Design is Play

Recent Posts

Ray Bradbury, Jaron Lanier, and “The Digital Flattening of Expression”

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A short piece Mark wrote—“Ray Bradbury, Jaron Lanier, and ‘The Digital Flattening of Expression’”—was recently published on the site Designers & Books. It explores thematic connections between Fahrenheit 451 and You Are Not a Gadget, in particular ideas about originality and authorship.

Mark also updated his book list on the site, adding new recommendations such as Tools of the Imagination: Drawing Tools and Technologies from the Eighteenth Century to the Present by Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino. Each book recommendations is accompanied by a brief “review” of sorts.

Extole Identity, Website, and Collateral

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We recently redesigned the identity and online presence for Extole, a San Francisco referral marketing company specializing in new customer acquisition for its clients. We sought to humanize the “virtual” and data-driven aspects of Extole’s business by working with Los Angeles illustrator Greg Clarke to create idiosyncratic depictions of potential new customers as dogs and cats—with the occasional mouse and chimp thrown into the mix.

Business cards feature pairs of animals “sharing:” talking, listening to the same music, or exchanging information; screen printed mugs with a cat and poodle in conversation are given out to clients as a pair. Greg’s illustrations combined with the black and Day-Glo pink color palette work to create a memorable identity for Extole.

Photography by Mark Serr; Environmental photography by John Sutton.

 

AIGA 100 Years of Design: 1914–2014

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To celebrate the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ centennial, the AIGA asked 100 designers to create “a piece of artwork that makes a social, political or cultural statement about one year from AIGA’s history.” Mark chose the year 1958 so he could work with Gerald Holtom’s timeless symbol for Nuclear Disarmament—what would eventually become known as the “Peace Sign.” All 100 designs from the project can be seen on the AIGA site.

Play at Play: Happy Chinese New Year!

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 Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. —The White Queen to Alice

We are committed fans of the impossible here at Design is Play. In fact, our very existence as print designers in twenty-first century San Francisco seems dubious at times, but we intend to thrive here nonetheless. For those of you whose Chinese is a little rusty, the character in the upper-right corner of our card reads wealth. We wish our friends and colleagues much success in this New Year, regardless of the persistence of the “Print is Dead” crowd.

As with our 2013 Valentine, our New Year card was screen printed by Kevin Giffen at Wranch Studio in Santa Monica, California. Kevin printed the design in three colors: two metallics and a black on a ridiculously heavy chipboard stock. Angie set the Lewis Carroll passage on the back of the card in Marian 1742, a monoline slab serif and close relative of Marian Black, the face we used for our Valentine.

CREDO Mobile Iconography

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Our friend and colleague Steve Lyons asked us to develop a series of political “issue” icons for CREDO Mobile, San Francisco’s progressive phone company. We are proud CREDO customers, so it was a delight to put our talents to work on behalf of our left-leaning phone carrier. Left to right, top to bottom: Women’s Rights, Universal Healthcare, Peace, Workers’ Rights, Social Justice, Renewable Energy, Economic Justice, Marriage Equality, Environment, Voting Rights, and Workers’ Rights (alternate version).