Information Design

I had the awesome opportunity to take Information Design (DAI 523) with Prof. Trogu. If you’re a DAI student, I highly recommend this class. It’s a great introduction to info design. We learned how to gather information (through researching and web scraping), organize the data and the various forms of visualizations. If you’re new to this area of design, check out the site Many Eyes to to get your feet a little wet. Also, if you want to see some really rad examples of info design, check out Good Magazine, Information is Beautiful, and Info Aesthetics.

As you might have remembered, I posted a concept map I did in the beginning of the semester. More has been done since then:

This was the final assignment, which was my favorite (and scale wise, the biggest) project of the entire semester. Aside from the fact that we finally got to design information, I liked the fact that it entailed designing a large poster (34 x 44 in) that can be folded down to 8.5 x 11. I really would have loved to have been able to design more large scale pieces at SF State. Yes it’s a little costly, but I enjoyed (and want more of) the challenge of designing at a larger scale.
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Book, Poster & Webpage Design

Projects for DAI 425, Typography. For this assignment I had to design a book on a subject related to graphic design.

I chose to do a book on mid-century graphic design, specifically on “modern” style. In addition to designing the book, I printed all the pages myself and bound the book at home. The cover was printed at a local print shop.

We also had to design a poster and webpage that corresponded with the subject matter of the book. I decided to focus on the graphic designer Erik Nitsche and an essay written about him by Steven Heller titled “The Reluctant Modernist”. The idea behind the poster was that the MOMA would feature an exhibition and lecture on Erik Nitsche in conjunction with the book.

The webpage features the Heller essay and Nitsche’s work. You can find the essay on Typotheque and Nitsche’s designs on a Flickr page by Bust Bright.

Unfortunately the webpage I designed is down at the moment, so stay tuned for an update. There’s something wrong with the school’s server or something.

Poster and Messenger Bag

My poster on modernism & type somehow made it into the annual design show at school (second time in a row, yay!). Funny stuff since I didn’t actually sign off on it, but whatever. It’s not the greatest thing I’ve done, but I guess it’s pretty cool that the professor thought it was worth being in the show.

The poster on the far left was design by craft buddy Kim and it’s one of my favorites from the class. And while we’re on the subject of Kim, she made this super rad messenger bag out of old vinyl banners:

Type Assignment: Modernism & Type, 1920-1970

18 x 24 poster for my typography class. The assignment was to create a “mind map” based on Modernism and Type from 1920-1970. Rather than designing a “map” or use lines to connect from one piece to another, I used grouping, color, hierarchy and direction instead. I knew right from the get go that I wanted a poster that would either reflect the style of the Bauhaus or the Swiss. I think this turned out more of the latter.

You know your a grown up when you frame your music posters…

Totally stoked to start the new year off with some amazing posters!

We just framed our super fantastic Deerhunter and Explosions In The Sky posters from The Small Stakes. The photos unfortunately do not give them justice, the posters are absolutely breath taking in person!

Jason Munn of The Small Stakes, is one of my all-time favorite designers. His designs are clever, smart and just plain aesthetically pleasing. I’m really excited to finally own a couple of his posters. Check out his site for more amazing designs.

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Another one we framed is a CSS poster from Bimbo’s show last month:

This one is by Lil Tuffy. This guy also has some pretty cool designs as well.