Designathon 2012

(the final logo design for The Toolbox, Ephrata, PA)

In what could be described as my challenging Designathon yet, we met with Marsha DiBonaventuro of Downtown Ephrata, Inc. about creating a logo and rack card for their new open office space, The Toolbox. It's a fantastic idea that saw myself and students Kirk Beltle, Sally Yacovelly, and Jessica Messerschmidt too head on. I acted not as a designer but as a mentor and general instigator of things this year, along with my duties of copywriter for the aforementioned rack card, while the students worked on designs, color palettes, and layouts. As always, it was a challenge to stay awake, stay focused in the wee-hours of the morning, and to pull it all off in just 24 hours. Regardless, it's always memorable and it's something we as a department look forward to each and every year.

As always, click on images to enlarge.


(fuels of all kinds)


(myself and the team)


(the wall of evolution)

For Print Only: My DTP Book Project

(click image to link to original FPO post)

"Achingly elegant design elevates metal musician Devin Townsend’s image to a much higher octave in this deceivingly quiet box set. Bejgrowicz visually distills Townsend’s work into a museum-quality presentation, helping us see the melody behind the noise."
– Jessica Mullen, For Print Only

What a fantastic dose of (blush-inducing) love for Valentine's Day! While I don't enter design contests, I did submit this work for consideration by FPO – one of my favorite inspirational design sites on the internet today. Much respect and many thanks for the kind words.

You Say You Want A Revolution?

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Photos by Srfrjff

I recently spoke on the "Digital Media" panel at the Revolution Music Conference at Lebanon Valley College. Created and run by the students of the college, the conference featured live performances and 12 panels covering everything from music therapy, law, publishing, and beyond.

I joined fellow designer Mat Samuel, also a professor at LVC, and Andrew Pomeroy, a sound designer for MTV Studios and a former LVC student, to discuss the concept of visual and audio design and their influence in the industry. Moderated by Carrie Becker, a student seeking a dual-major in both Digital Communications and Music Business at LVC, I found that I wore two hats during the near-hour-long panel, drawing upon both my experience in the music industry as well as my design career.

After fielding a couple questions from the attendees regarding shifts in the industry and what an average day is like for us, I spoke at length with a father of a young man attending the event as well as another group of students with interest in the future of music. If only we knew what that was exactly, of course.

Overall, I had an excellent time spent on a beautiful campus with the politest group of young people I've been around in a long, long time. Oh, and a free (vegetarian-friendly) lunch to boot! Good stuff, for sure.

In The House Industries Cul-De-Sac: Pt. 2

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As part of our annual retreat, this year the Typography 1 students, Maria Cummings-Miller, and I traveled through Amish Country en route to Yorklyn, DE and the House Industries studio. This year, co-founder Rich Roat headed up the tours that also included fantastic insight from type designer Ken Barber, illustrator Chris Gardner, and all-around guru Brian Awitan. It's worth noting that co-founder Andy Cruz is in Japan for a month working on projects with Hermes, Vogue Japan, and much more.



Much was discussed regarding their business' history, internal process, present and future projects, and how they've approached type and the letterform as works of art. I love having a yearly excuse to hang with old friends while introducing the students to a world where type is seemingly limitless! Overall, we had a beautiful day for the field trip and while I didn't bring my dSLR this year, these photos will do the trick this time around.

Note: The post for last year's visit can be found here.

AIGA Central PA: FEED 2011

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This past week, the Central PA chapter of the AIGA hosted their annual FEED Conference. Featuring booths for Finch, Mohawk Neenah, the .918 Letterpress Club, and more – I also discovered a local letterpress printer in that of Thomas-Printers. The night also hosted the Moveable Type Truck, which got professionals and students alike super-psyched. One of my students, Jessica Messerschmidt, actually won Adobe CS5.5 in the drawing. Too cool. All in all, a nice night to nerd out with the regional design folk.

…WERE WRITTEN ON THE STUDIO WALLS

(Sketches and notes for Contain Us [click to enlarge])

I revamped and rearranged my studio this past summer in order to give myself a more inspiring workspace. New paint color, found objects, new (old) furniture, and a slew of framed collectibles and photographs now adorn the walls. The best part is that I also covered the main wall in black chalkboard paint. This allows me to sketch, make notes, and paste up inspirational pieces.

