The Designers Guide to America

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Seattle

47°36′35″N 122°19′59″W

Invisible Creature

P.O. BOX 375
Seahurst, WA 98062
www.invisiblecreature.com


Modern Dog
7903 Greenwood Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98103
www.moderndog.com


Jeffrey Burk Design, Inc.
1563 thirtieth avenue west
seattle, washington 98199
www.jeffreyburk.com


Goods
1112 Pike St.
Seattle, WA 98101

Triple Door
216 Union Street
Seattle, WA 98101
Tickets 206.838.4333

Trinity Nightclub

111 Yesler Way

Downtown Seattle

98104


www.seattleartmuseum.org

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San Francisco

37°46′45.48″N 122°25′9.12″W

Benny Gold

3171 21st Street
San Francisco, Ca
www.bennygold.com


Mine
190 Putnam Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
www.minesf.com


Noon Design
10 Cleveland Street
San Francisco
California 94103
www.designatnoon.com


Attik SF
85 2nd Street,
San Francisco, CA 94105
www.attik.com

Brick SF
85 2nd Street,
San Francisco, CA 94105
www.bricksf.com

Character Design Agency

487 Bryant Street, 

3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 

94107 

Main 415 227 2100

   

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Santa Barbara

34°25′33″N 119°42′51″W

S-Double - Shawn Stussy

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Hollywood

Arkitip, Inc.
Post Office Box 4108
Hollywood, California 90078

Project Space
603 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles CA 90036
+1 323 938 8818

High Voltage Tattoo
1259 N. La Brea Avenue
W. Hollywood, CA 90038

House of Blues

8430 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA;
Tel. 323.848.5100

Viper Room

8852 W. Sunset Blvd.

West Hollywood, CA; 

Tel. 310.358.1880

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Los Angeles

34°03′N 118°15′W

Prologue

534 Victoria Avenue
Venice, California 90291


The Hundreds
7909 Rosewood Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90048


Studio Number One
1331 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90026
E: info@studionumber-one.com
P. 213.213.0070
F. 213.213.0077


Diamond Supply Co.
451 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Supreme LA
439 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Reserve
420 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Crooks & Castles
8021 Melrose Ave

Los Angeles, CA. 90046

Alife LA
1520 N. Cahuenga
90028 Los Angeles Hollywood


National Forest
1851 Topock Street
Glendale, CA
91204

Jason Munn / The Small Stakes
3878 Whittle Avenue
Oakland, CA 94602

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Nevada / Vegas

36°10′30″N 115°08′11″W

Cowboys Dream

95 Hand Me Down Rd.
Alamo, Nevada
www.cowboysdream.com


Las Vegas
Caesars Palace
Villas $2400


Cirque du soleil
Treasure Island
3300 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109


Hooters Spring Valley

7155 S. Rainbow Blvd
Suite 100
Las Vegas, NV 89119

Hooters, Las Vegas Casino

115 East Tropicana Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89109

The Chicken Ranch

10511 Homestead Rd.
Pahrump, NV 89061
(AWESOME MENU)

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Austin, TX

30°16′2″N 97°45′50″W

Rock of Ages

2310 S. Lemar 105

512-804-1213

Lamberts Downtown Barbecue
401 w 2nd Street, 

Austin, Texas 78701
512 494 1500

Grid Graphic Design
4525 1/2 Avenue D
Austin, TX 78751

Emblem Creative

900 East 6th 102

Austin, Texas

78702

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Houston

29°45′46″N 95°22′59″W

Delorean Moter Company

15023 Eddie Drive
Humble, Texas 77396

Space Center Houston
1601 NASA PARKWAY 

(formerly NASA Rd 1)
Houston, Texas 77058

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

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New Orleans

29°57′53″N 90°4′14″W

House of Blues

225 Decatur St.

Crescent City Brewhouse
527 Decatur St.

New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 522-0571

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Memphis

35°7′3″N 89°58′16″W.

