The Vicious Circus

A Truly Vicious Blog

2010-12-29T09:38:00.003-05:00

I've had my blog here at blogger since the summer of 2008 and have recently decided on not just a redesign but a restructuring. I've noticed recently that apps like Gowalla and Hipstamatic which I love to play with have integrated an option for posting to Tumblr. Well after a little perusing I found Tumblr's code to be much more friendly to play with. Not to mention when I initially made this blog I had no clue what I was doing with code, I've come quite a ways. :) I even decided with this redesign to create a secondary version of my logo that could handle areas that are not so horizontal. So for future blog posts you can visit me at http://theviciouscircus.tumblr.com/ Enjoy!

Great Graphic Design

2010-12-27T14:45:00.003-05:00

So half way through this last quarter I shared this formula of mine with a class of my students and was asked about it recently. I've never really shared this with anyone else before but here is how it goes. This scrawl from above is the first page in my moleskin and is usually redrawn at the beginning of every sketchbook I make.

While I was in graduate school I was constantly picking apart what design is (or for that matter what makes up Great Graphic Design). I see it as a system almost of checks and balances between three major parts. The Concept, The Content and The Application. I went on further to create this venn diagram of my formula, mainly because I have this odd obsession with venn diagrams.

I think the only confusion for some would be that I use Concept and Idea as separate entities. This is because a concept may be a theme, a word, a sentence, some ambiguous thing floating in the ether until it is combined with content to create an idea. An example would be my holiday cards for this season, the concept was to be able to interchange words to create new ones but I could have done that with any set of words. When combined with the Content of different holidays it became the Idea for my Holiday cards (the cards were the application of the Idea to create Great Fucking Design).

Pirates, Vikings, Wampas & More!

2010-12-24T12:16:00.003-05:00

I love Christmas and the Holidays, I always have (I think especially since my birthday is in late December as well)! Well a couple of years ago I went off to Savannah, GA to go to grad school at SCAD. I had this nice place with a huge mantle and when the holidays came around I didn't really have any money to decorate. So I improvised by building my own decorations out of LEGO. Hence my annual LEGO Xmas town was born. Each year it grows and grows :) You can see more shots of this years over at Flickr. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays 2010

2010-12-23T15:42:00.002-05:00

I love designing a holiday card every year and this years was quite a feat. I wanted to do more than just the ambiguous "Happy Holidays" but somehow still create a card for everyone. So I put together Festivus, Christmas, Hanukkah, Navidad, and Holidays each with their own positive expression and then cut the words up so the illustrations in the card could be mixed and matched. The result is you can celebrate everything! They are 4-color process on 65# Cover French's Parchtone Mist with A7 French's Poptone Blue Rasberry envelopes! Only 50 cards were made so if you got one Enjoy!

U is for U-Bend!

2010-12-07T08:59:00.003-05:00

U is up at Alphabattle!

Arsenic & Old Lace

2010-12-01T22:28:00.003-05:00

A new poster design on my site! :) A mixture of whimsical typography and clean illustration, which make up much of my personal style are used to create this poster for the play Arsenic & Old Lace. Arsenic & Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. This is not a client project but is my interpretation of how it could be done and was developed for a series of samples I'll be sending to art directors.

T is for Time

2010-12-01T22:26:00.001-05:00

T is for Time :) Now up for Alphabattle!

SWARM Sans!

2010-11-10T13:22:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Brain Carroll over on Dribbble I heard about Design*Sponge's Design Your Own Alphabet Contest. I however heard about it about 24 hours before the deadline so I came up with an entry of my own with SWARM Sans. Which honestly I think may be much stronger than the original serif version I designed. Look for a full typeface of it sometime in 2011 (I've got a pretty full plate right now).

You can see Brian's Icarus entry up on Dribbble. Awesome work Bri!

R & S

2010-11-10T13:16:00.002-05:00

With my work on my Halloween costume I fell a bit behind on my lettering and missed out on R. I went ahead with it since it felt odd to not do so. So here is R and S. You can see all the others over at Alphabattle!

R is for Ribbon!

S is for Smoke!

My lettering is getting more and more narrative as this goes on, that is something I'm really enjoying! :)

Halloween

2010-11-10T13:05:00.003-05:00

So Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I also see it as a chance to try my hand at something new. As in the case of last years There's Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself. So this year I ended up running down to the wire and decided to push myself even more. You see the Sunday before Halloween I bought a sewing machine. Having no clue how to use one I taught myself that evening. On Monday I cut fabric from a pattern I bought (which honestly figuring out the pattern instructions was more cryptic than the DaVinci Code and harder than learning to use the machine). Wednesday and Friday I put together the pirate coat and vest. The shirt and pants I had from another costume years ago. And Viola! Now I'm set for Renn Faire next year as well :)

I used this story as a parable to my freshman students that you can never think that you can't do something. Just fucking do it!

Q

2010-10-12T10:34:00.002-04:00

Q is for the Queen of Hearts! :) Check out the rest of the letters over at Alphabattle!

