Upcoming AIGA Small Talks at Proof Advertising

My next AIGA Austin Small Talks is this Wednesday. I'm always a little nervous before these events, but this time the weatherman is predicting sleet. Eeek! Here's hoping the turnout will be solid anyway!

For this e-flyer I invoked the current allure/disdain for the 1960s 'Ad Man'—by combining the Lucky Strike cigarette branding with the prototypical Madison Avenue car ad.

I love this quote from Thomas Frank's Conquest of Cool: "In this period, Madison Avenue was 'Ulcer Gulch,' the preserve of the famous 'Man in the Gray Flannel Suit'; it was the archetypal destination for look-alike commuters from Westchester; it was slow-moving, WASPy, and serious; it was populated by other-directed organization men. It was a shrine of 'Theory X' conformity, the seat of all that was wrong with American culture. Admen were hopeless yes-men, dedicated to affirming their clients' every whim." 

Lost and Found

I was searching through my hard drive for some AIGA logos today in preparation for hosting my first ever Small Talks (see poster here), and I came across some event promo materials I did for other AIGA events a while back .

Since this is work for designers, I took the opportunity of playing with typefaces that are usually too illegible for client work. But other designers won't accept everything—I was asked to remove the flies from the postcard design. I rather liked them. I thought they made the viewer do a double-take. But I guess flies are also kind of gross ;0)

But it was cool to run across some old work I had completely forgotten about. Has that ever happened to you?

Renegade Craft Fair in Austin

The rainy weather has nixed my plans for gardening and swimming this weekend. But it's just as well since the Renegade Craft Fair is in town Saturday and Sunday.

Admission is free and there will be DIY workshops led by Austin Craft Mafia, ETSY, Public School, Stitch Lab, and the WonderCraft as well as wares for sale from over 200 local indie crafters. I'm so excited! Look for pics from the event soon...