a dandy of an ad from our good friends over at hello health. it needs no explanation. and, if you live in the nyc area and are sans health insurance, do look into hello health. they are truly the future of health care.

tdba has updated with a site re-design and some fine new work. be sure to check out “superman vs. darth vader.” shut-upsicle. . . brilliant.

i’m always a tad jealous of this guy and all of the awesome vintage design pieces that he possesses, but i’m getting a turn now.

a couple of weeks ago, my grandmother, the indomitable marguerite dailey (evans) crafton (from whom my name comes), passed away after complications from hip surgery. she left a legacy of stalwartness, and a vast treasure trove of antique wonders. my brother and i were able to look through her possessions, to see if there was anything that we might like to have. . . and how.

i came away with multiple sculpted glass bowls and dishes, small ephemera like assorted pins, jewelry and cuff-links, and, as pertains to the live from bklyn blog, this 1913 marriage license from shelby co, tennessee (of which memphis is the county seat). i think it’s just beautiful.

and what better way to package then with packing tape? brilliant album packaging from brussels’ pleaseletmedesign.

paste magazine has a hot design for their new-music sampler this issue.

another beauty from jim hargreaves. jim is currently working as a graphic designer at barnhart communications in denver, co.

writes jim about this invitation, “this project was done in the spring on behalf of studio pattern, also in denver. the invitation was for a VIP champagne party hosted by casenet at the bubble lounge, san fran’s premier champagne bar.

the client’s only request was that it should reference champagne labels. instead of a literal translation, i created a hybrid between classic labels and modern invitation designs. i wanted the invitation to have a clean, metropolitan feel. the dot patterns were influenced by much of the city’s history of art deco, and they were also meant to resemble the tiny bubbles that are characteristic of champagne. the finishing touch was the the trolley seal, which was modeled after a mark found on an old trolley ticket.”

christopher koelle, or “chris,” as his close friends call him, has a fine piece of art-parrel for sale right this very moment at teefury.com. but you must hurry if you want one of your very own. for you see, at the time of this posting, there are only 14:52:59 left before the t-shirt is no longer available, and the link above will no longer link to chris’ tee, but to some, no doubt, much less dashingly handsome artist’s work (dashingly handsome, in this case, modifying the possessive noun “artist’s,” not the noun “work”). so no procrastinating on this one.

i saw the siglins’ wedding invitation hanging on my fridge yesterday, and thought, “that deserves a blog post.” so here it is. i would post a link to dave’s portfolio site, but he doesn’t have one. . . still. . . in 2008.

my friend christin sends tidings of this (orange)beautiful calendar. sweet idea to have the perforations to be able to save the typography as an art print. check out the rest of orangebeautiful’s offerings while you’re on their etsy page. the holiday card is just magnificent.

mark wagner is making his money work for him. check out his extensive collection of dollar bill cut and paste art. he’s also got some other great art mixed in. like this booklyn chapbook cover design. i just got that new york city poems book a week or so ago, and had planned on making a post about it. it’s kinda strange that i stumbled across the book’s artist at random.

when you order chinese food from new hong kong kitchen on grand st. in williamsburg, they put little pieces of cardboard from sliced up boxes between the food, presumably so that your sweet and sour chicken container does not crush your sesame chicken container. and i appreciate that.

last night as i was descending upon my sesame chicken and vegetable lo mein, i discovered this gem. there are three shots, so make sure to click through all of them.

it’s kinda funny to me, because that lettering looks like something that lucky brand jeans would do, and i can see them using chinese characters on a t-shirt or something. still, i’m led to believe that there is also a lucky brand chinese restaurant supply from whence this cardboard came.

at any rate, the lettering and the logo are really quite nice graphically. and i dig how the texture from the cardboard fibers shows through the ink. delicious.

erik jonsson is a very talented designer living in brooklyn, ny right now. another one of the young guns that i like to feature here at live from bklyn. but enough yakkin’ from me, below is a great interview that erik was kind enough to give. very thoughtful and intelligent answers.

dc: hyper island and more specifically creatives unlimited looks pretty awesome. elaborate on those two things for us.
ej: hyper island, the school that i went to, has a tradition since 13 years that requires every class to collectively produce a website marketing themselves prior to getting internships. its quite a spectacle as it usually involves 50-60 people just a few months into the school program, which creates a strange blend of over and under achievers, a huge sense of must-do’s and do-rights, and above all the urge to make a better site than the previous class.

