WEBSITE DESIGN: Jon Doe Music

Posted by STIZO / at 8:58 PM / / 23 comments

Jon?Doe's manager hollered at me to see if I can revamp his site. This was a total overhaul. We started with the header logo and worked our way through the overall layout. He wanted the four elements of the hip hop culture (breakdancing, deejaying, emceeing and graffiti) to be evident in the design and the navigation to be easy. They were very particular about the type of equipment that I used in the final design and were pleased with the results.

The working site can be viewed here >>click<<, 

but here are a few screen shots...

LOGO DESIGN: International Auto Rebuilders

Posted by STIZO / at 11:24 PM / / 7 comments

International Auto Rebuilders, a body shop specializing in foreign vehicles, was wondering if I could help them rebrand their business. The current visual representation that they had did not fit with the clientele that they dealt with on a daily basis. 

After narrowing down the options, they chose this logo...

MUSIC: Kenautis Smith & Blackspade | Motivational Tool

Posted by STIZO / at 10:44 PM / / 2 comments

All Natural Inc. artists Kenautis Smith and Blackspade are getting ready to launch their new project, Motivational Tool. The Chicago duo had a specific vision for the artwork and provided me with the cover pics. The rest was up to me. Be on the lookout for this release!

Along with this release, they will also be putting out a 7 inch record for hip hop purists.
Here is a recent video of one of the cuts off of the album entitled "The Closing"

CUSTOM GUITAR: NORWEGIAN TRIP

Posted by STIZO / at 10:09 PM / / 1 comments

This request was a first for me. A customer asked me if I had ever customized a guitar. He wanted to give his close friend a going away present before he left for Norway. At a past job I use to design graphics for guitars, but I have never physically painted one for a client. He wanted me to incorporate the Norwegian flag, a company logo, the anarchy symbol and a picture of rapper Tech 9 into the composition. I sent him a digital mockup of what I had in mind, he sent me the Seagull acoustic guitar and I started to plan my attack on the project. All of the graphics came together well and I applied a black fade around the edges to give it a weathered appearance (customer request) and my logo on the headstock. Everything went smoothly and I was happy with the results. 

Sometimes I surprise myself...

LOGO, MEDIA & PRODUCT DESIGN: Children's Heart Foundation | Hearts at Play

Posted by STIZO / at 11:48 AM / / 1 comments

The Children's Heart Foundation requested some assistance on an event that they were throwing called Hearts at Play. They didn't want the event to have the same feel as the previous year so I steered clear of the classroom imagery that was shown to me as an example. The first thing we tackled was the type treatment for the title of the event. Simple and to the point...

Invitations followed. This one was created as a general mailer, but individual ones for eight children were created based off of this model.

Display elements were also created including a photo wall with all of the sponsor logos, posters/banners for each sponsor and a timeline of the evenings events. The final piece was a simple 2 color shirt to give to the attendees of the event.

The event turned out great and the venue was perfect! My job was done. 

Here is a little collage of the sights and activities that night...

LOGO DESIGN: Team Melania

Posted by STIZO / at 10:27 AM / / 0 comments

A friend from high school contacted me to design a logo for a fund raising effort to raise money for his daughter Melania that is suffering from Rett Syndrome. He needed the logo to be playful and represent his daughter upon first glance. He told me that her smile was like a ray of sunshine, so I played with different sun elements and ultimately we agreed on this graphic.

 

The shirts were white on purple and were a hit with the supporters!

LOGO DESIGN: Eight Men Out

Posted by STIZO / at 9:25 AM / / 6 comments

A baseball blog focused on the Chicago White Sox was looking for a logo that had a vintage baseball feel. After a few concepts, they decided on this one...

They also wanted to do a two-color short run of promo t-shirts for the team...

MUSIC: Alex Wiley | Club Wiley

Posted by STIZO / at 6:35 AM / / 0 comments

Closed Session artist Alex Wiley was looking for an album cover for his new project CLUB WILEY. He had an illustrated scene in mind that included him on stage at a Lollapalooza type festival in the city of Chicago. I was up for the challenge. Here is the final product...

Signed copies were sold online, but you can download the project and check out his latest videos by clicking here.