AIGA T-Shirt Posters

Kendall College of Art and Design has sponsored an AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Student Group at the college for the past three years. Although they receive a small yearly stipend from the College, the group needs to raise its own funds for any sort of significant events. This fundraiser, designing and selling shirts, was seen as a way to raise some funds, improve our school’s image, and give students the chance to be recognized.

The posters you see here were placed throughout Kendall College to announce the competition. They were designed to be immediately visible and readable, to cut through the clutter of roommates-seeking-roommates, bulletins, and the other countless fliers posted around Kendall. Solid color and the simplified “T-shirt” design make the poster instantly recognizable, and the humorous “reasons” for having the contest generate interest, buzz, and help people remember the event.

Corwin Knives Brochure

I was contacted by Linda and Scott Seeley about six months ago regarding an interesting new product which they needed to promote. Along with knife designer John Corwin, the Seeleys were building a business manufacturing and selling an unique collector’s hunting knife. The knife’s handle is fashioned after a rifle stock, on a smaller scale, giving the “perfect union between a blade and firearm”.

The brochure is primarily an informational piece, for use at gun and knife shows. After some research, I found that the competition in this area was either large, well-known companies, such as Browning or Smith and Wesson, or small upstart companies without much graphic material at all. My mission was to put Corwin on a level with the big players, at the price this startup could easily afford.

The brochure achieved its goal wonderfully. The Seeleys have received praise and compliments on the brochure both from professional peers and customers, and the brochure has been a highly effective advertising device. All of this was accomplished on as low a budget as possible. The brochure uses a standard 8½x11” sheet of glossy white paper, untrimmed, with a simple brochure fold. It still, however, achieves an elegant, refined look by using textured background images and striking photography.

(Photography was commissioned from Big Event Studios in downtown Grand Rapids.)

2600 Magazine

This project set out to redesign the magazine 2600. Known as “The Hacker Quarterly”, the magazine gives numerous security tips, how-tos, and social commentary relating to the world of computers.

Often misunderstood, the term “Hacker” does not refer to the cyber-vandals who break into computer system. These types fall under the less respectable term “Computer Cracker”. The hacker, on the other hand, is the tinkerer, the computer guru, the person who knows their computer inside and out, in every detail. Hacker culture could be said to be the “extreme sports” of computer use— the “extreme computing”, where programmers push the limits of technology and break barriers.

This misunderstanding is the push behind this redesign. I was prompted by an item on the “Letters” page. One company’s system administrator wanted to have copies of 2600 on-hand, since it was a useful resource. The bosses, however, when looking at the magazine, dismissed it as nothing more than an “evil hacker” magazine, and refused. In the current incarnation, 2600 does give this reflection, with poor design and garish graphics which give it a quite disreputable air.

This redesign seeks to give the magazine a boost of popular credibility, while still not losing the “street cred” which makes 2600 what it is. Keeping this in mind, I designed with a theme with the hardcore programmer in mind: the technical manual. To keep the magazine from feeling too dry, however, I minimized this element, keeping graphic elements simple and out of the way, letting the content lead the magazine.

High Voltage: The Science of Electricity

This is a small promotional package for a passing children’s museum exhibit called “High Voltage: The Science of Electricity”. This promotion puts the “Electricity” into the “Science”. Using high-voltage imagery, centered on the spark balls and wild electrical arc, the series uses vivid, cartoonish imagery to bring out the excitement of the show.

The stationery package is limited— the exhibit was a temporary one, so a letterhead and envelope were all that was necessary for branding the show. Both letterhead and envelope use their various takes on the high-energy spark ball, also shown in the exhibit’s logo. The stationery uses the vivid color and energy, but keeps it to the periphery of the actual pieces, where it will not interfere with the actual communiqués.

The third piece in the series is a special sneak-preview invitation. Given to school teachers and administrators (a good source of group-rate admissions) before the opening, this invites them to the preview with a playful instruction to “Throw the Switch” to reveal their ticket underneath.

(The Award-winning) GeoShell software logo

GeoShell, a software package to customize Windows, needed a new logo for their new Version 6 release. The software is largely community-based, so the main developers ran a logo design contest to cull ideas from the community. I had used their software for a long time, so I decided to apply my skills and give back to the community. I entered the running, and a few weeks later, I was contacted, with news that my logo had been selected for the new GeoShell.

Their tagline was "Calm your Desktop", and this design stressed that calm and simplicity. The logo itself is representative on two levels. The logo represents the simple semantics of the name. It is, literally, the word "Geo", shelled. It also represents the function of the software. The software is a "shell replacement", which sits between the low-level Windows operating system and the high-level application programs on the system, and changes the way the user works with Windows. (It is a bit complex. The software is quite specialized, and is rarely used outside of the "Windows Skinning" community.

The logo also provided the clarity and simplicity that will allow the community to apply it to a vast range of uses, while still keeping the core "Geoshell" identity. With a community built around customizing, versatility and durability was key. This logo can be worked into any number of “customizations”, while still staying clear and true. The administrators of the project agreed, and cited that durability as a primary reason for making this their new logo.

Playing Well Together

Started as a school project, this set of two two-page magazine spreads showcases my skills in layout and informational graphics design. The article details the coming-together of three small, struggling businesses to form a larger, healthier corporation. The graphics involved show details such as moving costs, each company’s contribution to the business, and how far each company had to move to create the conglomerate. This is all shown with graphics that are readable and explanatory, yet narrative and interesting.