Secret Still

Maybe there is something special about the icier parts of the Midwest, but there are some fantastic designers there. Is it the oppressive Winters? You get trapped in the house for months at a time because of inclimate weather, and there’s nothing else to do but get really really good at something? I’ve noticed there are some great artists/designers in Portland, too where it rains like a bastard for most of the year. Damn the pleasant environs I’ve lived in throughout my life, no wonder I’m not very good at anything. Whatever the reason, the results are still clear, and Allan Peters is a great example. The Minnesota-based designer is as talented as they come, and within the first five seconds I had already added his site to my “inspiration” bookmarks. Lots of ideas zooming around the old brain box after combing through his portfolio. Simple design, great color pairings, excellent font choices, and a classic aesthetic; plus he’s been shot before. Apparently I need to think about living somewhere a little more challenging.

Allan Peters

More than a few years ago, when I was still in college, I was home from school for the weekend and me and my friends, as usual, were taking extremely high doses of LSD and seeing how long we could survive. For some reason a consensus was reached that we should go to a house party where there were people we knew. I drove at night in the rain and only avoided crashing because the lines on the road reflected the light back so severely that I thought the road was on fire and I was trying not to melt the tires. We walked in to a breakdance battle where I believe someone mimed throwing a Street Fighter style fireball at their opponent. It cemented my understanding of the innate ridiculousness of being anything at all. One good thing to come out of that party was that we re-met Staci Janik. We knew her from high school, but she was there and she UNDERSTOOD us; not easily done by a many people at that point. We adopted her into our group (whether she wanted it or not) right then and there. She became The Girl. We already had The Little Girl, and Staci is too tall for that name anyway. We all loved her (did you know that, Staci?) in our individual ways, and she brought us new ideas in return. You would think that after all that, I would be biased, but luckily for me I’m too much of an asshole to ever be biased by love.

SO. It gives me nothing but joy to tell you about the design work of Staci Janik, a person who can never stop being a part of my family. Her work is simple, uncluttered, and beautiful. I can nerd out on her type choices, I can sit back and enjoy her layout, and more than that I can see her style in every stitch. It’s all classy yet playful and beguiling, like an Audrey Hepburn smile or that one little cloud sailing all by itself in miles of empty, bright blue sky. I don’t need to say much more than that. The Girl understands.

Staci Janik

What I needed this morning was a few thousand cc’s of handrawn type delivered via opthalmic injection. Thankfully there was a steady supply in Jen Mussari’s portfolio, and my eyes got the essential vitamins and minerals they needed to keep functioning. Things were touch and go for a few minutes, but my retinas are just humming along fine now. Thanks, Jen, you’re a life saver.

Jen Mussari

Jordan Gray seems like one of those guys that wakes up in the middle of the night with a fantastic idea, and then doesn’t go back to sleep for the next few days while working on it. That’s how I think of Spike Jonze, too. There are a lot of people with great ideas for projects, but only so many who absolutely have to see them made. Jordan definitely has the great ideas, just take a stroll through his portfolio and that will be clear. But he clearly has the follow-through. How else could he have made a feature film? Or a badass comic? Or such great type choices? If we’re separating the men from the boys here, Jordan’s chest hair is curling out of his flannel shirt. I’ve really got to stop making my metaphors sound so homoerotic.

Jordan Gray

Damn, them some good logos. He good.

Yeah, I know I’ve mentioned him before, but it’s too good to not mention again.

Ben Pieratt

Designer Mikey Burton rounds out design week with a solid portfolio of seriously unserious work. Great use of type, great use of color, and most of all a good eye for overall effect. I’m sorry to tell most of you in school for design degrees out there, but the latter talent is innate, not taught. You got it or you don’t. Mikey’s got it, and he’s making good use of it. Dude even did the identity for 20×200. I’ve got a couple of those cards attached to prints that I bought from 20×200, so I’ve now got work by some of my favorite artists, and one of my new favorite designers. Score.

Mikey Burton

Today’s designer spotlight is another type master, but this time the focus is more on hand-drawn type. Comparable to the prolific work of Andy Smith (previously mentioned), the work of Jon Contino specializes in amazingly well-crafted, hand-drawn letterforms. I haven’t drawn any type for a few months now, but one look through Contino’s portfolio and I got flooded with ideas. There are even a couple of tricks I’m going to swipe for future tattoos. If I’m willing to afix it permanently to my skin, it must be great.

Jon Contino

Some damn fine type work. That’s really all it takes to catch my design eye. Don’t fuck that up and you’re homefree.

Dreamers Ink Aesthetics

LA-born, Bay Area transplant Richard Perez caught my finely tuned internet eye recently with his colorful posters, clean type work and clever branding. That’s three adjectives that begin with “c”, and I’ve got like 30 more in the chamber ready to fly. You’d all do good to remember that if you ever decide you want to get into an adjective battle with me. I got an 800 verbal on my SAT way back when, and then I fell asleep during the math part. I was more than a little hungover. Why bother to tell you all this rather than talk about Perez’s work? Because it’s good enough that you can see for yourself; my adjectives are unnecessary.

Richard Perez

The hand drawn type of Andy Smith is the stuff that my dry dreams are made of. Yes, dry. C’mon, I’m not that into type. No one should be that into type. But even if you are one of those type obsessed crazies, Smith has a veritable cornucopia of typographic pornography to spend some alone time with.  No more sweatily reading McSweeney’s in the Barnes and Noble, now you can get your oddball type fix online. Make sure to pay special attention to his shop section to see the amazing screenprinted mini-books he’s created. Those are the Perfect 10 of type porn. I think I’ve gone too far with this already.

Andy Smith