I have always been a metalhead – black, speed, Norwegian, death, DOOM I love it all. So, this year for our annual hackweek I decided to Metalify (is that even a word?) the Sentry logo.

While researching the origins of metal band logos everything ultimately leads back to one band - Black Sabbath. Mere moments into their debut album, after the church bells had grew to a thunderous crescendo of distorted guitar. A simple question is asked to the listener “What is this that stands before me?“. But the album cover asked this question well before the needle even dropped.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FddM4YIJdiVZ2mSREvlVtBX4gyb12%2Fb7KH29xSdHFoCBYJ3onG%2F576e2f0e-514d-4c3c-a05d-925f42561df9.png?alt=media&token=c0544b4d-fdd0-4189-8f68-84a64d58ccac","id":"576e2f0e-514d-4c3c-a05d-925f42561df9","width":1600,"height":1061,"filename":"sentry-metal-black-sabbath-cover.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

The cover is features a haunting photo of a woman stand along in the woods, adorned by a creepy, bubbly, psychedelic wordmark pinned to the top corner inspired by black lettering from centuries past. This imagery perfectly captured what was in store for the next 40 minutes.

Metal has evolved considerably over the past 50 years to include hundreds of different sub-genres and artistic styles. Even at Sentry asking “what is your favorite metal genre?” in our `#metal` slack channel provided many different results, and a few I have never even heard of.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FddM4YIJdiVZ2mSREvlVtBX4gyb12%2Fb7KH29xSdHFoCBYJ3onG%2F3be6498b-9aae-4376-9bf7-8f9d3520293d.png?alt=media&token=87304d99-f32d-455e-97e5-a2044744e435","id":"3be6498b-9aae-4376-9bf7-8f9d3520293d","width":1032,"height":644,"filename":"sentry-metal-slack-convo.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

Before I even drew a single line I queued up my favorite [Blood Incantation album](https://youtu.be/voCRlFlj9yA) turned the volume to twelve and after a sufficient amount of blood had pooled within my ear canals did I feel fully prepared to begin drawing.

My initial rough sketching started in Procreate, but quickly I moved all the work into Illustrator. I knew having the final artwork in a vector format would offer me the greatest degree of flexibility with variations.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FddM4YIJdiVZ2mSREvlVtBX4gyb12%2Fb7KH29xSdHFoCBYJ3onG%2F93efe2ba-88b7-49ed-add1-6d746a6adc60.png?alt=media&token=5e71e57f-8fcd-4992-89d6-7c92d8ffa9f4","id":"93efe2ba-88b7-49ed-add1-6d746a6adc60","width":1024,"height":768,"filename":"metal-research.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Mood board of Mayhem","border":false}]}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FddM4YIJdiVZ2mSREvlVtBX4gyb12%2Fb7KH29xSdHFoCBYJ3onG%2F796ece11-ec3f-4a2e-bc74-d40bc845eaca.png?alt=media&token=02465b78-165e-47eb-92e2-5ba7e255ff95","id":"796ece11-ec3f-4a2e-bc74-d40bc845eaca","width":1024,"height":743,"filename":"sentry-metal-process-illustrator.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Illustrator Snapshot","border":true}]}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FddM4YIJdiVZ2mSREvlVtBX4gyb12%2Fb7KH29xSdHFoCBYJ3onG%2F91f141a9-60b6-4546-9948-e2a5be0fc19c.png?alt=media&token=00d79a13-ed4d-4833-be03-0480f405a635","id":"91f141a9-60b6-4546-9948-e2a5be0fc19c","width":1024,"height":1525,"filename":"sentry-metal-options-final.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Final Artwork","border":false}]}
```

At the end of hackweek the entire company gets together to demo what what we built. The thought of having the entire company watch a video with intense metal music playing in the background greatly amused me and well enjoy!

```cv
vimeo
{"url":"https://vimeo.com/771728872/7c4f744abc","width":426,"height":240,"thumbnail":"https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/1548808352-53c1ffcb4da89b289a57a94a9776855fa053ccf1eb8b297dd5bc012fc43eb0ec-d_295x166"}
```

Sentry Goes Metal

Jurassic Park is a cautionary tale about underpaying your IT department.

Product Design Manager

2023 - Present – Product Design Manager

2021 - 2023 – Senior Product Designer

2019 - 2021  – Product Designer

John Manhart

2023