Des Moines Art Center Big Hair Ball 2013

20130516-180752.jpg

Above image: DM Art Center’s Big Hair Ball tank top, limited edition poster, and tote bag. All items are available at the Des Moines Art Center’s Museum Shop.

We’ve have been pleased and honored to work with the Des Moines Art Center on the promotional materials for their sixth Des Moines Art Center Big Hair Ball.  Employing an interesting new method in coming up with the designs for the promotional material, we started off as a collective, with all of our designers coming up with potential designs for the main poster. We then met with the Big Hair Ball committee and sat down for a group critique. After the first meeting we had a couple of visual concepts to continue working on. The final poster ended up being a hybridized version of three of our designer’s concepts. One of our most important goals as a company is to continue to pursue design projects like this that allow for crossover and collaboration.

The Big Hair Ball takes place on June 1st and promises an evening of fantastic hair art, a runway show and performances by DJ John Solarz, the Belin Quartet, The Garden, and Ballet Des Moines. The theme of this year’s ball is “Masquerade: A Forbidden Fairy Tale.” It will be a party you definitely won’t want to miss. Advance tickets are on sale here.

Slingshot Architecture

The most difficult projects we do often involve design work for creative and logically minded people. When G. E. Wattier approached us last year about an identity and website redesign, we relished the challenge. It’s been one of the most rewarding projects we’ve been able to work on.

The idea of pulling back to gain momentum resulting in an impact was and still is a very strong concept. G.E. Wattier wanted this concept embedded directly into the Slingshot identity. In the end, this is what we came out with.

We had the privilege of working with a really great group of people at Slingshot that pushed us as much as we pushed them. The new identity and its peripherals were unveiled last Friday night (9-21-12) to an enthusiastic blend of individuals with whom Slingshot Architecture will continue to build meaningful relationships.

Badowers Overhaul

If you are looking for something to do this Thursday (or even if you have plans) Badowers is showing off their new remodeling and branding. The party goes from 5 until 8, with the official after-party taking place at the nearby Alpine Lounge.

Lining up Badower’s new vision with an appropriate visual identity was the challenge. We felt that the way it was before referenced a very specific era and spoke to a definite iconic visual language that has nothing to do with how Badowers saw themselves moving forward.

After developing a compass statement for the new vision, we felt that we needed to go further back into history to help determine the future of the Badowers identity. We needed to rediscover a typeface that reflects the simplicity, durability and timelessness of men’s wardrobe staples. Furthermore, accessibility, simplification and functionality needed to enter men’s social conscious before the notion of what a timeless wardrobe staple could be established. For example, the looms of the industrial revolution made material more accessible. The Gold Rush and mining lead to denim as a widely used functional work pant. Men were moving away from the embroidered and jewelled and towards simple and formal comfort. Many sanserif typefaces came into existence around the same time as these historical markers with the same accessible, simple and functional purpose. By applying the actual scale of a man to the letter forms, we narrowed our selection to the typeface that you now see Badowers using. The colors dark grey (90% black) and white are used for their functionality.

We were also asked to help create a look book. Not to be confused with a catalog, the look book’s purpose is to build excitement around Badowers. It gives us a glimpse into who Badowers is as well as allowing the viewer to project themselves into the lifestyle environment it creates. In this look book you may notice a white line running throughout the some of the spreads. This line references a “dynamic thread” connecting the range of classic wardrobe staples that Badowers has to offer.

Our own Garrett Cornelison was tapped as the photographer to shoot the look book. With the help of Jen Morrow, he scouted the coolest spots along Ingersoll within an 8 block radius of the store. David Bartells, the model, showed up around 5am so they could capture some of the moody early morning light over the eastern horizon. Here is a sneak peek of what will be available to all who come Thursday night.

Artcrank 2011

In 2007 an epiphany occurred to Charles Youel, the foremost of the Minnesotans. A lot of his friends who were avid bikers also enjoyed screen printed posters. That year he began ARTCRANK, a bicycle-inspired poster show. Since he began, the show has expanded to Denver, Portland, San Francisco, Bend, London, St. Louis, and Des Moines. ARTCRANK features original artwork from 30 local artists, and it is taking place this Thursday night at the Des Moines Social Club in the Kirkwood Lounge.

We were charged with creating the official show posters, t-shirts, and promotional materials for ARTCRANK: Des Moines this year. Hope to see you all there.

Introducing Intern2

The other person that’s going to be getting in our way this summer is Intern2. She goes by the moniker Kelsey Cashman. She will be spending her time on the website and graphic design side of the company. We have low expectations.

Quick Bio

Schooling: Sophomore at Iowa State

Hobbies: Traveling, Hanging out with “friends”, Being Lame

Influences: Vintage posters from the 30′s-70′s, Paul Rand, Saul Bass

Impressive stuff she’s done so far:

Ok, so in truth, we are very impressed with what Kelsey has done so far in her short life. We are very excited to have her as our intern!

Maker Bot

About three months ago, we (Zach and Ben), along with Ben Milne of Dwolla ordered an open source 3d Printer.  It extrudes plastic to create three dimensional objects up to 4″ x 4″ x 6″.  After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, we finally received the Maker Bot and spent several hours over at the Dwolla office unpacking and assembling.This is going to be a beast of a project.

The immediate question is “what will you use that for?”  Honestly, we don’t really know yet.  We will be holding a party here in the near future to celebrate object design.  If anyone wants to come and set forth their ideas, we’re open to anything. Or go buy your own. www.makerbot.com >Z

Des Mob

One of the things that we love about Des Moines… no, the thing that we love the most about Des Moines is the great people that are here.  The problem is that we only have so much time and can’t necessarily meet everyone.  We also know that there are hundreds of people out there in with the same situation.  So we created Des Mob, a virtual mini rolodex that allows designers, entrepreneurs, photographers, illustrators, musicians, artists, crafters, and the like to connect with each other.  Check it out and maybe add yourself to a growing list in a growing city.

Not Clark Kent, but he might be Superman

Here is a great write-up about another one of our clients that is out making Des Moines a better place. JayO wears emotion on his sleeve and his thoughts on his chest. Thankfully his thoughts are mostly safe for work, just like the rest of his site, which is also mostly safe for work. Head over to JayTees to check it out.

You can check out the write up from the Business Record here.

Finn Miles CD Cover

Album design and packaging for the new Finn Miles EP Modern Saints designed by our own Jon Pearson.  Look for the new CD at his big record release weekend…

Finn Miles – Modern Saints EP – Threepack EP release weekend

Part1: 12/17/10 – 8pm Mars Cafe, Des Moines, IA – Scented Vinyl with Dan Bosman.

Part2: 12/18/10 – 6pm Mars Cafe, Des Moines, IA Deck the Mars.

Part3: 12/19/10 – 9:30pm Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA. Jacob Tyler Wolfgang and Dustin Smith opening!

©2010 8/7 Central