Fuck Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's is the worst disease ever. It's degenerative and you forget who  you are. With other diseases, you can fight and still remember you friends, your family, and you. My dad died of Alzheimer's and it was a terrible, terrible way to go. I hope and pray they find a cure for this disease soon.

There’s still time to support the cause, I walk on 9/28/2012 in memory of my dad, Harry O. Nawroth. I’d appreciate any size donation. http://act.alz.org/goto/nawroth

Forget Me (not) 2013

My dad passed away June 8, 2011 from Alzheimer's. Since then, I have participated in the fundraiser walk each year.

This is the second year that I've offered a print as a fundraiser incentive. The concept behind the print is that the flower is forget-me-not flower is being distorted by the disease, but no one notices right away because the damage being done started out in the background. By the time symptoms show, it is too late.

You can get one of thesse hand-signed, limited edition archival prints by donating $35 or more to my Alz walk. This year's edition will only be available this year for this fundraiser only. After that, no more will be made. All prints will be printed and signed in late September/early October.

Of course, I’d appreciate any size donation to help end this horrible disease. You can donate here.

Celebrating Castle's 100th Episode

So I did a dirty thing...I entered a poster contest. No prize, not certain of who holds the rights. I'm sure some NO-SPEC'ers out there will frown upon me. But you know what? I really don't care. One of my favorite shows, Castle, just celebrated their 100th episode. I was there from the beginning, when we weren't sure if there was even going to be a second season, much less a fifth! I've enjoyed every minute of the wit and mystery. So when I heard about the #Castle100 poster contest, I jumped right in. Not for fame or money, but because it was fun. It was my way of contributing and showing a TV that I care so much about how much I really care. I don't even care if I win the contest, I'm proud of the finished piece. So to me, my time and skills spent were well worth the effort.

Monday Fun: Graphic Design Emergency, Part II

Last week, I posted my Graphic Design PSA about Graphic Design Emergencies. This week, part 2...

Graphic design is a profession filled with deadlines. Many of them arrive too quickly, no matter how much time we as designers are given on a project. But I've always said, "there's no such thing as a graphic design emergency." And in my decade plus of experience, I've never seen a reason or project that warranted "emergency" status.

However, a bibe of cookies always seems to work wonders...

If you like it, you can pick up one at my Zazzle shop.

WithOut electricity

Yesterday, we had 80+ mile per hour winds blow through our area and knocked out power to about 90,000 people. While my work lost power, I was fortunate to have power at my house. As I was talking with a neighbor about the situation he mentioned the abbreviation "woe" that he saw on a store that had no power. I realized the double meaning of this and thought it would make a great image if done properly since in this day an age, we are so tied to our electronic devices that when the power is out, not only are we With Out Electricity, we are woeful about the lack of access, games, and other entertainment these devices provide.

I was trying to figure out the simplest metaphor for having no power and as I woke up this morning, it hit me: a power button gone dark. The trouble is I couldn't make the background light either, otherwise it would ruin the mood. So it took a bit of tweaking to get the levels of dark just right on the text. Then I had to figure out just the right kind of dark for the background. I wanted to convey a sense of the power going out, so I added a gradient to the background where the black surrounds the text and goes a bit lighter near the top and bottom to convey a bit more texture and motion to the piece.

Free Fonts

I was talking to a friend the other about design related things. Somehow the conversation turned to type and I remarked to her that "free fonts are like a $20 hooker. You never know what you're going to get." She laughed and said, "that would be a great t-shirt." So I made it into a t-shirt and a poster for your enjoyment!


Like this? You can buy it as a poster and/or a t-shirt at my Zazzle shop.

Designers do it in Helvetica.

Designers fell in love with Helvetica when it was first introduced, and that love has not subsided over the years. A clean and elegant font, it works well under a variety of conditions. It only seemed natural to pay tribute to one of the all-time favorite fonts in the world with a tongue-in-cheek verison of a the classic style Helvetica poster.


Like this? You can buy the poster and/or t-shirt at my Zazzle shop.


*Helvetica is a registered trademark of notype Imaging. Used with permission. Helvetica is available for purchase at fonts.com: www.fonts.com/font/linotype/helvetica

Don't Give Me That Sheep

I'm having fun with a new series of posters that I developed at the end of 2011 and 2012 that started with Dream Pig and Give Peas A Chance.

I love the simple iconography and type combined with a single, strong color for a quick, compelling story. I've tried to keep the feeling light and airy throughout. I think in a way, these posters are stress relievers for me.

The newest entrant is "Don't Give Me That Sheep." I've made the background brown to convey what the sheep really stand for...if you like it, you can buy a poster (sheep and all) at my Zazzle store.

Resistance is Futile

Girl Scout Cookies are a yearly tradition as we transition from winter to spring. This year, as I was munching my way through a box of Thin Mints, I had a brainstorm: why not do a poster that celebrates the awesomeness of these addictive little cookies with the tagline, "Resistance is futile."

I chatted with my friends about their favorite cookie and it was almost unanimous: Thin Mints were the penultimate Girl Scout Cookie. I had a few boxes of different varieties, so I  photographed them all outside on my patio for reference. (The best part about this photo shoot was that when it was over, I got to eat the models. :)

I was going to work up several variant posters, but after seeing the Thin Mints, I decided this was the only version needed.

Dream Pig in 2012

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

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

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

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.

DLM Cheese Show Poster 2011

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:

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.

Japan Earthquake Poster - Please Help!

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!

Say Something Poster Project

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?