Lisi Design Journal

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:

f87a6a2f9385dfe4ac663bdb3e0c4535

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

Hand Drawn Type

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:58:00 +0000

So I've decided that due to the lack of posting lately, I would be a little more motivated if I posted the beginning of my process of something. With that being said, I have decided to start a new 'series' of posts simply (and cleverly) titled "Hand Drawn Type". I have no idea where this is going to end up, but this is the first phase for "Timing Is Everything." Be sure to check back soon for the second phase.

Kansas City Ad Club

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0000

The Kansas City Ad Club recently had its Addy Award Show and I was happy to hear that 5 projects I participated in were chosen for awards including Best of Show for the Design category. The winning entries include:

Gold, Best Of Show — New Leaf Premium Business Paper Products
Gold — The Red Rubber Ball At Work
Silver — New Leaf Paper Social Stationery Line
Silver — Willoughby Design Website
Bronze — SPIN! Club Dough

Of course, I am extremely honored to be included amongst such phenomenal work. Congratulations to all the other winners and great agencies that represent the Kansas City design and advertising community. You can see the winning entries from this year here. The website itself is awesome too; I love the theme.

New Leaf Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:26:00 +0000

I'm excited to see some postcards I designed are now up on the New Leaf Paper product website. I haven't been able to get my hands on my own set yet because they're currently out of stock. I guess that's a good thing right?

The illustrations for "Seasons" turned out really nice complete with customizable cards with the sayings: Thanks, Miss You, Congrats, and Hello. Here are some more details and some other products in the line I worked on...

Random Type Detail (2)

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:15:00 +0000

I was digging through some archived files and found this detail of random "type" I did awhile ago. It's taken from Kiosk 37, a student produced Art and Literature Magazine from the University of Kansas. For more images of Kiosk 37, you can visit my Behance Portfolio.

Graduation Announcement - Letterpress

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:52:00 +0000

I can't believe that it's been 2 years since I graduated from the University of Kansas. Sadly, that was right around the last time I was in the letterpress room.

I made the drive from Lawrence to Denver/Castle Rock, Colorado (my hometown) what seems like a thousand times so I thought it was appropriate to illustrate that. Not the most exciting drive to say the least. Here's some shots of the graduation announcements I did.