Three of a series of five letterpress coasters illustrated by our good friend Greg Clarke. Designed for our referral marketing client Extole, the coaster illustrations express the idea of “sharing.” Cheers!
Printed by The Ligature in Berkeley, California.
Sacramento Pipeworks is a Northern California indoor rock climbing gym, with 40-foot walls and 11,000 square feet of climbing terrain. Originally opened by Touchstone Climbing in 2001, we were hired to redesign the gym identity.
Housed in a former pipeworks, the trademark is decidedly industrial, with a “machine shop” skull and crossbones. Our custom typography is a nod to the idea of pipes and the bending of pipes, and was inspired by a typeface lettered by German designer Max Körner in the late 1940’s.
Located next door to Pipeworks will be Pintworks, a taproom serving craft beers brewed by Touchstone Brewing Co. The Pintworks identity is a riff on Pipeworks, with a drop of beer replacing the nut over crossed wrenches.
Our client Extole is a referral marketing company specializing in new customer acquisition for its clients. They recently moved their San Francisco office and asked us to propose a treatment for their lobby.
The men’s club vibe of their building on Sansome Street downtown is apparent in the marble and chandelier—which we decided to play against. We worked with Los Angeles illustrator Greg Clarke to create a series of Greco-Roman busts that are equal parts classical, modern (note the iPhone), and ridiculous (animal heads). Greg’s approach harmonizes with the formality of the architectural space while simultaneously creating a humorous (and therefore human) contrast.
Environmental photography by John Sutton.
In addition to the work from Design is Play mentioned in our last plog, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art acquired seven of Mark’s agitprop screen printed posters designed when he worked under the name BlackDog.
Works include “Elvis Ain’t King” (1992), about the Los Angeles Police Department Beating of Rodney King (above); “The Great Seal (after El Lissitsky)” (1998); “Cover Your Head” (1992); “howiloveya” (1998); “Tricky Ollie” (1998); “State of the Union (Where Friends Meet Friends)” (1998); and “End Pollution: Bomb the Pentagon” (1991). You can read about “End Pollution: Bomb the Pentagon” on our February 21, 2011 plog post.
See other agitprop posters at BlackDog.
Three posters and one postcard we designed in 2010 and 2011 were acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as part of their Decorative Arts and Design collection.
“Getting Upper” (left) is a screen printed poster we designed for an exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Read about it on our March 14, 2011 plog post.
The “Craft Forward” (right) poster announces a symposium on craft at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and features a pattern based on the symposium identity we designed. Read about the identity on our January 5, 2011 plog post.
See other posters under Design is Play Studio Posters.