View it here.

New decade means a new deal.

In need of a way to showcase some new deals, a new recording space, ]]>

New decade means a new deal.

In need of a way to showcase some new deals, a new recording space, and its standard product,  the Jam Room enlisted me to fashion several pieces that the owner could use for 2 sided handbills interchangeably.

View the four angles to market below:

• The Mega Special
• The Control Room
• Vocal Room
• The Military Discount

I’d talk about these guys, but there is little to no reason to try and pole vault over what my ]]>

I’d talk about these guys, but there is little to no reason to try and pole vault over what my toxic twin Logan K. Young already scribed perfectly the first time:

“Get ready fo’ us to blow yo’ dicks off next Saturday,” or so swears a recent Tweet from wankster emcees B-Money and Ginger Snap. Every bit an idle threat as it is infantile lyrical promise, on the surface, these foulmouthed undergrad joke-hoppers offer about as much street merit as Asher Roth.

Listen closely though, and what you’ll eventually hear is one of the most erudite post-modern discourses on popular music this side of a Greil Marcus tome. Self-conscious, self-aggrandizing and, perhaps most importantly, self-parodying, Sweet Vans “rap” about everything from local music blog scenesc.com to rape prevention in Maxcy Gregg park to, as quite often aired on WUSC, Chic-fil-A’s waffle fries.

And with stellar remixes, done mix-tape style, featuring other local artists, the entire meta element only thickens. Given the right vehicle, kids will say the darndest things these days, so do yourself and your cred a solid and holla at these two. Or in their words: Treat yoself, bitch.

View the flyer I designed to promote their November 2009 gig.

Then, treat yoself:

Listen to Sweet Vans

Liz Orange and I go back a few.  We actually were roomates for a period in college.  She was a ]]>

Liz Orange and I go back a few.  We actually were roomates for a period in college.  She was a fan of sexually wild decor that somehow always ended up being my task to explain to the bewildered electricians and plumbers.

A college degree and a sojourn in Japan later, she was engaged and came to me asking for a save the date card.  She wanted it “clean, classy and mod.”

I think.  From what I remember at least.

I’m not totally sure if she or I even know what actual “mod” looks like;  however, that mattered not for when she said “mod” I was pretty sure I knew what she wanted.

View the final save the date here.

It’s fuzzy how the birth of this eight wheeled adventure rolled out of a Dionysian jaunt into some visually sweet ]]>

It’s fuzzy how the birth of this eight wheeled adventure rolled out of a Dionysian jaunt into some visually sweet fruition, but sometimes these things happen.

I was conversing with Debya Gore one evening at a local haunt and I noticed one of her roller derby flyers was at our side tucked beneath a cenicero.

After we both picked it apart for several minutes or so, she and I cooperatively decided that I should try my hand at applying my own warped slant to Debya’s unique gaggle of wild and rolling women.

The main marketing message Gore wished to showcase was the fact that alcoholic spirits were now going to be available for sale and consumption at bouts.   I came up with the tag, “When We Reign, We Pour.”

View the drinking endorsement here.

I was particularly satisfied with the strong tag line for the event but the deliverable’s design is arguably not portfolio worthy.  I do, however,  feel it serves the purpose of visually demonstrating the progression of a visual direction over the course of time and drafting.  Thus, its inclusion in this spiel.

Luckily, despite my first effort being what I felt was somewhat of a strikeout, I was asked to fashion another flyer for the following bout in June.

This time, though, the girls had already crafted a seasonally appropriate tag line themselves and I was to only concern myself with visual craft.

View the June 2008 flyer here.

My goal with this approach was to create an appropriate, modern, and somewhat unexpected aesthetic.  Most roller derby fliers and promotional materials I had seen had the same old tired, hackneyed, distressed and worn out aesthetic.

[ MORE ON THIS TO COME]

I was responsible for realizing and delivering the album artwork for this compilation of Charleston, SC artists recorded exclusively at ]]>

I was responsible for realizing and delivering the album artwork for this compilation of Charleston, SC artists recorded exclusively at Charleston Sound. 

Pretty faces always get in the door;  thus, with a swanky interior, a Mix Magazine cover and a gracefully designed compilation of recordings, this studio was able to make a rather public leap into the local music scene in Charleston, SC.