Above is a photograph of the current state of things immediately surrounding my computer monitor. It's the sketches and notes that really helped me organize an upcoming slipcase-bound, 8-disc, 64-page hardcover book that I both created and designed. With so many pieces to keep track of, I relied on these quite a bit to keep my head straight. The book will be out in time for the holidays and is now officially 100% into production. Fingers crossed that it's the beast it's lined up to be! More on this project soon…


(With my constant companion, Buddie [click to enlarge])

Field Trip, NYC Style (2011)

(Matteo Bologna @ Mucca Design in Soho)

(click collages to enlarge)

As part of PCA&D's yearly trip to New York City – along with department chair, Pam Barby – I put together a day of art and design for our graphic design students. We split up into 2 groups; my group stopping by Mucca Design for an agency visit and Pam's to 2x4. These studios represent two of the best in the city and both students and faculty alike were thrilled at this opportunity.

For the record, Mother Nature did her best to rain on our parade. Literally. However, let it be known that although she succeeded in roughing up our plans and soaking all of us to the core, she failed at dampening our spirit.

I headed up the Mucca Design visit and we were able to spend nearly an hour with founder and principal, Matteo Balogna. Filled with all the vim and vigor of an Italian ex-pat and an undying love of custom typography, design, branding, and style – Matteo delivered an inspiring talk about all things modern graphic design. Before leaving, I shared with him a few locally made "thank you" gifts Pam & I put together; namely 2 PCA&D mugs, Wilbur Chocolate Buds, and 2 half-pounds of cheese made here in Lancaster County. Good stuff.

Although we then stopped by one of my favorite families of galleries in that of Morrisson Hotel Gallery, I did not take any photographs there. Just know that if you're ever in NYC, find one of their locations and hit it up! Only the best in music photography from the likes of Jim Marshall, Hendry Diltz, Danny Clinch, Clay Patrick McBride and more.


(@ the AIGA Design Effectiveness exhibit)

After walking to the fountain in Washington Square Park, we dispersed for 2-3 hours in order to grab lunch, shop, and dry out in cafés. Myself, Sally, and Kirk made our way over to one of my favorite restaurants in the world; Vegetarian Paradise. Pure bliss, great company, and lots of excited discussions about art, design, education, and family.

We met up again and forged forward in the (thankfully) lighter rains as we made our way up 5th Ave. to the AIGA Design Center. Launched this past week was their 365 exhibit; Design Effectiveness. The students were immediately immersed in every single piece of the display, which thankfully allowed you to pick up each work for a truly hands-on inspection and experience. And although the exhibit was curated with effectiveness as their first and foremost trait, the design aesthetic was incredibly high. Overall, an inspiring and fun exhibit that left an impression on the whole lot of us.


(@ the AIGA Design Effectiveness exhibit)

The final "official" stop of the day was the Center for Book Arts in the Fashion District. Loaded with several, excellent small exhibits that opened only 2 days before we arrived – the Center also surprised all of us with a fully-functioning letterpress print shop. We spent a bit of time comparing our favorite ampersands from the drawers of lead type and enjoyed hand-made books featuring gorgeous wood block prints, custom-process music packaging, paper works by Su Blackwell, and more before we settled on plans for the final 2+ hours before the bus was to pick us up.

I decided to march nearly everyone up to Times Square (a tradition in the making, mind you) for people-watching and to share in the spectacle that is one of the most famous couple of city blocks in the world. This year, we ran across Japanese television cooking shows being filmed (think "Iron Chef") and a big ABC promotion for the upcoming "Pan Am" television series.

This trip, like several other events throughout the school year, offers a chance for me to lift the veil off the classroom and to form a deeper bond with both students and fellow faculty alike. Already my head's already spinning on what to put together for next year… starting with a Sunny, 70º fall day!


(@ Center For the Book Arts [top] and Times Square [middle, bottom])

Man Alive Creative: The Portfolio

(click images to link to the portfolio site)

I'm excited and proud to have created a portfolio site that, for the first time ever, sees my design and photography together in an easy to navigate, beautiful fashion. It's a thrill for me to see all of this work together under the moniker "Man Alive Creative." I welcome you to stop on by and tour the new portfolio. Feel free to share it with your friends, your family and (without hesitation) utterly complete strangers. I do love having good company stop by. Enjoy!

The Summer Is Heating Up!

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Some projects are at the printers, some have just been given the green light, and others that have been in the works for quite some time are now peeking their head up on the horizon. With 3 book designs coming together between now and the fall (and another before year's end) and tons of creative marketing materials on the plate right now – this summer is going to be one of my favorite design seasons in a long, long time. Until I can post more on these works, enjoy the…

Communication Arts Photography Annual 2011 online gallery, here. Also, I've been posting new photography taken on my latest visit to Detroit here.

All Quiet (On The Surface)

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It may be quiet these days on the blog, and I sincerely apologize for that, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been very busy working on several projects that will see the light in both 2011 and 2012. In fact, between the final days of the spring semester's classes, the mighty, year-end faculty vs. student softball grudge match, and freelance projects in the book, CD, logo, and marketing/promotion realms – it's been an extremely busy season so far.

