nsquared design

Dream Pig in 2012

2012-01-16T11:35:00.000-05:00

I had a dream where there were pig shaped clouds against a pink colored sky. I woke up and had the title of the piece: When Pigs Fly. The idea stuck with me and I finally had some time this year to give the idea a whirl.

After creating the pig and his fancy wings out of basic shapes in Adobe Illustrator, I set up the basic layout. And it was perfect. I didn't need the clouds. Oh, I tried to add the clouds, but they wouldn't take. The clouds were too much, too overdone. The pig was perfect. But he just needed a tagline to describe his joy of flight.

We all dream big, but not too many of us Dream Pig: bigger than big, that impossible dream we hold dear to our hearts no matter what. Some folks give up on their dreams, but not those who Dream Pig. So in 2012 and beyond, don't just dream big, Dream Pig.

And if you want to show the world that you do Dream Pig, you can pick up some Dream Pig merch over at my Zazzle shop.

Food & Wine Show Poster 2011

2012-01-05T09:45:00.000-05:00

After spending time in Chicago and working on this year's Cheese Show Poster for my day job, I was in a retro deco sort of mood. Which was good because it was time to work on the poster for our annual Food & Wine Show. I've been designing the posters since this show's inception in 1998. It is always a fun challenge to design this poster since it is our biggest event of the year.

One night, shortly after completing the Cheese Show Poster, I was laying in bed drifting off to sleep and the idea for this poster just popped into my head. I quickly sketched it down on some post it notes I keep by my bed and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and roughed out the idea for our Wine Director to see. He liked the idea, but wasn't 100% sold on it. I refined the idea a bit and he okayed the idea.

We started ticket sales in mid-September for this year's show. Exactly one week later, we sold out. The fastest sell-out in our event's history. While I'm sure other factors were involved, I'd like to think this poster helped. :)

In 2012, Give Peas A Chance

2012-01-01T11:13:00.002-05:00

I originally had the idea for this poster in late 2010. I envisioned a can of peas with the peace symbol on it. However, after some experimentation, I dropped the can idea and just went for the peas making up the peace symbol.

I bought a couple of bags of frozen peas and on one sunny summer afternoon this year, I took pics of the peas on a white sheet of paper out on my patio. I had to work quickly because it was hot and the peas were melting fairly quickly.

After I cleaned up the mess, I sorted through my photos and chose 5 peas to be the "ones". I then began the arduous task of hand placing each pea in its place along the peace symbol template.

Next I added some text with a faux watercolor effect and a light green background for a serene finish.

If you like what you see, you can purchase the Give Peas A Chance Poster, Card, Mug, and T-Shirt over at my Zazzle shop.

Say Something Poster 2011: No App for Life

2011-12-26T09:58:00.000-05:00

Last year, I participated in the first Say Something Poster project. It was a fun project and is for a good cause, so I decided to join in again this year. While the organization and theme had changed, the mission hadn't: try to inspire the youth of today with a positive message.

Today so many kids have their noses glued to some kind of screen. They are too busy to notice what is going on around them in the real world. I thought about how I could convey this concept in simple, yet effective way. I was talking with a mutual friend and he summed up my thoughts: "There's no app for life." Yep, that was it! Now how to illustrate "life". I did some research into some ancient icons that might have represented "life". I found a few, but it wasn't quite right. I then searched my photos for one that might give a sense of living life.

I found a vacation shot from my trip to Miami a few years ago of the sun rising over the Atlantic. The rolling waves of the ocean, water, life with the sun rising in the background spoke to me. So I got to work assembling the image.

I wanted the familiar shape of the "app" icon to be present in my image. I wanted to show that part within the icon as "hyperreal" to reinforce the message it was not the real thing. I also combined it with a symbol for life I found in my research of ancient petroglyphs.

I'm not 100% happy with the result, I just can't put my finger on it, but it's still not quite right. But the deadline loomed so it went out. I don't think it's terrible, but somehow it seems like I could have made it simpler, more refined...anyhoo, you can vote for me through 12/31 if you do like the image and the message.

Jane hancock Letterpress Calendar for 2012

2011-12-21T10:10:00.003-05:00

My friends over at Jane hancock paper produce a fabulous Letterpress calendar each year. I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the 2012 edition.

The call for entries was in May and I chose September as my month from the selections left since that was my Dad's birthday month. Little did I know that by the time I finished my calendar illustration, my dad would no longer be with us. He passed away about 2 weeks after I signed on to do the calendar.

When the reminder for artwork came out in July, I was still in a haze from his passing. But I couldn't not do it. Especially now. So I tried to force my sluggish mind and creative juices to start flowing in the midst of my grief. I did my research. I did sketches. I took breaks because I was just so tired.

And then it came to me...Forget-Me-Nots, the flowers the symbolize September, would be the perfect subject. Especially since they are typically blue, dad's favorite color. So I worked on some sketches. The trick was, I only had one color to work with, how would I convey the texture and beauty I wanted to express? I found my solution once I had started building my files in Illustrator: intricate linework inside each petal of the flowers. I used my good ol' Wacom tablet to create freeflowing lines that added just the extra texture and dimension I was looking for.

Here's what the finished Illustrator file looked like:

I spec'd a dark blue for the final color, and since I hadn't ever printed letterpress before, I was wondering how the the linework would appear on the final. My friend RJ at Jane hancock papers assured me that it would turn out very nice.

I know she is an excellent letterpress printer and she did a beautiful job not only on the fine lines of my piece, but also tying together all the beautiful and disparate styles of all the other great designers who contributed to this year's calendar.

The final printed calendar page:

This calendar truly is a work of art! You can purchase them at Jane hancock's Etsy store. Only 30 are available and when they are gone, they are gone!

DLM Cheese Show Poster 2011

2011-12-14T08:12:00.000-05:00

While I was in Chicago this summer for HOWDesign Live, I went to Willis Tower for the Skydeck tour. While in the gift shop, I shot a pic of the Chicago World’s Fair poster.

In July, while discussing the cheese show poster for my day job at Dorothy Lane Market with our Cheese Director, he mentioned the theme this year was “Cheeses of the World”. I immediately thought of this poster and how it could be a great reference for our poster.

A challenge in creating this poster is what image to use. How to convey cheeses from different countries? Cheeses that might be of different sizes and shapes would be difficult to manage. However, I worked with our Cheese Director and came up with the idea of picking out wedges of our most popular cheeses that would be at the show. I then shot a photo of them:

Then began the long process of tracing them in Illustrator keeping true to the Art Deco colors of the world's fair poster. It took a bit of work, but it did work out:

I then added it to my poster composition and it was a perfect match. I decided to shy away from a straight Art Deco typeface and chose Junction from The League of Moveable Type to give it a hint of the past, but with a modern touches:

Merry New Year

2011-12-12T11:04:00.004-05:00

For my holiday card this year, I decided to do a new twist on my standard style. I Envisioned a sort of "Charlie Brown"/60s funky sort of look for this year's card. I originally designed it without any textures. But I just couldn't resist adding some to add to the watercolor effect. :)

Here's hoping your 2012 is indeed Merry and Bright!
(And if you haven't done your Holiday cards yet this year, you can purchase mine at my Zazzle store.)

Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-12-11T23:03:00.001-05:00

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"Holiday spirit."

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Todd Norman Pinot & Chardonnay Labels

2011-12-08T21:11:00.001-05:00

I know it's been a long time since I posted an actual project. Hope you all have been enjoying the Instagram photos. I've been enjoying taking them! For me it is quite the mental challenge to sit down and write out my thoughts about design since I rely on my intuition to guide many of my processes. It also didn't help that this year has been extraordinarily challenging and busy. Mostly in good ways. :)

I'm not too far behind, but I will be catching up since I've had some cool projects this year.

One of my favorites was the Todd Norman Pinot & Chardonnay Labels for my day job at Dorothy Lane Market. This spring we found a great family winery, Talley Vineyards out in California that would private label our wines. We needed the label and in quite a rush to make the bottling schedule. I did some initial sketches and thoughts, but I couldn't get my rejected wine show poster concept from 2010 out of my head. So I gave it try and it worked out beautifully for the label design. I presented to the folks who needed to give their approval and everyone loved it! Recycling my old concept into a new usage worked very well in this instance and saved us a lot of time and effort and we got everything in on time. Plus the wine is pretty darned tasty too.

Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-12-06T23:15:00.001-05:00

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"Cool."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-11-24T12:16:00.001-05:00

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"Ah, how I miss Rike's Christmas windows."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-11-05T13:50:00.001-04:00

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"God's Gradient No 3"

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-11-04T18:13:00.000-04:00

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"God's Gradient No 2"

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-11-01T20:13:00.001-04:00

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"God's Gradient No. 1"

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-27T17:43:00.000-04:00

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"Sun & rain: I guess even God has trouble making up his mind some days..."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-10T22:43:00.001-04:00

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"Mental note, don't buy gas today..."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-09T20:03:00.001-04:00

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"The leaves of fall."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-08T20:29:00.001-04:00

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"Perfect fall day. :)"

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-07T19:21:00.001-04:00

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"Outside the Flying Karamazov Bros."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-04T19:36:00.001-04:00

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"The Armory."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-03T17:54:00.001-04:00

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"Head in the clouds,"

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-10-02T20:22:00.001-04:00

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"Burnt orange."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-09-30T22:19:00.001-04:00

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"Redhead."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-09-25T14:28:00.001-04:00

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"Walk to end Alzheimer's"

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-09-22T21:46:00.001-04:00

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"Cloudy with 100% chance of texture."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-09-21T19:02:00.001-04:00

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"Leafing the tree."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-09-11T23:52:00.001-04:00

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"Nice stack."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-09-10T23:19:00.001-04:00

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"Celebrating Lucille's 92 years."

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Nicholas shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-09-10T11:36:00.001-04:00

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"Dinner."

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HOW Design Live 2011

2011-08-06T16:40:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. Sorry I've not been keeping up my blogging as of late. I've been quite busy this summer with personal stuff and lots of projects. I was fortunate enough to attend yet another HOW Design Conference this year, HOW Design Live 2011 held in Chicago this past June.

