Moonlight Movies Poster

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.

Social Experimenting...

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!

Cool Mug Menu!

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:

Cool Ink Initiative Prints Help Raise Money for Good Cause!

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!

Schweet Schmap of Nashville!

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

New Nap for That T's!

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!

Type on Your Products

Some fun eyecandy for you today from Designer Daily: 15 Great Typography based objects/products. Great stuff here, LOVE that coffee table! 

Ponoko: Make Your Own Products!

As a creative, I make prints of my 2-d illustrations and have my designs printed, which is great. Ponoko takes it to the next level and allows you to turn your creativity loose on making real objects! Whether it's a one-off prototype or special gift, this is just really cool! I don't know what I'm going to make...yet... ;)

Wireless Electricity Takes Another Step Forward!

I'm so stoked about wireless electricity and I know it is a ways off from becoming a reality in my home, it just took a giant leap forward and I just had to share this link from Fast Company. Enjoy!

TinEye: Image Search Tool

Seen on the HOW Blog: TinEye, the visual search engine. This is not Google image search, TinEye actually uses your uploaded image and compares it to other images on the internet, even variants. Perfect for logo and infringement research, a must-have tool for any creative!

Reflecting on Pepsi's Rebranding Refresh

There's been quite a lot of discussion on the new direction Pepsi took with their latest rebranding. Most designers seem to think it is a step backwards and just generally don't care for it. Well, I'm going to respectfully disagree.

Pepsi's former branding was looking very dated, busy, and definitely in need of a refresh:



Pepsi cleaned up their design act for something much more crisp and clean:


And I for one, like it very much. It has a classic art deco feel to it: clean, elegant, timeless. Transforming the ugly globe (which I never liked anyway) into something reminiscent of an art deco icon was great, and then to alter the size of the white stripe depending on the product was brilliant! Combined with the simple solid color and the smooth type treatment, I have a feeling that these cans will become "classics" in due time. I think most folks are just so shocked by the change that they reacted before really taking a moment to truly appreciate the beauty of the new design.

Picture Perfect Target Gift Cards

I found this on Boing Boing the other day...Target now has gift cards with a built-in 1.2 megapixel digital camera. I'm not sure how practical this is, but it just sounds really cool and appears to be well-designed. 

Illuminated Wall Decor

This is one of the coolest things I've seen. It's glowing wallpaper lit with fiber optics, so the patterns actually light up on your wall. Very impressive!