Exemplary 3 record set design.
The 45′s are a little awkward, but the rest of the package is nice.
I’ll have to ask Tom how the music is.

Tom and I took a little bit of time on Friday to create our own concepts and print them before the work whistle blew.

You know how an idea is better in your head than in reality? …
Essentially my concept was very low brow with mixed entendres.
At the end of the day, it didn’t even make sense to me!
(And I broke my internal desire to Stop Making Things with “words” and “messages”)

The important thing though? We had fun. You can see Tom’s creation and some process shots here…

Visited with friends over at Anne and John’s.

While everyone’s kids ran around (they’re getting more and more independent these days),
we kicked back with some brews and caught up.

John not only went across state lines to have Fat Tire, but he had a few other beers coolin in the fridge.

Fell in love with everything about the North Peak Brewing IPA: the beer itself,
the classic label, branding, and heck, just the heft of the bottle.

Good stuff, designed by Neatly Trimmed Beard (who really need to get on making their website).

More images of their work for the brewery are on Lovely Package.

Walked into the studio and Tom was laying out all this jewelry on the table.
It’s an exploration for a project he’s been working on. I asked if it was cool
to make a photo and  share online. He said sure.

Looks a bit Dorling Kindersley-ish in this manifestation, but he pushed it
in different directions since.

Back in February, Nathan and Katie of Eight Hour Day went to the Pasadena Book Fair
and spotted among many other fine specimens this Lady Luck paperback by Warren Weaver.

I immediately took to scouring auctions for the 1963 edition of this book and came up a winner.
There’s no indication inside who’s responsible for the fine jacket design.

It’s popular with folks these days to remake stuff to look like old book covers (I’m guilty),
but that doesn’t make it any less awesome to see such a fine example of what we’re trying to emulate.

Seeing design like this is like listening to music that hasn’t been auto-tuned.*

* I’m aware the irony as I digitally alter every photo of late.

An alternate photo of the day above.

I need to dust…

Again with a touch of serendipity and luck, caught Mike Perry talk about his work
over lunch at Hyperakt (which was chock full of good folks in a sweet space out in Brooklyn.)

I’ve followed Mike in a non-creepy way for a while, we have his Hand Job book on the
inspiration shelf at the studio, and I’ve always been enamored by the joy he seems to put into his work.

His talk was loose and funny, outlining vocations and process. His mode of operation
seems to be removing stress from life, and making stuff as much as possible. Like, all the time.

A damn good approach.

In fact, I should stop blathering and just go make something now.
I’m writing this from a Saturday in Ohio and it is totally sunny outside.

I’ve modified Rule #1 of this here photo album.
It used to be “Take (at least) one picture every day.”
And for the most part? I do. Really.

But some days I keep close and some days I don’t feel inclined.
So I’ve decided to change the rule to:
#1. Take a photo to represent each day.

That gives me some play.

Because sometimes you just don’t want to break the moment with a shutter click.

And sometimes you just want to linger with some coffee and read the internet, and eat,
and nap,
and just make it through the day without doing one damn thing other than
being the bare minimum of worthwhile.

Which, coffee and reading and taking in calories is completely worthwhile. Seriously.

The other thing I’ve come to grips with, is posting when I can, even if I’m always
a week behind. (Hence Rule #2)

Today was Holiday Happy Hour at Dribbble.
An image was posted at 2pm and you could use it as inspiration for your own creation,
but you only had an hour.
There were over 160 “rebounds” when it was all said and done.

Super fun way to break up a snowy afternoon, and break out an x-acto.

Country Fresh Farm Market
Wyoming, Ohio

Always fun to see what pulls up in front of the future home for the American Sign Museum.

In this instance, a “Norge Ball”  from a laundromat chain based in Chicago.

Turns out, there’s a whole slew of these things.

I found out about all this on the American Sign Museum’s weblog which details
a bit more about their acquisition on a roadtrip to New England.

Checked out the opening of HOME WORK in a part of the West End that I’d never visited.

This is one of the charms of Cincinnati… The neighborhoods are really distinct and there are
always new places to discover. Though they might remind you of somewhere else
(this enclave seemed lifted from Brooklyn), they feel authentically transplanted and integrated.

The whole setting was an excellent backdrop for this new work from VisuaLingual which was
inspired by the architecture in these neighborhoods of Over the Rhine.

Great stuff. Impeccable really.

Best bet? Take a stroll down there. The show runs through the month (details),
installation photos are on their studio blog and artifacts can be acquired online.

Ethan Bodnar hit me up, gosh, it’s been over a year ago – to see if I’d be game for a design book he was curating.
Each designer was given a task to complete, mine was to make up a book jacket.

I was feeling the season and used my Pantone Autumn photograph as a starting point.
To add another layer of myself to the mix, I printed it out, mocked it up on an old paperback,
ran it over the pavement outside for a little patina and then took a photo.

I’m happy with the result and you can find it along with a ton more tasks completed by other designers.
An honor to be in the mix.

More info about Ethan’s Creative Grab Bag book.

A lovely business card packed inside the package containing an excellent t-shirt by Frank Chimero.

I think the appropriate graphic design response involves the words: kick ass, and awesome.
Made by Alexander Bohn.