Art and science, with a bit of commercialism thrown in
There is as much creativity in science as there is in art, and as little originality.
A Christmas card
The card on the left and the envelope on the right can both be produced by an ordinary desktop A4 printer. The A4 sheet from which the envelope is made has clear instructions about where to cut, fold, apply gum, etc. The card was created using InDesign, the envelope using Illustrator.
A calendar
The month of April from a calendar created with InDesign. The first and last days of each month can fall on any day of the week, creating larger or smaller blank spaces at the top and the bottom of the grid. I filled each of them in in some way that related to a "theme" for each month.
An A4 document folder for a conference
This document folder is made to carry A4 documents, and it can printed on an A3 printer. Created using Illustrator. The final flap can be held shut with a conference-themed sticker.
Advertisements for a weekly newspaper
InDesign was used for the layout for the newspaper proper. "3-D" effects in the advertisement on the left were created using Illustrator.
A business card
This business card is part of a set of stationery designed in Illustrator. The basic idea is to promote a fun, wholefood image with an "ethnic" twist. Based on an original design in a weaving by Native American Indians.
Book covers for a well-known publishing house
The first cover was made using Photoshop and Illustrator, the second using Illustrator alone. Logos are in vector form, hand-drawn using the pen tool. The "dirty typewriter" type in the uppermost cover was done with the Photoshop pattern tool; the tiling in the lower cover was done with an overlapping Illustrator pattern. All photographs on this site (and everywhere else in my work) are treated using Photoshop as a digital darkroom. I never do "trick" photographs willingly, although I can, if you insist. The second cover is very faithful to its 1950s inspiration, and the compromises that were made in the 1970s. Note the ISBN number as an afterthought on the spine.
Book cover and logos for less well-known publishers
The traditional design of an early Penguin paperback remains one of the most iconic designs of the twentieth century. I'm not trying to impove the design, just "borrow" it. The ersatz "seagull" logo was drawn using the Illustator pen tool. The hedgehog (for that is what it is supposed to be, for the "Hedgehog Press") was drawn by hand using an obsolete tool called a "pen".
Book covers with a similar theme
Front covers created using Photoshop. Both covers have a writing/typing theme. The one on the left is suposed to illustrate how anyone using a keyboard can create a virtual world containing a vast variety of different things by using his imagination. The one on the right is supposed to illustrate how a real writer once did just that, using whatever was in his mind the day he put finger to keyboard. The writing that "screens" the cover is the text of the UK shipping forecast from the day I made it: "gale warnings for all areas except Trafalgar".
Sparing use of color
Color is intoxicating, and like all intoxicants it must be used sparingly. That is one of the reasons why gray is the predominant color on this website.
Logos made to measure for local businesses
I think a logo should always say something reasonably relevant about the nature of the business or product. In effect, it is an advertisement as well as a nameplate.
A poster for an air show
This is a low-tech, cheap-to-print poster that can be produced in large numbers. The distorted, overexposed appearance of the clouds in the background photo is intentional, and is supposed to convey a sense of high speed, at high altitude, in bright sunshine, so long ago that it is hard to remember the details with great clarity . . .
CD covers
CD covers. The one on the left is supposed to evoke the multi-colored bars on the khaki lapel of a Soviet General's uniform. Well, it sort of does that in its original printed form.
Part of a super-size Scrabble board
The makers of Scrabble recently brought out a version of the famous board game that uses twice as many letter tiles on a board that is about twice the area of the original. But the new board had a few failings. On the original board, bonus spaces have jagged sides that project into adjacent spaces, and so can be read even when covered with a tile. Those were missing on the new board's bonus spaces, so I made my own and put them in.