The very talented Steve Knerem is the guest artist behind a majority of the content of our vector set 22.  In this tutorial, he shows us how to assemble a rad rockabilly poster using various elements of the set, a bit like what Jeff did for us when we released Set 18. 

In the first part of the tutorial, Steve will be walking you through his process to design the poster, from concept to final piece. In a couple of weeks, we’ll publish the 2nd part, which will infuse the composition with an even stronger rockabilly/1950s feel, by doing some additional research in terms of typefaces by digging at the source: 1950′s/1960′s era gig posters (as well as more contemporary material too). Finally, a few weeks after that, we’ll publish a wrap-up piece that will provide additional tips and tricks to give a vintage finish to the poster, like if you had found it in your parent’s/grandparent’s attic after all these years.

But no more rambling, let’s let Steve have the microphone!

— Simon, Go Media’s Arsenal Manager

Hey Guys,

Thanks for reading my article on how I built this Rockabilly poster using the Arsenal’s Vector Set 22.

In this set you are going to notice that it’s all revolved around icons from vintage 1950’s U.S.A: hot rods, babes, tattoos and everything in between. As you search through the set notice I threw in a mix of styles from my hand drawn look to straight vector art (done in Illustrator). Have fun with the pack and add it to your own arsenal of goodies!

Let’s have a quick look at the set’s content

So let’s get started!

My thoughts to create this poster are keep it simple within the realms of design and content, yet pack a punch with enthusiasm and detail. When I think of design, I definitely try not to throw in the kitchen sink, but be selective and make sure I have for this project a title focus and an image focus. In addition to that, make sure your eye flows either top to bottom, in the “Z” pattern or in what I think is helpful is a circle pattern. These are the elements the the brain locks into and make the poster reads well, creates good flow and is a successful piece.

Choosing the Color Palette

I need to think about colors. When I thought about my color palette typical Rockabilly/50’s colors seem to be red, black, white, tan and a cool color. This isn’t etched in stone but what seems to be the norm. I know I want to go with a vintage look as it were designed back in this era.

I did some searching and remembered one of my favorite websites when I need some inspiration or knowledge. This is what popped up after doing a search for “vintage rockabilly colors.”

Thinking through the composition

Ok I have my color palette, now for design. I am setting up this design for a 16×20 4-5 color screen printed poster for a fictitious event in my home town Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. I worked- up a few quick ideas and am going to call this “The Rockabilly Throwdown Fest.” Imagine a huge fest with all your favorite bands, hairdos, pinups and vintage styles for one day, sounds awesome!

I’ll first set up a ½” bleed area around the poster. This guarantees me that anything within these borders will be printed, and I don’t have to worry about it getting cut off. You could probably set up a ¼” in bleed as well.

Looking at Typefaces

I’m going to then move on to the title “The Rockabilly Throwdown Fest” and search for a font. There is an endless supply of possibilities but let’s go with something that feels like it belongs.

Quick note: if I were to choose a font that seemed like it could go with a black death metal fest, it wouldn’t have the right feel. Do your research.

Down to the Nitty-Gritty

Next let’s piece this together.

Choosing the Centerpiece

My initial thought is to utilize one of the pin ups as the main character… Maybe the devil girl.

A Layout Change

Ok, so an interesting turn of design events is taking place. I was originally thinking of placing an image in the center, but because of the title design I am thinking of something else…Let’s see where it goes.

Let’s Change the Centerpiece, and Let’s Add Some Supporting Design Elements

I like this pose better, and I think she goes better with the design. I know I want some sort of starburst in the background to create a sense of depth so I grab the star tool and set it to 75 points.

I want to trim the bottom and left side so I take the pen tool and make three points in at “L” shape. Make sure the color is selected in the stroke color box. Note the purple color “L” at the bottom left of the artboard.

While the “L” shape is selected, I also select the starburst then I go to the pathfinder panel and select the divide button all with my black arrow tool. Both images will look united, but then click on the part that looks cut away with your white arrow tool and delete it. The starburst might spill over the document parameters, so you will have to select those parts and delete. From here select the starburst with your black arrow tool and choose a fill color in the color box. Most likely you will see areas fill in the where your dividing “L” line was.

These are a few extra steps, but this makes the object complete. Click off on a blank area and select the parts that are spilling over and the parts that filled in with your white arrow tool and delete them. Click off on a blank area, then click on the starburst one more time and select unite in the pathfinder panel. I like to do this just to give it a final merge of the object. Now you are all set. Now we can play with different colors of the starburst and create some background texture/depth.

Remember the arrow patterns I drew once I noticed the design took a different direction? Well, I want to keep this design going and incorporate all things related to the fest. So let’s grab a guitar, a microphone, and an old car. I also swapped out the pinstripes at the bottom for some military looking wings. Also, don’t forget to switch the starburst’s color to a red slightly brighter than the background. The yellow was too strong, and overpowered the character.

Adding More Supporting Elements

I have in mind flames also, pretty iconic piece for this scene. But something a little different… like this, from the pinstripes pack.

I know I don’t want to use the whole image, only half. So, I have to cut it in half.

Here’s how I did it:

Select your lasso tool, and draw around the part you DO want to keep.

Cut it and paste it back (CTRL/CMD + X, then CMD/CTRL + V or F). Select the image and select unite from the pathfinder panel. This is so there are no open points and you can select it and change the color any time. Let’s place it on the poster in a few open spots:

Quick note: the one placed left of the pinup had its color changed to the same red as the background. Since it’s overlayed on the starburst that’s lighter, it gives it that sweet punch through effect. One more thing to play with!