Sun Studio
706 Union Avenue
Memphis, TN 38103

Tour length: 45 minutes
Admission: $12 per person
Hours of operation: open daily 10am-6pm. Closed some holidays.
Minimum group size: 20
Maximum group size: 50
Group admission: $9 per person
Comp policy: driver/escort free
Group reservations required

Graceland

3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard
Memphis, TN 38116,

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Chicago

41°50′13″N 87°41′4″W

Arlo Inc. Graphic Design
Phone: (773) 342-ARLO
Fax: (951) 526-1717

Contemporary Art Museum

220 East Chicago Avenue,

 Chicago, IL 60611

Chicago Bulls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Center

The Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 

60603-6404


Threadless
3011 N Broadway St, 
Chicago, Illinois 60657

Bruce Mau Design

444 North Michigan Avenue
27th Floor
Chicago IL 60611
Tel: 312.929.0550

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Detroit

42°19′53″N 83°02′45″W

Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue,
Detroit, Michigan 48202

Hitsville USA

‎2648 West Grand Boulevard, 

Detroit, MI 48208-1237

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
4454 Woodward Ave
Detroit, MI 48201

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Columbus

39°59′00″N 82°59′00″W

Columbus Museum of Art

480 E Broad St
Columbus, OH 43215


Wexner Center for the Arts
The Ohio State University
1871 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1393

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Washington, DC

38°53′42.4″N 77°02′12.0″W

Stussy Charter

1781 Florida Ave
20009 Washington
United States


White House


National Air and Space Museum
National Mall
6th and Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C 20560

Madame Tussauds
1001 F St. NW
Washington,DC 20004

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Philadelphia

The Heads Of State
39 North 3rd, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106

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New York

40° 43′ 0″ N, 74° 0′ 0″ W

aNYthing
51 Hester Street
10002 New York Lower East Side

Supreme
274 Lafayette St
10012 New York Soho

Alife Rivington Club
158 Rivington St.
10002 New York Lower East Side

KDU
440 Broadway
Suite G
Brooklyn 11211

Sagmeister, Inc

206 West 23rd Street

4th Floor

New York 10011

Pentagram
204 Fifth Avenue
New York NY 10010

Open

180 Varick Street
Room 822
New York NY 10014-4606

And Press
68 Richardson St. #105
Brooklyn NY 1121

New York City, NY 10153

(212) 336-1440

Paper Cut

T: +1 718 499 3279

hello@papercut.fr

minhanh@papercut.fr

victor@papercut.fr

Brooklyn, NY

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Boston

42°21′28″N 71°03′42″W

Karmaloop
301 Newbury St
02116 Boston Back Bay

Johnny Cupcakes
279 Newbury Street
02116 Boston Back Bay


Repeat Press
9 Olive Square
Somerville, MA

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Vermont - Ben and Jerry's

44°20′15″N 72°45′20″W

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Montreal

45° 30′ 0″ N, 73° 40′ 0″ W

Dynamo
439, rue St-Pierre
Vieux-Montréal, QC
H2Y 2M8

JULIEN VALLÉE
24 MONT-ROYAL OUEST
MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC
CANADA

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Toronto

43°42′59.72″N 79°20′26.47″W

Oxygen Agency
4o1 Richmond Street West
Studio 430
Toronto
Canada, M5V 3A8


Taxi
495 Wellington Street West
Suite 102
Toronto, M5V 1E9

Bruce Mau Design
Diane Mahony
Operations and Business Development
469C King St. W.
Toronto ON , M5V 3M4
Tel: 416.306.6401

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http://designisblank.com/?page_id=572#foundries

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I started this brief by creating a run down of what i wanted to produce. I decided upon a publication with sections based upon routes on the map provided above. I decided that this could become part of a series - designers guide to europe etc. So wanted to produce a travel pack consisting of this publication that outlined different agencies, studios, stores i plan on visiting; a screen printed keep sake map, t-shirt for each member of the tour. I also plan on producing a fold-out leaflet of hotels, hostels etc along the route.

I quickly did the emblem for the t-shirts to get me in the swing of working to a quick pace, as i don't have much time left on the course. I'm learning a lot about how much i can push myself to produce some strong aesthetically pleasing work.

I based the emblem upon the route signs in the states and downloaded a copy of the american highway typeface to give it extra detail.

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I produced another run down of what i needed to include in each part of the book. A point raised in my tutorial with Lorenzo was to make the booklet not just about design related visits but general places that are a must see when travelling across the USA. It was also suggested to try and find some way of narrating the trip, which is why i decided to use co-ordinates.

I also decided that i would limit my colour use to red, blue, white and black.

I created various designs for the front cover of the booklet based upon different aspects of american culture. I decided to create a seal based design.

