Make|Think

One of the coolest surprises on my trip to Memphis was to keep stumbling on these markers. The conference committee tagged our theme all across town and so I felt breadcrumbed in all my ambling. Nice to have a confirmation I was headed to interesting spots. And in classic designer "green" styling ... this ephemeral graffiti will self-vaporize.

Miss the Mississippi and You

Fresh from my trip to Memphis, Tennessee for the AIGA conference, I had to post this photo from Mud Island. During free time before the conference kick-off I ventured across the sky-bridge to Mud Island listening to my iPod on shuffle to see a replica of the entire Mississippi River. The day before the trip Rosanne Cash released her new album The List. In a moment of serendipity, her cover of Miss the Mississippi and You came on as I was looking at this inlaid replica of Memphis on the Mississippi River, having just crossed in reality the model I was observing. It was a trio of Mississippis. A hallway of mirrors.

The next day we were treated to a presentation by Daniel Eatock about "circles". e.g. painting watercolors of water bottles using the water from the bottles as the medium. A tow truck towing a tow truck. etc. These are actually fairly common occurrences, but the point is you have to be attuned to catch them. That's one of many benefits to both travel and conferences: a wider view, new perspectives, a shaking from the norm.

Toner Tall Tales

My Xpedx spec rep, Gina Girardi, asked me to create invitations and a poster for an upcoming event at the University of Utah's Print & Mail Services. She is bringing in a guru from Mohawk Paper. Chris Harrold will speak about newly-certified papers and other advances in digital printing. I'm looking forward to the event in just three days, the same day I leave for Memphis, TN for the national AIGA conference.

It was easy to take on Gina's theme of the digital guru with some recent inspirations: I just bought the fonts Phaeton by Umbrella and Fenwick by Typodermic; I have also been craving to use CSA Images new low-priced licensing for small jobs such as this. The vintage illustration is theirs. Everything came together with the right sense of whimsy I had hoped for. I wanted to do something decidely old-world and not too "digital."

I love Mohawk Papers and have made great use of their digital offerings. In the past year I have used Via Felt for events and covers; Via Smooth for this project; uncoated stock for numerous small jobs; and even a digital cast-coated sheet for a ground-breaking event at the U. I love the affordable prices and I am so excited we have these diverse options available for small press-runs.