Baby Shower Invites

We just had Abby's baby shower, and Abs and I were inspired to design this invite after watching the video for Beck's Girl, where everything folds in on itself to make something new, like those old Mad Magazine fold-ins. Now maybe we can figure out a Thank you card to match...

Perpetual events calendar, from Craftland '06

I recently applied to sell some wares at Craftland in Providence again this year. Last year Abby and I sold some gocco holiday cards, gift tags, hand-knit baby booties, and our biggest seller, a perpetual calendar for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Here's an image of the calendar from last year. We tracked down some funny national month designations, like National Roller Skating Month, etc., and each month showed the birdie pictured here celebrating the month's theme. We'll definitely plan on making some more of these this year, we're just not sure if they'll be printed as is or if I'll get the chance to either switch out some of the months or improve upon some of the illustrations.

Wedding Invites

Here are some pics of a wedding invite set and program I recently designed for friends who got married at our alma mater, Alfred University. The invitation's background image is of a castle on the campus.

The Steppingstone Story

Here's a couple images of the book we recently finished for Bespoke History. It's the history of the first 15 years of the Steppingstone Foundation. The book is 140 pages, and every one of them is custom designed with montages of images of the students, teachers, events, etc. referenced on the page, and many feature stories and sidebars appear throughout the book. Ryan and I both worked on this one, each tackling entire sections and working to maintain a custom but consistent look.

In a related project, Ryan recently finished the corporate section of the Bespoke History website. It includes a Flash slide show of additional images from this book and news of upcoming Bespoke projects.

Babik poster

Here's a poster I just did for a concert coming up in October in Buffalo.

And I thought I knew my fonts...

But here's a quiz that embarrassed me. Without the benefit of large block of text, or a capital 'R', which is the real tell-tale difference, the 2 look a lot more similar than I had realized. I still really need to see the Helvetica movie.

(Somewhat) recently finished designs for FiRE + iCE

Here are some items I recently designed for FiRE + iCE restaurants. FiRE + iCE is a 'An Improvisational Grill' where you go through a 'market' picking all kinds of veggies, meats, seafood, etc. and then the chefs cook it all up for you on this enormous circular grill, hence the circular menu. The restaurant interiors are very colorful and funky, as were all their previous menus, signs, etc., but because almost every sign used a different font, and there was no system to the colors used, it could become a little confusing. They wanted to start to standardize a look for their menu and 'market signs', while keeping some of the fun & color they've always had. The market signs are color coded according to the type of food: green for veggies, fruit and pasta; blue for seafood; red for meats; and yellow for poultry, so you can tell at a glance where you'll want to head for your favorites.

Create Your Life/Dream Party logos

Logos recently finalized for my friend and old neighbor from when I lived in Providence, who runs a life coaching and event planning business. The Dream Party is a cool event coming up in Providence in May. Find out more here.

It's Fun To Mock Children

My friends sent me a "1 year" photo of their son. It's really cute. But I noticed that I had a similar hat... AND shirt... AND I just turned "thirty"... so I had a photo shoot of my own. I had a 5x7 printed for the boy's parents and now they have us both in a frame.

Print Gocco Holiday Cards

Here's a couple of photos of some of the holiday cards we sold recently at Craftland in Providence. They are among our first few runs on our Print Gocco. They sold pretty well, and we're excited to do more. I'll plan on putting these and more up on Etsy around the holidays. For now, if you're interested in buying some of these, just email me.

A few preliminary drafts of a drink menu

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I suffer from a nasty case of indecisiveness. Not the greatest thing for a graphic designer. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have a way to show different versions of things I design and to get feedback. Typically I really only get feedback and suggestions from the client, and possibly from a couple of people at work or from my wife. Ultimately the client has to like the work, but often I'm working with one person who is in sole charge of the project, so it really becomes about pleasing that one person. Preliminary designs can be dismissed out of hand because the main contact 'just doesn't like it', potentially eliminating the version that may actually have had the greatest impact and resonance with the intended audience.

I obviously can't change the way the client works and make them circulate the drafts to everyone within the company. That would almost certainly be too many cooks in the kitchen anyway. What I figured I can do is to show drafts to people who are interested but not directly influential in decision making, and ask them which version of something they prefer, why, and what changes they might like to see. Then I could fill in the client on the results and potentially make changes based on the feedback. Sort of a graphic design focus group, I guess.

So anyway, here are 3 different rough ideas for a drink menu I'll be designing for the GameOn restaurant, which is a sports-themed bar and restaurant next to Fenway Park. Each image shows a cover idea on the left and a sample inside page on the right. If you've got some time, please let me know what you think!

Thanks,
Mike

5th Nuline Design logo option

This is another logo option for NUline Design. Since it's an architectural Design firm I decided to try and make the logo within a 3D modern structure. Not sure how I'd transform this concept for the CAD-Solutions brand.

Nuline Design and Cad Solutions logos

I just made up these logos and sent them off for feedback. The client likes the top ones, but thinks the CAD solutions conveys a design service element. He wants to keep it a production-only company. Maybe make the green "C" less freeform and more geometric? Thoughts?