In the past, I've written up a blog entry or three about my experiences at the HOW Conference; however this year I thought I would try something different. I decided to capture my experiences in a Blurb book. Nick's Notes: How Design Live 2011 features not only photos from Chicago/HOW, but also some inspired color palettes and highlights of my notes. I feel it's a better representation of how I experienced this year's conference.

I hope you enjoy it!

p.s. Look for more blog entries soon on some of the cool projects I've been working on this summer!

Controlling Social Media

2011-05-18T10:25:00.003-04:00

I think it is silly and sad that larger companies are trying to "control" social media through fear and intimidation in this day in age. It really shows that they are afraid of this new world where they are not in control. I say it's about time!

I can understand trying to protect your corporate image or intellectual property. But really Nestlé, threatening your Facebook "Likers" with post deletion just because they did a mashup of your logo is just petty and wrong.

And the whole thing about people losing their jobs just because they posted a comment or had the wrong photo on their Facebook page is pathetic.

If companies think they can control people's personal Facebook pages: good fucking luck. It is the 21st Century and "power to the people" is the new standard in this, the Information Age. Facebook is simply a tool for sharing our personal photos and comments with our friends and family. Yes, these comments can be seen on the internet and depending on your privacy settings, possibly by people other than your family and friends.

Complaining about your boss and bitching about work are as old as jobs themselves. We all do it or have done it. That's how some folks deal with it and relieve the stress of their day, and these days we are all more stressed. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer this to hearing of another worker going out with a gun and shooting people.

And thinking you can control what photos people post to their profiles, again: good luck. Just because I have a drink in my hand in a photo doesn't mean I have a drinking problem. The fact that I have friends and enjoy my free time with them should be a plus, not a minus.

While what we post to the internet is "forever", just remember that my personal comments and photos are just that, even if the distribution is public. My comments represent me, not anyone or anything else. I don't represent any company or entity except for me. Photos and comments from 10 or more years ago may not reflect the person I am today.

Maybe you should try and talk to the me of today to see what I'm like now, you might be pleasantly surprised. And, more importantly, get the hell off of Facebook/Twitter/whatever and go out and live your life. There's more out there than these few pixels on the interwebs.

M ssing Posters

2011-05-11T10:41:00.001-04:00

Just a fun little idea that popped into my head for a missing poster. I wanted to see how legible it would be with the letter "i" missing. My original concept was the white type on black, but then I thought it might look interesting to make it look more like it was on the stereotypical milk carton...

Moonlight Movies Poster

2011-05-04T10:40:00.000-04:00

My buddies and I started grilling and watching movies outside on the deck a few years ago when we were on vacation in Virginia. We named the evening "Sunset Cinema" and really look forward to grilling season so we can see movies outside.

One of my buddies decided to build a cool movie theater in his basement and keeping with the theme named the theater "Moonlight Movies". He made a special request for his latest birthday gift: he'd like me to design a custom poster that would be the first thing visitors see upon entering the theater.

I couldn't say no to such a fun project. Luckily my friend had a good idea of what he was looking for, so while I did my research and some mind mapping, I really just listened to what he was looking for and used that to build some quick mockups in Photoshop.

Unfortunately, due to my hectic schedule near the holidays, I warned him that I wouldn't be able to complete the poster until after his birthday. He was fine with this, since he was still putting the finishing touches on his theater. I couldn't just not give him anything on his birthday, so I worked up a large "movie ticket" to build up the excitement of the poster to come:

After working up some quick thumnails and doing a very quick flat color application in Photoshop, I emailed my friend the proofs, 2 of the concepts presented shown below:

My friend liked the ideas but wanted to merge the "farmscape" and "theater curtain" versions. While I was skeptical of this move, I went with it and ended up with this:

Whoa, pretty garish, right?! But after a few tweaks, some textures, and some lighting effects, this was the final result:

Personally, I still prefer it without the curtain and seats, but I think it did turn out well and really works with my friend's new theater room.

Orange barrel season.

2011-05-01T17:26:00.001-04:00

Homemade Yum.

2011-04-29T20:06:00.003-04:00

Sun, Blue Sky, & Tree

2011-04-29T08:50:00.001-04:00

Social Experimenting...

2011-04-25T22:35:00.000-04:00

I'll be the first to admit it...Facebook is sorta getting boring for me. And Twitter, well, I've never really liked Twitter. So in order to spice things up, I've joined Instagr.am in an attempt to replace written posts with photo posts. My goal is at least one photo per day, more when I find something interesting, cool, or funny.

You can follow my new photo adventures over at my Flickr, Instagr.am (nicko74), Facebook, or Twitter pages. I hope you enjoy my social experiment!

Custom Fit Construction Logo

2011-04-20T10:44:00.003-04:00

This was my first-ever barter project. My friend started his own construction business, Custom Fit Construction after being downsized in the economic downturn. He and his wife had developed a tagline and had a starter logo to get them off the ground, but wanted something a bit more clean and crisp as he expands his business and looks for a larger customer base.

I happened to need a new patio, so we worked out an agreement and work began just as the weather turned cold at the end of 2010. Alas, my long-desired patio would have to wait until Spring, but that's okay, I could still work on the logo in the meantime...

The original concept for his logo was "Solving Your Remodeling Puzzles" and they wanted to stick with that, so I used that as my basis and went to work and developed four concepts. I mocked up the logo in a business card format to help the client visualize the final outcome and help speed up development time.

Version A: standard "wood" version to imply the basis of nearly all construction. Cliché, but hey, gotta get it out of your system, plus you can't go wrong with an awesome background texture:

Version B: I kept the wood texture (from my friend Von's book: Crumble. Crackle. Burn. Great resource for any designer!) and added a puzzle element in keeping with the company's tagline:

Version C: I custom fit each letter of the words "Custom Fit Construction" together like puzzle pieces:

Version D: I developed a more puzzle look for the logo while keeping the type clean and crisp. For the background I took photos of wood, concrete, brick, floor tile and gravel all around my house one sunny Saturday in November:

My friends really liked version D, but wanted it to be a bit cleaner looking so I made the the background white and changed the type to the green from version C to reflect that he does do green construction too.

I reworked the textures a bit for the final version as seen here:

So far my friend really likes the new logo and looks forward to implementing it across all media.

Company 7 BBQ Sauce Labels

2011-04-06T09:32:00.002-04:00

I was approached late in 2010 with the project of designing a line of barbecue sauce labels for a new local restaurant concept. The restaurant, Company 7 BBQ, wanted to have their proprietary line of sauces and one rub ready to go on opening day. The only problem was the timeline: about 2 weeks total to design and get labels printed. I initially wanted to decline the project because of the tight timeline so near the holidays.

I spoke with the folks and learned they are a family of firefighters and seemed like good people, so I accepted the project. It was the least I could do for those who have put their lives on the line to help others.

I knew concepting would be intense and stressful. I did my standard steps of research and thumbnailing, however, I put myself on a strict timer for each stage and really just cranked out whatever came to mind.

I developed four initial concepts, mocking up the mildest and hottest sauce to show the progression of "heat". Version A was to gradually up the flames in the background against a dark blue background:

Version B was simple, bold solid colors in the background from "uniform blue" to "fire engine red" and the heat scale was numerical starting with 1 and going up to 6 within the firefighter maltese cross symbol:

Version C was based on the very cool Peter Pirsch fire truck that is the centerpiece of the Company 7 BBQ bar area:

Version D based on the idea of fire damage, the hotter the sauce, the more the beat up and textured the label would become:

In the end, the client chose version B, the bold solid colors. I worked up retail and in-store versions as quickly as I could and they were able to open with some labels on sauces. Response to the restaurant has been fantastic from what I've heard. If you're in the area, be sure to check 'em out!

Princess Snow

2011-04-02T17:30:00.011-04:00

My longtime friend and former travel buddy, Rachel is getting married today! As is my tradition, my gift is that of a custom illustrated poem for the happy couple. This started many years ago (1998 to be exact) and my frustration with wedding registries.

Well, trying to concept during a) a busy period of freelance and day job stress, and b) holiday stress was not c) fun. However, I did get my basic research and ideas down so that by the time December rolled around, I knew roughly what I wanted to do.

I know that Rachel loves Christmas and all things Victorian and I knew her wedding colors, so I had a solid foundation upon which to build. My initial concept was to have a flowing "Art Nouveau tree that acted as a frame for the image. And of course, I had to include snow to hint at her love of Christmas:

I thought I had a good start and then I got busy with holiday stuff and freelance work (in addition to the day job) and put it aside for awhile. When I came back to the sketch, I was ready to begin work in Illustrator and I just couldn't. I looked at the image and it just, well, sucked. There was no energy, no life, nothing there. In my rush to "get it done", I compromised the integrity of the illustration.

Completely mad at myself for doing poor quality work, I closed down Illustrator and went back to the sketchbook. I then very quickly sketched out this version:

I couldn't believe the difference: this version has better detail, more energy and vibrance. This was it! Now off to the computer to really bring it to life. I was going to just do my typical workflow of digitally inking the sketch and adding flat color in Illustrator then add textures and lighting in Photoshop. But I decided that I wanted to try actually painting with my Wacom tablet in Photoshop. It was a technique I'd always wanted to try, but never had the time to do. So I went for it.

I watched a few YouTube vids to get a handle on the best way to get going and then went for it. I laid in my flat colors and basic shapes using the sketch as my template:

And I gradually refined the colors and added shading and texture to the image:

I was particularly proud of a nice little detail I added to Mike's collar...

I kept my opacities on my brushes low, typically 10-50% range, and rarely 100%. I also kept as few layers as possible to keep the image simple and true. I have to admit, it was kinda frustrating at first, but as the image took shape, I found myself enjoying the process more and more.

Here is the almost-final image:

The only real change between it and the final framed version is that I made the snow light blue so it would fade to the background more:

After the main image was complete, I used the same background and set the poem in Snell Roundhand:

The text of the poem reads:

"Princess Snow

Princess Snow and her sister,

Princess Sunflower,

Traveled together

Far and wide.

Princess Snow loved her sister,

But was still lonely.

So she ventured back home

To her enchanted snow forest.

Her silent solitude

Melted away, though,

Once Princess Snow glimpsed

Her one true love

Approaching through the shimmering snow."