Time to Add More Copy!

Quick note: work around the canvas and DO NOT focus in one area for a long period of time. You have to work around the canvas/design and give most areas enough attention. Say I completed this bottom left part completely and came back to it in two days. Well some of those fresh thoughts will be gone and you need to think through the design once again. If you work around the canvas little by little you can give most of it attention and develop those first thoughts.

Alright, back to the game. Keep developing the text, make parts pop, and make the fonts of the bands specific. If you look at any poster the bands will have their own text font.

Time to Make Sense Out of the Mess of Items at the Bottom Left

When coloring for a spot color project such as this poster or a tee shirt, you’re limited to one color choice usually. This is where you need to be selective/creative and think this through.

All I did here is create color shapes and place them behind the character and objects.

Here is another technique that is good to use especially with my hand drawn pieces. If you know my style or if this is the first time seeing it..it’s pretty detailed… Yes? So here is a time saver. Make a copy of the outlined image and place it behind the original piece. Lock the top original piece. Select the car with your white arrow tool. Select merge  from the pathfinder panel then add a fill color to the color box then unite it using the pathfinder.

Change color and we just saved 10 minutes of using the pen tool.

Do the same with the microphone and the guitar and now we can take this to the next step.

Adding a Tad More Depth, and Other Refinements

I also wanted more dimension that just the starburst in the background. So I took the flames from the pinstripe pack pack and made this into a solid image by repeating the steps we just did for the car. You just got a free vector! Take a look under the pinup at the light red flames, cool feature and more interesting things going on.

Time to add some finesse to the border. You can taper the edges by expanding the stroke of the frame, then deleting the top point of the square edge.

I also added a stroke to each image. You have to add the stroke to a solid image that is underneath all of your layers. For the car we have two layers. One is the black outlines and one is the green color. Add the stroke to the green color. Make sense? Notice I changed the black lines to red… Looking cool!

Well I’m liking what I see, title reads well, colors look cool, feels like a Rockabilly poster.

Last Touches

Last thing I like to do is add a touch of my own flair. In this case I’ll grab some dot patterns from the symbol box.

I’ll just throw a few down and figure out what I like.

Next I’ll expand it because I don’t want to use the whole pattern just parts. So click on Object > Expand.

I’ll then take the lasso tool and cut out random parts that I want to use.

Cut then paste it then unite with the pathfinder using your black arrow tool.

I like to place these splatters behind the white stroke and make it the color of the stroke, in this case it’s white. So now we have a cool 16″x20″ – 5 color promo poster!

Let me know if you have any questions, go crazy with these vectors and send me your designs: put them in the Go Media Flickr Pool, and/or in the comments! One thing to add is that I illustrated a mix of hand drawn and vector/Illustrator images. This adds a really nice feel of that hand drawn look yet utilizing the strengths of Illustrator.

Enjoy guys!

— Steve Knerem

Note: find Steve online at: 

• SteveKnerem.com
• steve.knerem@facebook.com
• @SteveKnerem
• EstablishtheFrontLine.com

The post Create a Rockabilly Poster With Vector Set 22 – Part I appeared first on GoMediaZine.

All is quiet here at Go Media – heads down, noses to the grindstone!

We’ll start with the bad…well, bittersweet news.  Our Community Manager, Marissa Mele, has bid us adieu.  Our hearts broke as we watched Marissa leave Go Media for the very last time, but we must admit that we’re happy too (read: jealous)  - as Marissa is off for warmer weather!  At least one of us gets to escape the Cleveland winters. We’ll miss you Marissa!

While we lost one, we gained two!

Joining our staff are Simon Birky Hartmann, our new Arsenal Product Manager and Heather Sakai, taking over as Community Manager.

Let the Sun Shine In!

As always, we have been fortunate to work with many amazing clients and for awesome events, such as Sunfest, a music and art festival held annually on the first week of May in West Palm Beach, Florida.  The state’s largest waterfront music and art festival, SunFest attracts more than 275,000 attendees.  Even more are drawn to its website!  Check out Go Media’s contribution!

Crash Bang Boom!

It’s mighty noisy here at 4507 Lorain Road lately…but we don’t mind! We have super exciting news to share!  We are now undergoing a storefront renovation!  Stay tuned here, and to our Facebook and Instagram pages for the latest updates and to watch our building transform.

The Countdown is On!

We’re counting down the moments until Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2013!  We rolled out our WMC Portfolio Contest and announced the lucky 5 entries that will be featured designers in our gallery this year!  We also announced many of our speakers and bands for the fest – the anticipation is killing us!

What The Team Has Been Up To:

 Aaron Roberts

Hello all! In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been up to the following:

•  Point Click Tailor Suit templates
• Website designs for BigBolts.com, KBK Enterprises, Motivideos & Midwest Box Company
• Icon designs for Tomra’s Recycling App
• BattleReady Hangtag designs

 Bryan Garvin

  Chris Comella

• Client shenanigans, including a brand guide for a local educational institution, brainstorming names for a Cleveland bicycling initiative, and conceptualizing for a new restaurant’s identity
•  Preproduction for OTM Series 3

 Heather Sakai

 Simon Birky Hartmann

• Settling in in a new town, Cleveland the beautiful, very close to the lake Erie
• Settling in in my new responsibilities as Arsenal Manager here at Go Media
• Launched a sweet series of new products on the Arsenal:
  • The excluded rough grunge texture pack
  • The etched into dark texture pack  (both by Maartne Kleyne, who wrote a great tutorial to demo the pack
  • The 3rd and last part of Steve Knerem’s  Keep Me Safe series of tutorial videos
  • Preparing what’s next on the Arsenal including: next version of the site (top secret stuff, I won’t tell you more for now), recruiting some guest artists for some awesome sauce stuff, coming soon (but it’s top secret too, so I won’t tell you more either) and the next batch of products   (scroll to the bottom) with our guest artist Steve Knerem
• Finally, my wife and I moved very close to a great Irish pub, so we’ve been enjoying a few Guinesses

 Wilson Revehl

The post What’s Go Media Been Up To? appeared first on GoMediaZine.

