Foiled Again

Sometimes I feel like a squirrel with my constant attraction to shiny things. To justify recent impulses, I offer descriptions from a Pantone webinar of how metals are being used now:
• as ephemeral colors with broken shines.
• as material illusions with textured monochromes.
• in ways that are familiar, but new.

Take for example a palette they call Titanium: a bridge to new heights.
Where blues break and mutate, then turn to black. Bursts of overexposed colors create tonal variation. It’s a complete statement in metal with both reflective and matte surfaces.

These two invitations came off the press this past week. Evening Under the Stars is printed on Reich Shine's Onyx. To enhance it's astral qualities, and to make it seem more blue, I specified a pale foil and matching juniper-colored envelopes from CTI's Aspire Petallics. But the colors are fleeting and drift from a variation on the standard black and white event; to a turquoise-infused galaxy hovering over fountains and night-blooming flowers—a complete landscape in indigo, beryl, verdigris and aquamarine.

The Polo Cup invitation for the University of Utah called for foil to add flair to Pat Bagley's signature jockey drawing. In its third year of use, we needed to make it familiar, but new. We embossed the entire illustration contour and foil stamped the line art. I think the foil is honorific of his handiwork. It glints like like pencil lead and like a trophy. Attendees will recall the previous year's flamboyance and whole-charactered cast.

Diabetes: Focus on Women

I'm thrilled to announce I have designed my first book. Diabetes: Focus on Women is a compilation of case-based vignettes told by diabetes and women's health experts. From sexual dysfunction to oncological risks, this one-of-a-kind book explores the full spectrum of women's health. It even covers gestational concerns as well as post-partum care. This guide provides a practical approach for health care providers, diabetes educators and patients alike. Each chapter ends with practical pearls and pitfalls. The book also includes:

• Evidence-based algorithms for glucose, lipid and blood pressure management

• Complementary and alternative medicine for diabetes

• Educational resources and websites for patient education

The project originated from a conference two years ago, and funded in part by a federal grant from the Office on Women's Health. Twenty contributing doctors and scientists are involved. Co-editors Kathleen B. Digre, M.D. and Robert E. Jones, M.D., FACP, FACE were an absolute delight to work with. Presentations at national conferences, access via health science libraries, and local development efforts will help the book reach it's core audience.

Designing this book has been a dream project. I got to do the most advanced typesetting of my career, as well as 49 tables and figures. Most of all, books last. It's exciting to have done something that will stick around. The book was printed in the U.S. Proceeds will be used for charity care at the Utah Diabetes Center.

Colophon: The book is typeset in Martin Majoor's Scala and Scala Sans, with Hoeffler & Frere-Jone's Sentinel used as a display face. Supporting Greek and Roman glyphs were required. Cover art is by Nicholas Jones.

Compendium

My Christmas gift to the family. More than a decade in the making ... A Compendium of Colby Idioms is a compilation of quotes collected over the years. Most of them absurd, ridiculous, and completely out of context. Making this was a fun way to see the family personality in aggregate. Blurb made it possible. What a lucky development we have in today's technology to make manifest our creative concepts.

Exposed Grid

University of Utah Health Care's Information Technology Services hadn't updated their strategic plan in a decade. This decision-leading document needed to be progressive, confident and engaging. I felt we should be front-and-center about infrastructure by leaving the booklet's grid exposed on the cover. The spare cover also adds a nice counterpoint to the photography-rich interior. Each spread has a health care photo where technology is integral to medical practice.

The table of contents is also left exposed on the cover. The booklet is split in halves: The Introduction has an orange background; The Plan — a yellow ground with a faux watermark. The photo well and type columns adjusts with each half of the book. All images have a shiny UV gloss. UV also adorns the vertical and horizontal lines on the cover, as well as our title. It's a great finishing effect that helps emit the back-lit technology photos used throughout. Principal photography is by Kevin Lee.

Page numbers are represented in Hoeffler & Frere-Jones' Dividend, from the Numbers family. Numbers has a pixel-like quality in spite of it's low-tech origins (designed after antique perforated check writing machines) that plays well with the display face Headroom, by TypeTrust. Headroom is a mechanical all-caps face that includes a cheeky ink-trap alternate. The booklet's text face is Scala Sans.

To keep costs down, we constrained the booklet to one parent sheet. To keep the book polished, we had it perfect bound. A companion Web site can be found here.

Gallery Stroll

Any time I can use Zaner—the lush Spencerian script by P22—I will. Same goes for shiny paper. (In this case, CTI's Aspire Petallics Silver Ore.)

This past Tuesday we had an event for University Hospital benefactor's to unveil the new portrait gallery as well as our wall of engraved donor names. We needed to represent both giving levels, but that made for a lengthy event title. The solution: a type treatment for each exhibit split by a flourish evoking: the unveiling of draped art; strolling; and even a lyrical quality. (It looks like a violin to me. Someone else told me it makes them think of Phantom of the Opera.)