i had the role as art director but found myself being more the creative director of the whole process. so rather than doing particular design decisions other than brief sketches and guidelines i held motivational speeches and tried to keep a creative grip on the whole production. it involved a ton of papervision production in flash, printed posters, flyers etc. and a 3-part viral documentary.

so to conclude the site, creatives unlimited, was made during a 2 month cycle and ended with a launch party in london. great experience for most of us. also worth mentioning about this project is that when we started to concept the interactive website 3D globes and planets had not yet exploded onto the scene. but when we launched 3-4 months after the ideation process these sites where already everywhere.

dc: that watercolor style that you have (as evidenced in “brasil cine”) is nice. is that digital or do you use traditional media to achieve that?
ej: it’s a style i’ve developed and elaborated with over a few years highly inspired by artists like scott hansen, fatone, barral fabien & shepard fairey. blending digital and analog medias i usually start with gathering assets like watercolor splashes, spraypaint, photography fitting for making stencils etc. draw and scan paint on paper.put into photoshop the most important factor of this is matching blend modes and multiplying brushes. the whole way of doing this, applying hundreds of layers, blending and color filtering to get a vintage and grunge feel to it probably consumes more time that is actually warranted but i love the general look of it.

dc: well-paying job / highly creative work. a lot of designers believe that generally you must choose one or the other, that there are exceptions, but that’s pretty much the rule. do you agree or disagree? give us the rationale for your position.
ej: depending on your personal definition of highly creative work, i’d say combining both is possible but usually comes with a ton of struggle attached. as a freelancer you probably see yourself doing creative work very much attuned to your personal ambitions and ideas, concepts and art is usually free of the burdens demanding commissioners or directors. but at the same time its very hard to challenge yourself in thinking and developing which is how our brain works. we are curious by nature but subconsciously we also strive for security and self affirmation which in my opinion often kills personal progression.

to exemplify my friend working at R/GA is in a team involved with nike. This puts him in long project cycles, often with more idea work and behind the scenes sketching than whats actually publicly seen. so he might not have as great an output of actual work in terms of amount of graphical manifestations in his portfolio as someone in a more unrestrained and free position of work has. But the rewards of being involved in a highly developed conceptual project and cutting edge technical platform a nike project provides, probably beats that of pushing out a constant stream jpgs as a freelancer.

i guess the best way of combining the two, if you have the skills, is to find a reasonably small studio with a high profile which brings both good money and great personal responsibility and involvement. not an easy task and if you don’t have a great education backing you, it might be close to impossible to get a good foothold. thus requiring a huge amount of talent and unique profiling work up in your portfolio.

but to be rational here in all this rambling, i’d say striving to combine high pay with highly creational work is what drives us to do what we do. we move between desks and we try to better ourselves to make a larger imprint on those around us graphically.

dc: what the devil is up with my header going all whacky but only in firefox on a mac and only when viewing a single post as opposed to the mainpage? i know i used a table there and that’s bad web design anymore, but it was laziness. still shouldn’t go all funny like that. it’s really starting to drive me crazy.
ej: cross browsing problem solving is the modern plague. i try not to get close =)

dc: for a few minutes i thought you were younger than me and that really made me angry because your portfolio is rather advanced and i couldn’t stand the thought of being upstaged (i’m looking at you, sam gerdt). turns out we’re the exact same age. notwithstanding, your portfolio is still very robust. What is the recipe for that kind of proliferation of quality design?
ej: i could never look at my own work and say that i really like it or feel that it’s sufficient. i think that is part of it maybe. i struggle a lot with quality and scrap a ton of my work. a result of a lot of working from home without good, spontaneous external input.

it’s a damage i’ve done to myself and I have a hard time laying it off. when i started drawing on computers in 95 there was no internet like we know it now. you could not find millions of 300dpi photos 3 clicks away and all fonts you could get your hands on sucked. so the progression to where i am today is way longer than those coming into the scene after 2000 or even a couple of years ago. so i myself look upon those many years younger than me and yet years ahead in quality =). and i can’t really do anything about it than force myself to work harder and be even more wary of what i publish.

