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.

The latest album from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo, came out last Tuesday which coincidentally was when they played at Slim’s here in San Francisco. I’m glad I finally got to see this band live, and I’ve been listening to this new album a ton since picking it up at the show.

As part of their series on infrastructure in the country, PBS ran a segment concerning the transportation troubles of my hometown, Detroit. I can say first hand that its really hard to get around metro Detroit without an automobile, and moving to a city that has a vast public transportation system (San Francisco), I think Detroit could stand to benefit in a huge way with a better transit system. The video brings up a good point, at least in my mind, the importance of how Detroit comes through this tough time. How the issues are addressed in Detroit, and ultimately, how they are solved will be indicative of how we as a country measure what is important to rebuild cities like Detroit, and use it as a shining example of rebuilding urban areas efficiently and effectively for the benefit of the people in them.

Like typography? Like blogs? Like blogs about typography? You’re welcome.

A Retronaut is someone who goes back in time using just perception. Its a trick they pull on themselves, a psychological ruse. But – it works.

HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT

↑ New York City circa 1944

↑ Modern day Dubai, taken with a camera from 1857