Lisi Design Journal

Puzzle - Section 3

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:45:00 +0000

After spending over a year writing, designing and coding, I'm thrilled to say that I'm finally finished with Section 3. This one is epic.

The rules are the same as before. Try to progress from page to page. Look for clues and remember what you've seen. Everything you need to know is there or has been given. Any (and every) detail could be significant. If you're stuck, start over from the beginning with a new eye. If you get really stuck, send questions to puzzle@lisidesign.com.

Good luck, you'll need it!

Grooveshark Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 00:14:00 +0000

Awhile back, I was invited to contribute a theme to Grooveshark — the world's largest on-demand music streaming and discovery service. It was kind of tricky beginning because there wasn't really a brief or design objective. I guess it was to just make something cool. With very little direction, I approached this like I normally do — puzzles and codes. You can see the full version here.

Details of my Grooveshark theme include moon phases, the Drake Equation, punched card as well as many other ciphering methods.

The Everywhere Project

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:54:00 +0000

If you haven't had a chance to check out The Everywhere Project, you should head over there immediately — well at least after you read this post. The group of incredibly talented designers and illustrators involved in this collaboration have been tasked to design luggage labels paying tribute to the classic song I've Been Everywhere.

The project was started by Adrian Walsh and I am honored to have been invited to participate. I was even lucky enough to represent my native state of Colorado. Below are some details of my submission. I embedded some puzzles and codes in there so try to figure them out — there's a handful of them.

It's hard to pick, but some of my favorites include Waterloo by Nate Luetkehans, Amarillo by Jeff Rogers and Wichita by KU alumni Matt Chase. All the others are amazing as well so be sure to check them out and return often because new ones are still being posted.

Homestead Typeface

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:42:00 +0000

Last September, I released Homestead on Lost Type Co-op. I have yet to make a journal post about it, but I figure better late than never.

The Idea

Almost two years ago, I posted this shot on Dribbble with some custom lettering I had done. The Dribbble community seemed to like it and I had always wanted to design a fully functional font. As I was thinking about how this could work, it only made sense to have a layered set of fonts to really bring it to life. This also makes for tons of different combinations of styles that always do cool and unpredictable things making it more unique and fun to experiment with.

Features

Homestead is a single weight, multiple-style slab serif. There are currently 6 styles in the family. Regular, Inline and Display make up the "normal" versions of the font and One, Two and Three are a set meant to be layered and used together. This allows the designer the flexibility and freedom to make different and unique combinations of styles.

Homestead also has alternate characters built into the OpenType features. The alternate characters have a more geometric, hard-edge block shape. "Homestead" (above) and "Pioneer" (below) are examples of these alternate characters.

Out In The World

In the few months that it has been available to the public, I've seen it pop up in countless places. Student designers and design professionals alike have been frequently using it and sharing their designs with me. Not a week goes by where I don't receive a tweet or an email with a sample of Homestead living somewhere. Be it a store front, a tote bag, or a laser-engraving, there are always new and interesting ways it's being used. Brands such as AT&T, Applebee's and ESPN have used it on everything from web to print and now even broadcast. It has been awesome to see and I can't express enough gratitude.

Thanks!

I am so thankful to everyone that has downloaded it, used it and especially thankful for the gracious people that have contributed. It's much appreciated and it makes all the hard work and countless hours that went into the design worth it. I frequently get emails from wonderful people thanking me, but the thanks goes out to you. So thank you.

Also, a huge thanks goes out to the fellas behind Lost Type — Riley Cran and Tyler Galpin. Thanks to Josh Scruggs, James Edmondson and Rod and James at Psyops Type for helping me troubleshoot some technical issues. I couldn't have done it without them.

Type Fight: Letter S

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:28:00 +0000

Awhile back, I was invited by Ryan Paule and Drew Roper to participate in Type Fight. Their idea is to bring two designers together and have them each create a predetermined letter. People then vote for their favorite letter between the two.

I faught against the very talented Evan Huwa. We were given the letter "S" and since both Evan and I are from Colorado, the original theme was Snow, but we weren't required to be strict to this direction. It was a close battle, but I was lucky and edged Evan out 427 votes to 328.

Type Fight has new fights weekly so be sure to make frequent visits and vote on your favorite letters.

Fast Company Illustration

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:20:00 +0000

I've been itching to post this for awhile, but only felt it appropriate to wait until the issue hit news stands. In June, I was contacted by an Art Director from Fast Company whom had spotted my work on dribbble. I was thrilled to be invited to do an illustration for one of their monthly sections called Now.

The article, featured in the September 2011 issue, is a brief history on the AIDS Vaccination. The icons were illustrated to represent significant milestones in the 30-year history of the illness. Great progress has been made, but a true vaccine has yet to be discovered. You can view the entire article on the Fast Company website.

