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The Descendants

Pardon the late notice, but I’m going to presenting at this month’s Creative Mornings in Brooklyn. The topic will be business cards, and my life-long obsession with them. Specifically, how apparently my love of b.cards is genetic, because my grandfather is also a life-long collector of cards.

Tickets for the event are sold out, but you can put yourself on the waitlist. Or just show up, chances are there will not be someone one the door. You can say you’re with me. I’ll get you in.

See you there?

For over a month now, folks have been occupying Wall St., in addition to cities and sites the world over. Not that I rate the merit of a movement by the production quality of its propaganda materials, but for the most part, the protest signs are rather shabby. Luckily, it didn’t take long for interesting populous-generated art and design to emerge.

A series of posters hit the internets with slogans such as “Yes We Camp”, “Tax The Rich”, and the now ubiquitous “We are the 99%”.

Brooklyn-based artist Molly Crabapple contributed a poster referencing the Vampire Squid from Matt Taibi’s book, Griftopia

Molly Crabapple’s poster, image via Boing Boing

Recently, a few bits of design have hit the scene. I can’t exact call them viral, because that implies an unexpectedness in how fast and far they spread, but they’re are intended to be shared and deployed. A while back, I spotted Occupy George, a project which seeks to illustrate the disparity of wealth in America by overprinting infographics onto dollar bills.

images via Occupy George

The cool thing about this project is that you can make your own by downloading the templates for your inkjet printer. No need to come up with your own designs or to painstakingly illustrate the diagram.

Of course, defacing money is still a federal crime, so don’t be clever and pass these bills to any uniformed officials of the government (or at least the Treasury; no one else gives a shit, I’m sure).

More recently, I spotted some clever buttons that say simply “99%”. Obviously, we the 99% can wear these buttons in solidarity, and to quickly assert that I make less than $250,000 (in case you’re curious.)

images via Busy Beaver Button Co.

However this is only half the project. To compliment the 99% buttons are 1% buttons, fabricated with 24k gold. The cost of these shiny 1% buttons is $100 per button, compared to $0.70 for the 99% variety. Don’t worry, half the profits for the 1% buttons are donated to charity. I think you’re supposed to wear it ironically. Or better still, buy it but don’t ever wear it. Ever. (A third option, could you buy it for the sole purpose of mounting on the hood of your Lexus, or whatever.)

Both of these recent projects, in addition to the posters, are great examples of designers putting their skills into good use, for a cause they believe in. No clients are behind this, no big payday awaits. There may be some sense of enterprise at work, but is that not the spirit of the American worker that we’re fighting for in the first place?

What are your thoughts? Are these clever examples of design campaigns for the greater good, or a cheeky opportunity for struggling designers to make the front page of so-and-so blogs?

via Design Work Life and Quipsologies »

I suppose it is perfectly natural for the US Army, a large, highly visible, global organisation, to have a brand standards manual. Uncovered today from the folks at Core 77, we can see the Army’s Strategic Outreach Directorate, where logos, sounds loops, videos, ads, and other resources are available. Everything in sync. Lock-step, if you will.

This site is intended to provide current information to the United States Army Accessions Command community. It contains logo files, print ad samples, television ads, other advertising information and is intended to keep our community abreast of current advertising and outreach issues.

See for yourself »

Don’t have much to say here. I’m always curious to see brand manuals and how severely they police their standards. Working in the biz, we’re often charged with creating such a manual, and so knowledge is power.

via Core 77 »

download .mp4 / watch on YouTube

I spotted this over on Reddit earlier today and thought I should post. In this world of Javascript and CSS and all manner of digital doo-dads, it’s lovely to see some of the craft left in the print media. In this case, how inks are mixed, colours matched, etc.

In an unrelated story, a truckload of ink coloured the highway causing an unexpectedly beautiful accident. Oops.

via Reddit »

Seemingly overnight, a flurry of posters popped up encouraging people to donate money to the Red Cross and other aid organizations. Many of these capitalize on Japan’s flag — itself a design icon — using different visual cues to associate earthquakes, flooding, breaking, and general stress to the otherwise ordered flag.

Weeping Sun, by Mr. Conde

Epicenter, by Daniel Freytag

Amplitude, by Zac Neulieb

It’s not just posters, though. Veer joined in by offering a font download for a donation, and t-shirts such as that on Merchline all go towards the cause. Scout Books has a similar promotion, with a very Japanese design to entice a donation/purchase.

Scout Books Japanese design

T-Shirt by Hydro74

In recent weeks, editions of Bloomberg Business Week and The New Yorker both featured Japan-focused covers, making use of the sun and cherry blossoms, respectively.