The event was a fine affair, attended by people with interesting relationships to the University of Utah. A recent heart transplant patient spoke about his experience here and that really helped crystalize why we give. From the generosity of an organ donor's family, to the financial gifts that keep our institution a pioneering one, to the time commitments of our volunteer staff, it's always heartening for me to see the underlying passions that keep people connected.

Millcreek BBQ

This is just a little snippet of an invitation I made for my family barbecue. You can never use maps enough in design. I had fun juxtaposing the save the date (left) against the actual invitation (right) which used a map of another sort. Liberty Park has a delightful replica of our local canyons as footpaths that empty out into a playful water feature for kids.

Sadly, the water is off right now as we are recovering from an oil spill that originated in Red Butte Creek and has overwhelmed our formerly-gorgeous city pond. Yes, an oil spill in Utah. A little solidarity for the gulf-coast states who are suffering badly from the BP spill right now, and will continue to for decades.

Building Blocks

Asked to distill the complexities of our academic medical center into a simple expression, we developed these acrylic blocks. Color coding helps the presenter gang each layer into it's obvious succession. Fractured words span each layer. The tendency to complete the puzzle, so to speak, engages the audience in learning our three-fold mission: education, which is the foundation supporting research, which translates into clinical care. All of this to bear up the health of each patient.

The reverse side of the cubes cite examples from each part of the mission. The sides have supporting photography. A companion screen presentation was made available for larger groups, or for travel.

Jacobson's Apothecary

Jacobson's Apothecary is a catalogue of sour home remedies. It's also an ode to my Mom—affectionately, the "witchdoctor". These common cures for common folk include such local medical miracles as:

• Nettles Regurgitant, made by magpies
• Sassafrass Smelling Salts, from the Great Salt Lake, brine shrimp free
• Viper Vaccine, available by the drop
• Quince Flatulence Quieter, offering discrete relief, only 70¢ per cube
• Honey Locust Lotion, with black licorice and chicory extract
• Epazote Con Agave, guaranteed Mexican-strength but beware—contents are flammable
• the beesting-strong Prickly Pear Expectorant is aged two years
• Pennyroyal Poultice, cures a shocking range of maladies: from consumption to avian flu
• Poison Ivy Ointment, for when you been playin' where you weren't s'posed to be
• the good as gooseberries Baby's Tears Balm & Thistle Tonic costs only 14¢/oz.
• Great Basin Vapors and Chloroform, a mere 38¢ per squirt
• The Original Milkweed Linimint, still curing rashes

Look for an updated catalogue in 2010. With the distillery on-site, these all-natural remedies come with a certified "Real-Good" Guarantee.

Pretty Paper

My paper rep from Zellerbach's asked me to design a tag for her holiday gift to area designers this past Christmas. Camille packaged assorted paper and envelopes into a shiny little bundle so recipients can create custom notes and cards. Papers included the shimmery Aspire Petallics; tactile delights such as Oxford, Sundance Felt, and even Gmund; colors ranged from silver, marigold, turquoise, rustic reds, and even translucent whites. Camille sealed the packets with a handsome brown sticker.

The reindeer is licensed from CSA Images, and I used P22 Brass Script ... typeset in brass. Ultimately we just wanted the packages to be mirthful, but with a touch of glam, to match the high quality of the papers. Thanks to Camille for including me. I wish we'd had more time to do something really over the top. Past designers have included the idiosyncratic Angela Adams and McRay Magleby, so it really was an honor that I even crossed her mind.

More Food Drive Campaign Photos

Results of the drive:

51,500 lbs of donated food

+ 43,104 lbs of food (by way of $21,552 in cash donations)

= 94,604 lbs of food contributed to fight hunger

We nearly doubled our goal of raising 50,000 lbs of food. Equally impressive—U of U employees volunteered 270 hours sorting at Utah Food Bank.

Yes We Can

Asked to put together a food drive in just two weeks was it's own monumental task. Pulling it off with flair ... the only way we'd make it through. Our VP conceived the whole thing; our junior designer executed it; and I supported them with vendor management while attempting to keep the rest of our design projects from stagnation. What a relief to be on this side of the equation now.

We created a flat soup can, perforated and scored, to be delivered to every employee. A simple solution, but an ingenious one for not only creating an interactive opportunity for the message to sink in, but they also created instant decorative flair. As I walk through the hospital and office areas now, it's hard not to find stacks of our cans. Grocery bags were mailed to everyone's home with both a call to action, and a seasonal message from the CEOs. After shopping, employees drop their bagged donations off at work in giant barrels wrapped with the same soup can graphic. We designed an "I Gave" sticker to wear after dropping off your donation ... it looks like the top of a metal can. And to track donations, we're wrapping a two-story pillar after semi-weekly weigh-ins. By the time we achieve our goal, it will look like the largest grocery store end cap ever. More photos to come. (Including the dancing can mascot.)

