December brought some fun stuff. I provided the artwork for Death Cab For Cutie's cover of Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home). Inspired by the first lyrics of the song—"The snow's coming down, I'm watching it fall". I focused on a snowy scene in an eyeball. Barsuk Records released the single and you can listen to it everywhere. The month was busy with show posters as well. First, a poster celebrating the return of the Crocodile. Second, a show poster for Jeff Rosenstock at The Vera Project alongside a wrestling match! Lastly, a hometown holiday show for The Story So Far at UC Theatre. One of the biggest questions of our lives... Keychains are available at Porchlight and online via Porchlight Design Co. Inspired by airline posters of the past, I designed a small Seattle poster using a 35mm slide from my book Washington. It's available via Porchlight Design Co. Lastly, a three-color art print as an ode to pink bathrooms everywhere. Available via Porchlight Design Co.
In early November I designed the new seasonal Fall poster to put up at Porchlight. It features a very happy dog and a very unsuspecting pile of leaves.
I also designed a poster for the wonderful Sera Cahoone. Her show was at the Tractor and we decided on a cowboy-themed print to fit the mood.
Over the summer. I released some music for the first time in many, many years. The second video from the album is for the song "Headless". It's a layered video of grainy flowers and toy cars trucking along that I filmed and edited at home.
Next, a holiday poster for Jesse Butterworth's big show in Kirkland.
Anna and Jasmine joined forces to create Soul Care School, a yoga training business, and asked me to create a logo for them. We all agreed that this combination of colors and imagery fit the mood they were looking for.
November brought a brand new volume of Mid Seattle. The cover features the spire of Bowlero bowling alley, designed by Marshall Perrow in the Tacoma/Lakewood area. Volume 6 includes a very happy enamel pin to go along with it.
Lastly, a few of my favorite photos of the month.
October brought some new can designs for the pals at Neshaminy Creek Brewing. The first is somewhat self explanatory—"Opposing Bookends" and the second is based on the brewery's nosey neighbors—"Sultana Sandra". If you're on the East Coast, drink 'em up! These totes may look great, but sadly they sold out VERY quickly. Thanks to everyone that grabbed one! Every few months I design a new seasonal poster that hangs on the wall at Porchlight, for October, I brought out this spooky guy. In October, I also did the Monster Mash... At Fantagraphics, Robin Edwards (Lisa Prank) curated a very fun Monster Mash themed art show. "Listening Booth" was my contribution... And lastly, my favorite photo from the month of October:
September brought a fun custom project–a wedding "show poster" for a couple in Chicago. The soon-to-be-newlyweds are big fans of the Northwest, Midwest and some of the bands I've designed posters for, so they wanted a poster that combined these things and looked like a concert poster. I drew inspiration from old travel posters to combine their love for the two regions along with their love of travel in the form of an illustrated paper airplane. The City of Seattle and the Vera Project commissioned me to design a shirt welcoming folks back to the city after long COVID closures. This design was printed by the folks at the Vera Project in limited numbers. I love designing for Take Care Yoga because I so often and so easily see eye to eye with owners Anna and Joel in creating what they're envisioning. We have a great understanding of the "vibe" one another sees and it makes for a fun design process. I also took these photos after the printing had been completed. As a very casual, very bad golfer, I loved coming up with these fun designs for Nation Golf in Southern California. Nation is an incredible brand that doesn't take itself too seriously while enjoying the game. Grab one of these tees or one of their mid-century-inspired polos at nationgolfco.com/ Lastly, a few of of my favorite photos from the month...
August brought a variety of fun stuff. First was some repeating fencing for the VIP area of Marymoor Park's concerts, hosted by AEG. The Pines provides a sweet, comfortable VIP experience and I was more than happy to create the fencing (based on their signage) to add to the ambiance. Next up is some branding for interiors organizer Mess Mgmt. I came up with a logo featuring two hands arranging the words "MESS MGMT". The hands are meant to evoke the organizational way we tidy up a countertop or mold shapes the way we want them. A fun poster for the pals in Hey Marseilles, playing their first show in a LONG time. This month, I also did something I haven't done in quite some time–I released an album. Every now and then I record some lo-fi music and get help from friends. The project is called Pretty Old (a name stolen from a Jawbreaker song). I also created a little video for the first "single" from the album, which premiered on KEXP. Read the article here. Lastly, a few of my favorite photos from August.
July was a bit poster heavy. It started off with a poster for El Corazon, a venue I grew up going to, even back before it changed from Graceland to its current name. See Tickets recently took over the ticketing duties for a handful of US venues and commissioned this "show poster" advertising El Corazon becoming part of the See Tickets family. Next, a poster for New Pornographers. The band planned a tour in which each city gets two evenings to celebrate their first two albums. This show has since been postponed to October, but I designed this Northwest-focused ferry show poster for my pals Ben Gibbard and David Bazan, two of the best the Northwest has to offer. I designed this one for Tomo Nakayama so that we could finally celebrate and have a release show for his wonderful album "Melonday" on Porchlight Records. In my opinion, a disco ball moon is the best way to represent it. To round out the month, a fun shirt that only the few and proud will understand: Seattle Swim Club. Lastly, some of my favorite photos from July...