Alice in Wonderland

2010-10-11T15:20:00.001-04:00

I'm a big fan of Alice in Wonderland and felt it would make a great addition to a pitch of samples for art directors. This is not a client project and never took place but is my interpretation of how it could be done. It is 2 posters, the program cover, and a shirt design for the staff. I set this fictitious project with the Port Tobacco Players, they are an awesome local theater of volunteers that do great work.

TERCIO!

2010-09-30T22:50:00.002-04:00

Tercio is a pastiche slab-serif of wood & metal tendencies. Originally construction was to create a slab-serif version of Camisado, but as the design progressed so many changes took place that Tercio became its own font. The steampunk inspired print is 12.5" x 19" four color process with a silk-screen overprint of metallic gold ink on French's 65# Cover Parchtone Aged. Download Tercio for free here. Enjoy!

P is for Pen

2010-09-29T11:43:00.003-04:00

P is up at LetterCult. Enjoy!

Hello Kitty Commander!

2010-09-17T23:50:00.004-04:00

So a couple of days ago I came across an illustration I did years ago and laughed my ass off. I called it Hello Kitty Commander and it may be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever drawn :)

I posted it on Dribbble and it got everyone who saw it laughing, as well as, Ryan's request for a desktop background. Well I'm not one to shrug at a request for my work. :) So here is a list of every conceivable monitor resolution I could think of:

1024x768
1152x864
1280x800
1280x960
1280x1024
1440x900
1600x1050
1920x1080
1920x1200
2560x1440

iPhone3
iPhone4

Crap! I don't know my monitor resolution and don't feel like checking. Can I download all of them in one zip file? Yep! :)

Enjoy!

O

2010-09-15T12:46:00.004-04:00

O is up at LetterCult. I was originally trying to go for something that looked like lace but in the end it felt more like porcelain.

A Lesson on Typography

2010-09-08T14:36:00.000-04:00

Cruz Skateshop Sacramento

2010-09-07T20:40:00.003-04:00

My Brother Gordon and his girlfriend Sandy are opening a second shop location in Sacramento and got featured in the Sacramento Press! And one of these days he'll get around to making the shirt I illustrated for the shop last summer HAHA

N is for kNot!

2010-09-02T19:34:00.002-04:00

N is up over at LetterCult's Alphabattle. Enjoy!

Never Underestimate the Power of the Stache!

2010-08-23T13:20:00.005-04:00

So for a few weeks I've had this image in my head as a rebound to Rogie King's This Isn't The Mustache You Were Looking For... that was Vader with the oldstyle villain handlebar mustache. So last Friday I went ahead and threw down my rebound, liked it so much I took part of my weekend to make a screen and print silver ink on a black tee.

Alphabattle L & M

2010-08-17T21:00:00.002-04:00

Gotten a little bit behind on my blogging that should be remedied with my switch to FT freelancing and FT teaching. I know it sounds weird to leave a steady gig for 2 FT jobs and some how have more time but trust me it is true.

Light me up an L :)

Kept thinking of condiments :)

Suzanne Pfutzenreuter

2010-07-22T14:48:00.005-04:00

Today's Awesome Award goes to Suzanne Pfutzenreuter! This Jenson book is absolutely beautiful. You can check out more of here work on her Behance site. Oh and you should follow her too!

For more information and past winners check here.

The Shiny Squirrel

2010-07-20T20:34:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I got an email from Jessica Goldfond from Shiny Squirrel inviting me to guest blog on her blog for "a few things I love" You can check out my entry here.

K is Killer

2010-07-20T20:32:00.002-04:00

K is up at LetterCult :) Check it out!

Rebecca Schley

2010-07-15T21:58:00.006-04:00

Okay so I am a firm believer in Community over Competition, design is waaaaaay to competitive and it hamstrings most designers into not sharing ideas and especially not helping one another out. That being said earlier and at complete random I came upon the following works and I think these are awesome. I have no idea who Rebecca Schley is but I figured why not make this a great starting point to help promote designers and creative who's work I find awesome even if I don't even know them. So congratulations Rebecca you win the first ever Awesome Award!*

Owl-Themed Baby Shower Invitation by Rebecca Schley.

*I'll award people and post them as I find them but to be fair I'll only make them people I don't already know.

HELL YES!

2010-07-14T23:22:00.004-04:00

An awesome web designer by the name of Amy Stoddard drafted me to dribbble last night. So awesome! You can find me here.

Marian Bantjes

2010-07-14T23:16:00.001-04:00

She is as always inspirational and amazing. Thanks for the dedication and love Marian :)

J is for...

2010-07-08T21:30:00.002-04:00

Bet you can't guess my inspiration...HAHA. Check out all the other cool J's over at LetterCult.

Give A Damn

2010-06-29T07:21:00.003-04:00

I recently finished a run of my new Give A Damn posters which you can check out here. This poster was initially inspired by a statement I saw saying "Design like you give a damn." I thought of creating this poster so that each person could make it their own personalized motivational poster and put in what they give a damn about in the area above the words. It is custom lettering and my Atreyu typeface below. Silk screened with gunmetal metallic ink on 65# Cover French's Pop-Tone Lemon Drop.