More to come from these projects as they mature throughout the year, for sure. In the meantime, here's an inspiring video I found whilst researching materials for inclusion in my Typography 1 syllabus this coming Fall. Enjoy!

A MAN ALIVE DESIGN PORTFOLIO SITE

(click image to visit portfolio site)

Looking ahead to a new calendar year, I wanted to create a PORTFOLIO-specific site that would allow my work to be viewed with ease while also allowing the blog to stand on its own exclusively as a blog. New work, along with a weekly blog, will continue to appear here at the Blogspot address of course. To visit the portfolio in the future, feel free to click on the links to the right to access the portfolio site at any time.

While always a tedious venture, going through one's professional archives is a fun experience to see what pieces stand out after all of these years. Naturally, I focused on work over the past 3-4 years but occasionally an oldie-but-goody will appear now and again for good measure!

Check it out at your leisure and, as always, thanks for stopping by. – Cheers, Tom b.

Roger Gorman & I at PCA&D

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On Friday, November 12th at 10:00 a.m., I'll be hosting an open-to-the-public Q&A between Roger Gorman & I in the Atrium at PCA&D. Roger's work has been honored with design awards from the Art Directors Clubs of New York and Los Angeles, the Society of Publication Designers, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, ID magazine and Print magazine. His music clients range from Metallica and Helmet to David Bowie and John Lennon while his corporate clients include MTV, VH-1, Coca-Cola, Bacardi, Exxon, and more.

As the founder of Reiner Design, graduate of St. Martin's College of Art & Design in London and Grammy-winning designer of David Bowie's Sound + Vision box set – Roger & I worked together on several projects, most notably the highly-acclaimed coffin box set for The Misfits where Roger brought to life my vision for the packaging as I cared to my A&R duties.

Together Roger & I will be discussing his entire career, sharing anecdotes of designing for the music, corporate and publishing industries, and delving both verbally and visually into many works from his archives..

Field Trip, NYC-Style (2010)

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Every year the students and select faculty of PCA&D's Graphic Design department venture to NYC for a day of art in the big city. This year, we arrived a little early so I led some of the students through nearby Times Square. Sadly, due to limited time, we had to turn down an offer from Extra who invited our group to gather around the set of their upcoming interview with Motley Crue's Vince Neil. Only in NYC, right? We missed you, Mr. Neil.



The official festivities, all rock and roll escapades aside, began when Pam Barby started the day off with a visit to the offices of multi-media giants, Firstborn. Dan LaCivita, President of Firstborn, gave everyone a fantastic presentation of their cutting edge work – and the process behind it – for Doritos, Sobe and the Titanic. Coming from a self-proclaimed "visual engineer of the printed matter," my brain was exploding at all the cutting edge, multi-media experience conceptual work the agency creates. To say the least, the students truly enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look into how the marketing of major brand products is both conceived and executed.

After we departed Firstborn, I took a group of 15+ students with me on my "Chelsea Experience" tour of the city's storied and art-filled west side neighborhood (and my former home). It's my opinion that designers should be artists first and foremost and the goal of my tour was to expose students to a balance of design and fine art.



Art was put aside for the moment, however, as our first stop was Patsy's Pizzeria on 23rd for lunch. So much for the starving artists, right? Patsy's, while very different than St. Mark's Pizza on the L.E.S., bakes up some of the best crust and sauce in the city.

Our second stop was Printed Matter; the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of publications made by artists. For those interested in the avant-garde, the alternative printing processes and the feeling of unique books and packaging – Printed Matter is a dream of a book store. Next, we took in Pace Gallery's "50 Years at Pace" celebration. Pace have 5 spaces throughout Chelsea and each featured a unique look at the work they've represented over their five decades of art in NYC. Between the 2 spaces we stopped in, we were able to observe iconic works by Close, Johns, Rothko, Rauschenberg, Steinberg, Pollock, DeBuffet, Nevelson, Oldenburg, Warhol, Lichtenstein and beyond – most of which were on loan from the Tate, Whitney, MOMA, National Museum of the Smithsonian and beyond, unlikely to ever be hung together as a singular show again.



And finally, everyone on the trip was to reconvene at MOMA for Target Free Friday nights there. Thankfully my group was able to soak in legendary mid-20th century art at Pace because MOMA's 4th floor exhibit of their work from this period was closed. MOMA's highlights included the "Shaping Modernity: Design 1880–1980" and "Underground Gallery: London Transport Posters 1920s–1940s" exhibits. After a couple hours at the museum, it was time to head home and while I was loving the day of art, my body was telling me it was time to rest.

