There is something really satisfying about creating a comic book store ad which will work in a free, local-listings paper, which you know is printed on toothy, thin, newsprint paper. Making something so basic and old-school but still managing to make it pop on the page is very gratifying. This is the second in a series of quarter-page ads I created for Blastoff Comics in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. This one promotes the events in the store for Free Comic Book Day on Saturday May 4th and I'm damn happy with it.
In Appreciation of the "Boring"
Clients often come to me with a slightly apologetic air when they fear that they job they have for me isn't "interesting" or "exciting" enough. Funnily enough, while my portfolio is packed with the image-heavy layouts, I have also got a lot of experience in more copy-heavy works like books, corporate reports, etc. Perhaps it is my ever-so-slightly obsessive nature, but designing large bodies of text is a fascinating puzzle for me.
Creating a document which is legible, enjoyable, and easy to digest of many pages of dense type is certainly a huge issue. Simple things like page numbering, easy navigation, clear signposting, etc are key. Color and type weight can help, but restraint is also necessary to make something pleasurable to read, (rather than an exhausting act of will on the part of the reader, trying to ignore too many colors and typefaces).
Ideally, as with so much of the work I do, I try to design work that communicates the content above and beyond the design. That is to say, I want people to find it so easy to read that they don't think about how it looks. The look of the piece is so appropriate that it allows the content to communicate more easily than it otherwise would. This doesn't mean that there is no design, on the contrary, it can be much more difficult to design in such a manner. However, it is the most delicate touch which rewards, and so requires attention and subtle negotiation with the author to bring the work to fruition.
If I only ever designed one kind of thing, whether it was books, posters, banner ads, websites, mobile sites, comic books, CDs, or splash pages, I think I would get stale. Luckily I work with all manner of clients on an ever-increasing range of design work and each time I learn something new about myself.
Nearly 7,000 Pledges!
Take Part's "Change the Course" website has almost 7,000 pledges to conserve water. I'm feeling pretty lucky to be able to design websites like this.
Porn Wonder Woman > "Real" Wonder Woman
Pretty Cars
I can't walk past a beautiful, old car without documenting it. Here are a few of my favorites.
Reviews: Sex #1
After all of the high-profile, well-known, corporate clients I've worked for over the last 15 years, it turns out to be a comic book for which I am getting the most vocal praise. Perhaps it is the nature of the industry, that each comic book is examined, critiqued and appraised by a community known for their attention to detail. Or maybe it is because comic books are still an industry in which the budget to employ trained, experienced graphic designers often isn't available. Whatever the reason, I'm very grateful for the emails, tweets, and reviews which mention my work on the Image Comics book "Sex" with appreciation.
"Sex also employs Sonia Harris as its graphic designer. She, quite literally, sold me this book. In recent years titles that utilise a strong graphic design compliment to the art grab my attention and keep it longer. I'm not certain where I'm at with the story, but the presentation alone has me for at least another 3 issues."
Valentine
Quotation graphics
Soon I begin work on a project to design some quotation graphics. As a precursor to this, I thought I'd put together a few of the quotation graphics I made before.
On the subject of education.
On the subject of secret identities.
On the subject of sleep
On the subject of depression.
A teaser for the very late last issue of Butcher Baker last year (in the style of Shepard Fairey's Obama poster).
Holiday card, last year.
Holiday card, this year.
On the subject of Stanislaw Lem (in the style of early Shepard Fairey Andre the Giant stickers).
Why do we still do this?
Vogue cover.
Decades ago, before we had Photoshop and airbrushing photographs was a tricky business, one of the best tricks we had to make models look better was flooding them with light. Aiming a high intensity light at their faces made their skin look like it was glowing and hid all the little imperfections.
Now that we have easy tools for evening out those little imperfections in a woman's face in Photoshop, we get more and more non-models on the cover of magazines. But instead of using these tools to document the variety and differences in all of these beautiful women, the old tricks of light are still used to flatten and whiten their faces, even when (as it does in the case of Beyonce, inset) it serves only to create an almost unrecognizably generic looking female. Bereft of her skin color and any distinguishing marks, this could be any young woman. Where is the point in falling back on these familiar crutches when we lose what makes these women interesting and desirable in the first place? It's a shame.
Exhibition Signage
While I love seeing great art, I might be the only person who gets just as excited by the signage. Maybe it is because I've designed some exhibition signage myself and so I know exactly how much thought and work goes into it. Here are a just a few that I've enjoyed and photographed recently.
California Design
Dieties, Demons, and Dudes with 'Staches
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Ron Arad
Stanley Kubrick
Out of the Blue
Frequency and Volume