entries Tagged as [events]

FUSE, then TYPO

In 1998 I attended this over-the-top crazy creative conference in San Francisco.

It was called FUSE: Beyond Typography and it was a Neville Brody gig, named for his font magazine. The whole shebang overstuffed itself into San Francisco’s Masonic Center on Nob Hill. And what happened inside was really ‘beyond typography,’ in that the typophiles I knew were complaining where’s the type? It made sense. It was BEYOND.

It was many days. I think a week. Maybe a month, a year? I don’t remember. Nob Hill is up in the clouds, which was fitting. But what I do know is the speakers – which ranged from budding architects Zaha Hadid and Michael Sorkin to author Karrie Jacobs and a slide show from soon-to-pass-on Tibor Kalman – left me recharged about graphic design and what a real creative can do.

Then, turned out the week of FUSE Phil Hartman died.

And

2001 changed everything.

And the economic disaster that followed also put a lot of creative plans on hold. I quit my corporate job right after FUSE and moved on to more meaningful work, eventually landing in teaching. I kept doing the fun work, but bread-n-butter work started to take over. Survival became more important as creativity was pushed aside.

In 2007 I left my position as president of the Art Directors and Artists Club of Sacramento and from a distance, saw it shut down early 2012. BUT I did remember the spark of FUSE (which was a money-loser for the organizers) and kept side projects going. I started this very blog, released a few fonts. [Read more →]

Bauhaus. World Changing. Education. Media.

I will be giving a talk on April 19 at American River College. Covered will be the history of the Bauhaus (1919-33).

And as an add-on, I’ll be subtly previewing how the Bauhaus, Futurism and early Modern Art has inspired my new educational project, FLomm: THE BATTLE For MODeRN 1923 (which already has a tumblr presence here and twitter here).

For additional information, please visit the Art New Media at American River College Facebook page here.

Concrete Angel

Gareth Emery. Feat Christina Novelli. Concrete Angel.

Trance. With subtle typography. February 16 in San Francisco.

‘Keep the Change’

‘New landscape for big banks’

Mother Nature Network looks at today’s banking landscape. Original post here.

Found via Shandi Pierzina

Project Runway 9, Forever Darling 4

‘One of them just walked off the show and the other just dropped dead.’ -said my wife, Thursday night

Something interesting happened this week on Project Runway. And it wasn’t Cecilia throwing in the towel or Oliver collapsing on a track at the Armory. Nor was it the general bitchiness from teams Joshua or Anthony Ryan.

Heidi Klum actually gave the designers MORE TIME to complete their work. And for the first time this season, I was able to see what I came for: Some good fashion design. Not great, but good.

(Okay, the first challenge was really good, but there was a drop off after that)

A dark cloud of schadenfreude seems to be the Project Runway modus operandi this time out – and frankly, I’m not enjoying it very much. Sadism on tee vee, not a big draw for me.

The Project Runway formula is the same as usual: Take some great talent, surprise them with challenges within a quick time frame, and see what they can do.

Only so far, all we’ve been able to really see are some harebrained stunts for the designers to work with (models on stilts, really??), insane time limits, near nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, Nina saying ‘no’ a whole lot. This show that has become legendary for showcasing incredible designers and pushing careers forward had devolved into Project Sweatshop. Workflow of getting things done over getting things done well. [Read more →]

2011 AIDS Life Cycle

‘It’s a 7-day, 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to make a world of difference in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS.’

This weekend, designer Christopher Le is biking south in support of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Donate here. Snag poster (above) for contributions of $50 or more.

No pants on the Subway 2011

‘As in years past, there are No Pants Subway Rides happening in cities around the world on January 9.’

Info above, more detail here.

Found via Shandi Pierzina, who’s organized the Vegas trouser drop

Red party

‘The theme was a tribute to Russian Constructivism but the dress code on the invitation simply said ‘red.”

Another Performa party, covered by Ashley Simko. Details here.

Included a cotton candy room (below).

On now! Save on mehallo stuff for Veterans Day

$2 off t-shirts, $4 off mugs. Input code: VTRNSDAYSALE.

Visit my store at Zazzle here – or just click the images.

More Zazzle Veterans Day Sale info here. (other stuff on sale too, not just my stuff)

Sale ends Thursday November 11, 2010 at 11:59 pm (PST).

Graphic Design Biennial, with breasts

‘The Biennial of Graphic Arts, which has been held without interruption since 1955, has a longer tradition than any other recurring exhibition in Slovenia and, in fact, is one of the oldest print biennials in the world.’

‘Oh, I get it, it’s a pun on ‘graphic,’ right?’ –Dabitch

This year they’ve decided to promote the Biennial with soapy breast billboards placed all over Ljubljana.

And I’d like to say it’s causing quite the outrage. But, no. It is Europe. It’s just turning a few heads.

But in the US, civilization would come to a stop as we know it. Banks would close, all media would crumble.

NBC would cancel another show.

Found via Metro

Printing and wine

Been busy since I’ve gotten back from TypeCon 2010, so I’m only now slowly going thru photos.

For the TypeCon afterparty at The International Printing Museum, one of my little design touches was bottles of California Typographic Wine; which came in four varieties: Oldstyle, Transitional, Modern and Sans.

Labels were printed on a fabric stock by Hal Hammond – and helping me with the whole vin production were Lucy Schallberger, Jon Coltz, Delve Withrington and (pictured below) Angela Glenn.


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