Go Blue - Fight for the Night - Beat the Irish

It's been literally two years since I posted the original Go Blue design.  But the group planning the student pep rallies at the University of Michigan came back to me this fall and asked for a new design to reflect the rivalry with Notre Dame, to be lived out in the 2011 season.

The final design is above.  It does the following things:
• keeps within the same traditional feel and historic brand image as the first one
• pays heed to the new stadium renovation
• reflects the rivalry
• features the slogan "Fight for the Night" and the block M
• incorporates architectural details from another building on campus (the Martha Cook residence)
• portrays helmets true to form (the "winged" helmet of Michigan and the "gold dome" of Notre Dame should be recognizable to fans)
• uses fonts that are partly familiar and partly new

Again, I'm pleased to report the group was happy with the result.  And it didn't take me quite as many drafts this time around!

Hope to be back to blogging more soon.

Work, work

Since I have last posted about work, I have worked a handful of contracts:  the Miami International Film Festival (twice! 2010 and 2011), Music from the Crooked Road: Mountain Music of Virginia Spring 2010 Tour, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and the MTV National Get Schooled tour they asked me not to post my affiliation with publicly (but hey, it's been a little while?).  Then I went back to the NCTA and witnessed the start of a new National Folk Festival in Nashville, TN.  It's been a busy two years!

I have realized it's difficult to write about relevant issues in the arts management world at the organizations you work, without compromising the privacy of internal affairs, or integrity of external reputation, even if your goal is to comment from the perspective of professional, objective observer rather than employee.  While I always have commentary in my head about how a place is run, I'm not confident it's my place to make it public.  And in some places, it's against my contract, as I've been asked to sign agreements prohibiting any unapproved, public self-publishing about the organization.

At any rate, I would like to continue blogging.  (Is there anyone still out there reading?)  It will have to focus more on design, aesthetic, and notes from the road.  I miss grad school dearly and though I am working in my field, am afraid my arts administration knowledge is waning from its peak.  Do all former students experience this?

Photo is taken from the back of a friend's motorcycle, as we drove past the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival sign, on the way to swim in a pond on a day off.  The Berkshires were sure a glorious place to work and spend a summer.

Megan Landfair, Harpist

I'm pleased to announce the launch of my talented friend Megan Landfair's website (designed by yours truly!).

She wanted it to be simple, chic, mostly black and white, clean, and effective.  A place to send potential customers to learn more.

We added a hint of color to make it pop, with the overall message being "you're classy, you're getting married, you need to hire me!"

So if you've got a wedding or special event that calls for a harpist, she's your gal!  Honestly, you couldn't ask for someone more down to earth and accommodating to work with.

http://meganlandfair.com/

Tres Jolie Studios

My good friend Megan asked me to design some business cards for her photography studio and food/art blog.  Her beautiful images speak for themselves, so it was really minimal design on my part - but here is the result!

Fenix de los Ingenios website update

We've been up and running for about a month now.  But the artwork for the February concert poster has just gone up!
www.fenixdelosingenios.com

Go Blue, Beat OSU

Oddly, I've done a lot more graphics work for U of M since I've left, than when I was in school there. Currently, I'm working on the design for the Go Blue, Beat OSU game t-shirts. The first design was a retro simple look, with a derived image of the Big House (Michigan stadium for you non-wolverines) that aimed to feel bold, intimidating, yet understated, not flashy, reminiscent of the Roman Coliseum. While they liked the retro look, the resounding feedback was that it did not reflect the rivalry enough. Very true. So I went back to the drawing board. Sometimes it takes seeing one design before you can figure out what's missing to make it your ideal design. I coaxed some commentary out of them, and compiled a list of things they wanted the design to accomplish:

• Clearly brings the rivalry to life
• Goes beyond the basic "college sweatshirt" look
• Feels timeless, sophisticated and/or retro
• Incorporates the "block M" prominently
• Can be printed in a monotone color and still look good
• Can effectively translate to other applications, such as a poster

Design 1 and design 2 are above. I think the group is very happy with the second one. The detailing around the edges is an impression of the frieze work from the arch of the law quad, (off of South U. street) that I extracted from a photo. I try to incorporate details like this into my designs that help them more authentically portray what/who they represent.

Fenix de los Ingenios gets a facelift

I've been putting in a lot of hours this week on a website job. I befriended the lovely directors of Fenix de los Ingenios, an early music ensemble out of Bloomington, Indiana, last year when I designed their season brochure and concert posters and postcards. They are ready to take the plunge of updating their old website, and I am delighted to be asked to do the project. Here is the old site: fenixdelosingenios.com. And below is a sneak peak at what the new design will look like. It's not all built yet, but hopefully within our three week timeline, I'll have it up. More to come!