I thought I would update with some new design work that I've done. It's been a crazy busy year since I graduated and looking back I've done more than I thought! I hope to share a bit more starting with these t-shirt design concepts for Bryce's Lawn Service. They wanted a shirt design they could use to give new lawn service customers. They wanted to highlight a "Live for the Summer" theme as BLS took yard work off the to-do list.
Information Design—Old World Third Street
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I've had a few people look at me funny when I say information design is what I enjoy doing if I get to choose my own project. To most information design is a quagmire of numbers that seems to elude any form of comprehension. But for me, it is a challenge of communicating something very intelligent and in-depth in a simple and attractive way. So for my passion project I documented the movement on a busy street in downtown Milwaukee for 18 different hours of the day, 7am-12am. Each hour I recorded the movement of traffic, taxis, buses, trucks, and bikes, as well as how many people visited each of the 14 establishments lining the street and who they were. What resulted was a series of "dials" representing each hour and a way to visualize and understand the movement and activity of the street at each hour of the day.
One Last Student Design!
I don't know if graduating has really sunk in yet but if this doesn't help I don't know what will. The fact that I can just crank this out in an hour or two when 3 years ago I'd still be thinking about what to do says a lot about how I've grown as a designer. It has been an awesome journey and I really can't wait for whatever opportunity may come next.
Party With a 'Stache
A poster for a mustache party celebrating Movember at a local downtown bar, The Library Club. I referenced old circus and traveling show posters to come up with a concept for the creative. Where else would you find some burly man with a terrific 'stache? Old circus posters are a visually rich design aesthetic and the typography is fun energetic and the whole poster seems to become one big piece of artwork. Mine follows it to a point but is nowhere near as organic and beautiful as the originals.
If you didn't know, Movember is a reason to grow a mustache as well as a way to raise awareness and money for prostate cancer. If you would like to donate to my team visit http://us.movember.com/mospace/5503017. I am supposed to put a picture of my progress but I am assuming you've seen enough weed fields in your day to get the picture of my mustache.
Bar Party Posters
Here are a couple designs I've done for a group of bars in downtown Milwaukee advertising their parties and events.
Nothing Like a bit of School Spirit!
For the past three years whenever I attended a sporting event at my school I was always disappointed by the lack of students that would show up. I wanted to change the atmosphere but I had no real solution and the challenge just seemed overwhelming to change the culture. So what better time to start doing something about it than your last semester of school right? Hence, the Pack Loyalty Scorecard.
This isn't a groundbreaking cultural upheaval in the Stritch sporting event world but it's a step in the right direction. Students receive credit or points for attending certain events, dressing up, and staying late which can then be turned in for rewards. Shawn Wagner, Stritch Sport Management senior, is the brains behind the idea. He facilitated working with the sport management department to get the athlete photos and print the design. We're both hoping it will make an impact on campus and encourage students to come out in packs and support the Wolves!
Photos of the Week (Or past 6 Months) 10/22
[slideshow] Black and white photos just work for me.
I don't think I can really explain why but ironically that's what the rest of this rant will be about. I think I may be extremely influenced by my first photo class I ever took at Cardinal Stritch U, an intro to black and white film photography. I was, and still am, captivated by the processes of developing film and making prints in the dark room; it's real magic. There is a certain aspect of authenticity in a black and white image that references hours of physical labor, and a long arduous process.
Black and white images also seem to hold a curious aura of significance. Every old image we've been shown in school since we were a kid has referenced an important historical event or character in society, giving black and white images an inherent impression of gravity, influence, and relevance.
Also I find black and white images strange in that they are possibly the most unrealistic images you could make. We see everything in color so why do we still make, or are intrigued by black and white images? My biggest attraction to them is that they strip away everything routine and familiar from objects we see in color and force us to reexamine them in terms of form, value, and composition.
That was a long way of saying I enjoy making black and white photography but here are a few that I've taken recently as part of a class project where we are meticulously studying and analyzing a particular street in Milwaukee. Each photo is a facade from Old World Third Street.
Posters in Paris in Milwaukee
I was fortunate enough to see the exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum last week featuring artists and printmakers from the late 1800's in France. I didn't know what to expect really but I had heard of Toulouse-Letrec being one of the fathers of graphic design so my curiosity was piqued. I went with some fellow art students who were fawning over the beautiful prints and imagery but I hardly seemed to notice it. Instead, I was reading every poster.
The typography was incredible and with no excuses, thats what I paid attention to the most. You could see in all the posters and artwork the roots and foundation for every magazine cover, advertisement, or poster that would succeed them in the next century. Here are a few examples of some of what was on display, although it will never do it justice.
I found myself taking notes on how each designer/artist/printmaker, whichever you like, used certain techniques to make the text grab attention, exude elegance, and blend in harmoniously with the imagery. What made the typography so special in most was the unique crafting of each letterform. It appeared that each letter was hand painted on because no two were exactly the same, and yet if you never looked twice you would have sworn they were.
It was also exciting to find that I have been using some of the same techniques in some recent ad work. With slab serif fonts, cursive writing, and expressive hand drawn lettering in vogue, the exhibition was almost felt like it could fit into a modern day design conversation. Here are a few examples of some ads I've done with somewhat similar type treatment. Another technique that was widely used was a shadow of the text silhouetting in back along with varying strokes.
Polka Dots?!
