Burns Even Brighter the Second Time
London’s iconic Fire Records has undertaken the noble task of re-introducing some of the classic records of a post punk era gone by. Many come from their own treasure trove but others have been secured for this purpose alone. When we heard artists like Spacemen 3, Neutral Milk Hotel, Teenage Fanclub and Television Personalities, we didn’t require further convincing. Being asked to create the identity for the “Embers” series was indeed an honor. I mean, just look at the records the logo will grace. Does this finally make us cool by association? We sure hope so!
No Reservations sees acclaimed madcap chef Anthony Bourdain traveling the world and sampling local cuisine at the street level so that what he ingests is the exact same as the local working class (to keep a perspective, he had a hoagie in New Jersey.) This leads to some pretty wild meals to say the least! In creating a marketing toolkit I followed my own advice and got out of the office and on to experiencing the show focus as quickly as I could. Making my way to a Vietnamese grocery store, I started to assemble the elements I needed to pull off what I had in mind.
Building an identity for a chocolatier that appeals to the current clientele that comes for the high-end product, but is also accessible to the rest of the urban neighborhood with it’s friendly vibe can be a tough trick to perform. Long conversations yielded a play on the chocolate bunny and soon we were on the path to creating that delicate balancing act with a sophisticated execution of a welcoming mark.
What is there to say about these? Eric Hansen’s photos are breathtaking. After sorting through hundreds of options, I decided to use the images as silhouettes on a pure black background, as opposed to the lighter colors usually associated with these types of products. The result led to a much more sophisticated solution. Then, the use of color made an enormous impact on the interior of the address book. Making my way through the images was exhausting (in a good way) but double-checking the actual names was just plain exhausting – but necessary. No detail left unturned over here! All of the little printing wrinkles were fun as well, even if I had to learn a little Mandarin Chinese to convey what I wanted.
Ever rocking and ever fashionable, Carol Bui asked us to do a series for her based around the notion of a modern superhero that chewed up men and spit them right back out. Early and later incarnations centered around a traditional inked look with the textures you see before you and complimented by the hand-drawn logotype. Somewhere in the middle we came upon this negative shape and pasted face that I will never forget.
Duke University put on a summer series of concerts featuring North Carolina’s finest and who better than the dynamic duo that formerly fronted the beloved dB’s? While remaining a complimentary pairing, Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple have always been the sweet to each other’s sour, the jangle in your rock, the treble in your bass, the playful in your dour. More than anything they have always reminded me of competitive brothers trying to one up each other and so how could I resist this wonderful image.