I, i captain!

2010-06-24T07:45:00.002-04:00

i is up over at LetterCult's AlphaBattle :) Check it out.

Art School Cliches

2010-06-17T12:04:00.002-04:00

This is absolutely true and hilarious. I especially love "Did you know? 98% of infographics are 100% pointless. See pie chart for details." :) You can download a pdf here.

Rory Sutherland is amazing and inspiring

2010-06-09T13:55:00.000-04:00

Atreyu Nibbble

2010-06-07T21:28:00.003-04:00

So in lieu of not having a Dribbble account I call these Nibbble's (Not Dribbble or just a cute variation since it is a nibble of what is to come). Atreyu is my newest typeface creation, it is still in the works but here is a preview. The typeface was used on the "Nothing to Lose, Everything to Win" shirt I illustrated but only in all caps. The finished Atreyu Grotesque will be a free font available hopefully by the end of July.

Atreyu is going to be a long experiment in typeface design. It began actually as a blackletter (and still exists as one), out of which the grotesque (sans-serif) was born. I plan on taking this typeface and creating a super family consisting of blackletter, grotesque, serif and slab-serif versions. In doing so it will be the neverending typeface, which is partly where the name came from (that and I listen to a lot of music while I work in my studio and usually make it bands that I feel fit what I'm working on and the band Atreyu just goes great with this, that and I love their music too. Enjoy!

On My Mark Unleash H!

2010-06-06T19:52:00.004-04:00

H is up on AlphaBattle! Check it out at LetterCult

Dribbble Dis

2010-05-27T22:16:00.002-04:00

So I love the idea of Dribbble. Especially since it plays upon my idea that design needs to be more about community over competition, sharing ideas and inspirations rather than worrying about others stealing them. As an educator I find it to be really bad in the heart of design education so I encourage my students to share and share alike. It doesn't matter it someone has the same idea as you, they won't execute it the same way as you because they are NOT you. That being said I decided to dribbble here a bit, since well...I don't have a dribbble account (you need to be invited, oh well someday maybe :] )

A new poster/shirt print illustration. Enjoy!

Camisado

2010-05-23T18:34:00.004-04:00

Camisado Black is here! You can download this free font from my website here. Oh and if you choose to use this in a design send me a link or a pic and I'll make sure to put it up here with a link to your site :) Enjoy!

Nothing to Lose Shirt

2010-05-23T18:22:00.003-04:00

My second shirt off the press. This is part of an on-going series of illustrations I'm working on called the "New Originals" which are reimagined illustrations from works I did around 10 years ago. I figure since my skills and means have improved why not take a second look and see how I would do these pieces now. I don't have my online store up and running yet but if you wish to order a shirt you can do so by dropping me an email I'll let you know cost with shipping and the turn around time, you can even pay via Paypal.

Oh and if you're curious about the font. It is a new typeface I'm working on called Atreyu, this is the sans version, there will also be a blackletter, slab and serif versions to this super family in the coming months. :)

Baltimore Web Design Guild

2010-05-23T18:16:00.003-04:00

I recently joined Michael Aleo and the gang over at the Baltimore Web Design Guild. A non-profit dedicated to promoting local Baltimore talent. If you are a web designer and are in the Washington/Baltimore area I highly suggest dropping by and joining in.

F is FUN!

2010-05-11T17:38:00.001-04:00

F is up on LetterCult! Go check out the cool and fun work from lots of different letter artists :)

ALPHABATTLE!

2010-04-27T17:27:00.002-04:00

LetterCult has the E's up and running go check them out here. You can join in too :)

LEGOed, It's been a while :)

2010-04-22T22:27:00.003-04:00

So it has been many moons since I've sat down and LEGOed some people. I've been busy being busy and needed a break tonight from all of my business, got that? good. Anywho, some of these you'll know and others you won't, unless of course you do then in fact you will know them. On with the show!

George W. Bush
(I was not a fan of W's but it does look like him HAHA)

Christopher Walken
Looks like him and creepy. Love everything the man does!

Chris Rogers
Long in the making on this one, female LEGO are hard to come by.

Jeremy Carbaugh
A friend and co-worker from Sunlight Labs!

Josh Ruihley, aka JRoo. A friend, co-worker and smoking buddy from Sunlight Labs!

and last but not least...

Tim Ball the source of my # tweets, shittimballsays! You can check out my #shittimballsays on Twitter :)

Jessica at SP 2010

2010-04-21T13:36:00.001-04:00

SP 2010 Speaker - Jessica Hische from Semi Permanent on Vimeo.

A short interview with Jessica Hische at Semi-Permanent Sydney 2010. Love the music too :)

Fresh off the press!

2010-04-20T22:09:00.005-04:00

So I got my own silk screen press this past week. And now I have this :)

SWEET! Also a little clue, if you look at the code for The Vicious Circus you can find a Store link, it is currently hidden via display: none in the css because I'm not done building it out. But keep a look out because come June/July Shirts, Stickers, Buttons, Prints, Posters... will be on sale through the site :)

Also I'll be at the A Day In The Life conference in Baltimore this weekend with free Swag! And I have started a system that if we exchange business cards I'll put a link to your site on my Cool Links area!

