COVER OF THE WEEK

This cover proves that giant titles aren't always needed. I dig!

Design by Christopher Brian King.
Published by Melville House
Available at Amazon

COVER OF THE WEEK

Beautiful lettering on this entire series.

Lettering by Jon Contino
Art Direction by John Gall
Published by Random House
Available at Amazon

COVER OF THE WEEK

I love Oliver Jeffers picture books. This new one being my favorite.

Design by Oliver Jeffers
Published by Philomel
Available at Amazon

NEW WORK: CAKE BOSS CAKES

I was asked to design a cake box package. I had no idea what I was getting into but I said, OK.

The client was so happy that I was asked to art direct and design what is now the story of Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro's, new line of cakes going nationwide. While not as edgy or innovative (due to many factors) as it could have been, it turned out ok. You can buy and taste the cakes inspired by Buddy in Hoboken now at your local grocery store.

I worked with the talented photographer Craig Cutler to shoot all the cakes. I love chocolate cake just as much as chocolate muffins.

For the creation of the ads I had the opportunity to go to Hoboken, NJ and direct a shoot with Buddy.

The concept was to show Buddy leaving Hoboken with fans and towns people in the background seeing him off.

Before I knew it ads were appearing in Real Simple and People magazine. This ad was shot in 3 parts by the award-winning photographer, Jim Fiscus.

And then ads appeared on People.com and other popular websites.

Last but not least came the microsite, CakeBossCakes.com.

With the launch of his new cakes Buddy decided to throw a party. You could win a party thrown by Buddy in your hometown.

You can also watch Buddy design and create his cakes on the hit show Cake Boss on TLC and follow him on Facebook.

Thanks for everyone that helped created this project and get it done.

I leave you with a little shot of Buddy leaving Hoboken and taking his cakes nationwide.

CHEERS FOUR FRIDAY

Candy Black ———————————————

Book Text Posters ———————————————

Damn Good ———————————————



The Forty Story ———————————————

COVER OF THE WEEK

OMG! Sweeeeet!

Design by Kathryn Macnaughton
Published by Penguin Publishing UK
Available at Amazon

COVER OF THE WEEK

A great cover and a great book (if you are a designer or interested in culture anyway).

Design by Ben Wiseman
Published by W. W. Norton & Company
Available at Amazon

CHEERS FOUR FRIDAY

It has been a while! Here ya go:

— Forbes finally figured it out. Welcome to the Era of Design.

— Want a cycling jersey? Design and send in a postcard!

— TOP 10 MOST READ BOOKS IN THE WORLD. How many have you read?

— The first ever trip around the world powered by the sun.

COVER OF THE WEEK

Excellent solution and love that everything is heavenly white.

Design by Oliver Munday
Published by Knopf
Available at Amazon

THE OFFICE - DESK

(Click to view larger)

After searching long and hard I finally found the perfect new desk. A vintage library table.

COVER OF THE WEEK

I just love this cover. It's so eye catching!

Design by Kimberly Glyder
Published by University of Nevada Press
Available at Amazon

COVER OF THE WEEK

For those baseball fans out there. A saw this for the first time last week. Amazing!

Design by Richard Ljoenes
Published by Lyons Press
Available at Amazon

COVER OF THE WEEK

A new favorite from designer, John Gall. Gorgeous!

Design by John Gall
Published by Vintage
Available at Amazon

NEW COVER DESIGN

Democracy of Sound
Democracy of Sound is the first book to examine music piracy in the United States from the dawn of sound recording to the rise of Napster and online file-sharing. It asks why Americans stopped thinking of copyright as a monopoly-a kind of necessary evil-and came to see intellectual property as sacrosanct and necessary for the prosperity of an "information economy." Recordings only became eligible for federal copyright in 1972, following years of struggle between pirates, musicians, songwriters, broadcasters, and record companies over the right to own sound. Beginning in the 1890s, the book follows the competing visions of Americans who proposed ways to keep obscure and noncommercial music in circulation, preserve out-of-print recordings from extinction, or simply make records more freely and cheaply available. Genteel jazz collectors swapped and copied rare records in the 1930s; radicals pitched piracy as a mortal threat to capitalism in the 1960s, while hip-hop DJs from the 1970s onwards reused and transformed sounds to create a freer and less regulated market for mixtapes. Each challenged the idea that sound could be owned by anyone. The conflict led to the contemporary stalemate between those who believe that "information wants to be free" and those who insist that economic prosperity depends on protecting intellectual property. The saga of piracy also shows how the dubbers, bootleggers, and tape traders forged new social networks that ultimately gave rise to the social media of the twenty first century. Democracy of Sound is a colorful story of people making law, resisting law, and imagining how law might shape the future of music, from the Victrola and pianola to iTunes and BitTorrent.

CHEERS FOUR FRIDAY

HAPPY WEEKEND!

— Can a Font Help a City Make a Comeback?

— Unjustified

— Unjustified Part II

— Daré alla Lucé by Canadian artist/photographer Amy Friend

COVER OF THE WEEK

So beautiful and clean. I love the use of Futura.

Design by Stuart Bache
Published by Sceptre
Available at Amazon

ON THE BORDER

I recently designed a 2012 Cinco de Mayo ad campaign for the restaurant On the Border. The project is a 30 day celebration of Cinco de Mayo titled 30 Days of Cinco and consists of in-store branding and web promotion.

Website (click to view)

Get free food and drink here. OTB on Facebook and Twitter.

WEDDING INVITE DESIGN

Click on images to view larger.

I don't do a lot of wedding invites but some friends asked and I couldn't say no. David and Suzannah are world travelers. I think they have been to more countries than I have been to states. So, we found it appropriate to design their invites as passports and tickets. There were a few hiccups (with printing) along the way but in the end the invites turned out well and the wedding day was a huge success. Congrats!

CHEERS FOUR FRIDAY

HAPPY FRIDAY!

– Are you a baseball fan? More importantly a Cincy Fan? Then you should probably get this iPhone app.

– A8 call for entries.

— I would love some of this furniture for the office.

— One of my new favorite places to eat in KC, Gram & Dun.

COVER OF THE WEEK

I love this series. In particular the illustration and author type design.

Design by Adam Johnson
Published by Harper Perennial
Available at Amazon