Misery Obscura: The Book

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For nearly two and a half years, I ferociously scanned, organized and designed a book project with my long-time friend, Eerie Von. The book thoroughly documents his work as both a photographer and musician beginning in Lodi High School alongside The Misfits all the way to the largest stadiums in the world with Danzig.

Misery Obscura isn't simply a photography book, it's a scrapbook of rare, never-before-seen memorabilia and brilliant story telling from the man himself. Without a doubt, it's safe to say that this is the Fuck You Heroes book for Lodi, NJ. Look for it in stores on October 14th on Dark Horse Books. More images and information on this project in due time. Until then, go here for full information on the book and here to read the press release.

Hot Off The (Letter) Press!

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I recently began my "apprenticeship" with the .918 Club located in the Heritage Center here in Lancaster. This fully-functional letterpress shop features several presses ranging from the 18th Century through the mid-1900's. The club itself meets "monthly to provide a gathering place for people with an interest in letterpress printing, to schedule volunteers to operate the Print Shop, and to provide a place for anyone interested in learning about letterpress printing or developing the skills to become a volunteer in the Museum Print Shop."

I've always loved letterpress type and am interested in not only volunteering in the shop, but to learn the trade as well. I can't wait to see something I've created printed in letterpress. In time, my friends. In time.

The Mustachio Bashio: Year 04

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The Mustachio Bashio is a party conceived in large part by my fantastical friend, Jason Upright. Think Boogie Nights instead of Saturday Night Fever, if you will. The MB, now in its fourth year of debauchery and outlandishness, is held deep in the heart of South Pasadena, CA. And while we attended MB1 & MB2 when still living in LA (with yours truly winning "Best Speedo" in the inaugural event, mind you), we'll be missing it yet again this year.

However, despite my absence, Jason asked me to design the poster for this year's event – which I believe turned out quite nicely and had a great time drafting up.

¿Quién es más macho? ¿Señor Lamas o Montalban?

House Industries Opening Reception

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While there's people or collectives out there that inspire me, only a few humble me with their creativity and talent. One of those collectives is House Industries, (not so) arguably the modern era's greatest typographical foundry.

Let's remember that no design communication is without the use of type conveying its message to the masses. The better type, the better the design... and the better everyone involved looks. It's that simple, and yet it's that ridiculously hard.

House's touring Letters & Ligatures show has made it back to the east coast and Philadelphia at the 222 Gallery. Lucky for me, the opening reception was Friday, June 5th, and I was coming into the city as it was already. It offered me the opportunity to hang (albeit briefly) with Jeremy, Andy & Brian once again. Here's a link to their blog to see what they're up to...

Refuse/Resist & Celestia Antiqua

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"Hello. My name's Tom and I'm a design and typography nerd."

I had "Refuse" and "Resist" tattooed onto my calves several years back in Los Angeles by Taku at True Tattoo in Hollywood. This was something I wanted to do for a long time, but hadn't. I chose the font Celestia Antiqua for its classic style and rough edges and the words "refuse" and "resist" as a reference to a socio-politico stance.

About Celestia Antiqua (from My Fonts): Mark van Bronkhorst designed Celestia as an alternative to Caslon Antique at a time when few rough-edged fonts were available. He borrowed the basic forms from an early attempt he'd made at designing an oldstyle roman typeface, this time redrawing the letterforms with stronger serifs and adding the rough-edges. Designed to be more open and readable in text settings than Caslon Antique, Celestia's gentle roughness becomes more apparent when used in display settings. An italic design, based on van Bronkhorst's calligraphy, complements the roman character set.

The MOSAIC Project (Logo)

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The Mosaic Project is a multicultural exhibition and educational program for students and families in Lancaster County. Some of the direction I was given for the logo design was that Mosaic is "bringing many parts together to make a sum that is greater than the parts" and that the project is "about multiculturalism, many ethnic identities making art – represented in art."

I designed many comps but, in the end, this one was selected for its ability to visually match the personality and goals of the project itself.

Paying Homage To Classic American Illustration Via Fantastic Modern Television

Illustrator Dyna Moe (real last name, nickname first) has been creating mid-century-inspired illustrations for AMC's original series (and best show on TV), Mad Men. Check out both her Q&A on the show's official site and her Flickr page featuring the entire lot of 'em.

Collage Magazine (layout)

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After designing the magazine's logo for the re-launch of PCA&D's Collage Magazine, we settled in and knocked out the 20-page publication's layout. This included a total "from scratch" style guide for fonts, colors and more – which is always both a challenge and a blast. The process went very smoothly and everyone's happy to have it off at the printer now – on schedule, mind you!

I can't wait to hold a copy in my hands...

The Record of a Record Year

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This 1948 Armstrong Cork Company annual report, titled The Record Of A Record Year, is a classic example of mid-century, American design. The 45rpm annual report recording is housed within a 10-panel booklet perfectly bound by fabric tape.

I inherited this fantastic piece as part of my grandfather's personal collection after his passing in 2006 (he spent over 45 years working at Armstrong). Click HERE to download a collection of images walking you through this unique piece of design history.

Also, if you subscribe to Print Magazine, you'll find a fantastic article on page 34 of the June issue ("Flexi Spending") by Michael Cumella that inspired this very post.

Collage Magazine (Logo)

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Pennsylvania College of Art & Design has resurrected their annual magazine, Collage. Mary Stadden & Co. at the school picked yours truly to design both the publication's new logo and its layout and design (more soon regarding the latter). They wanted to logo's color scheme to follow suit with the school's long-established logo (see below) and I not only addressed that, but I took it one further. I also integrated the "hand" from that logo into the "o" in the Collage logo itself, which works without being cheap or easy.