Before the DARK TIMES, Before the EMPIRE

This is where the fun begins.



[via: Ironic Sans and A.Ruppel]

New York City FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL

Yes, call me repetitive. Call me predictable. But I'm a sucker for anything New York Subway design related. This take on the current MTA subway route map turned wine glass is the newest in a line of great designs inspired by great design.



The New York City Food & Wine Festival will be held Thursday, October 9 through Sunday, October 12. The logo, seen on the festival's web site and on light pole banners around downtown Manhattan, takes the multi-hued routes of the various New York subway lines and re-works them into an abstract wine goblet. Even praised designer Massimo Vignelli might appreciate this distant relative to his ground-breaking subway map work. [Shown below]

Designing your PERSONAL CHECK

I have ALWAYS wanted to custom design my own personal checks. Standing in line at the bank this week it occurred to me again. It had been a long time since I thought about it and I suddenly got excited!

"It's been so long," I thought. "What if the online custom printing world has caught up with my imagination and started allowing you to custom design your own checks??"

But to no avail. Sure you can posit your own image of puppies in the background. And you can have your choice of Block, Contemporary, or Old Style lettering. You could add a slogan, or a monogram. But to truly design your check, from scratch, remains out of reach unless you contact a form printer and jump through a number of regulatory hoops. Sigh...

If any of you know of an easy way to make my dream come true... by all means contact me.

[Edit: As one of my colleagues so deftly put it, "What's a check?". It's true, the check is rapidly becoming the tender of a bygone era. Still there's something romantic about the written check. I suppose that's what I'm clinging to with this pipe dream of designy check-ness. C'est la vie.]

GREETING Cards

I've been saying it for a long time, "I'm going to design some greeting cards." Somehow it never seemed to get done. I spoke to local gift boutiques. I played around with designs. I even gave out some test card designs as gifts. Yet I never got around to putting any on the market. Until now.

I've put my first two card designs where your money can go. They are now available online, at Etsy. Yes Etsy. Heavens to Betsy, they're on Etsy. No need to get upsetsy, you'll find them on Etsy. Hey watch your mouth Mr. Tourettesy, you can get my cards on Etsy. Get my cards on Etsy, and then put 'em in your shirt pocketsy. Ain't no regretsy, if you buy mine on Etsy. Ok I'll stop.

Margaret KEANE

One could argue that countless modern-day artists and illustrators (Fawn Gehweiler, Mark Ryden, for example) have been inspired by the doe-eyed characters Margaret Keane creates. Keane is to be portrayed in an upcoming film titled Big Eyes. Actress Kate Hudson will star as the American artist who's incredible success in the 1950s was eventually overshadowed by her second husband, Walter Keane.

Her then dark and gloomy paintings -perhaps a sign of her unhappy marriage - were widely believed to have been painted by Walter. Keane fought her way through bitter divorce proceedings up to the Federal Court level before she was able to reclaim credit for her work.

Movement08 APPAREL

Just a few apparel pieces from this year's Movement 08: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival. I created several designs for use on t-shirts, hats, messenger bags, and stickers.

"Listen to Detroit Techno" continues to be a popular design, now in it's 3rd year of production. Hard to believe a t-shirt I designed in 2006 is still selling at this year's event. The other 2 designs were created new for this year. According to Paxahau, the festival's producer, merchandise sales sold like fury this year with Saturday's take alone outselling the entire weekend last year.

It continues to be a thrill to design for the festival and working with Paxahau is always a pleasure.