A++

My completed silkscreen project! Dental Hygiene at its brightest everyone! You might think, ..hmm, why a toothbrush Kate? Well, let me tell you friend. Dentistry holds a special place in my heart....no not really, it just happened to be some artwork I had sitting around. And as for why i made this in the first place, well, that's what artists do, we're weird. As you will notice in my previous post, i started out with a digital file and created separations then stencils. I was a little disappointed the art-center where my class was held does not have the equipment to produce films/screens, BUT they did help me learn the basic concepts of screen printing, so I guess theys is all right. Enjoy!

Be sure to click and view up close so you can see the exquisite detail!

Citi Prepaid moves to CS4

We have officially transitioned to Adobe Creative Suite 4. A little late, I know, but exciting none the less. I installed the software to my computer last week, and this morning was getting to know the new features. I must admit its pretty different and slightly intimidating, but so was CS3.

Some of the new features are a little over the top. There was a big jump from CS2 into CS3. Some major improvements were made: InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator were all more compatible, the software was easier to use and easier to learn, overall more user-friendly. Now, I think it is a little harder to use because everything is so flashy, and alot of the tools and actions I've come to know and love are gone.

While looking for an *awesome* graphic to show with this post, I came across some interesting plugs on the Adobe website. Some students from the Savannah College of Art & Design talk about their interactive work.

Go Welsh: Site Re-Design

Our friends at Go Welsh! have posted a new and improved website. It is clean and simple, showcases some of their great work, and of course Craig has to mention allll the awards they win. I'm very impressed with the Armstrong spots.

Silkscreen dreams

I signed up for a silkscreen class at the Fairmount Art Center in Philadelphia. Its one night a week, and will cover a few different methods of silkscreening. Unfortunately for me, my college printmaking course completely skipped over the silkscreen section, so I'm forced to learn later in life. The Art Center is a cute little building in Fairmount that provides a variety of classes. My teacher Tom is pretty cool. Seems he is very excited to teach adults because most of his time is spent with kids.

I missed the first class (because I'm a slacker), but the second class was cool. At first I was disappointed because there's no film or dark room involved, and I figured, eh, this will be a cinch. Tonite I sat down to make some stencils, and well, it is not a cinch. Anyone who is good at silkscreening will tell you that figuring out the negative and positive sections when using more than one ink ain't easy. Also, unlike popular belief, the screens are NOT made of silk. : )

I've included an image of what I'm attempting to print. We shall see how it goes....I will try to scan and post the final print.

Save the Date!

Friends of mine, Andy and Karen, are getting married this summer and requested I design their Save the Date announcements and wedding invitations. Here are the postcard announcements we created. It is raaather unfortunate that, thanks to the inept employees of FedEx Kinko's, they did not mail as soon as we would have liked. I know earlier in this blog I rave about the services of FedEx Office, but maaaaybe I take that back now. I felt like I was in a Chapelle episode when I called the office in Chicago about some printing issues. 

Sustainability Heros

AIGA Philadelphia's Campaign 2 Sustain Student Poster Exhibition (phew!) was a great success. For photos from the event, visit the AIGA Philly flickr gallery. You can also view some of the amazing, winning and runner-up designs, as well as the cutie-patootie student winners. And oh my, there's me! I have to say, I was uber impressed with the submissions. All the attendees were allowed to vote on their favorite. It was rather difficult due to the wide range of styles and concepts. Some utilized strong, detailed illustration, while others focused on the message and type. All in all, they kicked ass. 

I think I was mostly impressed with the designs by Tyler Graduate Student Bernardo Margulis. I'm not sure if he has them posted anywhere, but I will try to find them.  

The winners received various prizes, as well as an award-certificate designed by yours truly, with the assistance of Dave Copestakes. I went with a sustainability "hero" theme. I originally had two designs, one with "Sustainability Man" and his female counterpart. My fellow committee members wanted to go with something more "unisex," which I interpreted as "less sexy" and more "designer looking," so I came up with the skinny-hipster character with the funky glasses. Scrawny, but a hero none the less.

Also, the exhibition was placed in the Crane Arts building, home of GDloft, and one of the coolest gallery spaces I've seen. Woot!

Campaign 2 Sustain

AIGA Philadelphia has sponsored a Student Poster Design Competition focused on Sustainability practices. The closing reception is this Friday, Jan. 30. The winners of the competition will be announced, as well as refreshments and a DJ. Hope to see you there!

For more info, click here.

Quizzo Champs!

My friends and I won Quizzo at Good Dog Bar last Thursday! Thanks to Johnny Goodtimes for a titillating game. He keeps us on our toes. And thank god John (on the left, red hat) is a librarian and a random-trivia genius. We couldn't have done it without him (he pretty much carries the rest of us)! I've also noticed that the teams at Good Dog score significantly less points then other bars around the city.....hmmmm. I have come to the logical conclusion that we are just slower here in Center City. What does this say about your patrons, Good Dog? Please replace all the pictures of cute puppies with excerpts from Shakespear and maybe some big vocabulary words. 

Ad

Here is an ad I created today for the boss.

Flip Video

Soooo, I received a Flip Mino for Xmas from work. This thing is so great! We actually purchased one for my brother for Xmas, the HD version, but he never reads this so no worries. I think he will love it though. It is pocket size, super durable, and quickly and easily records video. Then you upload it to computer by pushing a button and the USB drive "flips" out. There is both Mac and PC software included directly in the drive. So very easy to use. Its perfect for YouTube nuts who like to upload video.

I included a short video. The quality of the video is pretty impressive considering the size of this thing. Enjoy!

Ecount Holiday Tradition

Every year during the Holiday season, Ecount compiles a mixed CD from the favorite songs of the Ecount employees. This year's was a great 2-disc mix of holiday tunes, some oldies and some goodies and a couple randoms (Matt!). I designed this funky cover. Once again FedEx Office saved our asses and print and cut the CD covers for us.

I will see if its possible to share some of the tunes over the net. I have no idea how to do that, or if it is legal. Any suggestions?

My pick was White Winter Hymnal, by Fleet Foxes.

Seasons E-greetings!

This year, my office decided we would send out an e-mail holiday greeting instead of a printed card. According to rumor, the printed greeting usually gets sent out post-holiday, and there is always a surplus. They decided to, once again, be green and send out an electronic greeting to all clients/partners AND donate funds to a charity and notify all our clients/partners that we had done so in their name. We chose the NFF. You can click on the image to see my original photoshop design of the e-greeting, and click here to see how it looks in HTML. I had never designed using in-line CSS before, but it was really very easy. Just a few small changes. Although, I've been told that e-mail clients sometimes don't pick up everything you want them to,  you need to keep the code very lean. I also discovered that MailChimp will send out e-greetings for free!(to an extent)(you can't just send them from your hotmail : / boo.) Maybe I will send out some holiday greetings of my own....