Immerse Yourself In The Floyd

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In the season of Pink Floyd that my summer has been, I was called upon to quickly create a 4-page series of new release book pages for several upcoming Pink Floyd collections. These are very sales-oriented pages but I try to never approach them in that dry of a sense. Instead, I also hope to treat them more editorially, or book-like.

To sit back, crank up non-single classic Floyd tracks like "Summer '68," "A Pillow of Winds," "San Tropez," "The Gold It's In The…," and "Childhood's End" while working on these "rush job" pages is something to embrace. For full details (of which there are many), click on the images to enlarge, and go pre-order them from your local record store or Amazon.com.

It's worth noting that the Immersion sets for the legendary Wish You Were Here album hits stores on November 8 while The Wall sees the light on February 28, 2012. It's also worth noting that I'm creating the sales pages for these titles as well.

Inspirations 2: Wood Block Printing

Target teamed up with the monstrously beautiful Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. After the design team caught Typeface, a movie documenting the museum, they became focused on creating a line of clothing based on Hamilton's aesthetic. For more on how they came together, go here. To view the collection, go here.


An extended trailer for Typeface, the movie. See it…

Inspirations 1: India Block Printing

"After meeting the world's great hand-block printing artisans on a recent trip to northern India's Rajasthan, we asked them to make a special collection of quilts just for us. Watch here as they create an array of striking designs, all printed using intricately carved teak blocks and richly colored pigment dyes."
– West Elm's Craftmark Collection

The Process Behind: Admissions Poster

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Every year I have the pleasure of working with Natalie and the outstanding Admissions department at PCA&D. Every other year I get to redesign the look for their office, which is also coincidentally the best year! This year was of the "every other" kind so I dug in and began the process of tackling the first piece we dive into every year; the poster.


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STAGE 1: You've got to start somewhere, and for one reason or another, I often start conservative. However, the color scheme, fonts, partial obscuring of imagery and general guidelines of the final piece appeared instantly in the process.


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STAGE 2: I'm all about type-driven design so I busted the type out of the box and began to arrange it flush-left then flush-right and scaling it up and down all the while. I wanted to create a grid but then smash it, while also respecting it. No small feat.


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STAGE 3: The break-through stage, for sure. Back came the horizontal strip, now with a friend, and a healthy dose of a -11.75º angular tilt. I pictured this on the walls of schools and offices, knowing the tilt will demand attention and cause it to leap off the wall. Also, my goal now was focused on creating the sense that this poster captured merely a small segment of an otherwise on-going, ever-growing massive world of student artwork created at PCA&D. The poster, unlike previous years, was not about a few pieces – but the student work as a collective.


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STAGE 4: Naturally, I had to try the positive 11.75º angle as well. Unlike the -11.75º attempt, where I was all about it and attempting every logical type alignment I could muster, it didn't take me long to know this was not the better solution of the two.


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STAGE 5: And finally, instead of angling the bars and type, what about angling the artwork? This brought an all-new feeling to the poster, while utilizing something I was gravitating towards all along with the tilt. It came down to a matter of playing with the composition of type over top the imagery and the removal of specific artwork for reasons such as theme, content, and redundancy. The changing out of imagery was trickier than in previous years, of course, and often times I wanted to kick myself for painting myself into a corner with this approach. Regardless, I was very excited that they picked this version while, honestly, I also would have been very happy if they selected Stage 3 (far right). A good position to be in, for sure.

And with the final approval, the poster set the tone of typography, color and composition for the rest of the Admissions materials to follow. I truly do love this project.

For Your In-Flight Pleasure.

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For the first time in my life, I created an ad for the legendary magazine of extreme in-flight consumerism; SkyMall. Psyched. Thousands of people bored to tears whilst stuck in an over-crowded tin can at 30,000 feet will be able to check out just how precisely and artfully I squeezed a headline, 5 pack-shots, 486 words via 2,284 characters into a 7.375" x 10.5" ad (minus the SkyMall footer, as required by the publication). Lucky bastards, all of 'em.

I'm actually very excited to have something in the magazine but, all kidding aside, Tom Recchion & Co. are delivering some beautiful special editions. I had a great time this past May sitting with Tom in his office in Los Angeles, exploring many of his present and future projects. Much respect.

Man Alive Creative: The Portfolio

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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 Great Gig In The (Summer) Sky

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This summer has been filled with lots of great work; be it creative or production design. Some projects have been both.

Case in point; I was hired to design a series of merchandise boxes for one of my Top 5 all-time favorite bands, Pink Floyd. At first, due to the major rush status of the job, taking the straightforward "flat color, no playing around" route was looking like the best option. However, as I explored the artwork – I simply couldn't help myself. With approval from my contact, I began to play with texture, album imagery, and more until the series quickly came together. Look for these shirts on an end-rack in Target stores soon.

Not unlike getting approvals from Apple Records before, receiving the band's management's approval brought both my life and musical journey full circle.

P.S. After catching the most incredible live production I, or anyone else, has ever seen with Roger Waters The Wall tour – I beg of you to watch this historic event unfold.

Art Imitating The Lives Of Heroic Women

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Vintage war posters have always been a favorite of mine. They're truly the result of true artisans; rich in high typographical and design aesthetic. And although I, like many, tend to drift towards the striking imagery of war and political intrigue – I recently found myself enamored with the imagery of the woman's role in World War II. Imagery that sought not only to attract women to get involved in the country's efforts but to reflect their importance to the men on the front lines. To take things further, I wanted to connect the dots between the artistic styling of the posters and the photography of women actually performing these tasks. The result is imagery that is often equally as striking in reality as it is in fiction. Those were exceptional times for both the U.S. and the world, and exceptional times make for exceptional efforts. To unveil their full detail, please click on the images to enlarge both the manufacturing and nurse collages.


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What's New Is What's Old

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With packaging on my mind more than ever right now, I found my way over to Dieline where I found their 2011 Dieline Awards gallery. While there's many styles to be found, I find myself wrestling with the fact that many of today's most lauded pieces (be it Dieline, Print, CommArts, etc.) are simply rehashes of 19th & 20th century design works.

While I age or distress much of my work in addition to occasionally reaching back to utilize vintage imagery – I maintain a goal of achieving a feeling via select elements, not an overall replication. How disappointing it will be one day to have someone review much-heralded work from these times – only to discover that the innovation behind the work was done 100 years prior, by hand no less.

With great reason these early 20th century works resonate with today's designers. Their innovation and craft launched themselves within the wave of the industrial revolution, and changed the shape of the applied arts forever. But now, more than ever, I'm conscious of allowing only inspiration – not imitation – to enter into my works.

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.