Dee's

2010-04-15T12:39:00.002-04:00

Alphabattle! is at it again and we are rolling through a series of beautiful letters now with D's up for all to see. :)

The Library of Human Imagination

2010-04-12T17:47:00.001-04:00

Jay Walker's Library of Human Imagination is amazing! You can read more about his library here: TEDblog

Pixels

2010-04-12T13:30:00.000-04:00

New York invasion by 8-bits creatures !
PIXELS is Patrick Jean' latest short film, shot on location in New York.

Written, directed by : Patrick Jean
Director of Photograhy : Matias Boucard
SFX by Patrick Jean and Onemoreprod

Simply Amazing!

Transparency Data

2010-04-08T11:38:00.005-04:00

"Today we're releasing TransparencyData.com, a new service from the Sunlight Foundation, and technically the most challenging thing we've ever done. TransparencyData lets you query and download bulk data about transparency. We're launching with two datasets that have never been merged before, and without an unprecedented amount of access." -Clay Johnson, Sunlight Labs Blog

The site was designed by me :) and is the first project of mine at the Sunlight Foundation to go live.

Four Letter Words

2010-03-31T16:50:00.001-04:00

Four Letter Words from Rob Seward on Vimeo.

Simply Amazing! Technology is fun :)

Get Your C On!

2010-03-30T09:48:00.004-04:00

C is up for The Alphabattle!. Above is my contribution for it, go check out all the really creative letterforms everyone is making. :)

CODEORGAN

2010-03-19T12:33:00.000-04:00

This is nothing but Win and Awesome!

ALPHABATTLE

2010-03-16T13:36:00.003-04:00

This was my latest submission to the ALPHABATTLE. Over at LetterCult they have set up a sweet deal where anyone can submit custom lettering of letters of the alphabet. They are doing it in order and only started last month. So if you are like me and like to draw custom lettering you should join in. :)

"There are no actual battles, no talkin’ trash, no smokin’ fools, no winners, no losers—just an opportunity to express yourself with Custom Letters among some like-minded peers. Make letters. Have fun." - BEEJAY over at LetterCult

letterPLAYGROUND

2010-03-08T16:36:00.003-05:00

So Illustrator Nate Williams started a site a few months ago (I was pointed to it by Nate from facebook). The site is great for people who like to draw letters like me :) It is free to join and submit to, go check it out at letterplayground.

Here is my first submission:

It started out as a ?, but for some reason the submission form doesn't let you submit anything but letters and numbers even though there are areas for &, ., and ?. Oh well it makes a great s too :) My collection can be found here: Greg's Letters.

What kind of mood are you in?

2010-02-22T13:07:00.004-05:00

image from Courtney, posted on Design Work Life

So I'm a big fan of creating mood boards for projects. I was first introduced to the concept by Joe Duffy when he and his son Joseph came to speak at SCAD while I was there for graduate school. The above picture is from a similar presentation that Joe did for the How Design Conference 09. The following links are some other sources of mood boards and how they can be applied to the design methodology.

Getting in the Mood
When a Picture Really is Worth A Thousand

Debbie Millman

2010-02-18T12:50:00.002-05:00

Interview with Debbie Millman from Thought & Theory on Vimeo.

A great video interview with Debbie Millman from Sterling Brands on design, the future of design, and motivation. The video was filmed at the Ligature 19 show at the University of Florida.

TED talk with Don Norman

2010-02-16T10:52:00.002-05:00

Don Norman is the author of The Design of Everyday Things. This is an awesome video where Don talks about happy design. Enjoy! :)

Infographics + Motion + Music = Awesome

2010-02-02T12:11:00.002-05:00

Vanishing Point from Bonsajo on Vimeo.

Super nice piece created by Takuya Hosogane on vimeo

Tips for Better Ideas

2010-01-25T13:12:00.002-05:00

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan on Vimeo.

The Rethink Scholarship is an $18,000 scholarship for aspiring art directors and designers to Langara College's Communication and Ideation Design program. This video in incredibly made as well as inspiring while communicating solid tips for every designer student and professional alike. :)

Synergasm!

2010-01-21T21:09:00.000-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Fox News Covers Scott Brown's Victory

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

I love when John Stewart tears into Fox News :D

Exit Through The Gift Shop

2010-01-21T17:56:00.002-05:00

Do you know Banksy? If not you should. An innovator in guerrilla art Banksy has made his mark on the world and all the while no one has known what he even looks like. From stencil works done on city walls around the world to even personally hanging his work in major museums (without them even knowing it). This film looks Awesome!

HA HA HA Happy Holidays!

2009-12-21T18:13:00.002-05:00

My 2009 Holiday card and series of desktop wallpapers to celebrate the season. Enjoy!
1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1600 x 1200, 1680 x 1050, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440.