For my first attempt at a true digital painting, I was pleased with the results. And honestly, it didn't take much longer than my traditional workflow. You can be sure I will be doing more digital paintings in the future.

And to my dear friends Rachel and Mike, Happy Wedding Day! May your new life together be filled with love and happiness. I love you guys!

Seven Questions for Leaders

2011-03-23T07:18:00.005-04:00

I'm a fan of Seth Godin's daily blog. Most if not all if his posts are though provoking. I really appreciate how he keeps looking forward and urges each and every one of us to do the same. If you aren't reading his blog, you should be.

He recently posted the very thought-provoking "Seven questions for leaders".

I'll wait while you go check 'em out.

Done? Good.

Here's my personal addendum to his post: if you are going on job interviews you need to be asking these seven questions. If the answers are not to your liking, then you don't want to work with those folks. Move on and either find another company or better yet, start your own.

The Sketchbook Project: The Maiden & The Hawk Part 3

2011-03-16T09:20:00.011-04:00

This is part two of a three-part series on my The Sketchbook Project entry. Read part one and part two on how I set up the sketchbook with new paper. The basic concept for the project is that when you sign up, you are provided a sketchbook to fill up with images based on a theme. I chose "Storybook" because I've always been a fan of myths and fairytales.

So I've got new pages for my sketchbook, I've got my concept storyboarded, and I had my characters defined...time to put it all together into the final illustrations!

I used my storyboards as my "bible" and pencilled each page as a spread (this spread is page 2 and 15):

After completing each sketch, I went back and inked each page with my trusty Pitt Artist Pens:

After letting the inked pages dry, I erased my pencil lines and prepared to color my pages with watercolors. I had kept a set of Dr. Ph. Martin's Watercolors from college and decided it was time to put them to use.

Some pages turned out, "eh":

While some pages really turned out beautifully:

You can view the complete set of pages on my Flickr page.

After all that, I still had to rebind the pages to the sketchbook cover. After a failed attempt at simply poking holes into the pages and sewing them together, I figured out that I could use pushpins to keep everything in register. So I got out my trusty old Artist's Tape and taped up the middle of the book and started over:

And here's how the center spread looks sewn to the cover with heavy duty thread:

After all that hard work, I'm still uncertain about how the project turned out. I've learned a lot along the way, but I feel that some pages just could have been done better. I would've loved to have redone the entire book, but time was short, so I had to move on. I guess the folks who check out The Sketchbook Project on its nationwide tour will be the true judges of how my book turned out...

Oh, and for those who've read this far, thank you. If you are interested, here is the full text of my poem that The Maiden & The Hawk is based on:

The Maiden and the Hawk

The Maiden stood at her balcony,

Weeping.

Hawk was soaring high

Over her castle

When he heard her sadness.

Hawk landed perfectly

On the small ledge

And asked of the Maiden,

“What troubles you so?”

The Maiden replied,

“My true love left me for another.”

And Hawk said,

“Mine too.”

The Maiden smiled

And her tears dried up.

Hawk then came to Maiden every night.

On his third visit,

He asked of her,

“The moon shines full.

Let us fly up to her embrace

And back again.”

“But Hawk, I cannot fly,”

Was her forlorn reply.

Hawk grinned knowingly.

“Tonight, my fair Maiden,

Dreams come true

And everything is possible.

Just close your eyes.”

The Maiden did so,

And off they went.

The wind in her hair.

The moon soft upon her face.

Hawk soared forever

Up there

Around the full moon.

And far too soon,

The Maiden and the Hawk

Returned to Earth.

The Maiden stood

Shimmering in the moonlight.

Hawk’s feathers

Glowed about him

In the most magnificent way.

The Maiden whispered,

“Thank you, Hawk,

For being you.”

She placed a gentle kiss

Upon his beak

And wished her wish.

As she did this,

Hawk stood up

And cast off

His feathered coat.

Japan Earthquake Poster - Please Help!

2011-03-13T17:53:00.002-04:00

I'm sure you've heard about the devastating earthquake that hit Japan on Friday. I'm not quite sure why, but I've always had an interest and fascination with Japan and its rich culture. I would love to travel there one day after this disaster has passed.

Feeling helpless just listening to the news about the quake, the resultant tsunami, and the nuclear reactor problems, I decided to do what very little I could: I made a poster.

Prints are available for a limited time only from my Imagekind shop and 100% of the profits will be donated to the American Red Cross relief efforts in Japan. Please pass the word!

The Sketchbook Project: The Maiden & The Hawk Part 2

2011-03-09T10:54:00.003-05:00

This is part two of a three-part series on my The Sketchbook Project entry. Read part one on how I set up the sketchbook with new paper. The basic concept for the project is that when you sign up, you are provided a sketchbook to fill up with images based on a theme. I chose "Storybook" because I've always been a fan of myths and fairytales.

After receiving my sketchbook and while I was making the new pages, I was thinking about what I would actually fill those pages with. I've always loved myths and fairy tales, so I knew I would focus on that aspect. I can't recall exactly what prompted it, but I began to think that I could do a version of Jack & the Beanstalk. My initial concept was to keep it simple: make a gatefold poster that would open up out of the sketchbook and tell the whole story in 2 images (front page and back page):

After some consideration, it just wasn't working for me for this project. So I worked up some storyboards on how I could tell a more traditional story with my take on Jack and the Beanstalk.

I sorta freaked out because it was the busy holiday season, I had tons of stuff going on, and I felt like I had to start over and that I didn't have time for it. But I put the project aside for awhile and let ideas sorta marinate. Then I remembered a poem that I had written in the early 2000s about The Maiden and The Hawk. I've always loved that poem and thought it would make a great illustrated fairy tale book. This was my chance! So I worked up storyboards based on the poem. I tried to get the story to fill the allotted 24 pages, but I would be stretching it to make it fit that many pages, so I settled on 16 pages instead. I also decided that while I had limited dialog in the poem, I wanted no discernible words on this version, so I made up a symbol based language to convey the dialog without using letters.

Now that I had the storyboards complete, I did some research on maidens and hawks and did some character studies to prepare for the real thing:

Now I was ready to create my sketchbook pages!

Coming next week: putting it all together.

The Sketchbook Project: The Maiden & The Hawk Part 1

2011-03-03T09:57:00.003-05:00

This is part one of a three-part series on my The Sketchbook Project entry.

I decided to enter the Art House Co-Op's The Sketchbook Project this year based on the link provided by my design friends over at the HOW Design Forum. The great thing about knowing a lot of folks in the design industry is the vast knowledge and resources they can share. The bad part is that you may be like me and want to participate in too much stuff. While I was initially excited by the project, it quickly became clear that this project was bigger than I anticipated. And because I had been so busy during the fall, it was time to start work on it right around the holidays. Whoops!

The basic concept for the project is that when you sign up, you are provided a sketchbook to fill up with images based on a theme. I chose "Storybook" because I've always been a fan of myths and fairytales. The provided sketchbook pages were very thin and there were a lot of them: 80 something if I recall correctly...

I spent a bit of time trying to wrap my head around the project and it was evident that I needed to cut the number of pages so I could have a hope of completing the project on time. I also decided to do my book in watercolors and that would require better quality paper.

My first (and easiest) task was to remove the old paper. A few snips with the scissors and the old pages were free from their binding.

My next task was to choose a new paper to add to the sketchbook. I chose Canson's 140gsm Watercolor paper. It has a great texture and was the right size for the project.

Next up, I figured out the number of pages I wanted my book to be and then I setup and trimmed the sheets to size. I originally figured that I would need 24 total pages (12 sheets), but that number would change...

Next up, and my favorite part, I wanted to do deckled edges. And I had no idea how to make them. So I just figured I'd draw a line where I wanted the edge to be...and luckily the edges of my desk are sharp!

Here's how the book looked with the new pages inserted...

After all this, I was ready to work on my actual sketches and pages!

Coming next week: ideas, sketches, and freak-outs, oh my!

Sweet! nsquaredesign in print: Creative Workshop

2011-02-16T09:10:00.002-05:00

I was pleased to learn that I was going to have one of my pieces featured in the new book, Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills by David Sherwin published by HOW Books. David put a call for willing designs to be sent one of his challenges. Each challenge had a time limit and you could pick a category. However, you didn't know your challenge until David sent it to you.

I worked on two challenges and both were fun and helped me think a bit differently than normal. David let me know that my challenge made it into the book, but I had to wait almost a year to see which one was chosen... :S

I'm very happy that my "Creature Feature" website concept was the one pick for the book since it was my favorite and I had a great time working on it.

Be sure to pick up a copy today to hear all about my process and see how the other designers handled their challenges!

Say Something Poster Project

2011-02-02T10:43:00.001-05:00

I was invited to participate in the Say Something Poster Project. Jason, one of the project founders, liked my work on the Haiti Poster Project and asked me to join in this new endeavor. This poster project gives designers the chance to "say something to inspire, motivate, and educate teenage kids." Phase one would include public voting to narrow the field down to 100 posters, which would then be narrowed down by judges to 25 semi-finalists then to 10 finalists whose work would hang in this year's charity of choice.

How could I resist? So naturally, I accepted. Then I realized that a) the project was due during the height of the holiday season b) I had a ton of other projects at the time and c) it was a short timeframe to work with!

My initial thoughts were centered around a "revolution" style poster, but with a hand holding an light bulb. Within the bulb, the filament would be illuminated and spread out sparks or stars that would illuminate the world. Somehow, though, it just wasn't coming along like I envisioned. I think the idea is solid, I unfortunately did not have time to explore that option more at the time. Perhaps I will revisit it later this year as a personal project.

I put aside the project for awhile and worked on my other priority at the time. After some thought, I remember a phrase I had made up based on an article I read: "Encourage change, be more revolting." It's a bit snarky and I thought an interesting play on words. I figured it would be best to keep a type only solution because of the limited timeframe I had left and because I wanted the kids to actually read the words and think about them, not be distracted by imagery.

Anyway, my thought was that kids should be encouraged to be rebels in that they should ask questions and push boundaries to shake up the status quo for the good of the world. I created a textured background that was cracked and broken as the base. I took the type and distorted it to give it a bit of energy and to keep it from being anything but boring and normal. I kept to a warm color palette to keep the poster vibrant, interesting, and energetic.