Filterstorm, PhotoGene, Camera+, iDarkroom, Instagram.  With a flick of a finger, a simple effect, a toasty filter can bring a dull photo to life. In the age of the iPhone, such easy access to the camera itself, combined with photo-editing software gives us power and confidence we’ve never had.

Professional Cleveland photographer Dan Morgan of Straight Shooter, who has been in the business for over 30 years, has embraced the recent explosive advances in his field. Go Media sat down with Morgan to talk about Instagram and related software programs.

Photo Credit: Dan Morgan

Morgan notes, “That same rapid-fast forward in technology that has made it so everyone can take pictures, has made it so professionals can take better pictures.”

Spending the majority of his time as a commercial photographer, these new advances have broadened the scope of what he offers to his customer.  He tells Go Media, “The type of photography I do today I never attempted to do back in the day because I’m able to experiment more and see how things look.”

Instead of simply offering catalog items, he offers varying options including food and notably, architectural photography.  In the past requiring a big and bulky 4×5 camera with very sensitive and specific adjustments made at time of shooting, Morgan can now take his digital SLR and make all changes with ease in Photoshop and other software programs.  He reports: “Architectural photography is one of my best sources of income now.”

Morgan’s experience capturing images of jewelry has been expanded as well. Recently published as the sole photographer for Brandon Holschuh’s book “The Jeweler’s Studio Handbook“ where he captured stunning images of custom made jewelry, Morgan came across more advances in technology, making his process easier.  One application of note creates a reflection of the jewelry, at the click of a button. This would at one time be a frustrating, multistage process involving multiple artists.

“TAP I” – Shot with a Canon Mark II, Reflection app used. Photo Credit: Dan Morgan, Straight Shooter

“All the fine art experimenting that I did in the last 15 years are now, with the assistance of technology – those effects are being achieved immediately,” Morgan comments, emphasizing that  this technology not only impacts the quality of his technology, but the speed at which he can produce as well.

Morgan stresses that the decisions made within Instagram and other software programs should not be made randomly.  “Those apps, all those tools that everybody can use – it’s all about applying them and having a method to the madness. It’s having that trained eye that’s important.”

He not only enjoys the options available to him in post-production, but also uses them to his advantage before he even presses the shutter. “I’ve been able to take pictures with my Canon Mark II, that yields a really sharp picture, into an Instagram picture.  I photograph these knowing that I would put an Instagram filter onto it.  The effect that I’m creating now by doing that same amount of work is getting me that much farther.”

Morgan shared some additional photos with us, exemplifying the power of this new technology, and how it has advanced his own work.

“Here’s something I concocted based on Instagram.” I knew the effect that Instagram gave, but I also knew that I could apply that effect from a good quality picture to begin.”

“Airstream” taken with a Canon Mark II, Photoshop and Instagram app used. Photo credit: Dan Morgan, Straight Shooter

“Earlybird is my favorite Instagram filter because it doesn’t take it too far away from the original look, but it darkens the photo around the corner.”

“Guardian III” – Shot with a Canon Mark II, Earlybird filter applied in Instagram. Photo Credit: Dan Morgan, Straight Shooter

“I shot this on a cloudy day so it was a really neat picture to begin with, but playing around with filters and it was the ah-ha!  I got the energy coming from the tower.”

“Tower Power” – Shot with an iPhone, FX Photo Studio HD iPad App Used, Explosive Color applied. Photo Credit: Dan Morgan, Straight Shooter

A vintage photograph of Morgan’s father, “the original Mad Man!”

“The Real Mad Man, James O ‘C Morgan” – Original B & W film negative with Mamiya 120mm Camera, copied with iPad, Photoshop and Instagram app used. Photo Credit: Dan Morgan, Straight Shooter

Is there downfall to all this technology?  “Having the tools,” Morgan cautions, “is not enough. It’s good that the tools are out there, because people are given the motivation to see that you can go places with it.” But there will always be a place for professional photographers in this world.  Morgan emphasizes, “you still have to have that eye.”

Find out more about Dan Morgan of Straight Shooter
Find Straight Shooter on Facebook | Instagram

The post The Age of Instagram: An Interview with Dan Morgan appeared first on GoMediaZine.

Skidding across fresh, bright black and white tile, a very exuberant 6-month husky jumped up excitedly to greet me at the door of Yellowcake, a recently renovated and expanded Gordon Square boutique.  Owner and Cleveland designer Valerie Mayen was quick to follow.  “Mango!  Get down!”

“Sorry… She gets very excited!”

Wild Mango

Inside Yellowcake live colorful, custom mod women’s and kid’s coats, dresses and skirts, and the beginnings of a men’s line including crisp ties and cool jackets.  All of her designs crafted right here in Cleveland, Ohio, Mayen has had her roots in the city since November of 2011.

