A Grand Design

Black Sea Illustration Theft

click image for actual site

Anyone paying attention to independent bands knows that gear and money get stolen all the time while on the road. The same misfortunes can happen to designers, too.

From the inbox:

Hello everyone. Last night, a friend’s car was broken into and our main computer (a Macbook Pro) and main hard drive were stolen including a a friend’s iPod.

….

We are not asking for donations. What we are asking for is help in a different way. Any purchases you make from our online store help us to recover financially from this tragic event.

So please, check out www.theblackseaonlinestore.com and pick up a shirt or two. It would be greatly appreciated. It will help speed up the process of our new line coming out. We have to redo a lot of the designs because they were all on our hard drive. Our street team database is gone as well as a lot of our contacts.

If you can’t afford anything, maybe just post a bulletin for us. We have a bulletin code on our Myspace in a textbox that you can copy and paste. http://www.myspace.com/blackseaapparel

Thanks so much in advance for your help! We think you will enjoy what we have to offer!

Written by † Jay
Posted on 23 May 2008 at 12:00 pm
Filed under News
Comments (0)

Threadless Loves Lollapalooza Contest

Threadless is holding a contest for everyone’s favorite underground alternative music festival (sponsored by AT&T), where designers are encouraged to submit t-shirt designs based on Lollapalooza’s theme:

But did you know that the actual word “lollapalooza” means “remarkable or wonderful person or thing?” Well, I guess you learn something new everyday… and for this challenge we want to learn about the remarkable, wonderful things floating around in your head! Design an exceptional tee based on the true meaning of Lollapalooza. What inspires you? What makes you happy? Tell us! Be a lollapalooza and give this challenge a shot.

Hop to it, pixelpushers!

Written by † Jay
Posted on 20 May 2008 at 9:00 am
Filed under News
Comments (1)

Esao Andrews Exhibit In Seattle

Esao Andrews has new art for show at the Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle. If you have a few thousand dollars’ worth of disposable income, I recommend you picking up a piece. It’s worth it.

Written by † Jay
Posted on 08 May 2008 at 12:00 pm
Filed under News, Articles
Comments (0)

Bright Eyes Designer Wins Grammy

Congratulations go out to Zachary Nipper for winning the Grammy for Best Recording Package, for Bright Eyes’ Cassadaga release.

Masaki Koike won the Grammy for the Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package, for his work on the What It Is!: Funky Soul And Rare Grooves compilation.

Written by † Jay
Posted on 11 February 2008 at 9:00 am
Filed under News, Print, Designs, Articles, CDs
Comments (0)

Digital Packaging Plays Catch-up

Zdnet talks about new ways of packaging concrete CDs and design/marketing digital albums:

Last spring, Warner Music Group added interactive booklets based on Apple’s QuickTime software to about 75 albums sold on iTunes, providing photos and links to more multimedia content. The problem was it was also based on Flash technology, which the latest version of QuickTime disabled due to a security flaw.

Written by † Jay
Posted on 03 January 2008 at 12:00 pm
Filed under News, Articles
Comments (0)

Netscape and IE6: Dead and Dying

Two somewhat related news items of note…

Netscape, which basically is now Firefox with a different skin, is finally getting its techno-plug pulled by AOL:

While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Digi-economic Darwinism at work, this. I don’t know any designer/developer after 2000 that even bothered with coding for Netscape’s parameters (remember all those “IE recommended” disclaimers on splash pages?), so this is just closing up the moneyhole for AOL. Nothing truly consequential, but it’s nice to know this bridge can finally be burned.

Relatedly, the much more stable IE7 has recently gained some market share in the browser battle, finally surpassing the CSS-suckified IE6. You can check that link, but I’m not so sure it’s a permalink, so here’s a screenshot.

This is good news for developers, since IE6 has many compliance issues than need workarounds and cost many hours per project when coming up with the fixes. I’ve experienced this firsthand many times. Let’s hope this trend continues.

Written by † Jay
Posted on 03 January 2008 at 9:00 am
Filed under News, Design Tips, Articles
Comments (1)

Help Wanted: The Hives, Fearless Records

The Hives are looking for new album cover art:

The band is looking for submissions that encompass cutting edge graphics with a contemporary feel. The only specification is designs must be black and white. Submissions should work to a square format, be delivered at 300 dpi, by Jan 21, 2008 to thehivescoverart@googlemail.com.

And Fearless Records is looking for a new logo:

Submit your design in vector format and your contact information to Fearlesslogocontest@gmail.com. The deadline for this contest is January 15, 2008. The winner will be notified by email and the new logo will be posted on www.FearlessRecords.com on January 16, 2008.

Written by † Seth Werkheiser
Posted on 20 December 2007 at 9:00 am
Filed under News
Comments (1)

Don Clark Gets Grammy Nod

Don Clark of Invisible Creature got a Grammy Nomination for the design of Tooth and Nail release, Secrets Make You Sick, by The Fold.

Written by † Seth Werkheiser
Posted on 10 December 2007 at 6:00 pm
Filed under News, Print, Articles, CDs
Comments (1)

Mac OS Leopard Releases Today

mac os leopard

Apple unleashes its new OS, Leopard, today. All true design geeks already know this, however. I haven’t gotten it yet, but it looks slick. Anyone try it?

Written by † Jay
Posted on 26 October 2007 at 4:00 pm
Filed under News
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