Overall, NYC offers up so many unique experiences and I was happy to share some of my favorite places with my students. I'm already thinking ahead to next year's trip and what we'll be able to put together in 2011. Until then…

2010 PCA&D Faculty Biennial

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Although open to the public since August 6th, the artist reception for PCA&D's 2010 Faculty Biennial exhibit was held on Friday, September 3rd. I had 3 items on display: the Century Media 20th anniversary series of CD covers, a photograph taken at Spring Grove Hospital and the Misery Obscura: The Photography Of Eerie Von (1981-2009) book.

Thanks to everyone for coming out on First Friday. It was a gorgeous night to see fellow faculty, friends, family and students out on the town in support of the arts.

(The 3 photos below were taken by Jennifer Martin.)

Something big is in the works…

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A series of projects I'm designing will (literally and figuratively) unfold throughout the summer, culminating in a box set for the 2010 holiday season. A killer project, great music and an even better client. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it, to say the least. More soon…

24 Hour Designathon

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The 24 hour Designathon takes place once a year at PCA&D and is organized by the college's AIGA student chapter. The event offers non-profit organizations the ability to receive professional-quality design services, free of charge. Beginning at 6PM on Friday night, the design teams meet with their non-profit to discuss their project needs. After that, it's 24 hours of non-stop design mayhem in order to conceptualize, design and evolve the best ideas into a piece that's pitched to the client at 6PM on Saturday night.

Acting as a faculty team leader, I worked with three fantastic students – Vanessa Leddy, Adam Delmarcelle & Josh Spence – to design a playbill, DVD cover, and 15 second bumper for Michael Hoober & the Rumschpringe Short Film Festival. Many other great students who I taught last year took part, including: Sarah Solak, Nicole Weaver, Sara Warfel, Jason Getz, Amanda Wolfe & Paul Sullivan. Andrew Herzog, a current (and most excellent) student of mine, is the lone sophomore participant this year.

For more, check out the Podcast for the event that I was part of here, along with photos from said Podcast here.

NYC: The Book Signing

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To celebrate the release of Eerie Von's Misery Obscura photography book, which I designed and co-created with Eerie, I put together a book signing at Generation Records in New York City. To make it a very special evening, I asked long-time friends and foreword writers Lyle Preslar (Minor Threat) and Mike d. (Killswitch Engage) to join Eerie for a 5-song acoustic set.

To order the book, follow this link.
To see videos from the performance, click here.
To view more photography taken that evening, visit my other photo blog.

Photos by yours truly and Jennifer Martin.

Beyond Design…

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Another major avenue for my creative energy is photography. And through photography, I've found a desire to film and edit video as well. It's a slippery slope, to say the very least.

Recently I traveled to Brazil in order to shoot footage for a series of webisodes for my old friends in Killswitch Engage. The results inspired me to expand video to feature the abandoned sites I explore for photography. And now I get to edit them myself, which I naturally didn't on the KsE webisodes, of course. Editing video is no small task, by the way. For instance, the Final Cut Express 4 manual is 1152 pages alone! I both curse and bless its programmers in the same breath, my friends. Curse, bless… bless, curse.

Anyway, I'm only getting started in this field but it feels good to work in so many mediums and I hope you head over to my Vimeo page to see my early works.

Happy New Year!!! See you in 2010…

AN NYC BOOK SIGNING EVENT

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For immediate release:

On Friday January 8th, 2010, punk legend Eerie Von (Danzig, Samhain) will make a special in-store appearance at New York’s Generation Records in support of his new photography book MISERY OBSCURA: The Photography of Eerie Von (1981-2009).

Eerie Von will play a rare acoustic performance with Lyle Preslar (Minor Threat) and Mike D’Antonio (Killswitch Engage) during the in-store appearance at Generation Records, and sign copies of MISERY OBSCURA along with designer Tom Bejgrowicz.

The one-night-only event starts at 7:00pm in the West Village. Those wanting to secure their place at the event can pre-order copies of MISERY OBSCURA at generationrecords.com to be guaranteed entrance (space is limited).

NOTE: Please note that only copies of MISERY OBSCURA will be signed during this event. No outside material may be brought into the store.

The Icing On The Cake…

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Well, the Mosaic Project has officially launched! It's an incredible show, an incredibly packed show and one I'm happy to have played a part in. Congratulations to Michelle Fogel, Heidi Leitzke, Matthew Cherry and everyone at PCA&D for a fantastic debut.

As an added bonus, I was able to talk to one of the exhibiting artists, Rudy Gutierrez. I'm a fan and it was very cool to chat briefly about the world of album art.

Finally, have I ever seen a logo I've designed literally become part of a cake?!?! I think not. Am I a fan of this concept? Indeed, I am.