Texas-native Mayen has studied at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, worked as an apprentice at Gemini GEL in Melrose and earned her BFA at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Illustration, where she also participated in a mobility exchange program with the Otis College of Art and Design in LA.  She has also studied at the Virginia Marti College of Art and Design.

A contestant on Project Runway Season 8, she expresses herself through traditional illustration, fashion photography, pop art influenced paintings, digital media and fashion design.

Go Media had a few moments to sit down with Mayen to talk Barbie, Cleveland love, and making it work.

Go Media: I understand you have a multitude of artistic interests…which came first?

Valerie: I would say the drawing, the painting came first. When I was really little, around five years old, I used to draw my Barbies – they were my models. We had a lot of Disney movies and I would always draw the covers and try to copy them. There was also a drawing show that I always used to watch on Saturday mornings called Secret City. I used to get up every 9 am on Saturdays to draw.

How does your training in illustration and graphic design help you on a daily basis as a fashion designer?

The illustration really helps me whenever I am working with new clients, whenever I am creating new collections, making new pieces for the store, and trying to flush out new ideas.  It helps me to visualize and realize if something is going to transpire or not.

It helps me to sell the vision, too. If I’m meeting with a client and they have an idea of what they want, but they’re not sure how to describe it, I can flush it out for them.  It gives me a little bit more of an advantage to communicate to them: “This is what we’re going for, this is what we’re doing.”  They have to trust based on what they’ve seen in my portfolio that I’m going to do good work. So the more accurate the drawing, the more piece of mind they have in hiring me.

The graphic design definitely helped, in the beginning, when I was starting Yellowcake.  I did all of my (initial) branding and print material. It’s helped given me some sensibilities that other designers might not have.

Graphic design is kind of like the icing on the cake.  No one ever gets a cake without icing. And if the icing is a hack job, then the cake isn’t as appetizing.  It’s like a cover of a book. People put a lot of thought and effort into the cover of a book, or a CD or a poster or anything that will be the one shot to grab someone’s attention. So, we put a lot of thought into our branding. Luckily I’ve been able to develop those sensibilities: what I like, what looks good. What kerning and leading is. Different types and fonts, things I know work best with our brand.

What’s the hardest or most challenging thing you have faced developing your brand?

The hardest thing was figuring out how to illustrate that we are clothing company – because you know, it’s a big no-no to use a needle and thread, scissors, or other tools of the trade as your logo because it implies that you do alterations or other things in design.  The dress form was a tricky one because it’s a tool of our trade. But because it’s a tool of our trade and also a woman’s form it, it was more of a metaphor, so it worked for us.

We’ll always go back and forth about Yellowcake. The longer we keep the company name, the longer I think, people should just deal with it. As we develop and we credibility and notoriety, it doesn’t matter anymore that people think we’re a bakery.  We even thought of having a tagline that says:

“Yellowcake, we’re not a bakery dammit!”

Why did you decide to establish your Yellowcake roots in Cleveland?  

It was a long line of a lot of things. At first it was friends, and then it was a lease, and then it was a grant, and then it was the guy. One year turned into four turned into six turned into twelve.  And after awhile too, I decided to set some roots down and really make the most of my time here. A friend told me that if you want to be successful do the same thing in the same city for twenty years – and that if you work hard and are kind, good things will happen.

What changed you the most about being on Project Runway?

It made me really efficient and taught me how to edit a little bit more. It also gave me a newfound respect for other designers who don’t have the same aesthetic as I do.  It taught me about respecting a designer for who they are, what they do and what their vision is regardless of whether or not it is in line with mine or not. Even now I have to check myself. Just because someone doesn’t design the way I do doesn’t mean they’re not worth their weight as a designer or artist regardless of what their level is or what their experience is.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Re-strengthening our inventory and finances after the buildout. Creating new products, trying new things. We’re revamping our website to capitalize on online sales. Also doing different shows and different events. We’re hoping to do Hullaballo again, which was our big fashion event last October.  It was a huge success and and we are expecting double the attendance this year.  We’re doing double the amount of garments in the collection and hoping for double the revenue.  Things like that will help us keep the lights on and will help us continue to grow.

Want to know more about Valerie?  Catch her at this year’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2013 where she’ll be one of our honorary guest speakers!

Want to see her again on Project Runway? Vote for Valerie here!

Yellowcake is at 6500 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Call 216-236-4073; www.yellowcakeshop.com. Hours: 1- 8 p.m. Wednesday – Friday; noon – 9 p.m. Saturday; 1- 6 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday.

Connect with Yellowcake!  Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Buzz and Growl | Yellowcake Blog

Since inception, Yellowcake has contributed 5% of their profits to a charitable organization that supports the relief of hunger, homelessness and poverty. They believe in creating boldly fashioned clothing that sustains and supports a healthy humanity. Employing local, supporting our neighbors and aiming to do well by doing good.

The post Dishing on Design with Valerie Mayen of Yellowcake appeared first on GoMediaZine.

We are excited to announce that 2 Night Stand is not only expanding to multiple cities in 2013, lead by amazing creatives across the country, but also that we will be having the first, non-Chicago event in the days leading up to the WMC Fest 2013. We’ve had over 1000 people apply to our past Chicago events, for Trencherman’s Brewing Company, the Zombie Research Society & NASA. We know that amazing people will be heading to WMC Fest and this event will open a unique opportunity for amazing people (who probably already follow each other on Twitter) to design and create side-by-side.

Obviously, we’d love to have amazing creatives request an application.

The better the crew, the more amazing the weekend.