Graphic Design Favors

2009-12-20T20:16:00.003-05:00

As a designer we all do favors for friends and family and I'm not opposed to it. I usually take on a bit of a slacker focus to these kinds of jobs and don't really guarantee a turn around time since it would be most likely harmful towards paying work. Lunchbreath did this awesome poster of The Dreaded Killer Jellyfish. :) Loving this poster!

MyVomit-A-Pedia

2009-12-08T13:01:00.003-05:00

This morning the White House streamed a video conference announcing the Open Government Initiative to promote transparency in government. During the announcement they used the government site MyFood-A-Pedia as an example of a data set that was released to the public. In this case one containing the nutritional data on foods commonly eaten and the site is to help with curbing childhood obesity issues. But seriously this is what you came up with?

This REALLY hurts my feelings (and makes it just a bit difficult to keep my lunch down). Not only is the logo and site awful, if you search common foods such as "Big Mac" or "Whopper" things people do eat that can lead to obesity issues it doesn't give you anything. Are you serious? The nutritional content for these foods is available on the back of the sheet that comes on your tray at McDonald's and Burger King. If their thinking is that people can just get this info elsewhere how helpful is it to make this site in the first place. It NEEDS to contain all the data, not just bits and pieces. And for God's sake get a real logo!

McGreen

2009-12-02T12:36:00.005-05:00

Originally found at Brand New

The German outpost of the fast food mega chain, McDonald’s, recently announced that around 100 of its restaurants in Germany will change their well-known red backdrops to a deep green by the end of 2009. McDonald Germany’s VP, Holger Beeck, stated that the move is “out of respect for the environment.” But Germany isn’t the first to go green, France has been leading the European greening since 2006, when it launched the internal L’Eco Journal and its web site now features the logo against said deep green. This move is part of a bigger effort by McDonald’s to actually be green philosophically, more than just aesthetically, as chronicled in the McDonald’s 2009 Global Best of Green report. There are a couple of items for discussion: a) Is literally going green too lame? And b) does it hurt the brand by moving away from the very recognizable red? My take is, on the former, yes it’s kind of lame but at least they picked a nice green and, on the latter, McDonald’s has such a broad palette of brand icons — from the mnemonic Parapapapa sound to the Big Mac to the yellow arches — that substituting red is no big deal… in fact, just look how cool and recognizable it looks against black in the U.S. web site.

SQUIRREL!

2009-11-27T15:15:00.002-05:00

It isn't just the animation that is always amazing with Pixar but also their writers and sense of humor. I love the"SQUIRREL!" parts of the movie Up. How many talking dog movies have you ever seen? Most of them seem to be too close to personifying the dog as a person rather than as a dog with doggie traits.

Knockout 2

2009-11-17T10:24:00.000-05:00

This animation is a remake of my original second part of my Knockout Poster project which uses Adobe After Effects to create an animation of the poster. In the animation I chose to have the poster become the climax of a dynamic introduction that portraits Knockout as a world champion boxer. Using the sidescroll text sequence of the name in combination with the iconic Rocky Balboa theme song. The end of the movie is the pasting of the broadsheet and hanging of the gloves to bring a cohesive whole to the piece and it’s connection to the poster.

Pareidoodle

2009-11-16T16:02:00.002-05:00

The above is just a doodle I did with Pareidoodle. Pareidoodle-Drawing Conclusions, is part of my master thesis Play and The Discovery of New Ideas. Pareidoodle is a new way of drawing ideas in a digital world. Based on the psychological phenomena known as Pareidolia, where a vague or random stimulus is perceived as significant. This phenomena is seen in common examples such as seeing images or faces in clouds, the Virgin Mary on a tortilla or even hearing hidden messages on music albums played in reverse. By using random marks and colors the user’s mind begins to make new connections to what they are drawing on and alongside in the seemingly meaningless and instill them with a sense of meaning through their own hand.

You can try Pareidoodle for yourself or even download a desktop version for Mac or Windows, here. Enjoy!

Good Afternoon Jumpers

2009-11-15T18:48:00.003-05:00

Just thought I would share this because it ran through my head yesterday as I drove down to Orange, Virginia to see three good friends go skydiving for one of their birthdays. I'm not a fan of open heights but after seeing it and the safety that goes into skydiving I'm seriously reconsidering my position. I think I may have to jump out of a plane And you have to love Pixar, the animation, the stories and their great sense of humor. :)

Cruz Skateshop

2009-11-15T13:02:00.003-05:00

Cruz Skateshop is an independently owned shop in San Francisco specializing in Roller Derby and Skateboard stuff. Owned by Sandy Cruz (aka Ms. Motley Cruz). Sandy is also my brother Gordon's girlfriend and they both work at running the shop together. Last May they came to Savannah, GA to celebrate my graduation from SCAD's graphic design graduate program. While they were visiting me they asked if I would illustrate a graphic for a t-shirt for the shop. They try to do two graphics every few months by different artists. This is what I came up with. Gordon also messaged me that the graphic which I finished up this past week and handed off to him is also being used as an ad on the Derby News Network. So stoked! :)

What a Beautiful Autumn-to-Summer Day?