I just learned that I did not make it through the first round of voting, Looking back, I'm honestly not quite sure my true intent came through on the final design. However, I'm fond of it personally so it's hard for be to be objective. What do you think?

Holiday Card 2010

2011-01-17T22:18:00.004-05:00

Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately. I've been quite busy this past holiday season with personal and freelance projects. Some I can show ya now, some I can't... ;)

So I know this one is a bit late in coming, but I just had to show off my holiday card for 2010:

Usually I show sketches of the process I used to arrive at any given design solution. And I wish I could show you snapshots from my head, but this year's card was really simple and came about very organically. It was November and I was in the midst of several projects and realized I needed to prepare my holiday card. I looked at my previous year's cards and sketches to see what I had (and hadn't done).

I put everything aside and got caught up in the holiday buzz and rush and just kept the notion of "gotta get my card done" in the back of my head. Then I saw a great piece of type driven design and it struck me that was what I had yet to do for my holiday cards! I had be using the wish of peace, love, and hope in my cards from almost the very beginning, so I knew what it would say. And I knew the doves would play a role somehow, it wast a matter of tying them all together. I wish I could tell you exactly how I arrived at the bracket turned sideways as the solution, but I honestly don't remember, it just flowed from the few very simple sketches I did do.

I chose green as the color because it is calming and conveyed the sense of the holiday season without being too "Christmasy" Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but not everyone who's getting a card celebrates, so I wanted to be respectful. The final touch was a fantastic texture by my buddy Von, author of Crumble. Crackle. Burn. (Shameless plug: it's a fantastic texture resource for any designer. I might be biased since I know Von, but this book has been a boon to my design projects since I picked it up. End shameless plug...).

I even got brave this year and turned my card into a print, a greeting card, and an ornament over at my Zazzle shop so that others could send wishes of Peace, Hope, and Love too.

That's it for now, more to come soon, hope your 2011 is off to a great start!

DLM 2010 Food & Wine Show Poster

2010-10-13T09:04:00.002-04:00

At my day job at Dorothy Lane Market (an upscale grocer here in town), I'm the only designer on staff. It can be quite demanding at times, and like all design jobs, some projects are cooler than others. Once project I look forward to every year is the Food & Wine Show poster (and related advertising materials). I've designed every poster since the event started in 1998, so it is a real challenge to come up with a fresh idea every year. And let's face it, some years might have been better than others.

Typically, I've stuck with a color palette the reflects the fall season and red wine or night and the moon (since it gets dark earlier in November when the show is held). This year, after looking at my previous years' posters, I realized that I had entirely overlooked the lighter side of wine (and color). So I went inthe complete opposite direction: I made it my mission to explore a color palette the revolved around "white wine".

Along the way, I developed a few ideas that I presented...

The first was inspired by one of my research photos of grapes glowing in the afternoon sunlight, so I added some texture for a Tuscan-inspired concept...

For this concept, I went a bit more stark/fine art simplicity...

Derivative with different background texture and altered bottle color...

And last but not least, champagne colored background with a "leaf glass' (thanks to my buddy Von and his fantastic book, Drip, Dot, Swirl.)

The unanimous choice for this year's poster was the last one: the champagne background with "leaf glass", and after only 1 day of it being posted, I've already received quite a few comments (1 from the owner who said it was my "best ever", guess I get to be employed for awhile longer!) I must say, that honestly, I was rooting for the Tuscan inspired version, but I do think there is a appeal in the simplicity of the "leaf glass" that does work better since it is a fall event.

Dell's Unsubscribe Procedure = MAJOR FAIL

2010-10-06T08:11:00.002-04:00

A year or so ago I ordered a product that was on sell at through the Dell Business website. Ever since, as one you would expect, I've been on their e-mail and paper mailing lists. In my efforts to clean up my inbox, I decided to opt out upon receiving their latest e-mail. What I thought would take a few seconds ended up taking so much longer. There are at least 5 steps and several minutes involved in this process. I'm completely baffled that a large company like Dell doesn't have a better and faster system in place to unsubscribe people.

Here's the 5 (Yes, really FIVE steps) that led me to be "unsubscribed":

First you have to enter your e-mail address...

Once you've entered your e-mail address, then you can choose your options to unsubscribe: e-mail, paper mail, phone.

Seriously, I just entered my e-mail address, why do I have to enter it again?!

Surely my e-mail address and my account is linked to my mailing address, why the hell do I have to re-enter my info?

Geez, I hope their system was smart enough to e-mail the correct address so I am actually removed from their mailing list...

Well, it's been about a week after I went through this way-too-complicated unsubscribe and I now receive more Dell emails than ever. So long to you Dell, you're now a SPAMMER in my book. Good luck on getting more of my business.

Artisan Economy

2010-09-29T11:22:00.000-04:00

I've never been much of a cook. If you ask my friends, they will tell you that the microwave is my best friend. In fact, one of my best buddies was shocked when he learned that I actually use the stove on occasion.

Well, when I first was out on my own I did not own a single pot or pan to cook with. I cooked using the Stouffer's method. But when I decided to buy some pots and pans, I went for a set that featured a saucepan, skillet, and larger pot along with a lot of cook looking utensils that was a great price. These little cookware pieces lasted several years and were of decent quality.

However, when I decided to replace them this year, I decided to look around and spend a bit more for something of higher quality. I ended up purchasing a great T-Fal 2-quart saucepan along with their eco-friendly non-stick 12.5 inch Saute Pan.

So what does this have to do with an "artisan economy"?

Well, I got to thinking that I didn't value the cookware I had, it was disposable because I had only spent a modest sum on it. Then I started thinking about things like the apps in the app store, or office supplies, you know, the little things that are cheap and how if it breaks, you just buy a new one.

Really, when you think about it, can something that costs a dollar or less really cost less than a dollar to produce? In some cases yes, but what about something that is five dollars or even ten? When those items break, we usually discard them too.

But what would happen if we spent more for something of a bit better quality? What if that five dollar toy was ten and was built a bit sturdier and of quality materials instead of cheap plastic? Maybe your kids would value their toys a bit more and want to keep them longer. (Ok it was worth a shot... :P) Or maybe that nice utensil that you bought for $10 that was made of metal instead of plastic would last longer and do better for your needs.

As I've gotten older, I've learned that I'm willing to pay a bit more for quality. Maybe if we all were willing to spend a bit more less often for quality items, then our economy would improve as we need to fill positions to make all this cool stuff.

Ironically, soon after I had this revelation, Eric Karjaluoto over at Ideas on Ideas had a great post about the very same topic. Maybe, fingers crossed, it's the start of a good trend....

(btw, I'm not affiliated with Eric, smashLAB, or Ideas on Ideas other than I enjoy Eric's posts and once had a fun conversation about design conferences with him on Facebook that he probably doesn't remember...)

Deaf Monty Illustration

2010-09-22T08:34:00.013-04:00

Over the summer, I was asked by my longtime friend Leslie (who co-owns the Innport B&B with her husband Jeff) to illustrate their dog, Deaf Monty for a new business venture. They are hoping to obtain a liquor license and open a small wine tasting bar at their bed & breakfast. They have a small dog, Monty, who is a cute cross between a Westie and a Maltese. He really is deaf and he has a penchant for cheese and red wines, so they figured he'd be the perfect way to advertise their new wine tasting bar.

So my job was to illustrate the ultra-cute, ultra-fuzzy Deaf Monty for a logo-esque usage. I started out by meeting the clients and Monty at Innport. I took some photos and the client also sent me some shots they had taken so I could have reference to draw from.

I reviewed all the reference photos and I Googled "westie" and "maltese" to see the breeds that are a part of Monty to see how I could best capture his personality.

After I narrowed down the photo reference to the few shots I thought would best convey Monty's personality, I began sketching with pencil. My first few attempts were very sad...but that's the whole point of sketching, to practice learning to draw your subject. After about a half dozen or so attempts, I sketched out this version of Monty that I felt captured him pretty well...

Reference photo...

My sketch...

Clearly, it is not 100% there yet, but I felt it was at a stage to get some feedback from the client. They replied that it was close, but not quite there yet, they felt the ears and snout still needed work. So back to the sketchbook for me.

Usually when sketching a subject, you get better at it the more you sketch it...well unless you don't. I just couldn't seem to re-capture the "magic" of that previous sketch. Here's one of the later sketches that was worse than what I presented to the client...

So what the heck do I do now? I had to take a break and think about what my next step would be. After some contemplation, I thought I would review the other reference photos to see if I should try a different angle on my sketch.

After re-reviewing the photos, I choose this one to sketch...

And here's my (quick) sketch from the photo...

I showed the client both the crappy "second version" as well as my new angle. They replied back that they really still liked the first sketch, but the third one (the new angle directly above) was very good too, was there any way to combine the best traits of each?

Most designers and illustrators probably would gasp in horror at this moment. But I didn't because by combining both sketches, I was able to resolve all the issues of the first sketch and was better able to capture the "true Monty".

Here's a rough digital composite I made for the client to review...

The client loved the composite and so I proceeded to make the sketch digital. In order to do this, I took my composite file and imported it into Illustrator where I used the brush tool and my Wacom tablet to retrace my pencil lines. I also decided to add a "wine stain" as a background element to help Monty stand out against a white background.

Here's the first version of the "digital Deaf Monty"...

The client overall liked the this version, however they felt the mustache was a bit too heavy handed and they had another suggestion, one that I wish I would have thought of. Since Monty is a dog who "nose wine", the client suggested I make the nose and mouth a subtle wine glass shape.

Here's my first attempt...

The client thought it was good, but not great, so I refined the linework and the nose/mouth area a bit and here is the final illustration...

The client loves the final result and is looking forward to using their new illustration to promote their new wine bar once the liquor permit is approved. I think this project was a great one in that I was able to help out longtime friends and with their input and guidance, I was able to take a good illustration and really make it awesome!

Wedding Invites for Sarah & Jon

2010-09-15T08:57:00.011-04:00

Wow, it's been a busy year for me. So busy that I forgot to post several cool projects that I completed this year. Here's one of them...

