The Dialtone Pickups team were looking for a simple, single colour T-shirt design that not only used their logo, bud did so in a way that let people know what their company was about. What better way to let people know you create awesome guitar pickups than by putting your logo in a guitar (right where a pickup would go).
… Dialtone Pickups T-shirt design
The original website design for the Scarebear website was purely black and white. The guitars featured on that website share that same basic need for the lack of colour. When producing business cards for that brand, it was important to make sure black and white featured strongly in the design.
… Scarebear business cards
My involvement in the creation of the Dialtone Pickups logo was minimal to be honest (the core components were already in place). Having said that, I did work with the Dialtone Pickups team to tweak their existing logo to get the placement of elements just as they wanted them. The font was changed as well to one that better suited the brand.
From a pure graphic design perspective, the brand now has a logo file that can be used on any platform and in any colour.
… Dialtone Pickups logoBack on 01 April this year I wrote about the CD artwork I had done for Steve Case. It may have been April Fool’s Day, but the article was deadly serious. I live in Australia by the way, so I know a thing or two about deadly. Well it’s 01 November now and I’m here to tell you that I’ve successfully created another piece of CD artwork for Steve Case. I’m like a graphic designer or something. Seriously (because there’s no such thing as November Fools). … Steve Case CD artwork—Wooden Grove
This is a guitar I designed with Moniker Guitars. All components were chosen by me and the spiral design is my own creation. The headstock branding and the word Scarebear on the neck comes from my Scarebear logo.
Sadly, Moniker Guitars is no longer in business.
… Scarebear custom Reedsdale (Moniker Guitars)
I decided to create digital graphic novel (of sorts) around the AmpliTube software that I use regularly on the iPad. I shared the booklet with IK Multimedia (creators of AmpliTube) who then shared the pages with their fans through social media. The booklet was created using screenshots from the AmpliTube iOS app and the Strip Designer iOS comic strip layout app. The rest was put together by me in InDesign.
… Amplitoon graphic novel (Issue 1)I love graphic novels. I’ve always found them to be one of the greatest story telling mechanisms available to man. I also happen to love playing guitar through my iPad. I’ve found the iPad to be an incredible tool for people such as me, to improve their skillset and experiment with tone, recording, sharing and constructive criticism on a global scale. All of this got me thinking. What is surely going to be the best way of reminding myself how to use some of my favourite iOS software and possibly help others do the same?
Well, because I’m a giver, I made AmpliToon … An almost graphic novel about IK Multimedia‘s AmpliTube application for the iPad. … AmpliToon … My AmpliTube ‘How to’ graphic novel
This was the second CD design I worked on for musician Steve Case. This job required a simple single fold cardboard sleeve. The front and back cover were made to look like a leather bound book while the inside spread looked like the inside of the book cover. The inner-left panel contained a printed message from Steve Case while the inner-right panel allowed him to write a personal message (plus signature) for anybody who purchased a CD from one of his live performances.
… Steve Case (Wooden Grove) CD artworkThis is somewhat self-promoting, but I had to share this story. Why? Because I don’t believe it is actually about me. It’s about a talented artist I came across on deviantART named Xaizently.
Almost two years ago I was wondering what I should do with all these points I had accumulated on the deviantART website. The points are worth very little in real-world currency, but I had accumulated somewhere between 30-50 of them. Surely I could use them for something! … Scarebear (the artwork) by Xaizently
Recently I was given the opportunity to design the artwork (including the disc, jewel case and 16 page booklet) of Steve Case‘s latest EP Somewhere Where I’m Not. I worked to Steve’s creative brief—combine the effect types often seen in apps like Instagram with something more artistic for the cover—and was lucky enough to be able to use some of my favourite iPhone and iPad image enhancing apps in the process. The apps I used were ToonPAINT (for iPhone) and PhotoToaster (for iPad). The ToonPAINT app was used to create the CD and booklet cover image (which you can see in the iTunes store).
Woo hoo! I have designed something you can get through iTunes! … Steve Case’s latest EP—artwork by me
