I really had fun designing this version of my website. I was going for a steampunk-y feel, because I like the ideas of innovation and adventure associated with the genre/aesthetic. I felt like I wanted to present my style as clean and mature, and this look suited it. Half a year later, I come back to the design, and as much as I like it … it’s honestly not me. I look at my work in contrast with the site—there’s a big disparity in tone and style.

I’d definitely like to take time out to revamp the site over the summer. This time, I’m going to make sure that the look really is me all the way.

Thara found an inspiration board exercise where you basically place 16 images that catch your eye in a 4×4 grid, then see the trends that arise from them. That’s mine up there, with creative commons images I found on flickr. (If you see something that’s yours and really want to be credited, lemme know.) There’s a certain vivid red that pops up repeatedly, along with a preference for mod looks and urban settings. Bold lines also feature here.

If anyone else does this little exercise, show me! It’s awesome looking at where people’s tastes lie and what inspires them.

I really love reappropriation art. It’s exciting as a means of interacting with art, to take your interpretation of a piece and create a physical manifestation of it in a sense. There’s also taking an image and placing it in a completely different context than its original. I know that some artists can feel violated by seeing their work used in a way they didn’t intend, but once you put your art out there, interpretation is fair game. It seems silly to me to try to control that.

Meanwhile, here are more recent screen printing adventures of my own:

PRINTED IN GOLD.

Okay, I also don’t know nearly enough designers, so I’m gonna try to keep track of the names I hear and look ‘em up.

Jay Ryan – A Chicago-based designer who specializes in screen printed posters for bands.

My Morning Jacket / Minneapolis – six screens used

I’m trying to break down why he needed six screens for this. Two for the gradient background, 1 for the black, 1 for the grey, and isn’t the yellow the color of the french cover he’s printing on? Either way, I dig the deco imagery, and I guess I never really thought about trying to print gradients …

Hero Design Studio – Another music-focused design studio, though based in Buffalo, NY. 

A poster for Queens of the Stone Age

I got this for Frazier for Christmas since QotSA’s one of his favorite bands, but also because that’s a fucking hot ‘Q’. I’m also really impressed by the detail of the imagery!

Jason Munn – Okay, yes, music, again. San Francisco-based, and awesome to the point of having a permanent spot at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Um, a poster for Beck

Munn’s compositions definitely skew towards minimal, but good Lord, that’s a 4-screen print and those colors are overlaid GORGEOUSLY.

If you know any prominent designers who specialize in screen printing, lemme know, especially if they don’t do band posters. I wanna see more uses of the technique. (If you say Warhol, you are not being clever.)