I met Sarah through mutual friends a few years ago. She is a bright, bubbly, enthusiastic person. We both share a love of creativity and her energy really inspires me.I had known her for a few years when she met Jon. He is a bit quieter than Sarah, but he is a great guy, funny and fun to be with. They make a great couple, and I was honored when they asked me to design their wedding invitations and save the date cards.

I was a bit nervous, as this was my first ever wedding invitation, so I wanted to be sure I got it just right. I started my usual process of meeting with the bridge and groom to discuss the color palette for the wedding as well as to determine what theirpersonal tastes were. Once I had a better of idea of what their expectations were, I got to work doing research and sketches. Ialso started looking through my library of type to see which one would work best for the invitations.

Here's a look at a page of sketches....

As I was sketching, I doodled out a fancy "S" and "J" to represent the bridge and groom...

As I moved on to the digital mockups, I brought the cute little flowers and the fancy monograms with me. I wanted everything I did to be handmade by me so I all sketched everything by hand and then retraced each element with my Wacom tablet into Illustrator.

Here are the individual monograms...

And here are 2 unused concepts for the inviations...

After developing a few concepts for review by Sarah and Jon, I took their feedback and went back for another round. They really wanted to keep the invitations simple yet elegant. So I removed the floral elements and stuck with just the monograms joined together to symbolize their union as a couple. We also met with my fabulous friend and all around awesome person, Annie, who owns a local upscale stationery store, The Envelope. The couple chose a sparkly champagne paper with a darker navy-esque blue to back up the invitations. Annie suggested envelope liners to add a touch of elegance to the envelopes. To save on costs, I hand assembled the envelope liners and invitations. Thankfully, there were only 90 invitations to produce!

For the save the date cards, I designed the layout and per the couple's request, we had them printed at our local photo lab (which seems to be the trend these days) so they could send them out as their holiday cards/save the date cards. The final save the date cards printed on photo paper at our local photo lab and mailed by the future bride and groom...

And the final invitations and reply cards...

The couple informs me that they still get raves on their invitations to this day (as of this writing, almost 4 months after their wedding). They were extremely pleased with how the invitations turned out. While I was nervous when I first started on this project, I was also pleased with the results. And like any good designer, I was happy that the client was happy with the end product. It is a great feeling knowing that I could use my design skills to help make my friends' special day even more special.

Chilean Miner Poster

2010-09-11T13:47:00.001-04:00

The story of the 33 trapped Chilean miners has really captured my heart. These guys could die any day that they go into work as a part of their normal job. (Most of us designers just sit at desks,the most dangerous thing we have to worry about on a day-to-day basis is falling out of our chair or our computer mouse biting us.)

I was thrilled to learn that the miners had survived the initial mine collapse. But then I was shocked, literally, jaw dropping shocked, to learn it could take 2 to 4 months to rescue the miners. Wow, I couldn't image being trapped with 32 other people in a dark, small, enclosed space for that amount of time.

I anxiously await to hear news that the rescue has occurred earlier than anticipated, but that doesn't seem likely, so I did the only thing I could as a designer: I made a poster to show my support for the miners and I've made it my Facebook profile image until their rescue. I know it's only a symbolic gesture, but it is a heartfelt one. If you'd like to join in, you are welcome to make it your Facebook profile image too. In the meantime, I'm praying (rezar means "pray" in Spanish) that these miners are rescued as soon and as safely as humanly possible.

Bunkers Sauce Labels

2010-09-10T08:56:00.001-04:00

Wow, it's been a busy year for me. So busy that I forgot to post several cool projects that I completed this year. Here's one of them...

I completed this label design for Bunker's Bar & Grill, a local sports bar earlier this year.

The client had a couple of requests: they'd like a sports theme if possible and they really wanted to do a pepper that showed a heat scale for each of their sauces.

I started out with the sports theme, but it just wasn't giving off the right vibe. Plus the addition of a pepper graphic was not working out well...

So I worked on a simpler version that focused more on the pepper heat scale...

The client preferred this direction much better, but wanted a cleaner look to the label. After the client's suggestion of using white, I needed to figure out how to make the flavor name stand out more. I tried several variations and decided to give each flavor its own style of brushstroke along with a unique color that related to the heat scale imagery.

The client loved it and these are the final labels...

Mail Fail...Local is Relative

2010-07-26T08:46:00.000-04:00

I just received this cute little bit of direct marking in the mail this week:

As you can see, it's addressed to "Our Neighbor". How nice! But the return address is in San Antonio, Texas. Hmm...a quick Google maps search shows that San Antonio is about 1200 miles from Dayton. Wow, that's some neighborhood!

I know that the larger companies have centralized mail services/print vendors/what have you, but really, "Our Neighbor" just really isn't cutting it on this one.

How Not to Make Friends After A Conference

2010-07-21T20:36:00.002-04:00

As mentioned in my previous posts, I had the privilege of attending the 2010 CFC and HOW Design Conferences in Denver in June of this year. Like any conference, you share stories with your colleagues. Eventually someone breaks out the business cards and you trade. And while I love a well-designed business card, I have a pile of them by the time the conference is over and other than enter a few of my top picks (more on this in a minute), I add them to my growing dust collectors collection of cards in my office.

So how do you keep in contact with your fellow attendees that you do want to connect with? Well, I first narrow down my cards based on 1) the notes I took on the back of the card or 2) how well I remember the person. I make those people a top priority to connect with and put the rest on the back burner.

For those few folks I do choose to connect with, I typically connect via an awkward e-mail or two, Facebook, or Twitter. So needless to say my follow up isn't the best. However, I learned of another way that people are connecting post-conference, and while it might be a good idea overall, the implementation needed work.

Apparently, by handing my card out to a few folks at this year's conference, I was also added to their e-newsletter without really knowing or thinking about it. Now for me, I do expect the large companies in the resource center to use and abuse my business card in exchange for cool schwag. However, for some reason, I never anticipated my fellow attendees signing me up for their newsletter just because I gave them my card. To me, this is spam because I never granted my permission to be on their e-mail list.

Needless to say I was a bit surprised when I started receiving new newsletters in my inbox that I didn't sign up for . Were these newsletters asking me to try viagra or some other product? No, they were nicely written pieces that deserve more attention. But I didn't ask for them. So I promptly unsubscribed from each and sent an e-mail to the person so they knew why I was unsubscribing. (I'm not always the most tactful person either, so I did my best to restrain myself, but I still need to work on it...) In every case, the person understood and made sure my name was removed.

But this all could have been avoided. All I want is to be asked to be signed up. So when you trade business, the exchange could go something like this: "Hi, it was nice to meet you. I would love to keep in touch with my e-newsletter, is it okay if I sign you up when I get back home?"

See how easy it was? I've been asked (and will most likely agree) to receive your newsletter because I've given you my card so I might think you're a good person that I can learn from and share cool design stuff with.

My other thought is to follow Mig Reyes' example and only hand out my card to folks who promise to send me something cool. That way I'm giving them permission up front to send me stuff.

Either way, please don't be offended if I don't ask for your card or give you one of mine. I've just grown to the point where I need to find quality connections, not quantity.

CFC & HOW 2010: Part 2

2010-06-21T09:51:00.001-04:00

I had the privilege of attending the 2010 Creative Freelancer Conference and a few sessions of the 2010 HOW Design Conference. In a stroke of brilliance, F&W Media decided to hold the CFC, HOW, and inHOWse conferences all at the same location and at the same time. As a result, my CFC package included access to the HOW resource center (samples and schwag! :), the HOW Opening Keynote and one "Wildcard" HOW Session. Here's part 2 of my experience…

Alas, the topics of Day Two were a bit dry: It's Your Money (Galia Gichon), Legal Basics (Jean Perwin), and The Art & Science of Pricing (Shel Perkins). Galia and Jean presented their rather dry info in a good and as interesting as possible way as they could. It was a necessary evil, but useful and informative. Shel's session, however was not for me. Way too dry to keep me interested. It looked like good info, however the slides were nearly illegible at the back of the room and instead of offering us a link to his extremely long presentation, he just mentioned that all the info was in his book. Major fail there dude, this conference is about sharing! A link his presentation would have been greatly appreciated here, especially since Shel talked way too fast and had too much info to capture in the session's allotted time.

The session on Internet Marking by Aliza Sherman was informative and great for those who are tiptoeing into social media and internet marketing. Not nearly as dry as the financial and legal presentations, Aliza really lit up her session with color and wit.

I skipped out on the remaining sessions to hang with my fellow HOWies (members of the HOW Design Forum) on the 40th floor of the Hyatt's Peak Lounge, which has a fantastic panoramic view of the Rockies and downtown Denver. And while I was skeptical of Von's order of the Crisps with Artichoke dip, it was really good. I think I became addicted to it in the first bite! The company and the view were fantastic and I wouldn't have traded that for any session.

After our pre-HOW meetup, we all trekked over to the Denver Convention Center for the HOW Opening Keynote by Andy Stefanovich. I'd seen Andy speak at a previous HOW conference (Vegas, I believe) and as I expected, he was fantastic. He talks a mile a minute, but this enthusiasm and passion are quite evident and it is is hard to not get caught up in it. Andy's session was a great way to kick of the 2010 HOW Conference (and the mayor's proclamation declaring it Design Week in Denver didn't hurt either... ;)

After that rousing session, it was time to hit the famous Resource Center. One of the best aspects of the HOW Design Conference is all the vendors that are located in the Resource Center. Plenty of schwag and samples to be had by all! But that doesn't stop 2,500 of your closest design friends from clamoring to get all the cool stuff on the first night. Nothing beats earning that Veer T or French Paper sample kit by standing in line and waiting with your fellow designers chatting about the day.

Day Three for me (Day 2 of HOW) was a short day for me since I just had the 2 Wildcard HOW sessions. (I was fortunate enough to score 3 Wildcards for HOW because of friends who either purchased both CFC and HOW Conferences or had a plane to catch...it pays to know people! :) I started out with Gail Anderson's session on You Are What You Keep. It took Gail awhile to get up to speed and I figured that she was like me and didn't do well with the whole getting up early thing... Gail had great info and I particularly liked how she showed specific examples of how items she collected were used or inspired future projects.

