When Jeff Andrews, the creator and moderator of the Design Inspiration site, invited me to do an interview this past March, I was overwhelmed. Nobody had ever asked me to do an interview before. What was I to expect?

I was a bit nervous about fulfilling the prospect. But after some deep reflection and giving the shock of being asked time to wear off a little, I agreed to do it. I then became excited at the opportunity that lay before me and prepared my answers for the interview. After selecting 10 pieces to accompany the outline, I forwarded the document to Jeff this past Saturday. Selecting the final 10 pieces to be published turned out to be quite a chore for me. I have so many others that could have gone up just a easily.

The interview was published this past Sunday morning. A special thanks go out to Jeff for offering me this wonderful opportunity and to all my colleagues who have continually encouraged me to keep on keepin' on.

Click on the screenshot below to navigate to the Design Inspiration site.

Labels: design issues, graphic design, Personal

I always know when summer has finally landed in Maryland. That is when the Peonies around my house start to silently explode like botanical fireworks. I'm not quite sure which species I have thriving in the random sunny spots around my yard, but I do know they are bigger this year than they have ever been since we moved into this house.

Please enjoy them as much as my wife and I do.

Labels: Personal, Photography

Update!
It's not too late! You can still order your tee and receive it in time for the HOW Design Conference.

The shirts can be ordered here: cafepress.com/delineatedesign

Here is an sample of the shirt received from Cafe Press




This is the intial comp:

Labels: Experimental Work, graphic design, HOW Forum, Networking

I drive past this field every morning on my way to work and I can't help but notice this lone tree up on the horizon. The field overlooks and borders the battlefield of the Monocacy River. The tree makes me think of a lone soldier, lost, out on a battlefield past.

This past weekend I finally caught the tree with my SLR. I think I need to get a zoom lens to really capture the feeling I get when I see this single tree.

Labels: Experimental Work, Photography

HOWiezine 9 arrived last week and with great fanfare!

The zine deadline was last February, but due to some scheduling issues, the zine was late at being delivered. In my anticipation I was like a child on Christmas moring as I pulled back the perforation on the USPS box with great excitement. Once inside, I carefully started tearing my way through a seemingly endless layer of bubble wrap, and was pleasantly surprised to find Pandora's box with a huge red plastic warning lable that stated, "DANGER!" HZ-9, Myths & Legends had finally landed.



What a cool way to package the zine! The red tape, to me, was a fun metaphor. I had to cut through red tape to get to the contents inside. Sorry, but I couldn't resist using that example. The box also had a faux lock on the side to give the apperance that whatever lay inside is of great value. To me the contents of this box does hold great value. This box contains the original and limited edition work of my fellow HOWies, an exclusive group of designers and artists that frequent the HOW design forum.



Once iniside the box, I could see that each page was placed by order of a contents list. I would love to cover each page in more detail, but I think it would be to your benefit to see for yourself HERE

My Submission

When I started to concept for the HZ-9 Myths and Legends book, I was off to a rocky start. I didn't want to do something that was in the mainstream or something that was too cliche'. I orginally started out by doing an illustration, but after trying to come up with a composition that I thought was suitable and failing miserably with the execusion, I decided to give it a rest and come back to it at a later date.

Then it hit me. I reminisced back to when I was kid and hearing the story of "The Hook." No, this wasn't a Captain of a Pirate ship that was seeking out Peter Pan. This was a psychotic killer that would seek out young couples while they were necking at lover's lane. His mode of operation was to sneak up on his distracted victims and use his hook to commit homocide.

Here are the final examples of my submission:

Folder Front:


As the story goes, the young couple hear of this killers escape from a mental institution during a radio announcement and the young lady demands to be taken home. Upon arrival to the girl's home, the young man discovers a bloody hook hanging from the door handle on the passenger side. Yikes! That story gave me chills when I was kid and gives me chills even today.

Inside:


Page 2:


My idea for execution was to produce a mini case file and fill it with case studies from three different couples, an artists sketch of the suspect, and a case overview. Each folder was constructed by hand to fit the 7"x7" page format. Case pages were also printed and trimmed down to the mini size. I produced a limited edition of 60 case files.

Page 3:


Folder Back


What is a HOWiezine? According to the site, HOWiezine is a limited edition, handmade collaborative book project created by HOW forum members, also known as HOWies. There is a theme and participants create two pages based on their interpretation of that theme. Only participants are eligible to receive a copy of the HOWiezine, and when they're gone, they're gone.

Labels: Experimental Work, graphic design, HOW Forum, HOWiezine