Everything in the world it seems is turning green. Energy, cars, water bottles, and now clothing. Cardinal Stritch University has started a Green Fashion Initiative and I was chosen to brand the fledgling group, named Polka Dot.
There are obvious visual motifs with recycling and polka dots to work with. One of the challenges was to create a brand the was upbeat, fresh, and vibrant without being too cliche with recycling or polka dots. It was one of my first real branding experiences and it was eyeopening how many ideas and how much dialogue it involved to find to a solution.
The most important lesson I learned is how crucial it is to do research and analysis before getting too deep into the design process. I underestimated this step and it only caused confusion and wasted time because of misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Here were a few of the rejected concepts.
We were struggling with combining text with a logo so I created a font and wordmark that literally was made out of circles/polka dots. The counters of the o's could then become the polka dots. The brand will be carried out in other applications such as clothing tags, business cards, and promotional posters. I'm excited to watch it grow. It was a great experience for me and hey if you ever need unique upcycled fashion you know who to contact.
To learn more about this group check out an article on the school website.
Photos of the Week 2/27
I recently bought a new camera so with it almost always being handy I am trying to take more photos. So this blog is a little fire I'm lighting under myself to post three to five photos from the past week. There is no particular theme or concept behind them other than what I see, just the best of the best, or in some cases the best of the worst.
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Brewers Season Ticket Poster Campaign
[slideshow] I know this sounds a bit far-fetched, but as a project over the winter break I wanted to design something fun and as if a possible dream opportunity came true. You may have guessed already, designing for the Milwaukee Brewers, or any sports team for that matter. I've been to countless games since the days Bernie Brewer slid down into a giant beer mug at County Stadium and these posters became a fun combination of design and sports.
I used old campaign posters from the 60's and 70's as inspiration. The likes of Kennedy, LBJ, and Nixon advertised with two toned posters featuring black and white head or head and shoulder shots of the candidates. Political campaigns are by no means always the epitome of graphic design at its finest but any campaign manager that underestimates the power of images and design as a form of communication and persuasion is hopelessly lost.
In my posters I use iconic brewer players, newly acquired and former Cub Aramis Ramirez, moustache notable John Axford, and crazy centerfielder Nyjer Morgan. The posters are about loyalty to the team and using these players personalities and quirks as reasons to "Join the (Brew) Crew" and purchase season tickets.
Night Photography
The past semester I have been getting back into photography and most recently trying a new techinique, that is night photography. The first time I tried it was just on a whim. I happened to be in the city and I had my camera with me so I cranked up the ISO and tried my best to keep my shutter speed manageable. It was a great environment to take photos in but I quickly found a tripod was a necessity. Here are some of the better images as I focused on mixed lighting and typography at night this time using a tripod. I should also mention I was called a "creeper" by a passing pedestrian as I was taking pictures. I'm sure I looked out of place but all I could think of to say was "yes ma'am."
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Design Toolbox: Blending
I'm starting a new feature of this blog every week or so to highlight a feature from Illustrator or Photohop that you can add to your design toolbox. It's impossible to know every feature of these programs so I find it helpful sometimes just to focus on one for a bit. The first tool is blending options. this was inspired by a poster I made for a new class being offered on campus that needed some promotion.
Blending is a great way to go when your text looks like it just placed on top of an image. Blending integrates the each graphic element in a design to create a unity throughout. Here it looks as though the text was printed on the box itself.
Blending options in Photoshop are located in the layers panel. On the bottom is an fx pop up menu. The first option is blending options. This will open up another box that offers multiple ways to blend your design. Hope this opens up a few more creative options and keep looking for more Design Toolbox posts!
Information Design Poster
The past month or so has been an audacious dive into the unknown waters of information design. I found that its importance not only in the design world but in social communication can't be ignored. There are designers and in fact certain companies that spend all their time arranging complex data into appropriate and effective visual representations. The key word there is effective. In my own trials I found that aesthetically pleasing, and effectively communicated information are a tough marriage. The message or data must always be the top priority but if the design is boring, the message is moot.
I undertook a design challenge from the website informationisbeautiful.net. It's a great site for inspiration, design competitions and awards. The challenge was to visualize the data on Earth's non-renewable resources. The data shows the years it will take for certain resources to run out and what we use those resources for. I was inspired by many organic and geometric organizations of data. The result is a 24x36'' massive poster of swirling data.
One of the concepts I struggled most with was outliers. I watched a webinar by Angela Shen-Hsieh, the founder of GroupVisual.io, and she touched on the importance of outliers to the information. There was such a disparity with some of the numbers I worked with that it was a real challenge to fit them into the design concept.
It was a great learning experience and challenge and something that I hope to explore further.
Typography Poster Series
Along with another member of my school's AIGA chapter, we created a series of 10 posters highlighting common errors and misconceptions about typography. We followed a template with the theme of a ribbon flowing across the top. We wanted our content to be witty and humorous to draw the reader in and make the information more lasting. They were really fun to make and put up throughout the art building. Sadly I've never really done anything like an awareness campaign so it was new and exciting for me.
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Dirty Book Covers!
The project was to create a series of book covers. I chose the genre adventure which included the titles Treasure Island, From Russia With Love, and Iliad. My concept for the project was to break away from my crutch of white space and simplicity. I used grunge design aesthetics as inspiration and designers such as David Carson. I am really pleased how they turned out and I learned a lot by using new techniques and ideas. My favorite aspect is the texture. It is realistic and adds a new level of interaction with the pieces.[gallery columns="1"]