Apply for the WMC Fest 2 Night Stand now!

Click here to request an invite. And check out the website for more info about the event.

You can also check out the twitter feed to see what people are saying about the event.

Be sure to hit up Jason Schwartz one of the Cleveland organizers, if you have any questions or just want to chat.

What is 2 Night Stand?

20 thinkers & makers dive into a weekend long creative bender.

Brilliant concepts and ideas are explored.

No deliverables are promised.

Come to think, be challenged & collaborate. The entire creative process is cataloged and posted live. We consider it a creative growth experience.

How It Works

Applicants request an invite.

Once the invitation process is closed, the 2 Night Stand crew and city leader choose a group of around 30 people to participate in the event. Once selected, those participants are notified and a waiting list of 3-5 people are notified. Tickets to event are purchased online before day of event, so no money is handed day of event and meals can be purchased.

2 Night Stand events are typically held on a Friday night (5pm-10pm) and Saturday (10am-7pm). This can vary by event and coordinator. (For example, the WMC Fest event is tentatively Thursday 10am-7pm and Friday 10am-4pm).

On the day of event, a “mystery client” is presented. By mystery client, we mean one that has not paid 2 Night Stand, or any of it’s organizers for free work. The event is based around sky is the limit creative with no feedback from any external sources. The jam session is posted live on our site and final work is posted by each team to Behance.

Is There A Cost/Fee?

Yes, the event costs $75/person which is used to secure space and provide meals and snacks for participants. The purpose of having these events is not to make money, but to provide a platform that is self-sustaining and has the ability to provide participants with good food and drinks.

Can People Sponsor The Events?

Yes, in the past we’ve had some great sponsors and are always looking for help whether it be financial around an event, or a supply donation.

Past Sponsors:

• Sharpie,
• Neenah Paper,
• Bright Bright Great,
• Old Style,
• We Are Mammoth, and
• CrossTech Communications

Can People Request A 2 Night Stand Event In Their City?

Yes. We are currently accepting city organizer applicants here.

The post WMC Fest – 2 Night Stand appeared first on GoMediaZine.

The day has come!  We are proud to announce the winners of our Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2013 Portfolio Contest!  We must admit, we were overwhelmed by the number of submissions and votes, but after much debate we chose five stellar artists/designers.   These lucky folks will be featured at our WMC design gallery this year.

The criteria for voting was heavily influenced by popular vote. Some of these submissions received nearly 1,000 votes! However, our team at Go Media and WMC Fest had final say over what we thought would make a good addition to the gallery this year.

Update 5/17/13:

There has been a lot of debate in the comments over the results of this contest. The debate quickly escalated into cruel and disrespectful insults, accusations, and conspiracy theories. I had to close the comments because it was getting bad and our explanations only seemed to stir up more animosity. The type of behavior exhibited by some of the commenters is not tolerated on the GoMediaZine.

I’m going to make one final point on the subject to set the record straight. This was a contest that was decided by 90% popular vote and 10% judges’ subjective opinion. Contestants (which included both artists and designers of all skill levels) entered and were encouraged to get their friends and fans to vote on a daily basis to improve their chance of winning. The winner(s) would receive an invitation to become one of the featured designers in the 2013 WMC Fest gallery and have their work on display. The five winners were selected mostly by popular vote with a careful consideration of their entire body of work and overall fit into our goals for the gallery. We feel strongly that each person we chose met our criteria to be invited and we stand by our decision. If you were not picked, it’s nothing personal and we’re sorry if we made anyone feel left out.

Lessons Learned: We realized that combining popular vote with a subjective decision is a recipe for disaster. We apologize for the confusion and for anyone who felt offended by our choices. We strongly believe that we made honest choices to award those who played by our contest rules and deserved an invitation. Even if that means the community doesn’t agree with the choices. We have learned to either run our next contest 100% popular vote so that there is a clear distinction on why the five winners were chosen. Or run it without voting at all and choose privately based on merit alone. We’ll get it right next time! 

Reminder: Support the events you want to see! Keep WMC alive and back WMC on Kickstarter. Not only will you get discounted tickets to the fest, but you’ll get handsome rewards too!

Now, for the moment you’ve been waiting for:

The Winners Are…

Jillian Adel

Heather Davis

Kyle Sheridan

Sean Dockery

Traci Nelson

Celebrating all those who submitted…

Please check out the rest of the designers who also submitted portfolio images this year!  Such talent!  To all of you designers, we hope to see your submissions again next year!

Tim Lampe
Priya Garcia

Mike Jones

Laura Walczak

Jaden DeVogel

Jason Popis

Stephen Catapano

Paul Panfalone

anonymous

 Tim Frame

David Pokrivnak

Jen Klabis

Jeremy Backo

Jayson Shenk

Rebecca Lilianne Wichmann

James Bratten

Brandon Grbach

J.Bradley House

Allan Geiger

Aaron Root

 Charlie Bailey

Katie Daugherty

Jim Masie

Richard Longhi

 Katie Beam

James Patterson II

Kirk Wallace

 Stephanie Lazorchak

Ron Moore

Eric Doctor

Eric Oldag

 Marcus Penn

Jordan Shevell

Christopher Knowles

Erin Barnhart

Kris Underwood

Terran Washington

Michael Corrick

Daniel Nyari

Steve Shanabruch

Shannon Blaz

Martins Legzdins

 Ryan Kallok

Design by Disorder

Shane Harris

Natalee Brown

Josh Jacobs

Brent Galloway

Doug Penick

Rob Hopkins

Gavin Thompson

Chris Rushing

Jermaine Haggerty

Patrick Macomber

 Timothy J. Reynolds

 John Sakowicz

Robert Valvonis

Don’t forget to save the date for WMC4: August 16 – 18 here in Sunny Cleveland, Ohio!

