AIGA SFSU logo

I took on the role of President of SFSU’s new AIGA student group which as proved to be quite a challenge. I have had a lot of support from my peers in the process, including the idea of the groups logo. Kimberley Lauren Radich had an idea to create a logo using alpha block metal type that we have at our department. Because revitalizing the letterpress area at our school has become our primary goal at this point, she thought it would be a great idea to create the logo using some of the old type. Since the letterpress machines are not up and running (Thats why we are working on it) we had to create the design and then replicate it using Adobe Illustrator. For some reason it has been quite a challenge but I think that the final result is worth the work. Thanks Kim.

Inside a flower

In an old post ‘Vector Orchid’ I showed you a vector image of a group of orchids that I created for a computer imaging class I was in at SFSU. I was only able to use the pen tool and gradients for color. I also had to design a booklet at the end of the summer semester that showed all the work we had done. In that book I decided to show an image of all the paths that were needed to create that flower. Now that I have been doing graphic design work and am more efficient with Adobe products I realize that It could be done with much less work, but that is all part of learning. I am glad I did it because it produced this awesome black and white image.

AIGA SFSU

AIGA SFSU is under way for the first time in our schools history. Being a university in San Francisco it’s kind of hard to believe that we weren’t representing ourselves to the design community. Now that we finally have a school group were are making the best of our time by improving out design and industry department in any way that we can. Our first major task that we have taken on is reorganizing all the old lead and wood block type they we have collecting dust in the back of one of our classrooms. Too many years have past without giving any attention to our letterpress machines or our type collection.  There has clearly been a lack of pride in the history of some of our departments collection, and we are going to change that. Every Monday and Wednesday Kim, Gretchelle, and myself along with the support of anyone able to pinch in a little of their valuable time have been sorting through shoe boxes of combined lead type. Thats right, Shoe boxes. It is overwhelming but for me it is also a down time in my busy schedule and gives me time to talk design with like minded people. Progress is being made and we hope to have the letterpress machines and all the type up and running by the end of this semester.

Translation of Amon Tobin’s Nightlife

San Francisco State University

DAI 525 – Graphic Design 3

I have a new dedication to this blog and making sure that it is updated at least once a week, so be sure to check back. This I promise is not an ephemeral dedication. Due to immense pressure (no pressure at all really, they’re terrific) from two of my peers, Gritchelle Fallesgon and Kimberly Lauren Radich, who are my main two sources of motivation and inspiration at school, I have realized that making time to do the craft and design work that is personal to me is important.

Here is a quick run through of the process of designing a music translation piece for the artist Amon Tobin. I was originally given the choice by my prefessor Josh Singer from three different songs and I was quickly attached to Nightlife by the man mentioned above (I recommend checking out his music to anyone who has a open mind, he does some amazing things). This is only a quick snap shots of different points through out the process, but I think it does a good job showing the progression. The final picture is a behind the scenes shot of sorts, showing what the final construction looks like from the side. It reveals the depth of the objects and what is supporting them.

Amon Tobin does all his work digitally, so naturally I hand made mine. I will let the work tell it’s own story, since that is what is supposed to do. Please tell me what you do and don’t like about what I have done.

Final submitted design:

Behind the scenes:

Hills Oil Painting

I started these two painting back in 2002 and due to different reasons, the completion of them was pushed back and pushed back. I finalized them at the end of 2007 and had them stored away at my parents house because I was moving between places. I forgot about having these stored there, so it was a great surprise when I pulled them out. 32″x24″ oil on canvas.

Booklet on The Dutch Guilder

The cover to a 64 page booklet I designed about the graphic art that was present on the old Dutch Guilder bills. I created patterns that mimicked the patterns that were on the bills themselves to be used as a way to identify each chapter. The book covers the old designs of the Dutch Guilder all the way up to the last bills that were printed before the Euro took over. I designed it to show how great designs were thrown away for this uniform Euro system and how tragic it is. Fortunately many people are aware that the Dutch Guilder bills of the past are great pieces of design and currency history and they have been preserved in numerous museums.

The title page for the book

The table of contents for the book which has patterns that I replicated from the money itself. The pattern is used throughout the book to signify the start of each chapter.

Alternate Ideas of The Ari Card

These were two alternate ideas that I came up with for the Ari Benderly Business card that ended up getting scraped, but I still like both of them so I am throwing them on here anyway.

Content Map For Graphic Design In The Netherlands

My final submission for a project where I had to create a content map on one of five options.  I chose to be the sole student doing it on the history of type and graphics in The Netherlands.

Personal Ad

During this semester I was given the challenge of interpreting a personal ad and re-creating it expressively.  First I had to determine what I thought the author of the personal was like and then move from there. I wasn’t allowed to use anything other then the words and punctuation from the personal. This is what my final piece came out like.

oil, spray, and acrylic paint on cardboard

I used this piece of cardboard to get old oil paint off my brush.  A few weeks later I was Spray painting a couple of night stands of mine and sprayed on this to clear the nozzle.  the effect of the spray paint over the oil paint ended up looking pretty neat.  So I then grabbed my acrylics and made a little monster running over a city onto it.  Little odd, but neat.