2009-11-12T11:06:00.002-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

This was a ingenious personal follow up for me since last week I had dinner with a loved one who said, "I only watch Fox News because it is fair and unbiased." I think I may be related to seriously delusional people @_@.

Wells Fargo

2009-11-10T12:31:00.002-05:00

A redesign for the Wells Fargo home page using, Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, Spry components, and Flash. I began by visiting half a dozen banking sites and found many to be very plain. The site picks up on the red and gold colors of the logo and utilizes the graphic element of the square. Inspired by Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie-Woogie the squares represent interactivity and in all cases of interconnection the result is another square. Visit the site here. Please note, as of now the links go nowhere but you can see the different states of control that take place.

There's Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

2009-11-03T10:18:00.002-05:00

My version of The Scarecrow from Batman Begins. From sketch, to stitch to execution. It is not true to the movie, because well let's face it if you do true to the movie it falls flat. Why? Because you do not have a film crew, lighting crew, fx artists, make-up... That is why I don't go for making it look real. I go for making it look sexy. The mask also glows-in-the-dark, a direction I got from the party theme and the Scarecrow LEGO minifig.

You can see some photos of my process and the result here.

The Dark Knight 2

2009-10-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

This is a redesign of an earlier work I did while a student in the grad program at SCAD. I've taken several weeks to truly teach myself After Effects from the ground up as well as doing a multitude of online tutorials.

The original premise of this title sequence was designed and executed several months before the release of the movie. In researching for the piece I found my inspiration in the poster of The Joker writing Why so serious? in blood on a window, in which the viewer is looking through at him.

I decided that since this movie was less about Batman and more about The Joker that the opening sequence should push that. Much in the same way that Saul Bass worked the opening sequence for a film in order to impress the mood of the film to the audience.

Many thanks goes to the excellent work and teaching of Andrew Kramer over at VideoCopilot.net.

Enjoy!

Lightsaber Technologies

2009-10-06T10:35:00.002-04:00

With the increase of digital technologies and entertainment, the need for an animated logo is higher than ever. Movies, TV, Broadcast, Video Games all use animated logos. But how do we make something more conceptual than just spinning, zooming or fading in and out? I wanted to create an interesting and conceptual logo reveal so I created this. Lightsaber Technologies, where Jedi go to get their lightsabers fixed when they can't do it (the Jedi IT dept). And yes I know this is WAY off canon, but if you know me you know I'm a huge Star Wars fan.

Tapestry

2009-09-29T11:22:00.001-04:00

This was a first round logo for my cousin's music group. As I was designing the logo I envisioned how it could be animated like this. Tapestry is a Christian music group from upstate New York comprised of five women. Their choice of name was that a tapestry requires each unique thread to be woven with the others into an intricately designed creation. The logo design was built directly from this concept as the threads weave with each other to create the shapes of the letterforms and the logo itself. Even though the logo isn't finalized I still wanted to create my vision for the animation.

The End

2009-09-15T10:14:00.001-04:00

This is a pseudo teaser trailer for a made up movie called "Exterminatus" (and if you get the term you are a geek, and I love you for it). It is comprised of a meshing together of four different tutorials from Andrew Kramer's videocopilot.net (definitely check out the site if you are into learning motion graphics and After Effects). As I did the tutorials I just thought "I wonder what these would look like together?" So I went ahead and did it, with a couple additions of my own. Enjoy.

The song seemed appropriate being Smashing Pumpkins "The End Is The Beginning Is The End."
The typeface used is Electric Lady (B-29 Superfortress) by fellow SCAD MFA grad and aspiring typeface designer Derek Black.

Indiana Jones

2009-09-08T11:55:00.002-04:00

I never understood why Indiana Jones had such an awesome logo but Lucas just seemed to drop the ball when it came to the on screen titles, all of which are Trajan. So I figured I would give Indiana a once over and created this, with a little help from Andrew Kramer's Ancient Titles tutorial at videocopilot.net.

Harry Potter!

2009-09-01T00:47:00.002-04:00

Finished up my After Effects retraining! This is only a small (severely adjusted tutorial) piece I did. Don't worry more is yet to come ^____^

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-08-28T10:02:00.001-04:00

Another awesome broadcasting project from my buddy and fellow SCAD MFA Seth :)

Gingerbread Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

2009-08-27T09:36:00.002-04:00

An ad for the Baking Industry of New Zealand. Some awesome animation and conceptual work here :)

(on a side note: RuTube? the russian YouTube?)

A Series of Awesome After Effects

2009-08-23T23:44:00.002-04:00

I decided to take a break from my After Effects retraining (I'm currently working on learning the program more in depth), to watch Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Not the best movie per se but the end credits are just some amazing After Effects work.

New Blackhaus Poster

2009-08-18T21:13:00.002-04:00

I'm really digging this redesign I did for my Blackhaus typeface promotional poster.

