We had the great opportunity to work with the Chicago chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design. This set of pieces served both as art prints, and also marketing pieces for AIGA Chicago. Take a look for more details on the project.
Writing For HOW: Writing and Designers
Some designers seem to conveniently disappear when writing and copy are discussed, and I think this relates to our overall visual natures. Many designers think, relate, and communicate in images — it’s one of the skills that leads to great design and better designers. But while a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, text isn’t going away anytime soon. So, it’s up to us, as designers, to wrangle the written word and to make the work we do even greater by engaging with the copy.
That’s a snippet from an article I wrote for HOW Magazine, about the fear that many designers and creative types have when it comes to writing. We find it’s a common issue among peers and others we rub elbows with, and I believe I’ve got some helpful thoughts to consider. Check it out and comment either here, or at HOW directly.
Our Work Included in LogoLounge Master Library Book 4
We always mention how much we love the LogoLounge wesbite and book series. So, it’s always a great honor for us to have our work included in another volume of the excellent and popular series. Some of our conceptual work for Mesí and final identity for Ignite are included in this volume.
A Colorful Night of Paper With Gruppo Cordenons
We had an amazing time at the “Color In Chicago” party hosted by our clients and friends at Gruppo Cordenons, and it’s not just because we designed the invitations and materials for the event. It was a great night filled with premium paper, good friends, and paper dresses, at the beautiful Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. You can get a glimpse of the festivities thanks to amazing photographer Steven E. Gross, and even purchase mementos – the next-best thing to owning a paper dress! All photos courtesy and © Steven E. Gross & Associates.
New work: Gruppo Cordenons and Golden Apple
We’re continuing to post new work, so here are more of the projects we’re bringing out from behind the curtain. These are event and invitation design work for fine paper maker Gruppo Cordenons, as well as a direct mail campaign for local Chicago nonprofit, Golden Apple Foundation. Click for more details on the fruits of these great client partnerships.
Hexanine Interview on HOW’s Design TV
At Hexanine, we are passionate about design and communicating. So, mixing the two makes a lot of sense. We’ll be speaking at this year’s HOW Design Live and are continuing an ongoing discussion about issues around the work we do as designers. We talk at more length about this and other sundry in an interview “workshop” that has just been posted at HOW Design TV. Check the link for a short excerpt, and make sure you join us this summer in Boston!
Birth of a Brand: pipopipo
We just wanted to give a congrats to our great client and friend on the birth of his brand-new line of childrens’ clothing, pipopipo. The line is debuting this week at the MAGIC show, and will be available very soon. We partnered with pipopipo to craft the brand’s online experience and assisted with illustration and brand strategy. More to come on that soon, but until then, here’s a fun shot of Matt Sanders, CEO, at the launch.
Join Us at HOW Design Live in Boston
Yes, both of the partners of Hexanine will be speaking together at this year’s HOW Design Live. We’re super excited and ready to deliver the goods at our talk, and it’d be fun if you come too. We’ve always left the HOW Design events re-energized, inspired, and with tired arms from carrying cool swag. This year it’ll be in Boston from June 22-25 — clam chowder, that other historic ballpark, and that New England charm. What else do you need to know?
As speakers, we’re authorized to give you a super-secret promo code that will get you a $100 discount. Just enter HSPKR in the discount code box during the registration process, and HOW will deduct $100 from your total registration. Combine that with the March 30th Early Bird rate, it’s $170 off — that will buy a lot of Sam Adams beer! Can’t wait to see you there.
Join us at the SUPER iam8bit art show!
After nearly two years in hiatus, the iam8bit art show is back, with a high-profile gallery opening next Thursday, August 11th! This show will be one for the ages, and definitely worth checking out. Started by our friends at iam8bit in 2005, the art show has featured hundreds of artists’ interpretations of their favorite 1980s video game heroes, heroines, villains, and damsels in distress — and this show should be the best yet.
Peep the awesome poster art above, created by our buddy Dave Crosland.
Also, the new iam8bit book, which we designed and co-published, will be officially released at the show.
Take a look for more info on the opening, and the evening’s festivities, which will include all-night ambiance by DJ R-Rated. Both Jason and Tim will be in attendance, so come down and join us for the festivities!
Presenting SUPER iam8bit: More Art Inspired by Classic Video Games of the ’80s
Video games are no longer a niche market. They’re big business, having long-since eclipsed Hollywood blockbusters in revenue. Culturally, we’ve grown used to video game franchises with their own storylines, plots, and characters — a complex web of merchandising, marketing, and gameplay.
It’s easy to forget that these paths were forged by a cast of simple, clever little characters of ’80s videogames. Their screen time may have been short, but Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Mario, and many other characters were bursting with personality, fun, and an ethos that we wanted to capture in the book, SUPER iam8bit: More Art Inspired By Classic Video Games of the ’80s. With our client-partners and co-publishers, iam8bit, we designed the entire volume, helped curate the mass of excellent artwork, and launched our creative imprint, Plastic Highway.
For more details about this project, power up to our iam8bit portfolio page.
And if that’s not enough ’80s video game goodness for you, be sure to check out iam8bit’s 5th art show in Los Angeles, where the book will be officially released and available for sale.