More info about this project can be found here and here. Thanks!

When I reached the day of reckoning on this project, I pulled all the data obtain on my questionnaire and it totaled 100 people exactly. People from all over the world. That seemed perfect. My hope to get a handful of photos, poems, songs, and other ‘expression’ about hope and or fear was hardly realized and so I canned my plans for that aspect of the design. Funny thing happened though . . .

I decided to go and look at the ‘harvest’ of responses again, to see if anyone else had participated, and I was a bit blown away. Well over 1500 have posted their hope and fears. There are also a whole lot of photos, poems, mp3s, and other art! So, when I say that I am done, I am not really done. I have all this awesome data and most of it is not included in the piece I just finished designing and installing. So what now?

Well, I think I will have to write (and design, of course) a book. And I will! When? I am not sure, but I will. Right now things are really busy for me, trying to finish up my BFA program at BYU-Idaho and working freelance and being a Dad to my adorable Nina. But I will do it! I am already starting.

Anyhow, the process of this was really something. I didn’t track how many hours of work went into the project, but it was a lot of hours. Last weekend, I printed everything out, mounted it to foam core and cut it all out. It took about 50 hours to complete just that task. Then I hung it all in the library, using nails and gaffers tape.

While the project is done, it is not done. Stand by.

This is a book.

I am in a book arts class and I am learning some really cool things. This is the first completed project for the class. It’s called a long stitch. The examples we observed in class looked like this, and this is the style that most of the students did. But me? I don’t really like leather. So I found some corrugated plastic at my local sign shop and achieved a completely different aesthetic.

I rather like it. More images after the jump.

A close-up view of the binding. Holes poked in with a hot needle, like butter.

Velcro makes for a clean closure and a noisy opening. Also, notice the channel cut out for each 'hinge'.

Eight signatures of hefty Mohawk superfine will make for sketchbook magic (at least that is the idea).

A thousand-year-old manuscript.

The Fall semester here at Brigham Young University-Idaho starts a little late, on the 10th of September this year. But things are in full swing and I am feeling the burn. I am taking Advanced Typography, Color Photography, Book Arts, History of Design and Illustration, and an Old Testament class. All of these are great, really. The big love of my heart? Advanced Typography.

The first day of Type class was spent looking at some old old printed samples. We got to hang out with this incredible working replica of an Acorn press. I should snag some more info about it and post it on here. Below are some photos of the books and manuscripts that we got to pass around. It was really something to handle some of typography’s rich history.

Just a disclaimer, these photos were captured on my phone. Sorry they aren’t better.

An acorn printing press. This is just sitting in a room in our library.

An Ethiopian Coptic Bible.

Some detail on the Ethiopian Coptic. Look at that language! It's ancient Ge'ez.

Another look at the manuscript from above.

A sort of Roman passport. Dated back to the first century!

I needed a typeface for a print project I am working on and had a hard time finding just the right thing. So I went handmade. Rather than start something from scratch, I took some inspiration from the fantastic form of H&F-J‘s Archer bold.

I am really enjoying the aesthetic of this face. I am not sure of the legal issues of distributing my take on someone else’s typeface. Since I’ve licensed it, I know I can use it, but I would like to make it available for free. More on how I use it to come.

Cantalope

In my 3D Graphic Design class (as in package and environment design), we have been given a number of “exploration” assignments. This one was to be an exploration of textures.

Since the main project we are working on in the class is about farming/produce/gardening, we had to center our exploration around, well, farming/produce/gardening. I basically used black acrylic paint and applied to the paper with a variety of fruits and vegetables. This was a great exercise.

Carrot

Onion

Orange

Potato