Designers.mx

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago, I was invited to do a mix and album cover design for the ever-popular Designers.mx. The instructions are simple — pick 10 songs and design a cover.

I was pretty excited and it seemed obvious that my choice of music would be aimed to fill a niche that was lacking in their current library. I also wanted an emotional and centralized idea that tied my song choices together. My mix, appropriately named "End Of The World", is a compilation of post-hardcore and (experimental) metal. The lyrical themes reflect on everything from zombies to religion to failures of heroes and cities left in ruins. The sense of desperation and panic tightly thread together with the music in a powerful and intense set.

I'm curious as to what your thoughts are so give it a listen and let me know what you think not only of the music but the design as well. Feel free to leave some comments.

Track List

1. Revive // The Devil Wears Prada
2. Taking Cassandra To The End Of The World Party // Fear Before The March Flames
3. The Portrait // Oceana
4. A Lesson Never Learned // Asking Alexandria
5. The Life They Promised // The Air I Breathe
6. The Novelist // Bleed From Within
7. The Color Theft // Oh, Sleeper
8. The Sadness Will Never End // Bring Me The Horizon
9. Monument // Miss May I
10. Fill; Avoid // The Color Morale

And with all that said, December 21, 2012 isn't that far off.

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sun, 15 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000

It's been an extremely exciting year for my friends over at Sporting Kansas City (formerly the Wizards) not only with their renaming and significant rebrand, but also the development of their new home at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

A friend of mine tweeted this image the other night and it was a little surreal to see something like this on a scale this large (and in such a unique execution).

I helped develop the wordmark chosen and used in all of Sporting's new branding materials. The type is a modified version of Agency, where the subtle modifications were made to make the font more ownable for Sporting.

Original explorations above.

Big thanks to Barkley designers Nigel Morley and Dave Swearingen for their help on this project. Also, thanks to Kevin Faddis (@KevinFaddis) for posting the photo of the stadium seats.

Sporting KC's debut home match will be on June 9, 2011. I'm also very proud to say that I helped with pitch materials prior to the LIVESTRONG and Sporting KC partnership. Some very cool stuff going on.

On The Border

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Two months of inactivity here, but for good reason. And what better day to have an update than Cinco de Mayo? Since January, the creative team at Barkley (present company included) has been hard at work. Reason being is that we are now the agency of record for On The Border. We pitched them in February and amazingly, their new menus that we've designed will be on restaurant tables in a few weeks.

Since everything is still being produced (and secret), I just wanted to make an initial post. In the coming weeks, I'll be posting various items that have been designed throughout this process. It's a little nerve-racking, but very exciting... please check back soon!

Hand Drawn Type

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:23:00 +0000

I'm a little hesitant to post this seeing as though spare time seems to be the most precious commodity lately. Here is some hand drawn type that I started awhile ago on a project that unfortunately fizzled. I hate to see it sitting around doing nothing, so I guess I'll take the opportunity to start the second edition of my hand drawn type posts.

As with my first Hand Drawn Type post, I'm not quite sure where it will go, but I guess that's part of the process and fun. Stay tuned for some updates!

Notebooks

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:37:00 +0000

Before the holidays, a couple designers and myself collaborated on some gifts for the Barkley Blacktop design group. We designed, screen-printed and handmade 43 books for our coworkers.

We divvied up the task and designed the 43 icons to represent each individual in the group. Thanks to Ai Carver, Angela Snyder, Casey Kovich and our copywriter Jessi Hamilton.

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:15:00 +0000

Well, not physically. I finally finished redesigning and updating my online portfolio. In the process, I moved everything over to a new host and (thankfully) said goodbye to my old flash site.

When I started this process, I wasn't planning on a complete redesign, it just evolved into that. It started off smooth but I ran into some significant server issues. But finally, everything is resolved and as a result, I'm planning on returning to my regular posting schedule. Thanks for reading and check back soon!

Big Site Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:07:00 +0000

Just a quick update... I'm undergoing some changes with site redesign and server structure (and domain hosting and other web related stuff) so there are some pretty significant issues with images and links.

I'm hoping to have this resolved as soon as possible. Thanks for checking in!

Update: Still working out some of the kinks, but things are slowly moving into place. Should have an official update soon. I appreciate all the feedback and support. Thanks everyone!

Hand Drawn Type

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:39:00 +0000

I was finally able to finish up some lettering I started awhile back. If you didn't see any of the beginning process, here are the first and second stages.

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noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:15:00 +0000

The other day, I posted a handful of fairly complex and confusing tweets. Well, at first glance they were confusing, but when explored, they begin to make sense. Inspired by a peculiar element in the new United States Cyber Command logo (not specifically the design), I dug a little deeper to find out what exactly was going on.