Next up was Von's session, 5 Alarm Concepts. Von always has a great presentation and his latest one was no different. Von spoke of collecting "matches" to fill up your virtual matchbox so you could ignite your brain to creative 5 Alarm Concepts. Funny and informative, this was my favorite of the two sessions I attended.

2010 was a great year for the CFC/HOW Conferences and I was pleased that I was able to reconnect with old friends and make new ones along the way. Alas, I was bummed that I missed out on the closing Party as well as the awesome Kevin Carroll giving the closing keynote, but I was able to squeeze in another day of Denver siteseeing along the way before heading home Tuesday evening. All in all, I think I did a good job of collecting a variety of matches from different sources to fuel my next creative endeavor.

CFC & HOW 2010: Part 1

2010-06-18T08:39:00.000-04:00

I'm a CFC and HOW Conference veteran and while my main purpose was to attend both conferences, I brought along my friend who likes to travel, so I planned on working in a bit of a vacation too.

Despite what our pilots told us at the beginning of the flight, our ride into Denver was anything but smooth. Especially the last half hour, it felt as if we were on a roller coaster and not a plane. And alas, I did succumbed to altitude sickness that same night. Going into the first day of CFC, I was a bit unsteady and uncertain.

However, once I arrived and saw Bryn Mooth (HOW Editor and all-around awesome person) and chatted with her a bit, I started feeling much better. That carried me until I entered the room filled with CFCers and the energy of several hundred independent creatives lit my design fire up.

Ilise stared the day off right with the session You Are A Business.She talked about how we decide if and when we are a business. It was very empowering. Pitch Perfect by Dyana was good, however, it was the same basic presentation from 2008, so although it was not new to me, it was good to hear again and to do the exercises to help clarify how I define my business when asked the dreaded "What do you do?"

Luke's session Who's The Boss was by far the best presentation of the day for me. He explained how to set clear boundaries between work and personal for you and your client as well as strategies to keep your business and clients all working together smoothly.

Rather than attend the panel on freelance success and the networking reception, I decided to fill up my soul or as Von said in his HOW session ("add a match to my matchbox", more on that later). My friend's friends were going to visit their dog who had just given birth to the cutest little labrador puppies I've ever seen. Nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, I really got to see the beauty of Denver and surrounding areas.

Day Two of the CFC was shaping up to be a long day for me since I also had the HOW opening keynote and resource center on my agenda. I was starting to really feel better today! The design mojo and creative energy was definitely palpable as I walked through the Hyatt to the sessions.

Look for part 2 coming Monday!

HZ-14: Coffee

2010-05-25T09:48:00.000-04:00

After a short hiatus, the HOWiezine is back and to the theme for issue 14 was Coffee. Personally, I'm not a coffee fan, but I couldn't miss a chance to participate, so I signed up without being inspired as to what I'd do.

I did something thinking and I figured I could use my aversion to coffee as a part of my concept. I've also seen more Star Trek than I'd like to admit. The Borg are a great enemy and they have an awesome line they use when they encounter civilizations who try to beat them as they go around conquering the universe: "Resistance is futile." Now we're talking...with that in mind, I began to sketch.

After getting the coffee beans down, I wanted to create an old-school "hypnotic" effect with a coffee at the very center. Sure, I could've used lines spiraling inward, but the idea of using a coffee "stain" as the rings seemed better.

Since I don't drink coffee, I substituted hot chocolate to make the rings. The original rings were a bit light, so I had to darken them a bit in Photoshop.

I then converted the "coffee" stain to black and white so I could better blend the rings into the background in Photoshop. Here's an early stage composite of the layout:

Next up, I took my coffee bean sketches and digitally inked the best one in Illustrator. I added color for the bean. I also added a red "eye" like a cyborg to give it a more menacing feel.

I layered in the coffee bean, added a background texture, duplicated and blended the coffee rings into the composite image. I decided to add in the type "Resistance is futile." It started out bold, but I gradually blended the type so it was a bit more "subliminal". Here's how it looked before I finished blending and adding the lighting effects:

Next I added blending and lighting to create the final image for page one:

Now my dilemma: I had a great page one, but no clue as to what to do for page two! As I was working on page one, I kept thinking of how I could tie in the second page. My previous 'zine entries had a poem as the second page, but it didn't seem appropriate for my chosen concept.

I had finished page one and still hadn't had a good idea for page two yet. I went on to work on another project and let the idea marinate in my subconscious for awhile. When the solution came, it was so simple I should've thought of it sooner: take the cyborg coffee bean and duplicate it to fill the entire back page. I had considered making several different coffee beans for variation,but in keeping with the cyborg theme I simply used the original bean. Here's the resulting image for page two:

Another fun HOWiezine project under my belt! Can't wait for HZ-15!

Mail Fail x3

2010-04-16T08:48:00.002-04:00

What's a Mail Fail? When a direct mail mail fails to: target the proper audience and/or other fun errors such as typos.

The other day I literally received three Mail Fails in one day! I was thrilled and entertained by these off-the-mark and mailers:

1) Toyota Wants Your Car! I received this official looking letter from a local Toyota dealer. According to the letter, they NEED my 04 Corolla on their used car lot and because of my status as their customer, they will reward me with a great deal on a new Toyota. That's funny, I bought my Toyota at another dealer in town...so I guess not being a customer has its rewards in this case!

2) Pretend AD to Pretend Designer: "Why save money on postage in these tough economic times? Let's put the postcard inside a clear envelope so we can pay full postage on the mailing and how In-Housers how we can save them money!"

3) Dear Nick, Rick, Whatever: I've saved the best for last. This gem starts off on a good note... they have my name on the front...

Wait a minute, what the heck is that in the upper left? It looks like a bee fighting a spider! Are these the "customers" I'm supposed to attract? Not sure I want to attract bugs, especially not ones that sting/bite. You're starting to lose me here...

And now, you've completely lost me...

Rick?! Seriously? If you're going to use variable data, please don't drink and work with databases!

While targeted marketing and variable data can go wrong, done properly, it can be a great tool to help reach your target audience. Don't let these poor examples scare ya away, just keep them in mind and don't do what they did so your mailpiece rocks!

Even A 3 Year Old Knows Branding

2010-03-11T08:32:00.001-05:00

As a designer, I do my best to make sure that the solutions I develop for my clients are appropriate and meaningful to their target audience in order to help them sell their wares or services. For the most part, I believe that it's not evil, however when even a 3 year old makes judgements based on brands, I think it's time to re-think all this advertising we're doing. Is it really such a good idea to push so much crap, most of it what people don't need and won't help them feel better in the long run.

And now their little kids apparently are already judging who they'd play with and how they feel about themselves based on branding. This is unacceptable. We as designers need to spend more time using our skills for good and helping others. Maybe it's time for less is more and the smaller the logo, the better.

I'm sure corporate America will never go for this, they are in it for the money and recognition after all. But maybe if enough folks start one by one designing better solutions without branding the hell of it, maybe it will catch on and we can have kids that can just enjoy being kids and not worry that they won't have any friends because they don't have the "right" toys.

Haiti Poster Project

2010-02-26T09:00:00.003-05:00

I'd love it if you'd vote for my poster here, but please pick your fav, great work here all around.

Like many people, I was shocked and saddened by the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. I did my small part by donated a few bucks to a good organization. But in situations of this magnitude, it never seems like enough.

Luckily, designers are a generous bunch and the same folks that did the The Hurricane Poster Project when Katrina struck also started The Haiti Poster Project. The premise is simple: artists create limited edition posters signed and numbered and the posters will be sold online to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. Their goal: $1,000,000. I know they can do it.

I was a bit hesitant to participate as the artists do have to pay for the printing and shipping of the posters. However, my friends over at Red Dog Graphics have offered to donate the cost of printing up one lucky designer's poster. Voting on their Facebook begins today. I've entered my poster, and whether or not I win, I will plan on printing the posters and sending them in to the poster project. It's the least I can do. (I will post a link to vote once it goes live).

My poster concept is simple and stark: I used the flag of Haiti as my base colors and layout to represent the country. The crackled texture obviously represents the earthquake. I added in “Haiti” to the text in black to reflect the darkness of that January 12 when the earthquake hit with the plea to “Help” overlaid in white (peace, hospital).

Pepsi Should Make Throwback Formula "the Pepsi"

2010-01-01T12:25:00.001-05:00

I apparently haven't been keeping up with the Pepsi throwbacks. I found a new version (from the 80s(?) at my local supermarket. And of course, I had to buy 'em!

I still prefer the first throwback design. It's clean simple, nostalgic, and just plain cool. Pepsi needs to ditch the current formula, go back to the throwback formula as the regular "Pepsi".

Peace on Earth

2009-12-25T11:30:00.001-05:00

Wishing you the gifts of peace, love, & joy.

Hope your 2010 rocks!

See you all in 2010

2009-12-10T23:33:00.002-05:00

Hey all, thanks for reading in 2009! I look forward to more blogging, twittering, and Facebooking in 2010. I've got quite a lot of work and play this month, so I'm going to skip the blogging until next year.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season and a safe, fun new year!

Gobble Gobble!

2009-11-26T07:45:00.002-05:00

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope your day with family and friends is full of joy and happiness.

Creative Postcard Club: Pantone Blocks

2009-11-18T23:42:00.003-05:00

A seemingly easy round this time: fill 15 half-inch square blocks with Pantone colors and arrange them however you wish.

15 blocks of color is a lot of color! Especially since I was determined to use a different color for each block.

I turned to my favorite theme: Art Deco. The very formal and gridded structure of the layout suited the Art Deco style perfectly. The most challenging part was to figure out how to make the color progressions flow smoothly. My first few attempts created a bit of visual chaos until I found the rhythm.

Enjoy!

Disturbed by Direct Mail

2009-11-11T11:11:00.003-05:00

Here's the story: my dad served in the Navy in WWII. Over the years, he lost his 2 medals. Luckily, there are online stores that sell veterans replacement medals. I ordered the ones my dad had and thought nothing more of it.

Until I realized that the company I bought from sold my name all over the place.

And for the most part, I just toss the mail and think nothing of it.