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The post WMC 2013 Portfolio Winners Announced! appeared first on GoMediaZine.

Regurgitate back exactly what your clients tell you. Writing a good proposal starts with listening. Ask lots of questions and listen carefully; your potential client is going to tell you exactly what they want to read in your proposal. Your first job is to listen and write down everything they say. Then you’re going to write that back to them in your proposal. If a client says: “We want a highly interactive website.” Your proposal should say: “Our solution for you is a highly interactive website.”

Create templates and refine your message. When you sit down to write your first proposal, think of building a template. You’re not going to want to write every proposal from scratch. Try to keep most of the sections generic enough so that you can reuse them with other clients.

Design your proposal. You can file this under the “duh” category. Your business documents are a representation of you! They should embody all the skills you have as a designer. This includes your proposals. So take the time to make sure that the design of your proposal will sell your potential client as strongly as the content within it. Your proposal is your portfolio! Make sure it looks amazing!

Customize the design for your client. For larger proposals, we will swap out the colors and images in our proposals to match the client’s brand. In some cases we invest quite a bit of time and effort to make our proposal look like THEIR proposal. It’s amazing how impactful delivering a custom designed proposal can be. The client feels like: “They just ‘get’ us.”

Give them a few exciting ideas. It’s a well-known fact that people buy on impulse. There is a lot of emotion involved in why people buy. One way to sell a client is to get them excited. This can be easily accomplished by sharing a few of your ideas with a client. This should be done in just a sentence or two. Describe something exciting you want to do with your client’s design. A clever idea can make the difference between you and your competitor.

Ask for a budget upfront. Knowing a client’s budget up-front is critical to writing a winning proposal. Ask your potential client for a budget during your very first interaction with them. If they act coy and won’t give you one, there are ways of extracting it. (These tactics and many more in the forthcoming book).

Don’t underbid the project. Another critical reason for asking for a budget is making sure that you’re not underbidding the project. Believe it or not, underbidding a project is as bad as overbidding it. When you severely underbid a project you’re communicating that you’re either an amateur or that you don’t understand the scope of the project. Both of these will scare off a customer.

So that’s it – just a little taste of what’s to come in my book.

The post Drawn to Business: Writing Winning Design Proposals appeared first on GoMediaZine.

Fonts can be so much fun to work with. Whether you’re creating a logo, a T-shirt or a funky poster, having the right font can make all the difference. If you’re looking for something new, something clean, and something fun, you’ve come to the right place. This Mighty Deal offers up the Solomon Font Family, from Fontfabric, at a ridiculously reduced price.

Solomon Font Family Highlights:

• 12 Total Fonts
  This collection of the Solomon Font Family includes 6 unique Deco Styles, as well as 6 different weights. That’s a total of 12 different fonts to bring your fabulous project to life.
• Legible and Entertaining
  Besides sporting some excellent legibility, the Solomon Font Family can be characterized as having a well-finished geometric design with optimized kerning. It’s perfect for any kind of headline, not to mention text blocks.
• Decorative Font
  The deco fonts in this set are bold and ornate, while still being legible. Gorgeous without being over flowery. They were custom created using ornamental work with organic forms at the heart of the design base.
• 50+ Languages
  Your purchase of the Solomon Font Family gives you access to the fonts in over 50 languages! Yep, this font really gets around! Languages include: Afrikaans, Alsatian, Albanian, Basque, Bislama, Breton, Bosnian (Latin), Catalan, Chamorro, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Faroese, Finnish, Flemish, Franco-Provencal, French, Frisian, Friulian, Galician, German, Greenlandic, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Ladin, Latin, Luxembourgish, Malay, Manx Gaelic, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian (Nynorsk), Occitan, Portuguese, Polish, Rhaeto-Romance, Romansh, Romanian, Sami (Inari), Sami (Lule), Sami (Northern), Sami (Skolt), Sami (Southern), Scottish Gaelic, Slovenian, Sorbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, Walloon, and Welsh. Note: The Web font may not support all of these languages.
• Compatiblity
  The Desktop font version is provided as an Opentype font (.otf), which is compatible with both a PC and a Mac computer. Your font collection includes a 438 character set, manual kerning, and tracking/pairs.

Pricing:

The Solomon Font Family normally sells for $279, but for a limited time only, you can own this beautiful and elegant family for just $9 for either the Desktop or Web Font (@font-face) version  - OR get both the Desktop and Web fonts together for just $18! - That’s a massive 97% off the regular price!

Deal terms:

• Delivered as an instant download, after completing your purchase.
• The Desktop version of the font files are in .otf format and work on both Windows and Mac. The Desktop font license does not permit @font-face webfont usage. You will need to purchase the Web font version for this.
• The Web Font is designed to work with @font-face for text on websites. The Web Font might not support all of the listed languages.
• Files cannot be shared or redistributed.
• May be used for personal and commercial projects.
• License allows the Desktop version of this font to be installed on 5 computers.

Buy Now:

• Desktop version (for Win/Mac) – $9
• Web Font version (@font-face) – $9
• Desktop + Web Fonts = $18

The post Solomon Font Family for only $9 from Mighty Deals! appeared first on GoMediaZine.