The logo itself has a sequence of seemingly random letters and numbers. This message can be decrypted using MD5. The online encrypter and decrypter can be found here. I found it appropriate to experiment with this method of encoding resulting in a series of 4 tweets. They go something like this so play along...

The Tweets

"I am going to have a series of tweets (4) that will probably be the most complex sequence of tweets ever. Try to follow along..."

Tweet #1 "...try to follow me here: 0aff9347a6f51dd35b254b549b2be015 Using MD5, this sequence can be decrypted to song lyrics."

Tweet #2 "With that being said, you can tweet a message longer than 140 characters. Just encode your message to an encrypted MD5. For example..."

Tweet #3 "e858f6bb1ff6865f25b54ed1d1abdb16"

Tweet #4 "See hidden message from my last tweet."

Explanation

Tweet #1 only included the song lyrics. Tweet #2 contained no encoded information.

Tweet #3 is where things began to get complex because it included a series of encryptions embedded within each other (Red, Dark Gray and Yellow). Only with a short sequence of letters and numbers, I was able to include a significant amount of information.

Confusing yes; awesome yes. The illustration above tries to make better sense of what's happening with my tweets and how the information is being embedded.

Tweet #4 didn't really have anything to do with the information.

Summary

I guess the whole purpose of this exploration is showing that a huge amount of information can be encoded in a sequence of only 30-40 characters. This means that you can tweet a message way longer than the 140 characters Twitter allows. Now, I'll admit it's not the most efficient or practical means of getting your message across (especially with applications such as TwitLonger), but it is much more fun.

This entire post:

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Puzzle - Section 2

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:45:00 +0000

Here's the second section to my puzzle. The rules are the same as the first section. Look for clues and patterns. Try to progress. Remember what you've seen. I didn't go easy on this one so good luck! Comment if you're stumped.

Dance For The Kids Charity Event

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:11:00 +0000

"Some charities want you to run a 5K. Some want you to get dressed up for a fancy dinner. We just want you to party." Dance For The Kids is an event concept created to introduce Kansas City to the latest in electronic dance music while also raising money for charity.

Proceeds from the event go to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City and Young Variety. For more information, visit Dance For The Kids on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

The video was Directed by Austin Walsh, Edited by Dustin Schirer, with Creative Direction by Glendon Scott (full credits here). I was invited to design the logo. Very fun project, and a very cool concept. Hope to see everyone at the Midland Theater in Kansas City on Saturday, May 22nd. Watch for future Dance For The Kids events...

Puzzle - Section 1

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:52:00 +0000

I have created a puzzle. The rules are simple. Try to progress. Look for clues. The clues are there (or have been provided). It begins easy but progressively gets more difficult. Comment if you're stumped.

Wow! Signal

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:19:00 +0000

The series Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking started last week on the Discovery Channel and as expected, it was awesome. In the show, they mentioned what has become known as the Wow! signal.

This intense radio signal was detected in 1977 and lasted 72 seconds. What made it so unique is that the signal didn't have regular solar-system attributes leading scientists to believe it was artificially created. The signal has not been re-detected since.

Pure Honey Logo

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sat, 01 May 2010 13:02:00 +0000

Here's the logo I did for the National Honey Board. They're in the process of a major campaign promoting 100% pure honey. Honey-flavored syrups (which contain numerous additives) are pushing pure honey off the shelves. So if you're going to be buying honey soon, be sure there is only one ingredient in it: honey. You'll be seeing more things Honey to come...

SPIN! Club Dough

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:00:00 +0000

While at Willoughby, I designed the "Dough" (get it?) for SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza located in Kansas City. I had a couple samples before they were put into circulation, but I recently spent enough real money to earn one the normal way.

It's printed on Tyvek (the plastic-like substrate that lines shipping packages) for durability and each one is individually numbered. It recently received a Kansas City Ad Club Addy Award.

Repeat-X Repeat-Y

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:16:00 +0000

I recently stumbled across Repeat-X Repeat-Y (on Twitter @repeatxrepeaty). An awesome collaborative that 'showcases the most badass patterns from around the world'. They have a nice little collection of 200px by 200px patterns, so I thought I'd contribute my own (original pattern).

Check them out and if you decide to submit something, be sure to share a link in the comments.

Oh I will...

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:31:00 +0000

I just got back from spending the weekend in Vegas. It was great, but it's good to be back to the real world. I'll be posting Phase 3 soon so in the meantime, here's some Vegas-themed type... stay tuned!

Hand Drawn Type

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:00:00 +0000

I began retouching the curves and letterforms. Here's a simple animation showing some of my progress.

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 19:47:00 +0000