But then I got this "certificate" in the mail:

Direct from the American Legion: a certificate for my war-time service to the United States.

Say what? I've never served in any branch of the military in either peace time or war time.

I must say that I'm ashamed of the American Legion for not double checking who they are sending this "invitations" to. I think it's disrespectful to all those fine men and women who have served.

Since the American Legion did not take the time (or money) to set more specific criteria, they risk alienating folks who otherwise think highly of their organization. And by sending out false certificates that dishonor our veterans, they are going to damage their reputation and right quick.

I know that it does cost more to set criteria and that the AL probably doesn't have a lot of extra money to spread around. Surely there is a solution: send less but more qualified mail, maybe see if the database company would donate by giving a discount for an upgraded service, etc. Anything would be better than sending out bad direct mail like this.

For all of those out there who have really served our country in peace or war, thank you and may you have a good Veteran's Day today.

Another Ad Gone Bad

2009-11-04T08:04:00.000-05:00

I spied this nice ad for the new Ford Taurus in National Geo recently. I was truly impressed with the new body style, so I decided to read the ad. Well, that was my bad. Should've just left well enough alone... :P

The text at the top of the ad extols how the new Taurus is "The most innovative car in America.**"

Huh? What's with the "**" there? Let's take a look-see..

Down below, in the fine print, the "**" indicates that "feature" is "** Optional."

So The Ford Taurus' innovation is optional? riiiight.

I don't know who's the genius behind this kind of moronic fine print (my guess is lawyers), but really, if your tagline is "optional", I think I'm going to exercise my option to buy somewhere else, where they back up what they say instead of "clarifying" it out of existence.

When Ads Go Bad

2009-10-28T08:04:00.000-04:00

A buddy at work received a mailer from Time Warner Cable's business service. I couldn't help but notice their main image:

Uh, say what? Using your EYEBALL logo as a bullseye? What genius came up with this one?! What are they trying to say here: using TWC will making you want to poke your eyes out?

Major FAIL here, Time Warner, I hope that whomever came up with this one got sent back to design school...

Doodle Swap Round 3

2009-10-21T08:45:00.003-04:00

I participated in the third round of The Doodle Swap Project. Again, the theme was open, and while that sounds great to have the freedom to do whatever I want, it is a bit intimidating. I thought about a couple of different directions before deciding to do an idea that had been bouncing around my head. I've been thinking of these silly two-word rhymes all summer and this was the perfect chance to illustrate a few.

I sketched out the images and inked them with my awesome Faber-Castell Pitt Pens (ah, I LOVE these pens!). This time I broke out my Dr. Martin's watercolors that had been gathering dust on my shelf. I had a blast! I had forgotten how much fun and how easy it was to work with these colors. Now I need to do more watercolors...

Below are a few of my Doodle Swap cards, or you can see the entire set on Flickr.

You can view all of the doodles for round three on The Doodle Swap Flickr page.

Cool Mug Menu!

2009-10-15T08:35:00.004-04:00

My friends and I went out to Red Robin the other day for dinner. We are all addicted to their tasty onion rings (oh, and their burgers too. :P Once seated, I spied their ultra-cool new drinks menu that is in the shape of a mug. Very clever, great job to the folks who designed this! Simple, clean & crisp design with great product shots and graphics. Check it out:

Cheezy Trek T-Shirt Offer

2009-08-12T08:57:00.003-04:00

The people at Cheez-It crack me up. They have a nice Trek related t-shirt reward on their recent packaging. It's a pretty cool lookin' shirt:

This is the part that cracks me up:

Now, I know that the new Star Trek has a broader appeal; however, I'm fairly confident that most "regular" folks won't be wearing this t-shirt to any social or sporting occasion...

Theory Thursday: Urban Farming

2009-07-22T08:40:00.000-04:00

National Geographic had an interesting article in a recent issue talking about how some urban centers are transforming their rooftops into green rooftops and the positive environmental impact this might have. You can read the article here.

While reading this article, a thought occurred to me regarding farming and how I had also recently read that we might not be able to grow enough food if the world population keep growing at its current rate. And with all the recent issues with food-borne illnesses, how eating local might become more important now. But where would we get enough farmland to tackle these issues? I have a theory: Urban Farming.

I don't know about you, but in my town I have quite a few developed areas (shopping centers and the like) that have been abandoned for one reason or another. Why not reclaim this land and turn it back into farms? This would do 3 things: 1) employ people and 2) green up otherwise wasted and ugly space, and 3) would also allow more folks to eat locally grown food.

Is this solution perfect? Probably not, but it's a start and I think it would be beneficial to everyone while helping Mother Earth out a bit too.

Cool Ink Initiative Prints Help Raise Money for Good Cause!

2009-07-17T07:49:00.001-04:00

My buddy Keith from the HOW Design Forum makes hand screened prints for a good cause over at The Ink Initiative had a sale in early July on his limited edition, hand screened prints. The best part? The money from the sale of the prints goes to help out a great cause:

"The concept is simple: Each year we will choose one non-profit organization. We then will design and hand print posters to sell and donate the proceeds from each poster sold to the chosen non-profit organization. No money from sales will be used for personal profit." (quoted from The Ink Initiative website)

I couldn't resist these cool prints and a sale, so I picked up a set of "Outer Space" and "Shutupsicle"...

Sweet! The package has arrived!

And here are the fantastic prints! Hand screened, hand signed and numbered, limited editions.

Thanks to Keith & Jen, excellent work!

Reply to the "Death" of Print

2009-07-15T08:05:00.001-04:00

Recently at the Visual Ambassdor they had a post entitled The Death of Print.

Take a second to read the article (it's short, I'll wait....)

Back? Oh good. I just can't see how the death of print a) equals a devaluation of art nor b) equals the death of "real journalism" as the author states. Art is more prolific on the web that has ever been before. There are dozens (and dozens) of sites for artists to not only display their work, but sell it too. No longer is the artist bound by an agent or gallery that takes a percentage of their profits. Most museums are online, some even display parts of their collection online. So please tell me how this is killing art?

The author's second point is that hard investigative journalism is dying alongside print. What? We're entering the age of power to the little people: everyone now has a voice to call out the evil misdeeds of weasel corporations and it will be seen, heard and Facebooked or Retweeted to the entire world in minutes. Compare this to printed newspapers where it would take days (or even longer) for news to spread. This is bad how?

I understand that a big change like the death of print might be scary to a journalist who will need to adapt to this new reality and maybe have to learn some new skills. But if this truly is the death of print (how long has this been promised now, like 10 years?), then I say bring it on, things are getting better not only for artists but for the average person and that's a good thing.

What The?

2009-07-08T08:35:00.000-04:00

So at my day job, we do a weekly e-newsletter and we feature new products to our stores in it. A few weeks ago, we had a new product in our healthy stuff department. It sounded harmless enough: Lily of the Desert Aloe Vera Juice. It's supposed to help digestion. Still doing good. I was processing the photo in Photoshop and I zoomed into the product label and noticed that it says "Inner Fillet":

Come again? I associate "fillet" with filleted fish or other meat. I don't think I want to drink something that gives/makes my "innards filleted. Methinks next label design should skip that notice...

Schweet Schmap of Nashville!

2009-07-06T08:20:00.003-04:00

I just learned that my photo of the exterior of Hatch Show Print in Nashville has been selected for the Schmap guide to Nashville! :D

About Schmap

Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. More than 90 million Schmap Guides have been downloaded since first release in March 2006: this phenomenally popular series can also be browsed online, with versions optimized for iPhone and Nokia users

kNOwHOW

2009-07-05T23:21:00.002-04:00

A few of the HOW Design Forum members who were unable to attend this year's HOW Design Conference in Austin decided to have a "kNOwHOW" conference. Nothing fancy, just a few designer friends getting together to share knowledge, friendship and food. Our host, Karma, along with her mom, and fellow HOWie Patti really went all out: we had food, a creative exercise (doodling monsters!), a photobooth, and schwag bags!

It was a great bit of creative inspiration and friendship, well worth the 9 hour drive from Ohio to attend. Enjoy the photos on my Flickr here.

Doodle Swap #2

2009-07-01T08:06:00.005-04:00

The first Doodle Swap between members of the HOW Design Forum (aka HOWies) was so much fun that I couldn't pass on doing round 2! The trick was working about a few other projects that were all due at that same time.

Fortunately, one project gave me the inspiration for my doodles for round 2 and my interpretations of 4 classic monster movie creatues was born! I did 4 versions each of Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, and the Mummy, and 2 versions of The Phantom of the Opera (doodle below) (1 for me and 1 for a lucky recipient! :)

Each doodle was done by hand (no retracing or other tricks here) with loving care, or at least by hand.... :P

I tried the smooth vellum artist cards this time and while the colored pencils did work better on them, I still feel as I've not gotten what I'd envisioned outta them. Next round I may try just black and white using my Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens (which ROCK, btw! :)

Doodle Swap Blog.

Doodle Swap Flickr.

New Nap for That T's!

2009-06-25T08:08:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've been working hard on a few new Nap for That t-shirt designs: check 'em out (or even better, buy one) at my Zazzle store. Free shipping for a limited to anywhere on Earth via code: JUNESHIPFREE. Enjoy!

Creative Postcard Club—R50 Stamps

2009-06-17T11:32:00.001-04:00

I’m pleased that I was able to participate in the Creative Postcard Club’s 50th round. Congrats to Travis on a fantastic milestone!

For this round, I knew I wanted the theme of my stamp to be Art Deco. But the genre encompasses such a large variety of work, I wasn’t sure what to narrow it down to. I spent time thinking and researching and decided on “The Art of Wine” in the Art Deco style. I did many a thumbnail sketch and somehow, they just never felt right. So I put them aside for awhile and I was listening to a story on U.S. Postage stamps and they mentioned that typical themes on stamps are the flag, flowers, or American art/artists. Bingo! My idea was born: American Art Deco, represented by an American flag.

Below: flat color version in Illustrator.

After a few sketches, I followed my usual procedure and scanned my sketch into Adobe Illustrator where I set up my colors and layout. I then imported that file into Photoshop where I added textures and lighting.

Below: final image and final image with stamp border appplied.