The countdown is on! Weapons of Mass Creation Fest is only a few months away, and we are working tirelessly to make it the best art, design and music festival possible. We are so excited to welcome 20 insanely talented speakers into Cleveland Public Theater August 16 through 18.  Here is a list of the speakers we have lined up thus far and a little bit about why we are so pumped to hang on their every word.

Ann Friedman & Dylan Lathrop: Ann and Dylan are an unstoppable team. They first worked together when Ann was the main editor at GOOD magazine and Dylan was the main designer. They did amazing work there until the entire editorial team was let go in a pretty famous change-of-gears for the magazine. They then co-founded Tomorrow Magazine, which got Kickstarted and featured the work of some really talented writers/photographers/designers. Ann is a real role model to young journalists and writes quite a bit about building your own personal brand in the game. Dylan’s a great advocate for design and cares equally about going about things the right way, professionally and personally.

Lisa Congdon: Lisa’s got a really great story. She came into art/design later in her life and has rocketed to a real position of prominence. She’s well known for her hand-drawn yet very detailed illustration style, and she’s very sought out for it. She’s also an avid collector of a variety of little things and even published a book about her small collections. She’s a fixture in the keynote slot in speaking at events and is the perfect fit for WMC because she’s forged her own creative path in life after working in a different world completely.

Jon Contino: You’ve all seen his work; every time you put on last year’s WMC t-shirt, you’re WEARING his work. He is, of course, an amazing illustrator whose style is everywhere – but nobody does it quite as good as he does. He is a unique voice and a real advocate for craft and caring about what you do. He’s a much-sought-after illustrator (as well as speaker). He’s worked hard to build his own brand and is a great example of what hard work and talent and hustle can accomplish.

Adam Garcia: What a talent! I first encountered Adam’s work for 160over90, one of the top design firms in the country out of Philadelphia. He then went on to work for Nike (yep, THE Nike) before going on his own. He’s got an instantly recognizable style, like Jon Contino, and he will do an amazing job in speaking about the role fear plays in forging your career. It’s important for people to see that even a top-flight illustrator like him can fight the same doubts and fears that the everyday folks face.

Rena Tom: Rena, like Kate Bingaman Burt last year, is a real Pied Piper of creative types, especially creative and crafty entrepreneurs. We’ve tried hard this year to really bolster our entrepreneurial side, as part of defying the hand you’re dealt nearly always involves selling your own stuff. She started back in the early 2000s as a handmade jeweler and got to be quite famous in the craft community for that. She then has opened her own store, Rare Device, sold that, and now operates a coworking space in San Francisco (and soon one in New York) called Makeshift Society, which is really taking off. She does a lot of lecturing as well about how to build your own business and brand and is a real mixer in the community.

Kristy Tillman: Kristy’s a real fixture on social media who works for IDEO in Boston. IDEO is the closest thing the design/industrial design world comes to Willy Wonka’s factory. She’s on sabbatical now working on this huge grant/award she got to build a mobile career platform for those searching for a job who only have access to a mobile device. She’s a real authority on the intersection between emerging tech and design as it serves to address social issues. In other words, she really cares about the world around her and is using her career and training to make a difference, which is an important message for our attendees.

Christen Carter: Another awesome entrepreneur. Christen founded Busy Beaver Button Co. (a 2012 sponsor), which is one of the top (if not THE top) button maker in the country. They’re huge in the creative world and print all of the buttons you get when you order Field Notes. She’s out of Chicago and continues our tradition of bringing in top speakers and a ton of attendees from the Windy City. She’s an expert on the history of buttons as well as starting your own business; she started Busy Beaver in order to make the little 1″ buttons bands use to promote themselves. She’s smack dab in the intersection of entrepreneurship, design and music. It’s also important for our audience to see how successful a woman-owned business can be.

These Are Things: Jen and Omar both attended last year as part of the gallery. They got their start in Columbus and were a real feather in the cap of Ohio before moving to Brooklyn earlier this year. Their maps can be found everywhere – design/lifestyle/home magazines, websites, on TV in shows, etc. They started their entire niche when they were dissatisfied with the maps they found for purchase. Talk about defying the hand you’re dealt! They’ll be presenting a great talk about the ways creatives can build their brand as they did and overcome the kinds of struggles we all face.

Kern and Burn: Jess and Tim attended last year as well and also had a table to vend from. They’ve interviewed top creatives nationwide and just put it all into a book that they successfully Kickstarted last year. So they’re a great resource on the many paths we can take to achieve what we want and are a great example of how we hope to elevate gallery participants to the speaking world, which we hope shows our audience how our message can be applied in the real world at the event itself.

Brandon Rike: Brandon is one of the most important fixtures to WMC. He’s had a table every year and spoke in a small slot at the first event. His message is directly in line with ours and it’s important for our out-of-town audience to recognize how talented, hard-working and creative Ohioans like Brandon are. He plans on talking about fighting back against the will to conform and instead build your own career. He’s a real credit to our festival and his year-after-year enthusiasm is contagious!

Nick Disabato: He’s an interaction designer in Chicago and is a much-sought-after freelancer and speaker there. He started and published his own journal about design and technology, Distance, and has published a book about interaction design, too. He’s great from a best-practices perspective and is as vital to creatives about how best to go about the back-end of your work (contracts, planning, etc.) as Ann is with writers.

Jacqui Oakley: This Canadian illustration superstar has done spot work everywhere you can think. She’s got a great story as well, having lived in Canada, England, Bahrain, Zambia, and Libya. She’s worldly and her work reflects that. She’s got a great talk planned about style and what the concept really means. She’s a teacher as well as illustrator and is great in front of a crowd. Her client list is a real who’s who that includes the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic, among many others.

