BLACKT-SHIRT NEWS & BLOG

I’m extremely stoked to let you all know about a poster I’ve collaborated on with a true gentleman and friend, Charles Nevsimal III of Centennial Press. He was generous enough to donate some beautiful poetry to accompany and reinforce the visuals. Also a high-five to Conor at Forthrite Printing in Oakland for spot on screen printing. According to Tracy, the inks smell really great too.

“THE HAITI POSTER PROJECT was launched three days after the January 12th, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The project is a collaborative effort by the design community to help effect change through our work. Signed and numbered, limited edition posters have been donated by designers and artists from around the world. All money raised will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.”

To purchase our poster, and/or shop for other amazing contributions, go here.

Where there is love, there is healing. Where there is healing, there is rebirth. Where there is rebirth, there is renewal. Where there is renewal, there is redemption. Where there is redemption, there is hope. And hope is the fertile ground upon which love, when planted, will always grow.

“AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days is America’s grandest celebration of motorcycling heritage, with national championship vintage racing, the world’s largest motorcycle swap meet, new bike demo rides, seminars, classic bike shows, new product vendors, club displays, the Federal/Allied Used Bike Corral and more.”

Also, a big shout out to my friend Jen, who works for the AMA. Thanks a mil!

The shirt above is based on the original poster I designed for the event.

This set of tees is part of a continued friendship with the Hi-Hat Group of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They’re the masterminds behind unique haunts of the city such as The Hi-Hat Lounge/Garage, The Palomino, Honeypie, Comet Cafe, Fuel Cafe, and now Bradford Beach.

They’ve revamped the public waterfront, making it a sweet hangout for the summer months.

Get there.

Here’s a condensed version of the advertising and merchandise for Josh Ritter’s new album. You can find some of these items for sale at Josh’s online store, or at a live show.

Posters

Promotional poster for Josh’s show at the Iveagh Gardens in Ireland. (A3 size)

18×24 3-Color, 3-Panel Poster. Cut it up, or leave it as one piece.

(Promo poster) Shown here as 9 posters. Since record stores tend to tile promo posters, the idea here was to give the ships an infinite path when multiple posters are involved.

1-Color poster included in a package when the album is pre-ordered.

Record Store Day: April 17th, 2010. The Record Exchange, Boise, ID.

Josh played an in-store show on Record Store Day, which marked the release of “So Runs The World Away” on vinyl. We did a 3-panel mural on the side of the Linen Building in downtown Boise, and Idaho-specific tees for the day. Palmer Cash’s flagship store happens to be right down the street from the Record Exchange, so they were involved with promoting and printing them up on some killer garments.

The Linen Building, Boise, ID.

Mural detail.

Additional T-shirts

Tee included in the pre-order package. Alternative Apparel.

Miscellaneous Merch

Postcards with corresponding lyrics on the reverse side.

Album pre-order box, gently loved by our postal system.

Various Advertising Materials

Ad materials, used by venues and promoters to advertise upcoming shows.

Magazine Ads for Bitch, Bust, Good, Hot Press, Paste, and UTNE

Bookmark. Barnes & Noble loves Josh.

It’s a long story how I know Josh Ritter, (it involves a road trip to Chicago, and some fried macaroni & cheese) but since I started working with him back in 2004 I’ve been chomping at the bit to do some album art. So this entire project has really been a dream come true, designing for someone I admire so much. If you don’t know of Josh Ritter yet, get on that. He’s one of our generation’s greatest songwriters.

For the next week, you can find it at most (but not all) Starbucks locations. Crazy.

I wanted to split this post, showcasing the album art first and the barrage of merch in a few days from now. The cover art features a photograph from Josh’s keyboard player extraordinaire, Sam Kasssier. Along with his photography we developed a system of visual language that neatly ties together all of these print elements, including print ads, posters, and various merch items.

Photography by Sam Kassirer / Callista Wilson: Stylist

Matte Finish Digipak with Booklet

Vinyl Jacket with 2-Sided Poster Liner Notes

iTunes Digital Booklet

Starbucks Packaging

Although I’ve lived in Oakland only two years, I’m starting to lay claim to institutions like the swingin’ A’s, spicy chicken sandwiches, and the unique bike culture. So I’m super stoked that I can say I share the same city as Rogue Wave, and being a long-time fan makes this last set of tees I designed even sweeter for me. You can pick these up on the RW online store, and anywhere the band plays. They destroy live.

San Francisco-based designer/illustrator, Scott Hansen, (working under the title of ISO50) spoke at the most recent 79NM Design Speak lecture Thursday evening. (Location: 79 New Montgomery, San Francisco) Even if you don’t know him by name, you’ve certainly seen his work somewhere out in the internet ether, or on the desktop of a design geek’s monitor.

Scott spoke for nearly 2 hours, covering his background, where he grew up, inspiration, old work, new work, process, and what he’s aiming for in the near future. What’s great about hearing him talk is that he’s not shy about revealing pitfalls of his career, and how he’s worked through it. So his whole talk wasn’t a polished slide show of gallery work (we all know what that looks like anyway), but more of a biography and how he gets the job done. Scott showed the audience his development of thought and execution, and even had a few screen grabs of his photoshop files. I always love when artists are gracious enough to display details like that.

He also has a pretty talented intern, Alex Cornell, who gave a brief verbal intro as well. You can certainly see the ISO50 influence in his work.

There were supposedly going to be slides from his talk posted online, but they seem to be m.i.a. I’ll edit the post, should they surface at any point.

Lightning bolts, checkers, stars, numbers – I’m a sucker for them all when they’re used tastefully. I got my dad a Twin Six jersey for Christmas, and thought the overall product and graphical execution is well-worth the price you pay. Here’s some newbies …

New album by Dawn Landes, Sweetheart Rodeo. The original illustration work you see here is hand-drawn by the outstanding Danica Novgorodoff, and I encourage you to check out more of her work. I took care of the layout end of Dawn’s artwork, which involved packaging, hand-lettering, minor illustrative ornaments, and a small series of goodies for the merch table. I’ll be sure to add more examples of that as they trickle into my mailbox.