Jabba the Scott

2009-08-18T10:51:00.000-04:00

From Blue Milk Special

"Back in ‘76 the original Jabba the Hutt was to appear in a scene right before Han transports Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids off Tatooine. Jabba was always meant to be a monster of some kind, and at the time the special effects just weren’t living up to Lucas’ filthy imagination. Northern Irish actor Declan Mulholland played the role of Jabba as either a stand in for a stop-motion creation to be added in post production, or to wear a mask over his head. Neither ended up happening, and Lucas scrapped the scene."

I didn't know this until I read it on their site so I thought I would share. :)

Fair?

2009-08-14T01:10:00.001-04:00

I saw this in Baltimore last Sunday. The question is: Is guerilla marketing ethical? No question that Boost mobile may have to pay a fine for there work here but is it fair to graffiti artists that try to express themselves to in their work while some companies do work like this to sell themselves as "urban" and "cool?" Ji Lee uses graffiti work to point out the contradiction of personal vs. corporate work, not to sell it and he works for fucking google! No doubt I would love to work with Ji, we are completly on the same book.

Kiwi!

2009-08-12T16:24:00.002-04:00

I had forgotten about this piece until a friend of mine had posted it up on facebook. I originally saw this sometime last year and it still amazes me.

Note the following is from the artist that created this piece (not me):
"My Master's Thesis Animation, which I completed while I was at The School of Visual Arts, MFA Computer Art, in New York City. Created using Maya, After Effects, and rigged using The Setup Machine by Anzovin studios. If you would like to download there is a small version at my website: www.donysanimation.com"

Clash of The Giants

2009-08-09T14:25:00.001-04:00

Something I've obviously noted since coming back north is the rebranding of Giant foods.

The Original Logo

The New Logo

I can understand the need to rebrand especially in a market that wants more organic, natural foods and a more experience centered shopping environment. The cornucopia aspect of the logo isn't bad but the lettering just seems I don't know...generic. Many of the old stores featured signage in ITC Benguiat which in it's nouveau style at least felt organic. The new logo's lettering is emotionless and somehow doesn't capture the cornicopia essence of the mark. I think some hand lettering is in order and using the existing font as the brand's workhorse instead of it's logotype. But then again that's me, I could be wrong.

Non-Prophets Fresh Kinetic Typography

2009-08-08T12:44:00.001-04:00

A motion graphics piece by my grad school friend Seth :)

Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity.

2009-08-07T18:10:00.000-04:00

Snagged from Scott over at PVP Comics. A must watch!

Now On YouTube!

2009-08-05T22:27:00.003-04:00

The Dark Knight

I went ahead and created a YouTube page so that I can put my motion graphics pieces up on it for easier hosting and viewing.

gregeckler on YouTube

The History of Web

2009-08-02T13:22:00.000-04:00

This page mock up is by davelawrence8.
I love the idea of what would Apple.com look like in 1983. It has me thinking what if we tried teaching web design with parody? The history of graphic design along with it's importance in print. And often parody is used in the teaching of it. Why is the history of web design not as important? We would probably see even more progressive web visuals if more students knew the history.

Are You Serious?

2009-06-12T17:22:00.004-04:00

What the hell? I'm sitting here pouring over different websites of design studios and seriously people some of this is just plain shit! As graphic designers we are visual communicators, information architects, the alchemists that merge words and images to create golden messages. But what does it say of what you do when your site looks like...well I was going to say crap but after seeing the poster for the upcoming Banksy exhibition which uses crap it would be an insult to the aesthetic nature of crap.

A few choice sites that have made me exclaim "Are You Serious?" are:
This apparent homage to a romance novel
The 80's called they said, STOP IT!
Marketing made simple = ugly
Cute for about .001 of a second then just annoying
It scares me that this is a dude. And next Yaoi!*
*note I only know the term Yaoi because of web comics making fun of it and still had to wikipedia it to know what it was.

I should seriously consider just opening my own studio that all I do is the websites for other design studios because it is obvious I could make a killing just doing this.

Gettin' It On In Taiwan

2009-05-19T23:26:00.001-04:00

The quarter is almost over and with it my grad school career :)
I have just finished my 4th and last thesis project which can be found here. My master thesis in titled Play and The Discovery of New Ideas.

In other notable news some of my work, that of my self promo piece that I designed was exhibited last week at the 2009 Young Designers Exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan. And while they were showing it off I sent them some Vicious Circus stickers to pass around :)

my self promo
note it actually unfolds quite a ways unfortunately they didn't have a display box big enough

You do now!

Apparently they love the stickers :)

there are tons more photos and when I get a chance I will sort them out and put them on flikr

Processing

2009-03-21T12:56:00.001-04:00

This past quarter I had to take Digital Studio 2, for most this is just web design, but since it is about interaction I decided to step up and see what I could do. I taught myself Processing. It is an open-source programming language developed by Casey Reas and Ben Fry (as graduate students) at MIT. I used a book they published through MIT to teach myself and the end result was (in accordance with the class) a website located here My Adventures In Processing.

