Time Well Spent

For over a year, I’ve been working with a church in Pennsylvania to develop icons to represent the different aspects of their worship and work. Distilling the vision of an entire congregation into a set of simple symbols proved no easy task, and we went through many rounds of revisions. These four are my personal favorites.

My hope is that the new icons will be accessible, flexible and stand the test of time — but moreover, I hope that by going through this process, the leaders of the church have found a common language for some of the intangible aspects of ministry that are often difficult to put into words.

Blue Reid

Reid Miles covers for Blue Note

Recently received a reissued edition of John Coltrane’s 1957 masterpiece Blue Train and was reminded of just how incredible Blue Note album covers tend to be.

The cream of the crop has got to be the work done by Reid Miles through the fifties and early sixties. During his eleven year tenure, he created some of the most iconic and enduring images of jazz to date. His distinct approach of combining bold color, funky lettering, and clean typography with half-toned images by photographer and Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff left an indelible mark on mid-century graphic design. Not to mention everything that’s come since.

Before I knew anything about graphic design or music, I knew these had some serious mojo.

Boots & Bonnets

I love this old screen printed design. Guessing it’s from somewhere in Eastern Europe. Anybody know for sure? Czech maybe? According to the very savvy @masterts, this piece is from Poland. Thanks Tom!

Sister's Secrets

Echoes of Manifest Destiny

viewfromhere

Old friend and colleague, Jeben Marshall, has recently released his first tracks since going solo. The View From Here contains two new songs and album art by yours truly. This is music inspired by Jeben’s trek from the Old Dominion out across the Great Divide and into sunny California, where he’s been recording sweet sounds ever since. Definitely worth your time and available for sampling in the iTunes Store or at CD Baby.

Russian Orchestra

Russian Orchestra

I love this set of labels depicting members of the Russian orchestra. I find both the use color and the way each character’s form fits the sound of his instrument to be really interesting. Beautiful design at a small scale.