Designed to the Nines

Our third fundraising campaign for the U of U College of Nursing mailed out this week. It will start landing in homes while we're in San Francisco celebrating the award our previous campaign received. Whereas the first two campaigns were more emotional—and relied heavily upon relationships—this campaign is simple, accessible, and leveraged on a small, but specific ask: please give $9.99 in '09. (Or $99; or $999.)

Since this is our third request of the same audience, we made sure to thank them for giving already; offered them a quick status report on the progress of construction and all previous donations; and expressed the type of things just $9.99 more can provide: books and supplies, scholarships seed money; etc.

The outer envelope was designed to provoke curiosity: a hydra of 9's swarm the address field. Inside is a simple flat insert. The front side is a concise appeal for $9.99 in '09. The reverse is a collage of polaroids—the captions of which evoke project status as well as the needs of students and faculty. The polaroids float on a field of nines to both reinforce our theme, and more subtly imply the aggregated effect of thousands of donors. I designed the reverse side as a giant poster with 38 different pictures so when the parent sheet cuts down we have 16 different backs. Yet each back side covers two themes: construction, and either student or faculty needs. Each card was round cornered, like our first campaign, and then perforated for easy mail-back of the donation form.

Parent sheets were pulled during press-check as posters to hang in the various spaces our faculty and students have been spread to through this construction dislocation. Kind of a morale booster, as well as something to keep the end goal in focus.

The Caring Continuum

A year after the first campaign, the U of U College of Nursing returned to us for a new opportunity to help raise funds to aid the national nurse educator shortage. With the monies secured for expanding and retrofitting the college, our new task was to raise $12.5 million through naming opportunities for educational and simulation spaces, as well as donations to endow chairs, grant scholarships, and fund fellowships.

The Caring Continuum Campaign was told through a wide-format booklet, filled with vivid imagery of nurse educators, and compelling statistics about the impending health care crisis. We used clear varnish on Sappi's white Lustro Offset Environment paper. Inserts used the varnish to add both a finishing touch, and emphasis. A folio, reminiscent of the first campaign, opens up to a beautiful photograph of one of our nursing students. The case statement was sent out in an extra-long converted envelope to make sure it would be noticed.

This campaign and it's accompanying DVD were submitted to the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. We received the silver award of excellence in the area of fundraising publications packages. This weekend I fly out to San Francisco to join our nursing development staff at the CASE District VII conference to receive the award.

Building the Future of Nursing Education

In 2007, the University of Utah College of Nursing came to us with a goal of raising $8.5 million for expansion of teaching facilities. With a thorough understanding of who their primary audience is, we crafted a kit with impact that delivered. A bold envelope distinguished the piece from mail clutter. It opens to reveal a concise letter from the dean followed by an accordion-style brochure leveraged on high-impact and emotional photos of nurses in action. Supplemented with warm colors and a humanistic script, a concise call to actions gives the audience the opportunity to help build the future of nursing education. A business-reply envelope made submitting donations easy. The college met their goal in just a couple months.

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.

Souvenirs de Voyage

Souvenirs de Voyage, published by Chronicle Books, was a gift from my friend Heather. It has glassine envelopes to hold ephemera or press flowers to dry in, and then blank pages you can glue your souvenirs to, and write about. I don't actually take mine on trips, though. I use the envelopes and pockets to hold themed bits of ephemera until I have enough to make a collage. In a way, it's like a junk drawer full of scraps I just can't toss, yet hope to be able to use one day. This spread has two collages. One, apparently, is some bizarre ode to Mormon women. The other is a German butcher and his wife. Such is the case with collage, or souvenirs, these scraps hold deep memories: there's a box of Windsor & Newton ink that I have had since high school, scraps from a german dictionary I've carried since junior high, an Easter candy wrapper from Siegfrieds circa 2002, a scrap from a poem my sister Diana wrote, photos I bought in Colorado, etc.

DaVinci Sketchbook

One of my favorite projects I've had the privilege to design was the pocket-sized DaVinci notebook. This was created for The University of Utah as a free hand-out to all visitors of Gunther VanHagen's Body Worlds 3, hosted at the Leonardo on Library Square in Salt Lake City. Demand was high, and we re-printed the book mid-way through the exhibit run. A quarter-million books in total. The design was influenced by Red Horseshoe (dimensions, rounded corners); the art was all royalty-free images from DaVinci's sketchbooks. The cover stock is Smart Paper's Carnival Cordwain, which has a leather-like embossed surface. The insides are Mohawk, a soft white printed with gold metallic ink. The gold isn't overpowering, since it's an uncoated sheet, but it gives it the shimmer that you might get from lead and makes the piece too special to throw away. My moment of delight: going to lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in a year and she told me how her daughter got this free sketchbook at the Body World's exhibit and filled it up with sketches, 'cause Jessica may want to become a forensic artist. She thought that was the neatest thing. It was neater for me to hear.