It was to say the least a learning experience, I knew little of even html when I began and learned how to program from the ground up, needless to say when I got half way through the book and it then said "now we will learn the easy way, object-oriented programming" I said, "what the fuck! there is an easier way and you bastards had me run in circles to make stuff work the hard way!" which is in the end all well and good because now I understand more of what I am looking at. Take a look and tell me what you think. I am now working on programs that will work in turn with my master thesis :)

What The F#@K?

2009-02-09T00:11:00.000-05:00

This “Power League of Printing” video was produced by the Printing Industries of America to attract young people to the trade.

Awesome Video and Song

2009-01-22T06:53:00.000-05:00

Illustration

2009-01-18T20:56:00.002-05:00

I am Graphic Design graduate student, but it helps to get out of the department. This quarter I'm over in the Illustration department burning one of my electives in a class entitled "Illustration Concepts & Compostions" (I already used 2 electives taking Type Design classes last year that resulted in me winning the Monotype Scholarship).

This first piece was an exercise in color interpreting as we choose the phrase "Fish on a Leash."
I'm big into penguins and decided for some reason to forego fish for whales. It turned into what I now call "Moby and Captain Ahabguin."

The next is my current work in progress for an illustration for a Guinness World Record. I originally began with the world's fastest speaker, since I wanted to do something difficult to illustrate and not something under "World's Biggest..." or "World's Smallest..." I fought with my originally idea up until a day ago and changed it to something I had spotted a week ago in the Guinness World Record book. The World's Deadliest Cheese.

It's called Casu Marzu, google it, it's pretty gross.

Xmas

2009-01-18T20:46:00.007-05:00

Since I was away for the holidays and came back straight into grad classes I figure I would take this opportunity to share a few treasures from the xmas. First what I gave out from my exhaustive "Santa's Workshop" enterprise. I began last year by trying to make all my gifts by hand and did so as well this year.

First up is the "Ping: The Drinking" mini-bar mirror I made for my "brother from a different mother" Ping.

Next is the "Bar Sweet Bar" bar mirror I made for Rob. (Sweet custom letter).

And lastly is the grand finale. A 14 in. Geisha softie I created for my girlfriend.

WOLVERINE!

2008-12-18T23:26:00.001-05:00

My 48-Hour T-Shirt

2008-12-08T10:49:00.000-05:00

The second 48-Hour T-shirt is now available. That’s the design, above: Two colors on a brown American Apparel 4.3-ounce fine cotton athletic fit T.
A summary of the research inspiring the design, below, is also available in PDF form, here.

A psychological study offers an interesting lesson in “false consensus.”
The research involved dividing into two groups; members of each were asked to read an essay about Rasputin, and then asked to evaluate their feelings about him. One group was given an essay that noted Rasputin’s correct birthday. The other was given the identical essay, but the date of his birthday was changed — to be the same day as that of the reader.

The latter (same birthday) group evaluated Rasputin notably more favorably than the control group did.
Mark R. Leary cites this research in The Curse of The Self, noting that if our opinions can be affected by such a “minor, egocentric matter,” it should be no surprise that “factors even more intimately related to our views of ourselves also influence our judgments of other people.”

So: Perhaps if you wear this T-shirt, you will make a good impression.
Design by Greg Eckler (www.theviciouscircus.com), MFA student in the graphic design department of Savannah College of Art and Design.

The T-shirt “I Show How You Feel” is available until 10 a.m. (Eastern) Wednesday, for $18 plus shipping. (We DO NOT guarantee delivery by Xmas. I think there’s a good chance you could get it by then, but we can’t promise. Please read the details related to delivery timing and other matters, here.) Order below

The aim of The 48-Hour T-shirt Project is to prod consumers to think more about our own behavior, about how we can be manipulated, and about how we manipulate ourselves. Yes, doing this by way of products may be seen as either ironic, clever, or hypocritical. That’s (part of) the point.

You can order the shirt here

Eddie Izzard + LEGO Star Wars = Win

2008-12-06T11:25:00.000-05:00

48-Hour T-Shirt #1

2008-12-01T13:15:00.002-05:00

The first 48-Hour T-Shirt is now available. That’s the design, above: Three colors (metalic silver ink, black, flourescent green) on a gray American Apparel 4.3-ounce fine cotton athletic fit T. A summary of the research inspiring the design, below, is also available in PDF form, here.

This phrase was quoted in a recent paper by scholars researching the subject of mimicry and its role in the day-to-day marketplace.

One study, for instance, found that a waitress received larger tips when she “mimicked” customers by repeating orders verbatim, than when she paraphrased their orders. According to the researchers, being subtly mimicked “creates feelings of rapport, affiliation, and closeness toward the mimicker.”

The research was summarized in the April 2008 issue of The Journal of Consumer Research, in an article titled “Of Chameleons and Consumption,” which noted that prior studies suggested “that mimicry serves as an important communication tool, communicating to the person being mimicked that ‘I show how you feel.’” This newer research specifically explored “the effect of mimicry on consumption,” and how it might be used in, for instance, sales techniques.

Design by Derek Black, MFA candidate in the graphic design department of Savannah College of Art and Design (www.redneckillustrator.com).

PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW! While you still have time!