View the compilation layouts here:

• Front View
• Inside Spread
• Interior Booklet
  
• Back View
  

The Post and Courier, Charleston’s local paper, detailed the release of the compilation.  An excerpt is below:

LOCAL RECORDING STUDIO MAKING WAVES WITH
NEW COMPILATION CD

By Denise K. James, Special to The Post and Courier
Thursday, August 20, 2009

This month, a new CD that showcases some of Charleston’s finest musicians will hit local retailers.

I Got Music is a compilation of songs that represents the city’s thriving music scene, and it’s put together by
Charleston Sound, a new music studio in the Lowcountry.

Producer and engineer Jeff Hodges is responsible for Charleston Sound, as well as the idea for the new compilation.

Originally from Atlanta, Hodges has worked in the record industry for about 20 years. He has been playing music since age 7, when he began learning the piano. He also majored in music at Winthrop.

After spending time in Charleston in the 1990s, Hodges decided to return about two years ago. Then, in February 2009, Charleston Sound was opened as a local studio.

“A lot of studios previously in Charleston have come and then gone,” he says. “I just wanted to provide a quality place for musicians to count on.”

Hodges hopes that the Charleston Sound will become a friendly space for local musicians to record, feel at home and work on their craft peacefully.

“I really wanted to get to know people,” he says. “Since I opened the place, it’s been a fun process of bringing people into the studio. I feel like the facility is within the reach of any local musician. And you can get so much done here in just a day.”

The 2,000-square-foot space includes not just the main area but also side rooms, which are suitable for single instrument or vocal recording.

Post le engagement upon le zenith of le Eifel Tower, this dynamic duo was instantaneously in need of le save le date card to ]]>

Post le engagement upon le zenith of le Eifel Tower, this dynamic duo was instantaneously in need of le save le date card to warn their near and dear ones of le impending wintry melee.

Seeing that her husband-to-be is rather involved in le music, Shelley Hill le fiance, soon to legally be Shelley Young, came to moi with a vision of a concert themed save le date ensemble.

Le concoction was to include les deux parts.

Le first part was simply le save le date card which was to be styled in le vein of le retro deux color ink gig poster.  Le second part was le accomodations notification that was to be tailored to look like le concert ticket.

View les deux final pieces below:

• Save le Date Card
• Accomodations Ticket

Le finale coup d’etat involved securing les deux pieces inside a tastefully selected  “night” blue envelope. Le maneuver proved to be le proverbial icing on le cake whereupon Ms. Hill said, “Let them eat it.”

And, you were thinking it was le rain.

10T Records asked for assistance to help them realize the art work for their label’s compilation of cover songs aptly ]]>

10T Records asked for assistance to help them realize the art work for their label’s compilation of cover songs aptly entitled Undercover.

The album in their own words:

The concept behind “Undercover” is simple. The label asked each of its artists to select a song by another artist that was influential in the development of their own musical identity; a composition that might not sound exactly like what that 10T Records artist has evolved into, but one that significantly inspired their creativity at some point in their musical past. The mission was then to not simply do a faithful cover of that song, but to reinterpret the tune such that it represented where the artists musically find themselves currently.

I designed the simple yet iconic 10T Records mark in March of 2006 when the label was preparing to open its doors.

The ten dots obviously represent the “10″ of the “10T” but the harmonious concept of the design lies within the arrangement of the ten individual dots.

This arguably unlikely arrangement with its one rogue dot is meant to convey the label’s core concept.  This is one that is concerned with fostering artists  who are less concerned with current trends but more with making, as the label boasts, “music that matters.”

As I was considering the history and concept of the mark whilst sketching and such over a fine and frosty class of vodka and club soda, I realized the ten dots were reminiscent of Morse Code.

So, I decided to integrate the 10T Records mark within a string of the cryptic communication that reads:

“U- N- D -E- R- C- O- V- E -R”

Although in modern times it is hardly used, communicating with Morse Code, to me, will always be inextricably associated with covert operations.  Since the title of this collection was “Undercover,” I felt this approach worked conceptually with the inspiration behind the record and visually with the mark that represents the label itself.

This visual idea made the most sense within the record’s inside panel right above the verbiage that outlines the concept of the collection of recordings.  View it and the rest of the compilation’s elements below.

• Front View
• Inside Spread
• Back view