Paradise City

Event posters and rock posters are some of my favorite things to design. Now I don't get to create and print cool silk screen posters (which is awfully popular these days), but I have spend over 20 years designing posters for various fund raising events, to raise awareness for causes and to advertise rock shows, CD release events and DJ nights. These of course are for little, and often no money at all, which lends a sort of creative freedom to the designer.

When you are not getting paid, this means you can often do what ever the heck you want. Dealing with bands is often the 'battle of the egos' though, musicians and graphic folks are both artists- often head strong, knowing what they want. Many bands will give some direction and let you go nuts, some will pick and pick and make you redesign and redesign which can suck. I try to put forth the proposition (little Doors for ya there) that, "Hey, if I am not getting paid, you are going to get something cool that I like." Works every time. Well, mostly.....

When dealing with a not-for-profit, like Literacy Volunteers, they just love whatever we do for them unconditionally. We have created the poster and accompanying graphics for the last seven Coffee and Chocolate fund raising events for LV and they let us do what we want and they like it... they truly like it! Now if only I could get paid for working like this, eh?

There are a few design companies (i.e. Modern Dog in Seattle) who do just that- they do whatever they want, sometimes crazy ass projects and the client knows what they are getting, they take the chance and they love it. Mostly. That would be Paradise City, baby! It seems they can actually make money doing this? Have I not been taking enough chances in my designs? I don't know.... maybe I have to work harder...

I took some photos of our new hallway poster gallery that includes the first 7 Coffee and Chocolate posters, some Variety Rocks event posters from the nineties and 3 Americanarama posters which have been great to do for local alt-country rockers the Steam Donkeys.

It is cool to see all these posters on permanent display.

Check Your Head

hang 'em if you got 'em!

In an effort to tidy up the stacks and piles of graphic melee in my office, I decided to throw a few posters up over my desk area. Off the pile, on the wall... spruce up my corner a bit.

So first I put up some of the Strummerville posters... well, then I had to make sure they were all up there. Then I had an Americanarama poster, the horizontal flag one, so I put that up. Well then, I thought, maybe the rest of the Americanarama posters had to go up as well-- except the 1st one, not so hot... and I never really cared too much for the last one, the brown horizontal one with the Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk Flight on it. It was some Wilbur and Orville anniversary year, don't ask me.... toss in a few Deja Blu posters and we got something here.

They look better on the wall than in the pile.

Overall poster thoughts....

• Vertical posters are better that horizontal posters
• Lots of red, red rocks better than green (hey, they are rock posters)
• Lots of stars (hey, I said they were rock posters!), more stars ! ! !
  
• Even 72 dpi photos pilfered off the web work sometimes- a little distortion, some photoshop filters, make 'em bitmap and BAM! you got your self a poster graphic.
• James Brown is still dead
• Makin' rock posters is one of my favorite things to do... it's never paid really well, but it's fun!

BONUS BEATS- Good Lookin' Out Weekend event 4 ya-- My buddy Edreys brings The Art of Hip Hop 3 Friday at the AKAG! Gotta see ya there! Break dancing, beat mixing, hip hoppin' and all that good stuff- click here for more!

BONUS BEATS (part two)- Edreys video clip old skool style