dc: ok, so i am gonna give you one question that was the same as marco’s; what’s one lesson that you’ve had to learn the hard way as a designer? how would you do it differently the next time?
ej: don’t hesitate to follow trends and embrace criticism and input. some are for sure but most of us are not islands. if i could start over i would definitely look up on graphic design more openly than i did the first time over.

dc: being creative and creating; what steps do you take to make sure that you are actually producing instead of just thinking up pie-in-sky ideas all day?
ej: i usually take time out away from the computer to do the more conceptual parts of my work. when i’m commuting, standing in line, jogging or whatever i try to think about ways around my problems, new scopes or ideas which i later can imprint on paper or on the screen. something i have come to learn over the years is that it’s close to impossible to start with a white canvas in photoshop and expect good ideas to come instantly. you need inspiration and time away from the screen to think about stuff as much as you need inspiration from other sources. and more practically, i’m usually overproducing stuff, trying to manifest all ideas i get at least as a rough sketch. this usually leaves me with a lot of produced material. not always fit for public eyes but still leaves me generally satisfied. design is almost as good an outlet for ideas as music so i try to make good use of it =)

dc: when you’re not designing, what are you doing?
ej: tough question. i’ve found myself doing less and less things apart from photoshop these days. i read a lot of books from time to time. and especially literature that keeps me on the edge and brings more great visions to what i work with. stuff like gibson’s cyberpunk novels usually. but also a lot of late 1800 early 1900 authors like joseph conrad and rudyard kipling. and of course living in NYC in general and brooklyn in particular rarely leaves you without some place to go and something to see =).

dc: what is your favorite north american bird?
ej: i think the mallard. modest and humble bird =)

dc: if you could get in the face of every designer world wide and just yell at the top of your lungs one thing that they really, really needed to remember, what would that one thing be?
ej: i think a quote from someone in fFutura back in the early 2000 would fit nicely.
“stop milking styles, you are killing it” or perhaps ian anderson from TDR who spat out “destroy minimalism” at some point.

good grief. will someone please tell this woman to slow down and let the rest of us catch up? i mean there’s ornament and typography, and then there’s marian bantjes. her penchant for fabulously detailed and intricate ornament is just ridiculous. i give you the design ignites change poster, v1. there’s a v2 on her site too, if you care to browse around to find it.

oh starbucks, what a quandary you’ve put me in. so many reasons to hate you (like your quest for coffee hegemony), so many reasons to love you. like this tub that your perfect oatmeal comes in. simple, yet ornate. modern in design, classic in production. not only are the ornaments perfect in execution, but you also achieved press ink texture and a thickened ink edge without using mr. retro’s permanent press filters. you did it purely. a luxury that so many of us dream of, but alas, have no budget for. the oatmeal was right tasty too. curse you starbucks! and bless you too. i’m so torn.

this one’s mainly for those of us who live in the nyc area, but if you’re having a hard time getting your design fill, visit 8 days a week and you can find enough design events to consume til you burst. thanks again to tim french for the link.

this is cool. i am lazy. the end.

i usually fancy myself a design purest, meaning that i think it better to achieve a certain processed look by actually using that process, rather than simulate it digitally. but i must say, i am quite taken with the effects of the mr. retro permanent press filters. i don’t like digital simulations because it’s usually easy to tell that it is faked. but these filters are really quite convincing. i think i’ll go so far as to say that i love them. yeah, i love them. thanks to tim french for the link.

so i’m bending my own rules a bit to discuss some great new music that i came across, but they are my rules, so i suppose i can do what i want with them.

so gileah and the ghost train. if i had to sum up gileah’s music with one word, it would be haunting. but it’s like gileah is haunted by a holy ghost rather than an evil spirit, if you get my drift. it’s like she’s headed down a road that leads to misery, but there’s a a presence she can’t shake who’s goal it is to keep her from that.

gileah also conveys a good deal of urgency in most of the songs she writes, imploring us to listen and take action.

i don’t want to give everything away. i do want to say do yourselves a favor and buy this self-titled masterpiece by gileah and the ghost train.

glieah also has some killer floral illustration on her myspace page, so there’s a little design chat for you too.

wayne brezinka, who’s work has appeared on this blog before, has started a blog where he posts his current works and studies in illustration and design. wayne makes super duper use of traditional media in his work, so for some fine examples, be sure to pay a visit.

i remember the days when i was a just grunt designer at bju creative services and bryan rees was an even gruntier grad assistant. now bryan is a big shot creating things like this mean-lean-clean-needs-to-be-seen operational standards workbook. no, i have no idea how i ended up such a dork, but i guess that’s one thing the graphic design world is never short of.

thomas of chop shop frequently leaves comments here at lfb, so i think the man deserves a little exposure. i don’t know why i haven’t featured chop shop before. at any rate, i dig the desk jockey (click header) shirt that chop shop has available on their site. i think they’ve got a great original style.

today we have an interview with marco suarez, whose work has been featured on this blog, and whom you may know from websites like “marcosuarez.com,” “marco suarez’s behance profile,” and “marco suarez’s facebook profile.” i know i know, but basically what i’m sayin’ is that marco is a killer designer that deserves more press than he’s gettin’. i’m going to begin using this blog as a platform to give as much of a voice as i can to some lesser-known-but-still-quite-awesome designers. visit marco’s portfolio link above to view and purchase prints, as well as to listen to his music.

marco lives in greenville, sc with his wife, michelle.

dailey crafton: what is your favorite commercial piece that you’ve done so far, as well as favorite personal piece, and why?
marco suarez: My favorite commercial piece is a brochure I did for the Salvation Army. It started out as their annual report, but it evolved into a 20-page brochure with a smaller 8-page insert that contained statistical information. We wanted to remind the community who The Salvation Army was and what they’re doing. We interviewed people who worked at The Army and used their stories to try to motivate people to support The Army. It was a very moving piece that was consistent from cover to cover.
As far as my favorite personal piece, probably “Painted Tree.” I think it’s a very pretty piece. There’s no deep meaning to it. I just think it came out really nice.

dc: tell us a little about the technique that you use to create pieces like “floating forest,” “painted trees,” etc.
ms: Both pieces evolved from the idea of taking natural elements and putting them in unnatural settings. I love texture, so that played a very big role in the creation of both pieces. I took a technique I was using in my commercial designs and used it in a fine art setting. I love the texture that paints, printed ink and papers give to fine art. Obviously that gets lost when something is digital, so I tried to bring those elements back into the design. And I tried to use them to form the composition. “Floating Forest” came very quickly. I had in my head exactly what I wanted. “Painted Tree” took a while. I had a difficult time getting the colors right. But I love the idea of using ink to serve as the leaves of the tree.

dc: you are a musician as well as a designer. how do the two influence and inform one another?
ms: I struggled for a long time thinking I had to choose one or the other, until I came to the realization that I could pursue both. I’m equally musician and artist. I think it’s very common for an artist to have more than one medium. Many poets are good photographers. And many painters are good sculptors. There are things about communicating an emotion or an idea that you learn in music that can be applied to a design piece and visa versa. The way a song is structured is very similar to the way a design is structured. I’m not sure if I’ve ever consciously come up with a song after being inspired by a design, but I think working through a song has helped me learn how to work through a design. And it has helped me learn how to better communicate myself.

dc: what makes bono so awesome? (not that i think he’s not awesome. he is. but what does it for you?)
ms: Haha, well, I’m a fan of U2 and Bono. They’re my favorite band. And anyone who has listened to just one of their songs knows that they are a political band. But it is not the typical stick-it-to-the-man-for-trying-to-keep-us-down kind of political. It is a, things-are-messed-up-but-you-don’t-have-to-become-a-monster-in-order-to-defeat-a-monster kind of political. Their songs deal with the down and dirty of life; whether it’s love, the loss of a loved one, political unrest or faith. Their songs are a bright light in a very, very dark world. And with over 25 years of radio play, they are still creating fresh songs that are artistic, intelligent, relevant, and accessible. And if you have ever been to a U2 concert, you will know why I’m a big fan. Honestly, I think a U2 concert is a small glimpse of what heaven will be like. Not that we’ll be singing U2 songs, but being with 20,000 other people who are screaming with elation with arms raised singing anthemic songs about going to a place where no streets have names makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
And no matter what you think of Bono and how “Christian” he is, you can’t deny that he took the teachings of Christ literally concerning the widow, the poor and the orphaned. He made it cool to sponsor a charitable organization. And he was and still is one of the loudest voices concerning the situation in Africa. He believes celebrity is currency. And he would rather spend that currency on making the world a better place than sponsoring a soda or a face cream.

