My Work | Blog

Well I haven’t been posting on this blog much these days because I’ve been scrambling to post on h(y)r 4-6 times a day. It’s incredible how attached I am to it. It really doesn’t allow a day off from working. Beyond that I am currently working on two freelance sites and developing the design and concept for a really dope new food blog/website with a friend of mine. He’s one of the most passionate friends of mine and a great cook so I’m excited about the project’s potential. I also landed a intern at Burnkit starting in January for anybody who’s interested in knowing. I’m really excited about it and the new year in general, lots to do.

I came across this fellow’s work on FFFound the other day and fell in love. I have always had a desire to pack a bag and walk the docks until I got myself a job at sea for a few months. Just live out there, work hard, fishing whatever needed fishing. However I never considered King Crab fishing…Corey Arnold did and while he was at it, he thought why not take some pictures. As a professional photographer, he is also a professional fisherman. He goes out for 3-6 months a couple times a year and decided to document it. Since he’s been contracted, had shows and yet he still goes fishing every year. The images are beautiful, the contrasting oranges, blues, white of the ice and snow, giant swells and thousands of crabs are crazy. Crabs actually creep me out more than anything else, they are like giant spiders with armor and pincher’s. So naturally I like the photographs with fish more. It’s worth checking out his website.

Monocle is definitely one of my favorite publications. From their interesting insight, worldly feel to their editorial photo shots and the products they feature, it’s all good. They also do a great job with supplementing their magazine with smaller booklets and items to increase the value and make things more interesting. They took it to another level this year with their collaboration collection including the likes of Comme des Garcons and Head Porter. Now they have broken out of their mini in-store loaction in the Dover Street Market and have actually opened a small retail outlet of their own in London. The signage is great, perfectly on brand, along with the nice displays and beautiful products. Inspiring.

As much as I love individual items for their specific needs or occasions, I love products displayed really nicely. Whether it’s the merchandising in a shop or photographs like this. For me I really connect, it actually triggers something inside of me that just wants it, wants to touch them, use them, I suppose have them. I think it might be more subtle in some people and probably a lot of others would never even notice. There is something in the details which really can make a simple business special. Something that a million others are doing can be that much better by just putting in the extra time and effort. But who will ever really notice? At least I know I would. This is from my favorite online retailer, Tres Bien Shop. They do a very nice job with their online visual merchandising which is something not many others have even considered before.

I don’t even really know who checks this blog but I came across this beautiful photo of Hiroshi, the Japanese “street wear god” and it inspired me to write a post. This guy is incredible, what he’s done, what he does and the level he works on. Whether its the circle of friends he works with or the Japanese level of execution he grew up with, but everything he does is on another level. Head Porter/Plus, Honeyee, Uniform Experiment, Fragment Design, DJ, curator, the list is long. I have a theory that he figured out a way to never to go sleep, it seems like the only plausible solution. I am inspired by the work this guy does, produces, oversees and I really hope that one day I can put something together with him.

I doubt this is from the same place, but they are both really nice. I am working on a new website for a stylist right now and I am really feeling like incorporating some form of this shot. I think it could work really well, the light wood floor especially has a really nice feeling about it. Unfortunately I’m drawing a slight blank tonight on what to do. I have a couple roughs but nothing is getting me too excited yet. I think a new font is in order and some original shots will make it fresh to work with. I’ll be back with more soon…

This type face is being killed and somebody needs to save it. I found myself using it a little too much a couple months ago so I left it be, toned it down big time, now I’m seeing pop up more and more. Menus, signs, websites, people have been exploring their font lists and have all seem to been picking Century Gothic. I think the appeal is obvious, nice and round, modern looking but easy to read and fairly versatile. My biggest problem, other than it’s recent overs use, is how it changes when you increase it’s pt size. I think 10pt is it’s best form but as you get into the low 20’s it becomes proportional, kind of clunky and loses it’s slickness. So if you are going to use it, make sure you’re not arbitrarily upping the pt size at least because as good as it looks at times, it can quickly look childish and fairly wack.

If everyone packaged their products like this, would it become bad? I don’t know how so many products and their packaging are ‘designed’ so poorly, whether it’s people with really bad taste, people who aren’t designers or what, but this is extremely simple and looks really good. Bold all capital lettered Helvetica has been used a zillion times but still comes off fresh a lot of the time. Can it all be so simple?

Gastown is undergoing some serious transformations, it’s interesting to see it’s extremes within only a couple blocks. I captured this shot on Water St. the other day while I was doing more shots for the Stussy Vancouver website. The light was pouring through the roof and into a relatively empty space. I don’t know what’s going in the space, but no doubt it will continue to push the neighborhood. I really love the aesthetic of the old buildings mixed with some contemporary design. the InForm stores are probably the best representations of this, but more and more there are beautiful spaces being salvaged in East Vancouver.

I picked up the next to latest issue of IdN Magazine last week and it’s awesome. The issue focuses on info graphics and their development and use through some really interesting work. Although I’m not a professional info graphics analyst, I believe they are diagrams and layouts that are actually useful and give the reader some information, generally just visual representations that are supposed to make it nice and easy to understand what the trends are. In IdN they focus on some beautifully designed info graphics. I can pretty much find something I really like on every page, the colors, the details, all good. For the most part the magazine is a little more cramped than I’d describe my style, but I don’t mind because I get to look at more and in turn, get more inspired.

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