" All you know about it (luck) for certain is that it is about to change." __ Bret Harte
GABRIEL DAWE: THREAD INSTALLATIONS
Gabriel Dawe is a graphic designer, based out of Texas, that has moved into the world of installation art with his Plexus Series. He has pulled heavily on his Mexican heritage to design these brightly colored works of art that use only wood, thread and nails as it’s medium.
It’s interesting how he has manipulated the thread to create form and depth. It’s damn near genius.
Gabriel also has some other object art on his site (www.gabrieldawe.com), along with some interesting embroidery designs that he call fiberart. Check it out.
TANIESHA’S BIRTHDAY
Created a few designs for a 30th birthday celebration. I was asked to design a collage. The poster would be used as a sign in for all the guests and gifted to the birthday girl as a keepsake to remember the event. I thought instead of designing the normal collage that I would display the images in Taniesha’s silhouette, showing the moments and people who shaped her life thus far.
Below, are the shot glasses I designed that were presented as giveaways to guests of the party.
DOLLAR REDE$IGN
I just read about this amazing design contest on Yahoo! not too long ago. The Dollar ReDe$ign project was global competition of designers, redesigning the US dollar notes. There were some pretty horrible submissions but among those were some amazing designs.
The First Place was won by a San Francisco based design firm, Dowling Duncan. Their approach to this design was made when they realized that most people handle their money vertically. They cited that most people handed money over vertically and machines accepted money vertically. Hence the vertical design.
They also chose the images on the notes by taking images of American history and culture and correlating it directly with a number. So, $1 = First African American President, $5 = The five largest Native American Tribes, $10 = The First 10 Amendments (Bill of Rights), $20 – 20th Century America, $50 = The 50 States and $100 = The first 100 days of FDR in office, where he passed legislation to help rectify the depression and by which every new president has been judged on how well they have done during the first 100 days of their term.
Other features included changes for the visually impaired. Each note increases in size as they increase in denomination.
Although the Dowling Duncan submission won the contest, my favorite design was submitted by Reid Collier and Evan Cotter of Flashpoint in Richmond, VA.
Their submission kept the traditional etched images on our current bills but updated the design for function. This design would have used Yupo paper, which is a synthetic paper substitute which conserve on waste. It’s green being … green? But not really green in color?! You get what I mean!! Other changes were made for the visually impaired as well, featuring, embossed copy and dimensions would increase in length and thickness of paper as the notes value increased. Security elements would be built into the paper.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER
I haven’t done a book review in a while and this summer I have been reading a lot, so I decided now is as good a time as any. In between tackling some pretty heavy books, I like to throw in an easy read to give the old brain a break. Here I found a book that was not only easy but one of the best concepts I have heard of in a while.
What happens in a world where our 16th president, is living in a world that is about to burst at the seams over the conflict of slavery. Oh, wait… that did really happen! But what happens when in order to abolish slavery he has to confront the supporters behind that institution. Uh… that happened too! Well, what happens when the supporters and the driving force behind slavery are… , wait for it… , VAMPIRES!!!
Best concept ever! Written by the same author who wrote, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith rewrites history again with a supernatural twist. The premise of the story, begins with a down on his luck writer, unexpectedly gains possession of Abraham Lincoln’s diaries. In reading these priceless tomes, we find that the Honest Abe, we know and love has pledged his life to bring destruction to all vampires.
After discovering that the truth about the death of his mother being murder by a vampire, he vows vengeance. A torrid, tragic and oddly humorous story ensues. All in all, it is a simple read, nothing earth shattering. But it’s fun and interesting all the same. There are a few loose ends left at the end, but the book shouldn’t be taken so seriously. The publishers have also released an online trailer for the book. A funny short film that gives you an idea of what a kick-ass Vampire Hunter, Abraham Lincoln would have made. If you want something light and entertaining, this is definitely a good read.
RISING RAPUTRE + THA STATES LOGOS
I just finished completing a logo design for Tha States, a hip hop crew from Brooklyn. I got the work as a referral from the another logo design i did for the urban film production company, Rising Rapture. Tha States wanted an updated version to the logo they were already using and this is what I came up with.
Here’s the Rising Rapture logo I did.
Use can see the Rising Rapture logo on their Youtube channel (Click Screenshot below).
