Orange Zest

A vital aspect of music that is often overlooked is design. It is not just cover design, but t-shirts, posters, logos, websites, and more, and you thought you just wanted to play music. When done right all of this design work blends with the sound and style of the band, and simply becomes another aspect of what fans already appreciate. The challenge for the design is to balance the commercial nature of the packaging business and their own artistic drive. Marky Hladish, a designer and musician, has managed to strike a balance by creating album covers that are wonderfully artistic, but still professional and polished.

Marky designs under the name MidwestLove Art & Design, and he was recently kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

This weekend the global design tournament Cut&Paste makes its stop in Chicago. This is the last North American stop for the tour before heading overseas. 16 of the cities top designers are competing, and will follow in the footsteps of artists from LA, San Fran, Portland, Boston, New York, and Toronto.

The Chicago stop on the Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament’s 2009 global tour will no doubt be fueled by the city’s creative and artistic prowess. On April 4, Chicago’s 2D, 3D and Motion designers will face serious pressure to design with speed, skill, and style as party goers watch their every move on giant projection screens and cheer them on. Do these 16 competitors have what it takes to make it to the final showdown at NYC’s Global Championship on June 20th? What is interesting is designers rack their brains, race the clock, and try not to break a sweat onstage. Check out Cut&Paste for more info on tour dates, event programming and to purchase tickets.

A few weeks ago I introduced you to a lovable little guy named Marshall who was just unveiled earlier this month at Wondercon 2009. Chicago's Rotofugi and Squibbles Ink are teaming up to bring to life the concept of the design team at 64 Colors. The concept and appearance of Marshall, much like other 64 Colors designs, was so clean, nostalgic, and enjoyable that it was only a matter of time before he was produced.

Following the process over the last few months I became curious as to how long 64 Colors worked on Marshall and what the production process was like. So I reached out to Eric of 64 Colors to find out the details and to see what is next for Marshall.

Orange Alert (OA): Where did the idea for Marshall come from and how long did you work on Marshall before he was produced for sale?

The purpose of the Zest is to dig deep into the world of design, and focus on the process and the product and all that is involved. This week I get incredibly geeky with the tortured artist behind the unique and meticulously created broadsides from 10pt Press. Sean Lynch was faced with an interesting challenge five years ago as he found himself in possession of an antique printing press. I suppose you would have one of two choices, to preserve and care for the press or to utilize it and produce a series of prints that are both artistic and literary. Sean made the right decision and since has published limited edition broadsides from Hosho McCreesh, Tony O'Neil, Justin Barrett, Brian McGettrick, and Christopher Cunningham.

If you are like me when you discover a finely crafted product you want to know how it was created, so that's what I ask Sean.

Orange Alert (OA): I love that panoramic picture of your work space, what type of printing press do you have, how old is it, and how did you come to own it?

One of the most difficult aspect of being an artist is self-promotion, and so this week I thought I would feature one of the more inventive ways that I have seen to promote a portfolio. It comes from Mississippi native and Austin, TX resident Will Bryant (see original interview here), and it is a 7.5"x7.5", 66 pages, perfect bound collection of his illustrations, hand drawn typography, design, patterns and even some photography. It's filled with color, and a perfect example of what this up-and-coming artist has to offer. This week I asked Will about, I Made The For You, which was released just a few months ago.

Orange Alert (OA): I love the concept of compiling print into a book format. How did you decide to make an art book, and how did you pick which drawings and prints to include?

A literary journal can be an artistic effort, and more often than not it is. One of the more artistic journals that I have come across in the last year is Chicago's The Ghost Factory. The design is sleak, black and white, beautiful in its simplicity, and the fact that it is a full-sized journal only adds to its balance and style. Designed, edited and published by David Peak, The Ghost Factory focuses the American experience, our "cultural identity". The artists he has selected to bring his journal to life have explored the images of American life and have been a pivotal aspect the journal's appeal. This week I asked David a few questions about The Ghost Factory, its mission, its design, and its future.

Orange Alert (OA): Ghost Factory has a unique mission, "to explore the variety of life in the United States" and to focus on "cultural Identity." How did you settle on this mission, and how does this affect the way you might view a submission?