Bloomberg Business Week cover

The New Yorker cover by Christoph Niemann

Once the smoke cleared, Japanese designers got in on the act taking part in a campaign to encourage the population to save energy — a move that will lessen the demands on the damaged power grid and help aid overall recovery and rebuilding. This collection is oh so Japanese.

This design reaction to the events in Japan reminds us of two things. First, it serves to reignite the conversation about cultural iconography. Japan, in this case, is rich in its own icons, from the rising sun flag, to the calligraphy of its language, to the block prints and etches of their pre-industrial age, to the playful and bold look of anime and video games. Designers the world over can use these tools to create new designs, referencing, but not mocking, the country of origin. Second, it helps refocus on the fact that design is, at the very heart of all things, a communication tool. Posters carry a message, and to drive that message home we need strong visuals, we need to connect to the audience and create an emotional impact. It’s an exercise in simple design, and basic graphic communication.

This post also appears on The Next Big Design, the blog of the FUSE Conference »

Writer, Lecturer, and Medievalist Dana Cushing approached me to create an identity for her budding business venture, Antimony Media.

After working closely with Ms. Cushing to lay the foundation of a brand strategy, I set out doing research into the imagery and symbolism of her subject — medieval art and culture, especially of the Crusades and 12th Century. There was quite a lot to digest, this era not only brought a variety of art to Europe from the Middle East and Africa, but it saw experimentation in the areas of science/alchemy, architecture, religion, and military technology. Combine this with the mythology of the age, and there’s plenty to get lost with.

The challenge here was in how to create a modern brand identity that references the old, without mocking it. We didn’t want a pastiche of the middle ages. We didn’t want something that looks like a publisher of Tolkien fan fiction, or the organisers of Renaissance Faires. The result identity is taken from a cathedral’s arch, simultaneously serving as an A letterform. Simple. The typography for “Antimony Media” is custom-built, using the same curves as the arch itself. Neutra Text is the brand’s main typeface, seen in use on the stationery.

To accompany this simple logo, I created a brand pattern — a sort of modern tapestry — which brings in symbols and elements of medieval history, culture, religion, and military.

Brand Patterns

In the end, we created a basic stationery system in addition to the brand style guide and miscellaneous graphics. The stationery system was printed in two colours, using gold metallic ink and blue, on several different paper stocks. The letterhead are Neenah Classic Crest 24W Natural White, the cards are duplexed, with the same Neenah stock on the front, with a French Paper 100# parchment on the reverse. The envelopes are from Mohawk 32# Jute. Printing by Alpine Creative Group, photography by Bill Wadman.

Stationery System (plus notepads, not pictured)

details of Brand Pattern on letterhead reverse footer

Business cards, two different paper stocks duplexed

Lately, I’ve been spotting many alternative posters for popular movies. Just yesterday, I caught myself writing about Mr. Shabba’s new posters for Oscar-nominated movies. Last year, we saw some excellent illustrations along the same lines. Star Wars art is ever green, never needing a reason to inspire the artists and designers of the world.

The above posters caught my eye. In this case, the absence of people, robots, aliens, spaceships, explosions, etc. is testament to the power of the Star Wars franchise. But it also got me thinking about how many alternative poster designs I’ve seen lately. Many of them are awesome. I don’t even need to review the following posters. Just have a look.

Silhouette posters by Olly Moss

Love the limited colour scheme and strong use of shape. Obviously, each silhouette is taken from an important character in that movie. Also, a bit of a nod to mid-century book covers from Penguin, et al.

Classic movie-inspire posters by Flickr user Old Red Jalopy

A cheeky approach, referencing the posters of Full Metal Jacket, Goodfellas, and American Beauty, if you didn’t know.

Vintage boxing posters by Flickr user Old Red Jalopy

Highlighting the battles, of course.

Anthony Burrill has made a new series of limited-edition posters, printed in BP oil from the ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Profits go to the ‘Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana’. The oil was collected direct from the polluted beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana.

This is brilliant. Visit the original post for more photos.

via Eye Magazine »

I was contacted to design the poster and graphic title for the Underground Shakespeare Company’s upcoming production of Titus Andronicus, to take place this September in Philadelphia.

Director Kate Davis requested that I capture the show’s Neo Victorian and Steampunk styling. Also, it needed to be bloody.

Here’s the poster. Click for a larger image view.

This was a fun project. It allowed me to dust off my Photoshop skills and work with layer effects, textures, 3D extrude, and with airbrushing to create the brass look of the title text. I did a fair amount of research to see what sort of type, textures, colours, and iconography would be appropriate for something Roman and Victorian at the same time. Did alright, methinks. In the end, I used standby typeface Clarendon for the main title, and Knockout (various weights) for the detail text. The background and border patterns were compiled from various internet sources and the textures were taken from Von Glitschka‘s Crumble Crackle Burn, among other sources.