Theory Thursday: Shrinking Attention Spans Cause Expanding Waistlines?

2009-06-10T11:37:00.002-04:00

Ok, not a design related topic this time around, but it's my blog and well, I can do whatever the hell I want! :P Promise to get back to design next week!

I have a theory. Not sure what exactly prompted this one, but it sorta popped into my head one day. Could it be that the shorter our attention spans get, the larger our waistlines get?

It sounds contradictory, I know, as you'd think all the running around people do nowadays we'd all be skinny as rails. But think about it: we run around, faces glued to our Blackberries or iPhones or whatever and we don't have time to eat a meal, so we go for the high-fat fast food that we wolf down in as few bites as possible. Some folks don't "have time" to excercise, so they skip it. When we do sit, we sit for hours glued to TVs, computers, or some other device. So all that high-fat food just gets added on to, well, us.

I'm sure there are holes in this theory, and I'd love to hear what you think about this topic!

(hmm. it appears that today is not Thursday, whoops!)

HOWie Poster 2009 Edition

2009-06-03T11:23:00.003-04:00

I participated in the second somewhat annual poster made by and for members of the HOW Design Forum. The theme this time around was "stamps". Other than that, we were free to do whatever we wanted. I thought about different subjects and since postcards are typically used to send correspondence from people who live in different states, and since HOWies live in many different states, I decided on celebrating my home state, Ohio.

That still left a lot of room for narrowing and I originally considered doing an art deco-esque postcard design. However, it just wasn't working out. I had happened to just have visited my local park where we have 3 very old trees (500 years plus), called the Three Sisters. I just love these trees, they are magnificent and very calming. So I decided to use one of my photos of one of the Three Sisters.

Hey That's Me! n2 Quoted in Caffeine for the Creative Team

2009-05-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

Late last year, members of the HOW Design forum were asked to contribute their thoughts about how the forum acted as a team for the book, Caffeine for the Creative Team. A couple of my quotes and photos that were submitted were used in the chapter on the HOW Forum.

Congrats to my fellow HOWies who also made an appearance in the book!

New T's on Zazzle: There's a Nap for That

2009-05-15T01:15:00.002-04:00

I just created a new line of shirts for everyone who loves naps! "Whatever tires you, there's a nap for that." Enjoy! http://tinyurl.com/qm7kjz

DLM Pastry Show Book 2009

2009-04-29T08:21:00.007-04:00

Last week was the fifth annual Dorothy Lane Market Pastry Show. This marks the second year that we've done a "book" for the show that features write-ups about the fine pastries, hors d'oeuvres, and beer and wine offered at the event. The book acts as an admission badge and event souvenir.

For this year's theme, I decided to go with "spring watercolors postcards" when I was developing the design for the advertising materials. I had found some awesome watercolor brushes for Illustrator that I was itching to try out, so I played with various combinations of strokes until I achieved that Impressionistic watercolor look that I had envisioned. I then turned the icons for the Eiffel Tower, pastry, and tulip that I'd used in previous years' materials into stamps to tie everything together.

I was surpised by the strong response by our associates to the finished piece: they all just fell in love with the simple design. It is quite a departure from previous years and from all the positive reactions I've heard, a good one at that! To steal a line from the A-Team: "I love it when a good design comes together." :)

Cover:

Inside page:

Doodle Swap

2009-04-22T08:44:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine from the HOW Design Forum, Mary, came up with a brilliant idea to do a "doodle swap" on Artist Trading Cards. She described it as: "The Doodle Swap Project is an organized swap of original, trading-card-sized art between artists, designers and illustrators."

It sounded like fun so I signed up. I decided to go with an old standby that I tend to doodle: robots and sci-fi. I just had to give my new Faber-Castel Artist pens a workout, so I figured this would be a great way to use 'em. I tried to stay true to the art of doodling and I warmed up first and then drew directly on the final cards with the pens. I decided to add color with my favorite medium, colored pencil. Alas, the textured vellum was not very forgiving so for the sake of keeping the pen lines visible, I just put a light coating on. Next time I want to give the smooth ATC cards a crack, I think that will work better with the color pencils.

I did a total of nine images, you can view them all on my Flickr. I'm enjoying receiving the cards from my fellow designers in the mail, it's like a mini Christmas with each one that arrives!

You can view the entire Doodle Swap Project on Flickr here.

Below, from my Doodle Swap, "Hello HAL"...

New Zazzle Ts: Designer Math

2009-04-07T08:41:00.004-04:00

New t-shirt design available from my Zazzle shop!

If you thought Algebra was hard, then you're probably a designer. We might have a job that's more fun, but our math isn't much easier, just different. Available in Men's and Women's sizes on my Zazzle shop.

T-shirt reads:
Can you place the Illy file into ID and try to either print it from
there or make a PDF and print the PDF?

Can you walk and chew gum at the same time?

Perhaps if you feed it cookies it will be all better? Or better yet,
feed you cookies and come back to it?

Did you export the AI file to make the PSD or JPG? What happens if
you just open the AI file in PSD?

Did you try doing a Save As, deleting the custom fills and seeing if
it will print?

Maybe you could photocopy it instead? :P

2009-04-02T23:34:00.001-04:00

Testing Ping.fm...

Stimulate the Economy!

2009-03-26T08:05:00.003-04:00

Well, my personal economy....shameless self promo: I just added 2 new shirts to my Zazzle store that poke fun at the economic situation. Stimulate the economy in style with these t-shirts! Both designs are available in men's and women's styles. If you like what ya see, you can buy 'em here.

Creative Postcard Club—R49 Numerals

2009-03-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

This was a tough assignment for me. While I did actually vote for this theme, in general numbers make my eyes glaze over. So to find a meaningful number/numeral for me would prove to be the most challenging part of this assignment.

So I thought about numbers and did a littel research and then I realized that there was one number with a storied history that would work quite nicely, 13. While I don’t personally find 13 unlucky or bad luck, most people do. I decided to take advantage of this stereotype and create a creepy image.

I used some new tools for me: A Faber Castel Brush pen and my new Moleskine notebook to hand-render the numbers which I then scanned into Photoshop where I added texture and lighting to give the number the proper mood.

Click here to learn more about the Creative Postcard Club.

Friday Fun 2-Fer

2009-03-18T08:31:00.001-04:00

So I was buying more paper for my inkjet printer on Amazon the other day and came across this oddity:

USED paper? Seriously? The worst part was the price was almost as much as a new, unopened box!

And my second "What the?!" of the week was this find on the Apple apps store:

So iBoob didn't make it past the almighty Apple censors, but this app where you can dress up women in different skimpy outfits did? No, I didn't download this one. And sadly, I can't remember what I was searching for when I found it, I got distracted. :P

Shameless Self Promo: Creative Post Card Entry Featured in Online Mag!

2009-03-16T08:24:00.002-04:00

My entry in the Creative Postcard Club's Round 42: Found Letters was used to illustrate an article about the Creative Postcard Club in issue #4 of the online magazine, Rancor'd Type! You can download issue #4 of the PDF here.

The article starts on page 8 and my entry is on page 14. Be sure to check out all the other great entries!

And the winner is....

2009-03-14T16:23:00.002-04:00

....Devon is the winner of my Lucky 13 giveaway. Congrats! And thanks to everyone who played the game!

Reminder: Last Chance to Enter Lucky 13 Giveaway!

2009-03-13T00:04:00.002-04:00

All entries are due at Midnight EST today, Friday, March 13!

http://nsquaredesign.blogspot.com/2009/03/lucky-13-giveaway.html

Pepsi Natural & Throwback Branding

2009-03-12T08:14:00.001-04:00

I saw this Brandweek post talking about Pepsi's new "all-natural" soda as well as their "throwback" formulas coming to stores April 20.

The packaging is nice, simple, and clean for both designs. What really caught my attention was the Pepsi throwback design:

While I'm a fan of the new "regular" Pepsi rebranding, I know that many people are not. Perhaps if outcry is strong enough, Pepsi should just go to selling the "throwback" formula as the "regular" Pepsi and ditch the other branding in favor of this one. (I'm in favor of keeping the old formula anyway, as it has less crap ingredients in it).

I love how simple and elegant this throwback design is. Plus, it really honors the long legacy of the brand respectfully. Well done!

Lucky 13 Giveaway!

2009-03-09T08:00:00.004-04:00

Since I don't believe Friday the 13 is unlucky, I'm going to try to break the “spell” of the so-called unlucky Friday the 13th and make it a Lucky 13 day for one lucky person!

One week from today, on Friday March 13, I’m going to give away one hand-signed print of my “February Moon” illustration as featured in my recent art exhibit. Print size is 7 inches wide by 17.5 inches high, with a bit of white around it for me to sign.

What do you need to do to win? Answer me these questions three in the comments section on or before Midnight EST on Friday, March 13:
1) What was your luckiest Friday the 13th?
2) Do you think Friday the 13th is lucky, unlucky or neither?
3) What is your favorite Pantone Color?

The best answers, as judged solely by me, get the one and only prize. No purchase necessary. And no fair trying to bribe me with cookies. Unless they are chocolate chip. Sorry, I can only ship to US addresses.

More about this image: I needed one more image to complete my art exhibit for February with a them of "Love." So after some thought, I dreamed up a bare tree with hearts starting to bloom under the silver light of the moon as an analogy to spring and warmth that would be coming soon. I worked a bit differently this time since I wanted to try out my new Faber-Castell Artist Pens. I used the brush nib and did some quick sketches in my trusty sketchbook. I then scanned it into Photoshop and then added the background textures, moon, and lighting.

My First-Ever Art Exhibition

2009-02-18T22:21:00.006-05:00

Thanks to my friend Rachel at Graceworks Bethany Retirement Village, I was able to secure my first-ever art exhibit in their beautiful new Village Center Art Gallery. The theme is "Expressions of Love" and most of my pieces are wedding gifts that I've given my friends over the years, with a couple of other pieces, and one created especially for this exhibit.

I even got an artist's reception! And if I had remembered to take photos, it would have been even better! Oh well, it was a great evening and we had a nice turnout and great support from my friends and family.

The exhibit runs from now through the end of February, stop by if you can.

You can also view all the pieces on my Flickr page.