I've been a bit busy and haven't had a ton of time to recap the last few months, so here's the June 2021 recap being posted at the end of August...
Brand new Porchlight two-color tote bag design featuring a server's hand bringing all that you could ask for–a plate of vinyl and coffee. They're available in-store at Porchlight, as well as online at Porchlight Design Co.
A fun little square poster for the pals at Fast Times Presents, featuring French Cassettes, Juan Wayne and Caitlin Cobb-Vialet at the Rickshaw in San Francisco.
The folks at Take Care Yoga started hosting the Belltown Barefoot Market, a literal barefoot makers market inside of the yoga studio. I created the logo for the event and incorporated their standing logo which features an eye inside of a silhouette.
This month I also created a couple happy pink two-color prints, available at Porchlight Design Co.
My biggest project yet took me about two years to complete and in June it finally came to life. "Washington" is a book of amateur photography taken between 1942 and 1979 in the Evergreen State.
The images inside are intended as glimpse of the state's structures, people and life during the 1940s through the end of the 70s in Washington State. You'll find Pike Place Market in 1966, downtown in earlier decades, Volunteer Park in the 1940s and 60s, and a whole lot more throughout King County and all over Washington. I found, scanned, retouched and researched every slide in the book to fill 166 pages and couldn't be prouder of how it turned out. The book is a softcover with raised glossy lettering on the cover, a printed interior cover and full color throughout. Below you'll find a video I made to show the details as well as an instrumental soundtrack I recorded earlier.
And lastly, my favorite photos from the month of June...
Finally getting around to the May recap...now that it's July... First, was a poster for Sammy Hagar and and his annual fundraiser for the Pediatric Cancer Program at UCSF. Typically a large live event at San Francisco's Fillmore, this year's Acoustic 4 A Cure was held in a much smaller private residence and then live-streamed. The poster required a lot of text and also needed to stick with the theater theme of past posters. This was the result: This month also brought a couple new greeting card designs for Porchlight, which are available only in-store. Next is the third bonsai enamel pin I've created for the Pacific Bonsai Museum here in Washington. They're a wonderful organization to work with. If you need pins for your own company, just get in touch here. All pins that I design are produced in partnership with a small factory with which I have a wholesale relationship, so you get the best deal with the least amount of legwork. Splitting time between a very, very social job running Porchlight and very screen-heavy design work, I'm often looking for quick and quiet road trips alone. This last one started in Seattle and went through Eastern Washington, Bend, Redding, Eureka and back up the coast, almost entirely on highways other than I-5. I took a lot of photos, listened to music, listened to Mariners games, and ate a lot of burritos. A fairly curated selection of photos is over in the Porchlight Design Co. Photo Journal and others are below.
Last month I finished up some branding for Crabbleboard Club–the folks that will teach you how to sustainably and safely go crabbing from a paddle board. The design was inspired by old seafood menus and matchbooks from way back when. Follow 'em and be ready when the warm weather comes around! Next is a small addition to the Porchlight Design Co. shop. The perfect little companion to spare keys–The Motel Keychain. Enjoy your stay. While in-person music is slowly starting to be scheduled, the drive-in movie/music combo has been a go-to in early 2021. San Francisco's Roxie hosted a viewing of the Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" with live music by Andrew St. James. This poster was for digital marketing, as opposed to actual poster printing. When Oddfellows decided to go into a restaurant hibernation for a couple months due to the pandemic, they asked me to create a giant billboard to let people know that they'd see 'em soon...and soon has already arrived. That meant it was time for a new billboard. I wanted to tie in with the first billboard, so I used the same sunshine happy guy in the background, but with new colors and a new slogan. I suggested "We Saved You A Seat!" with the Oddfellows bright white bistro chairs and drew inspiration from European travel posters. Lastly, a handful of photos I took during the month of April:
Because I was too slow to post my February recap in time, and due the fact that many of these projects blurred from February into March, this will be a little two month recap. First off is a beer can for Neshaminy Creek Brewing. The main guideline for this design was to feature mischievous skeletons causing trouble. I decided to have those rapskullions hijacking a delivery truck full of hops, jumping out of windows, and one even left an arm (and some hops) behind. The beer is only available on the east coast, but it's getting great reviews.
Back in February, a wonderful organization leading the charge in documenting and preserving modern architecture in America, docomomo, asked me to create a small Seattle guide and takeover their Instagram for a day. I chose five of my favorite pieces of architecture within a five mile radius and used photos I've taken over the last couple years. Read more here.
At Porchlight, we sold out of almost all of our mug designs so it was time to come up with a new one. Inspired by old matchbooks, I made a little Northwest-joke mug advertising Porchlight's close proximity to the oh-so-warm waters of Puget Sound. I used the same design to update our light box sight at the shop as well.
As a big ol' fan of the Devil, I thought he'd make a good coffee salesman. These 18" x 24" prints were expertly printed by Broken Press here in Seattle. You can find them at Porchlight Design Co. To promote the new print, I made a quick video and recorded a soundtrack to accompany it.
Recently a client commissioned a print of the historic Delware County Courthouse in Iowa. This one took a long, long time.
And lastly, a handful of my favorite photos from the last couple months.
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