dc: what is the coolest pair of sunglasses bono has ever worn? (if you could provide an image, that would be stellar.)
ms: Oh, without a doubt the fly shades. These were so outrageous they were borderline absurd. He wore these in the early 90’s. In the late 80’s, the media was scolding U2 for being so serious and political. So they decided to give the media what they wanted and go to the other extreme and have some fun poking fun at decadence and hedonism. Thus an alter ego was created called, The Fly. They loved pushing the envelope to reveal how ridiculous a particular lifestyle or way of thinking was. Why is a rock band that sings about sex and drugs labeled rebellious when it is expected of rock bands to sing about that? Isn’t a rock band that sings about God and seeing love through truly rebellious? Those were Bono’s words. Frankly I’m glad they’re through those stages. I’m really excited about their next album. I think they’ve finally found their voice.

dc: what’s one lesson that you’ve had to learn the hard way as a designer? how would you do it differently the next time?
ms: You’re accountable. There’s power in the art you create. You have to be able to take the criticism or the consequence. I don’t like the idea of art becoming mechanical or so commercial that artists forget the power they have to move people through their art. But specifically, one personal project was heavy on ambition and low on delivery. And the message was lost because of my lack of executing it well. You have got to remember that not everyone interprets the same. And you can’t always be there to interpret it for them. So make your message clear.

dc: what, in your opinion is totally messed-up about the graphic design industry and what should we do to fix it?
ms: It disturbs me that graphic designers aren’t appreciated as much as other artists. I do believe that not every graphic designer is a true artist. I know many designers who understand the technical side but don’t necessarily understand the creative side. But I’m talking about the ones who are creating the trends and pushing their creativity and producing magnificent work. It seems their work isn’t valued as much as other artistic mediums. When viewing one of my prints, I had one lady tell me, “Oh that’s done on the computer? I could do that.” What? It has taken me almost 10 years to develop my style. Just as long as any painter or photographer. It’s not how the piece was created that makes it art. Or even the technical ability. But it is the fact that it is creative, good, beautiful and true. Some friends scoff when viewing a Jackson Pollock. “Anyone could do that”, they say. Yes, anyone probably could. But it takes someone special to be the first to think it up.
How to fix this? Don’t let your work become devalued. It is very easy to hide a lack of creativity behind the shroud of design plagiarism. Don’t rehash the same designs like a factory pumping out mediocre work. Push yourself creatively. Make it a habit to be aware of what’s happening in your community and culture. That’s a great place to learn how to stay relevant and fresh. There are some really exciting things happening in the design world. And it’s even more exciting to be a part of it.

dc: say something funny.
ms: In the words of my two-year-old nephew, “poopie eyeball.”

dc: what kind of things do you do to ensure that you continue to grow as a graphic designer and improve/expand your skill set?
ms: I watch. I watch everything. I watch the way the wind blows through trees and the way light bounces through a glass. I love watching people. People are fascinating. I try to pull as much inspiration from nature as I can but I like to see what’s coming out of the worlds of fashion, architecture, interior design and even music. But most importantly, I try to stay in tune with my community. What’s going on in my town? How can I use that in my work? How can I stay relevant? I do just as much research as I do designing. I think I might be addicted to surfing the Internet. But as soon as I see a particular style being used on television or on a billboard, I drop it and start working on the next idea. A classic example is the font Porcelain by Misprinted Type. I loved that font and used it as much as I could years ago. Now I see it on t-shirts at Target. I stopped using it after that. I don’t want to be that old designer guy who’s entirely out of touch and doesn’t understand why he can’t get any jobs.

