Branding / ETA!

“RICH, Inside & Out” Book Cover Concept

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Recently there was a design contest posted on globalgrind.com by icon Russel Simmons. The call for entries was to produce a book cover for his upcoming book “Rich Inside and Out, A Guide to Money and Happiness”. Two Images were provided as reference and some of the entries were posted as guidance.

I was up for the challenge, I love a well designed book cover, not to mention great illustration (though none was involved in this instance, and maybe there should have been… hmm). Now there has been, in the profession of Graphic Design, great disdain for contests and speculative work (i.e. work without a guarantee of compensation). And sadly I can no longer can fall back on student status as an excuse for taking part. The AIGA (Professional Association for Design) even has an official position on such work (namely, that it is a big huge no-no, and devalues all Design). But at this point in my life, I take what I can get, so if my time can be spent designing something at least potentially ‘real’, then so be it. Below is my entry…

Tags: book covers, Branding, branding and Identity, Links
Posted in Updates, print | No Comments »

Carolina Skateboarding… A Logo

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

So the brief for this was; “Create a memorable logo, kind of like the Wu ‘W’ or the Rocca Wear ‘R’ “. A tall order, meant mainly for a blog/website, but simple and easily translated into one color Tee/sticker printing.

First some process, starting with hand-lettering, and then moving to the digital conception. When I first start with the hand-lettering I like to play with letter forms really freely to see if anything pops up that’s exceptional.

Moving to digital (in this case, straight to Adobe Illustrator), we’re looking for clean lines, or clear intent at least. If the lines are going to be rough anywhere they need to be rough for a reason. I stick with black and white in this stage of things to emphasize contrast and play with negative space and the balance of the different letter-forms.

And down to it, come up with this beauty. I was really stoked with the subtle play on dimensionality, what tricks your eye, like the facets of a pyramid or a steep bank-wall (obstacles that you might skateboard upon, for the uninitiated).

So what about skateboarding in the NC? It’s kind of a big deal. Wilmington is home to Eastern Skateboard Supply, one of the largest Skate/Surf distributors in the country. Check out the links below for your perusing pleasure…

Tags: Branding, branding and Identity, Logo, logo design, North Carolina, Skateboarding, Web Marketing
Posted in Links, print, web | No Comments »