered how brands were scaled pre-social media? That will get the head scrambling.
What I do find interesting about watching NBA from 1991:
The graphics and design back in the early 90s. I have no idea how they created what they did, but a lot of what I’ve learned and studied about design principles is in full flight. That’s refreshing. They also used a lot more primary colours than not.
How they talked about games back then. It’s nice to hear just about the sport, not the betting odds associated with it.
Bob Costas and Pat Riley as the main commentary team on NBC. Riley had just been announced as the Knicks’ head coach, so it’s interesting hearing his take on how to play Jordan, but also insane that 35 years later, he’s still involved in basketball, running the Miami Heat.
With the NBA returning to NBC this season, will we see any throwbacks to these broadcasts?
And obviously, the fashion. From the warm-up jackets to Riley’s sports jacket and tie. And then the heroes in the crowd. Insane outfits.
Speaking of fans. Ticket price for game 3 at the Western Forum (first game in LA), had tickets for $27.50.
This in 2025 is $65.22. I’m not sure I can even see the Lakers in January when they aren’t in playoff contention for that much. So were the fans, more basketball specific? As now there is a lot of research to show real fans are priced out of professional sports. Look at the average cost of World Cup tickets for LA next year..
More to come on this.
Maybe this is the start of a project that comes to fruition.
Or maybe it’s just pushing out whatever was left of what I was meant to learn in high school, because Lord knows I’ve already pushed out the geography classes.
As always, thanks for your time and for reading.
Hayden
I see some D5ive teaser crumbs in here which I am stoked about! But the comment about the betting odds struck me right between the eyes - controversial but I hate that about sports now.