Media Fusion patches it up with Colbert

By Shelby G. Spires, April 16, 2009
Times Aerospace Writer
shelby.spires@htimes.com

Imagine having to design a patch for a NASA mission and be told there’s only a week to do it.

Sound tough? Imagine the White House has to sign off on the project, also.

That's what Huntsville-native Cindy Miller and her Media Fusion team had to accomplish over the past few days.

NASA decided to reward Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert with a patch and not name an International Space Station wing after the comic, even though he had been needling the space agency for the past six weeks to slap his name across a Marshall Space Flight Center-managed connecting node.

Space agency managers opted to name a treadmill after Colbert, but they needed a patch, and quick. Media Fusion's Washington D.C. office was given the job.

"Well, they wanted another type of patch, one that would look sort of like old Russian propaganda posters," Miller told The Times Thursday during a phone interview. "Then it was kind of off for a couple of days, but Monday they said they wanted to go with the original one."

Huntsville's Media Fusion designed the special patch that marks the exercise equipment the COLBERT, the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill – that station crews will now be able to jump on to get in a good workout in space.

"It was loads of fun to see it come together," said Richard Williams, Media Fusion's Huntsville spokesman. "This was a great way for NASA to reach out to the public, and especially those 20-somethings that want to engage."

Media Fusion has a contract with NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. to perform graphic design and communications work. The company also works with Marshall to produce animated videos and graphics.

The rush job was rewarding, but it's almost just part of working with NASA, Miller said. "It's the space agency," she said. "We get to do a lot of cool design stuff."

Colbert spent the past six weeks playfully jabbing at the space agency to name a node of the space station after him, saying repeatedly that NASA's suggested names were "slightly less than inspiring and pretty much boring."

Colbert was not satisfied with NASA's suggested names: Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity and Venture.

The node Colbert wanted his name splashed across will be named "Tranquility." It is planned for a 2010 launch, but the COLBERT is slated to be placed on another segment of International Space Station in August.

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