Stewart Scott-Curran: Stewart is a native Scot who came to the U.S. to work for CNN Digital and is helping spearhead a new look for CNN.com. He’s a big fixture on social media who was the inaugural speaker at Creative Mornings in Atlanta. He just moved to San Francisco, where he still works for CNN (his wife designs for GAP). Like Adam Garcia, he worked for Nike, as well as for Coca-Cola. He’s got experience in designing the World Cup uniforms for quite a few countries, which is amazing. His is a message about how going the extra mile and doing it while being polite is so, so important.

Troy DeShano: He beat cancer and is a real storyteller in terms of using his illustration talent. He created the Old & New Project to re-tell classic biblical stories for a new audience, using some of the biggest names in design, including Nate Utesch (WMC alum). He’s native to Michigan and will bring a great message from the state up north to the festival.

Alonzo Felix: He’s a Brooklyn-based designer who has become really prominent for his type design, which can be found, among other places, in the Lost Type Co-op. He’s a big believer in craft and detail and will be a credit to the lineup. He’s another teacher, like Jacqui, and is really dominating the industry.

Caroline Moore: She’s been our official photographer and is a real credit to the festival. Her message about how punk rock made her a better entrepreneur will be a hit just like Dan Christofferson’s was two years ago.

John Jennings: He’s an expert in African American participation in the comic book world, which promises to be an amazing topic on the roster. He’s also a professor. I cannot wait to pick his brain about his subject area and know that, despite being in many different fields, love of comic books is something that unites nearly all of our attendees.

Stephanie Landes: Stephanie’s perhaps the biggest up-and-comer in Cleveland’s surprisingly large advertising community. She won the city AAF club’s young visionary award. She also bridges the gap between writing and design (like Ann and Dylan) and will follow in Austin Kleon‘s footsteps in terms of bringing a real writer’s angle to the fest.

Our final two speakers will be added to the roster very soon.  Stay tuned for updates here on the GoMediaZine as well as on our WMC Facebook page.  In the meantime, help us build momentum for Weapons of Mass Creation 2013 by donating to our Kickstarter page and  joining the WMC Street Team!  And, don’t forget to vote for the next featured designer at WMC 2013!

The post Weapons of Mass Creation 2013 Speakers are Lining Up! appeared first on GoMediaZine.

Hello all!

I’m very happy to announce that we’re releasing the 3rd part of Steve Knerem‘s video tutorial series today! For those of you that have followed part 1 and part 2, you’re probably jumping with excitement. For the others, I’m inviting you to go read Steve’s “Getting Inked” post for a quick recap.

Also, both Steve and the Arsenal team would like to apologize for the delay, but we’ve had to slay a few dragons fight some video issues (video flickering and sound track). When a video file doesn’t want to, it doesn’t want to.

So, what’s in the box?

In this last installment, Steve covers his digitization and coloring techniques:

• Color palette choice
• How to use Illustrator’s tools to add various elements that bring the place together:
  • Vector brushes
  • Halftones
  • Patterns
• And more!

The hour-long video is as usual laced with tips, tricks, and cool music. While the tips and tricks might not be the ultimate demystification of the process, they should at least make it more of a relaxing walk than an uphill battle.

A few screenshots

A few notes from Steve

Hey Guys,

Well if you been following this tutorial you know that it’s a long time coming. We’re finally at the finish line and now you can on the in depth look into how I color and finalize my tees for print. I’m super pumped to get this out to you and a mega props to Go Media for being a great company to do some work for and letting me use their stage to help anyone learn something new and grow as an artist.

If you purchased the first two tutorials, you can expect more awesome music from some awesome metal bands such as Onward to Olympus. I drop a bunch of personal insight that I’ve picked up over the years illustrating that hopefully will help, let you in on some of my technical “secrets,” and show you how I conduct business.

Lastly the tee will be or already is printed! Go to www.establishthefrontline.com. Buy a tee or five and wear it proudly and send me pics of you wearing it to steve@steveknerem.com. AS A BONUS: the first 50 tees will have a labeled tag with the ETF name on it, my signature and I’ll write in the order # of the tee you purchased it ( i.e. 1/50, 10/50, etc.). Finally I am getting a printed tag made up that on one side shows the final art and the other side shows the making of the art.

Thanks for purchasing and viewing, always let me know what you think, ya’ll are the best!

— Steve Knerem

One, no, two, no, three, last things!

One: again, you should totally go buy that last part of the tutorial on the Arsenal. Also, if you haven’t gotten any of them yet, we’re making the 3 parts available at $69.99. Just buy the 3 parts at the same time. This is a $20 discount, and it won’t last forever. You should totally take advantage of it while it lasts.

Two: if you follow the tutorial, we’d love to see what comes out of it! Don’t hesitate to mock it up, post the result on the interwebs, and to link to your image in the comments below. Or better yet, post it in the Go Media Flickr pool, and you might be featured on our monthly showcase.

Three: like the art Steve has been designing throughout the tutorial? Well, it’s available on shirts, as Steve said! You should totally purchase one in your size on Establish the Front Line, Steve’s apparel line. Also, something tells me that Steve will share a few more things about that shirt yet (like production pictures, etc), so you should totally watch this space.

The post New Arsenal Release: Hand Illustration for T-Shirts, Part 3 of 3 appeared first on GoMediaZine.