We’re in full Spring mode here in Kansas with thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes rolling in last night! No damage, fortunately, but I hope it’s not a sign of more to come. I spent most of last week in Connecticut which is a beautiful state and you can drive it top to bottom in a couple of hours. That’s a strange concept for those of us out in the Midwest!

With the arrival of Spring comes a new crop of concerts at KU and this is a poster I did for the upcoming KU Wind Ensemble performance on Monday, March 30th. It’s a great ensemble, so check it out if you love live music.

Image © 2008 Designojek

One of my favorite projects that I do every year is the summer newsletter for the KU Band Department. This year, they were wanting to emphasize the football team’s win in the orange bowl and the basketball team’s national championship win, so I tried to integrate elements of both in the cover design. This year’s letter will hit mailboxes in a couple of weeks, so this is just a sneak peak!

My apologies for the lack of posting lately! It’s been busy, busy around the studio and I’ve been working on lots of interesting projects. I should have some more things to post soon!

I did take a little time out to spend some time with my new camera and I’ve been loving it! It’s been good for me to get back to shooting on film and I find that I make much different choices on how and what I shoot when it’s a dollar per click! It’s great to have such rich depth of field and, although the Polaroid film almost has a mind of it’s own, the photos have a great quality to them. The colors are really dependent on temperature, light, etc. and so I can try my best to get it “right”, but it’s still a mystery to me what I’m going to end up with. Below are a few of the early test shots I took and I hope to have some more up soon!

I also wanted to point out a couple of wonderful articles, one is called Gone in Sixty Seconds and gives a very interesting history of Polaroid. The other is called The Branding of Polaroid, 1957 – 1977 and it’s great reading as well.

www.mattwilsonjazz.com

I’m extremely excited to announce the launch of a new website that I’ve been working on for jazz drummer, Matt Wilson! Matt is an educator/drummer/composer & band leader and a winner of several Downbeat and Jazz Journalists Assn. awards.

Over the past month or so I’ve been working along side my good friend, fellow sax player and web programmer/designer Greg to design this site. I first saw Matt perform live with his group Arts and Crafts in 2007 at the IAJE conference in New York and was blown away, so when Greg approached me about working on his website, it was a total no brainer. Matt’s a great guy and an incredible musician, so if you ever have the chance to hear him perform, be sure and check it out.

(Here’s a shot of a secondary page from the site)

Here’s a video of Arts and Crafts performing The Scenic Route live at the 2007 Elmhurst Jazz Festival. Also of note is the phenomenal organist/pianist of the group, Gary Versace, who taught here at the KU Jazz Workshop for a number of years.

UPDATE: Matt’s site was recently featured on the web-design blog, Most Inspired!

All photos: Designojek

All photos: Designojek

The KU Wind Ensemble is the premier wind band at the University of Kansas. This is the poster for their upcoming concert on Feb. 14th, 2008 which should be a great one! It’s at the Lied Center on the KU campus and if you’re looking for a Valentine’s date idea . . .

This is a new logo I’ve designed for Struct/restruct Associates which is a local design, renovation, construction, woodworking and building firm located in Lawrence, KS. They also specialize in historic renovations and masonry. AND, they offer unique, local reclaimed lumber in their projects which is a great way to recycle old lumber that is perfectly usable. They mill the wood and everything! Congratulations to Josh and Matt for getting this venture underway!

When I was in design school, I remember being hit one day with this scary thought that maybe my career choice was worthless. Upon graduation, would I simply be making things look “pretty” while trying to convince people to buy crap that they don’t need? When compared to doctors, politicians, teachers, and even fine artists, how important is design in the grand scheme anyway? Some of the great pieces of graphic design have been in support of things I despise like oil companies, companies supporting slave labor, cigarettes, and fast food, so how could I find a place within that and still feel good about myself at night?

Fortunately, I had a great teacher who was able to really shed some light on this. She told me that, contrary to what I was feeling, design is a very noble profession. Sure, you find guys who sell their soul to promote bad or dangerous products, but the nobility is found in the work that you do to promote the causes you believe in. A graphic designer might have the power to enable a struggling startup business to succeed, and perhaps allow the owner to feed their family. Or they might help spread the word about important political and social issues which might not reach the right audience without also being visually engaging. In the end, it’s the designer’s choice.

So, I really took that to heart when deciding what kind of work I wanted to do. Right now, I do a LOT of work for artists and musicians who work their entire lives for countless hours, perfecting their craft and getting paid next to nothing to do it. These people have such passion for what they do that I feel honored to help them reach a larger audience through a poster, CD design, website, or even a business card. I have also helped a number of people move from a great idea to an actual business with a meaningful identity. A bulk of the work I do is for the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning where my work helps struggling learners succeed in school and in life. It doesn’t get more important that that, right?

So, yeah, I do feel that design can change lives and I feel that the work I do is noble and, while it may seem over-idealistic, it is what keeps me going, even when it’s 2 a.m. and I’m trying to meet a deadline . . .

This is an interesting read for all designers out there:
The First Things First 2000 Manifesto.