We are all digging through the same visual treasure amassed over centuries, looking for inspiration.
It’s what we do with what we find that makes our individual work unique…
Welcome to the inside of my head
Metaphorically speaking that is…
Here is where you will find a little more about what I do and how I do it, what inspires me, keeps me motivated, and often keeps me up at night.
Visual media is constantly in front of us and we consume it every waking hour. As a designer I consciously (as well as subconsciously) bring it all in, discard what I don’t like and file away what I do for future inspiration. Whether it’s on a website, in a book, the typeface in an ad campaign stuck to the rear of a bus, a TV commercial, the opening titles to a film or an image from a Google search – it always works it’s way in and gets filed. Then through something I can never quite explain, mixed up fragments of those head-files reappear to me at just the right time, for just the right project, and a new design concept begins to work it’s way out.
What you’ll find below (among a few other things) is some of that inspiration along with an attempt to explain how it gets translated into my work. Some of these projects you’ll find in more detail in my Work Portfolio.
And who knows. What inspired me may well inspire you.
THE RED ROSE GIRLS
The Red Rose Girls, An Uncommon Story of Art and Love. Three female illustrators from the early twentieth century begin groundbreaking careers in a male dominated profession, and they did it together. While researching the life of the...
OUT OF THIS WORLD
Occasionally, the planets align and I receive a design project that has a theme I not only am familiar with, but also a true fan of. A good example of this is a branding project I was awarded a few months back. I would like to share the inspiration, concepts and rough...
WONDER WOMAN WINS
There has been plenty of debate on the impact the film Wonder Woman has had on issues of feminism and equality. Debate over the films supposed message, her costume (or lack thereof), her actions, and her dialogue continue to fly between comic book fans, movie goers...
LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN
While doing research for a recent packaging design project, I came across the work of an illustrator I had not heard of before. I was so taken by his work I thought it would be worth sharing. The design project is for a collection of men’s products to be...
A LIFE OF FILM AND DESIGN
From time to time I’ll be devoting space on this page to a few of my hero’s in the field of graphic design. Some are well known, some maybe not so much. Saul Bass could be in the ‘not so much' category but I don’t think that will be for long as a book about his life...
WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE.
With a name like Stephen Foster and the initials SF, coming across them when it’s referring to something or someone other than myself is not uncommon. Be it the name of the famous composer of hummable hits like ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ and ‘Camptown Races”, or the...