dc: next step; what’s the dream, man? where do you want this all to go? what steps are you taking, or do you plan to take to achieve that?
ms: Man, I’d like to know that as much as you do. That’s a difficult question. I try to keep clear in my head why I do what I’m doing. Is it to glorify myself? Is it to bring another company more money? I am an artist but I don’t necessarily want to be defined as an artist. I want to be defined as a person who inspires, who loves, who gives grace and is full of faith. I often fail at living that out. But that is my desire. As far as what I do 9-5? I’m becoming more and more restless working for a design firm. Though I’m very content in my current situation, I don’t feel I’m utilizing my skills to their full ability. I’m working toward making my fine art where I spend most of my time. I still enjoy offering my talents to business owners in my community, but I don’t want commercial art to be my main source of income. And as far as music goes, I’m still writing and recording my own music. I hope to have another album out by the end of the year. You can listen to a few of the tracks on my website. But who knows what will happen in the future. I still haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up. But I’m fine not knowing what is three steps ahead of me. As long as I can see my next step, I’ll be fine.

thanks for a great interview, marco. i hope to have an interview with erik jonsson very soon. erik, if you’re reading, sorry i haven’t sent the questions to you yet. they’ll be coming soon and they won’t be the same as marco’s, so don’t try to cheat.

samantha wiley has really got a handle on her typography, as evidenced by these beer desktop backgrounds.

sam is moving to new york very soon, and is looking for a gig, so if anyone reading this is hiring, be sure to click the link above to review her portfolio. you can also see her portfolio on the behance network.

joshua smith of hydro74 has created a brilliant poster for the smashing pumpkins. joshua nails the hand-lettering and ornament, going so far as to include the wave pattern within the type. stellar.

please take a little time today to remember those we lost in the 9/11 attacks. but don’t stop there, if you see a fire-fighter or police officer today, thank them for the job they do. or maybe go seek one out and tell them. maybe even make a donation to the families that lost loved ones on that day. remembering and reflection is great. actions are better.

a couple of weeks ago i received this activist kit (click header) from chris at everythingisok.com, based in san francisco. the website is great, with links to a lot of “take action to change your world” resources, and this kit is nice bit of irony to help get that word out. the main component of the kit is a roll of crime scene tape that says “everything is ok.” i think it’s brilliant, but i’m still trying to decide where to use it. there’s a department of health building down that street from that looks like it could use a bit of this tape. i also work one block from the jp morgan and bear stearns corporate offices, so i don’t think the irony would be lost if i used it on the doors of those building either, but the long arm of the law would not have to reach very far to grab me there at all. so, i’m kind of shying away from that option.

if anyone has a good idea, let me know. i’ll post pictures back up here after the deed is done.

a few days ago while using the ever-handy stumble upon tool bar, i came across the above image (click header). unfortunately, the image isn’t anywhere to be found on the actual website (zee.com.br) with any sort of corresponding info. i’ve scoured the web looking for the source of this mystery whale image, because i love the wood textures used and i think it would look super in my young daughter’s room if i were able to purchase a print somewhere. but alas, i’ve only come across this fellow, who links back to zee.com.

if anyone knows of the origins of this marvelous piece of work, please let me know. i will make you the live from bklyn hero or heroin of the day.

i’m finally back blogging here at live from bklyn. i will again be posting regularly and i’ve already got some great content lined up, so check back every now and again.

click on the banner above to see the “i’m tryna walk here” print from frankenstyles (stephen kelleher), a fellow brooklynite, an irishman and design|illustrator extraordinaire. i have a mild obsession with the old buildings here in nyc, so this poster makes me quite happy.

i’ll also take a moment today to link to my friend katie coston’s pottery site. no it’s not print design, but she’s really got some fantastic work and i’d like to see her succeed, so i’m trying to help her along in that respect. it’s definitely worth checking out.

and yes, i know my header is still whack when you browse to an individual post on a mac when using firefox. i thought maybe the update to firefox 3 would fix that but it didn’t. and i’m tired of trying to figure out what the problem is. i suppose that’ll teach me for still trying to use tables.

i’m working on going full-time with live from bklyn, so i’ve not had the time to devote to blogging. when i escape this hi-rise and settle into williamsburg, i promise i’ll be back.

the public theater in new york have placed these ads (click header) all over the subway and buses and other places in the city and for that i am very glad. obviously a great concept with the ornamental hair on the skull and a dandy bit of execution too. i don’t know who designed them though. if anyone has any information on that subject please comment.