It’s been a busy couple months. I’d like to say that I’ve had to put the blog on hold but quite frankly it’s easy for me to forget have this outlet. Figured I’d make a proper update as there have been, and still ongoing projects that have been really fun working on. First off, my band The AM’s had their first electric set Thrusday night. I’ve been wanting to get my hands dirty with some typography for awhile, definitely felt great to crack open the sketch book to work on this one.

Wire & Nail

I also worked on branding for Wire & Nail, a new gallery space here in SF that a friend started. The first show was great and I’m excited to watch it grow. It even got some press from SF Gate! Looking forward to fleshing out a website soon.

Beer: A Genuine Collection of Cans

Like beer? Like typography and beer? Do yourself a favor and get this book. I’m amazed at how fantastic the designs these cans are, I think most of them still hold up. I’m guilty of purchasing wine based on how well designed the label is and if these cans were around today, I’d have a harder time figuring which beer to pick up.

More to come soon. Promise.

I’ve been listening to this album almost non stop for the past week. Tame Impala have a great mix of garage rock & trippy psychedelia. I’m normally not into guitars heavily soaked in chorus/flange/phasers, but they make me want to get out my Uni-Vibe and Phase 90 and find some old fuzz boxes on eBay. Below is another track, it’s not on the album but it’s an awesome tune.

I really want to get one of these Model One radios from Tivoli for my workspace. I love the aesthetic. I hope Dieter Rams would be proud.

I’ve had the new iPhone for a month now and I’m appreciating it’s ability to capture some good quality photos. Since using it I’ve had some family in town which allowed me to venture to some places outside the city to get some great photos. A few from Muir Woods, the Golden Gate Bridge and some photos from a weekend getaway in and around Russian River.

I’ve been wanting to get a good DSLR for a long time and I feel this more than meets my needs for a normal point and shoot right now so it’ll curb my appetite for the time being. I’ve also pitched in for a Glif iPhone 4 Tripot Mount. I’m hoping this iPhone is the gateway to finally venturing into world of photography.

P.S. – I’ve really been digging the CrossProcess app for the Lomo effects.

PopSlice is an online portfolio building application built by the folks at SemiBig Creative Industries, whom I’ve been working on and off with for a while now. I was excited when they asked me for some branding ideas as I’ve found I appreciate more and more the foundation of process in problem-solving challenges that are inherent in branding projects.

My initial thoughts on the idea of ‘PopSlice’ were distilled down to classy, sophisticated and fresh. I wanted to uphold the quality of professional work on the site as well as the site being a pool of creative talent. I also wanted these qualities to be part of the typography as opposed to an icon or logo. I decided that unique blend of a slab serif and script would be a great fit. Inspiration and reference material was gathered into Evernote. The more material I gathered, the better I could get an idea of how this will take shape. Once I felt comfortable with the amount of reference material, I went to the sketch pads and started drawing it out.

Initial sketches:

After some refinements, I used some tracing paper to see what the letterforms would look like with a thicker weight.

Using a grid sketch book, it made very easy to transfer this into Illustrator:

From here, it was just a matter of playing with the strokes to get to a weight that felt right.

Fixing some legibility with a few of the letterforms.

A few variations:

I’ve admired Appetite Engineers (Martin Venezky) work for a while, and it’s great to see some new work.

While enjoying the freedom of being a freelance designer, I have and as of late, experience the pitfalls of having what are normally two different mindsetsof ones life meld together and sometimes uncomfortably overlap. When I began to analyze what my ideal work/live conditions would be, I was pleasantly surprised to see the folks at the Herman Miller blog Lifework asked the members of Chicago’s Post Family to share concepts for their ideal live/work situations on the HM Lifework blog.

Their analysis of an ideal space I think falls directly in line with what I’ve been imagining for myself. Each of their posts includes some great great notes, sketches or reference material, which I love seeing when people analyze situations like these. Here’s links to their posts (Davey, David, Rod, Sam and Alex).

Prior to finding out about their posts, I found the image below of Jessica Hische’s work space which got the ball rolling for me in thinking about my ideal situation. Even though her space is a little more busy than I’d like in a setup for myself, I’ve found myself carefully curating what adorns my walls and desk for inspiration. But I’m jealous of the huge windows and tall ceilings.

In the wake of the 2008 presidential campaign, the Obama campaign’s Design Director Scott Thomas has spent a significant amount of his time putting together this book, documenting all of the hard work that went into building the Obama brand. Having just received the book, I’ve only had the chance to quickly look through it and I can say that it covers everything; process, design, art, it’s all there. Kudos and thanks Scott!

Awesome instrumental hip-hop out of Brooklyn from The Stuyvesants. You can pick up their album “Brooklyn’s Finest” for free from their website. I’m positive this is going into heavy rotation this summer.

These prints from Fountain Studios are beautiful. I appreciate this kind of ingenious approach to an old school printing method, it’s like a new way to experience letterpress process. It’s way too tempting to pick one up on their Etsy store.