Man, the last couple weeks have been crazy! The HIVE received some really great press in the UT and in CityBeat and the place has been packed the last couple of days. I’m having a great time getting to know every one, building relationships and working in such a dope space.
Lately I have been doing a lot of work for Holiday Matinee, “a global lifestyle agency handling PR, grassroots marketing, artist management, brand advising and event marketing.” Gareth and I were asked to design a background for their twitter page and it’s been fun working on a new angle for their Artist Series line of tees. I’m working on a few other exciting projects as we speak and I’ll be posting new work shortly. For now Check out the twitter background and the posters and photos for HM’s Artist Series I’ve been working on:
Henry is one of the coolest cats I know - I remember interviewing him for a job at WAFFO back in ‘07. He came in wearing a suit and tie with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, he’s soft spoken but he left an impression on me and me laugh so from then on we worked side by side on the printing press for about two years. Henry would ride his beat up Diamond Back road bike to work Downtown everyday from Imperial and Euclid aka ‘the hood.’ His bike frame cracked right about the same time Waffo’s business frame cracked so he had to find new mode of transit(and a new job). Last week I saw him walking up the hill on Broadway in Golden Hill with skate board in hand -
“Henry! whats up dude?! where you walkin to?”
“I’m on way home”
“Damn, thats a long walk”
My good buddy Keegan always seems to have one-too-many bikes laying around so we both sorta came up with the idea that if anyone needs anything - Henry needs a bike. So yesterday, after I got off work Keegan picked me up with a bike in the back of his car and delivered it to Henry at his house - got it all fixed up - gave him a couple jack-of-spades playing cards for his spokes - Henry is ready to rock once again!… nice
So the new Cafe is open for business, I’m stoked that I have been tasked with formulating their new identity. I don’t want to sound full of myself or anything but I really feel that I’m the right guy for the job, I’ve been coming to this cafe since I was 4 or 5 with my mom and I’m just glad that I can work on a project that I care about while making a difference in my favorite neighborhood- Yesterday I got chance to sample some of the fare… oh man the Pio Pico Tacos are supposedly vegetarian but I don’t believe them - either way they are the BOMB, thanks Jade for recommending them. Down below is a little preview of the menu, website & logos I designed:
Before you ridicule me for all of my generic IKEA furniture - I want you to know that I am poor and cannot afford mid-century anything so this is as good as I can do… also, i want you to know that i got all of it secondhand from either craigslist or from friends. Recycle, Re-use, whats the third R? I just rearranged my room and it feels alot bigger even though i have a big desk in it now - have a look.
I had a chance to visit the opening of Homing In on friday night at The Quint Gallery in La Jolla - it was a pretty good show. The usual suspects, Neo Linear Decoist, Micheal Armstrong (or whatever he calls it) and his cronies were there and it was great seeing my old photo professor Phillip Ritterrman there. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of his pieces hanging up and I got to talk with him for a while (hopefully i hadn’t had to much to drink by that time). I don’t know who hired the band but it might have well been me sitting on a stool singing cheesy pop songs all night - no good, not for this ultra-critical crowd. I really like the poster and wish that I could have designed it. You should go take a look at the show - its open ’till July 11th
At theHIVE yesterday the crew and I entered in a photo contest for Hansen’s Soda. It was supposed to have a beach theme… we tried our best in the office. I’m pretty proud of the out come, it makes me laugh and its way better than those cheesy beach photos on their website. Go to the website and vote for us 3x and tell all your friends Click Here
Gareth and I just launched a limited run of summer t-shirts! Our buddy, Ben at iconic silkscreen, helped us out with printing. I have to admit, I loved working at WAFFO but I’m also pretty happy with the team that has formed out of its demise. It seems Gareth, Beau, Ben and I can get allot more done independently - however the downside is that i have traded a steady paycheck for the freedom to do/create what ever I want. This tends to be a hassle. However the only thing I have learned in my economics class thus far is this - There are two things in life that increase our utility (or our general happiness): Buying stuff we want and doing stuff we want… the ONLY way we can buy stuff we want is through working. Comparatively, the ONLY way we can do stuff we want is by NOT working (or by having free time). Free time is equally as valuable - the most wealthy people are often ‘broke’ in terms of free time… I’m going to continue to try and find some sort of healthy medium.
Our shirts can be purchased here, if you can afford it you should consider buying allot of them, remember?.. buying stuff makes you happy! Also these are a limited run of 72 shirts which means there are only 24 of each design! Get some. If you can’t or don’t want to buy one that’s OK, just tell a friend about us won’t you?
I just finished designing the flyer for the official after party for Culture & Cocktails hosted by Urban Renewal Projekt, I thought you might be interested to see it. Culture & Cocktails is put on by SDMA - Beau & Sergio are DJing and then hosting the after party so i helped them out with the flyer. C&C starts at 6pm and ends at 9 and then the after party will be at the Laurel Restaurant & Bar directly following. I will see you there (I’m also going to be playing some tracks before URP take the booth)
Front
Back
I just came home from an awesome week in Haarlem in the Netherlands. The place is old, and literally ages rich in history. It is debated that Laurens Coster (Dutch rival of Johannes Gutenberg) invented typography in Haarlem. There’s your fun fact of the day. I’m definitely going back, probably to France next. I plan to visit a friend in Nice and then make a stop in Lyon to visit another before I exit via Paris. That is more of a fantasy than an actual plan; i have to figure out who’s money i can use before I start booking fights. More like I have to pay off my last trip before I can begin saving for the next.
Either way Kayla and I had blast and it was great to see my friends and meet so many new ones. Well i decided to post a few key photos that I think describe the trip pretty well. I also posted i scan of my favorite souvenir - a graphite rubbing I made of one of the Haarlem water line covers.
Our good friends and rad Dj’s, Sergio Hernandez and Beau Kitchens (Urban Renewal Projekt) played an awesome party at Bar Basic down in East Village on the other night. Gareth and I just finished designing their press-pack and identity as a whole. I took some photos at the event and thought I’d give you a looksy:
