Pearson Connected Mathematics covers

Recently I came across this image which is a component of one of the illustrations I did for a series of math textbook covers for Pearson not to long ago. I had forgotten about it and found it as I was doing a search. I thought it would be fun to post since it reminds me of the days at amusement parks during the summer. I live pretty close to one and have spent my share of time in the bumper cars. Anyone venture an educated guess as to what the equation means?

The Stiletto 500

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire needed an attention getting poster image for a fundraising event where all the participants will run a foot race wearing ultra high heel stilettos. Turning a stiletto into a pumped up (pun intended) race car was great fun! Another fun collaboration with Creative Director Marty Lapham of Fin Brand Positioning.

Pensions & Investments

I love marrying the classical genres with a modern textural look. This cover for an annual issue called the P&I 1000 does just that. Click on the image to get a closer look!

Rural Telecom

Ferro + Ferro commissioned a cover for Rural Telecom magazine about Smart Grids that connect technologies and communications for homes and businesses in rural areas. Above is the final image, below are rough sketches prepared in development of the idea.

State Farm

A classic insignia design with a modern message. One of a series of exploratory designs for a proposed State Farm auto insurance campaign.

Library Journal

A bit of a different typographic approach, this special issue cover for Library Journal displays the title to reflect features about new landmark libraries that are noted for design, sustainable and green technologies incorporated into their architecture

Northrup Grumman

How many ways can you knock out a missile? Northrup Grumman commissioned me to illustrate their complex missile defense system from ground ops to missile kill. It's an amazing orchestration of technologies. I chose a new way to portray the entire battlefield from missile command to satellites and how they communicate with each other. Rather than a traditional landscape, I merged the idea with an infographic approach showing land, sea, air and space as layers in ascending order and distance from the command center. Blue lines represent communications with the command center, green represents communication with members of the battlefield, red represents the sources which could perform the resulting enemy missile kill. The image is used as a primary display in major tradeshows, technology animations, and print collateral.

State Farm typeface design and wordmark system

You've probably seen it around town on signage, or on TV during an NFL game. I was commissioned by Creative Director Gary Alfredson of DDB Chicago to design a new typeface for the State Farm brand identity. The mandate was to create an open, friendly, contemporary and progressive look. Shown along with the main wordmark are other examples of how the brand extends to other parts of the company's services. Feedback on the design since being in the field is that it has helped infuse new life into the venerable company also exemplified in their new TV commercials.

Typeface design is more about structure, subtleties and letter combinations than the effects and impact of my other typographic work - equally satisfying when developed successfully with measurable results for the client.

The series shown together

I've posted these individually over the past 3 years, but I thought it would be interesting to show the series together. Concepting and detailing these image is a labor of love to be sure. The small size doesn't do them justice though - these images work best at large poster size

New York Times

Art Director Minh Uong at the New York Times commissioned me to create a cover for the Sunday Education Life section. The visual challenge was to come up with a solution which presented the university genre, but emphasized the "you" part of "U" since the feature was a series of essays written by students about their experiences in college.

Bud Light Bowl 2011

I was commissioned by the Shaw Company in St. Louis to design the logo for the Bud Light Bowl, a Budweiser promotional event held in Texas around the time of the Super Bowl. It was great fun working with Greg Litwicki at Shaw, who despite having an in depth client review process and legal scrutiny (the nature of the beast with these logos), gave me much creative leeway in the development process with pretty cool results. Shown below the final logo are several of the preliminary designs

Website design experiment

http://www.9surf.com/typographics/

This is my take on an anti digital age website for 9 Surf (if there ever was such a thing!). My admiration for paper and classical design is front and center. Unfortunately, my limited ability to code a website is front and center, too. But that's not my thing - there are many good coders out there. My intrigue is creating a site with a particular look, then building is so it functions well with a minimum of technology. After all, it browses fine on all platforms including mobile.

Alberta Venture magazine

Art Director Kim Larson contacted me to design the cover which claims that if you buy this issue, it will be the best investment you'll ever make. The design brief: give it a little attitude and flare without being audacious.

MultiChannel Merchant

These two images are from a recent cover design for MultiChannel Merchant magazine. The first is the tight design build in black and white. I work this way first because I don't want to be influenced by color in the early stages. If the design works in b&w, it will work that much better in color. This also serves as the proof stage to check size, proportions, spelling, etc., before going to final. The second image shows the fully rendered piece with color, texture, dimension, shading etc.

Happy Holidays...

..and a healthy and prosperous New Year!