The logo would be placed onto a fold up poster/ slip cover. I wanted the other side to be the screen printed map. This acted as a cover for the publication however, upon printing a mock up i found it was hard to connect the two together.

I made the type bolder so it would stand out more.

At first i created a rough line of the route but decided it would be best to do it more accurately so I traced the route from a screen shot of google maps.

I plan on screen printing this on parchment paper but that could change. I'll do some tests later on.

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I figured the best place to start would be a run down or small introduction about the states

I wanted to reflect the stripes from the flag using the type but it didn't sit well and resulted in an orphan. I decided to align it a different way and have the type running down.

Supplies
- Tees
- Ankle Socks
- Dollars
- Condoms
- Shorts
- Shoes
- Mac Book
- Sun cream
- Phone
- Passport
-  Board
- Bag

Cadillac

Transport possibilities 

VW Camper-Van

I produced a series of illustrations for each item i plan on taking. I produced these abstract illustrations as i believed the mixture between illustration and overlayed photography into pages would bring a balance to the booklet and at the same time adding some variety. I've already decided to keep the colour palette. I've decided to use traditional americano colours; red, white, blue. An aesthetic i've got in mind for my map is to print it all in black on some thin, off white stock. But that could change.

The following page contained information about the cars we hope to drive. It'll probably turn out that both of these are too expensive. But i can dream.

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The time i have left on this course means i'm having to make decisions quickly and push myself to work faster and more effectively. After creating the cover and first two pages i knew how i wanted to address the route in a narrative form. In my tutorial with Lorenzo we discussed various ways i could provide this narrative. I was thinking along the lines of time zones and have the opacity of the imagery and background colour change with each timezone.

Attik (the design agency) use co-ordinates to highlight the position of their offices in the contact section of their website and i was drawn to the use of co-ordinates as introduction pages to the each section of my publication.

I threw around a few quick layouts trying to decide how many pages i should use for the introduction pages. This of course will change as i progress as it may come that i need to vary up the layout a little.

I eventually decided i would have a page of co-ordinates followed by a page of information about each city followed by information about various design agencies and studios i want to visit. Another point that was raised in my tutorial was that although the underlying theme of this project should be about a designers guide to america and different studios etc to visit, it should also have some FUN aspects that are just generally about been in America such as The Chicken Ranch Brothel near Las Vegas, Delorean Factor in Texas, Reshooting the Fresh Prince Theme in Philly, Blacking out in Las Vegas. I added this information to the research at the top of this page.

All the imagery used in this publication i sourced from flickr and all are referenced in my bibliography which will be uploaded at the end of this module.

I started to explore different possibilities of the introduction pages starting with the first point on the map - Seattle. I wanted to keep a simple colour palette running throughout but thought it would be best to include a full colour image as an intro. I overlayed the type at opacity 70 and was pleased with the results.

I decided to test out other ways of producing these intro pages and experimented with variety of colours and overlays.

Full Opacity

70 opacity

I didn't think the black and white image and text worked that well and would suck life from the rest of the book when everything else will be red / blue.

I thought perhaps the red overlay may bring out the background more but still feel it will depreciate the rest of the booklet if using blue / red. So i created a monotone image using red and overlayed white type, which i thought worked brilliantly apart from some of the type disappears so i tried it out on the San Francisco image below. I thought it worked better on the S-FO image so decided to try it with blue.

I think what i will do is alternate between red/blue monotone image every introduction page and vary it up.

I created some layouts thinking about what information i could include on the introductory pages. 

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I originally intended to use black type for the body copy but decided to change the colours and make the entire booklet from 3 colours and duotone imagery created from the blue and red.

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I'd created my mock up so i had a rough guide as to what information went on each page obviously this can change and as i move through producing the booklet i'll make decisions based upon how i feel it looks and ask the opinion of my peers.

I decided to vary up the colour use on the introduction pages. I chose to use Randy's Donuts as the image as its a truly unique building in LA and is featured on my favourite TV show 'Californication'

Black defers from the image too much.
I decided to use a double page spread for the introduction page and reflect the other side of LA life - the glitz the glamour of HOLLYWOOD.

I had a really bad week work wise. My motivation has been tested as we reach the end of this module. Things just seem to go from bad to worse. I guess you could call it a crisis of faith i no longer have the motivation to work in the studio at college and find it harder to work in their than at home. As i was saying my week has been worse and i've fallen behind and simply just need to get the project finished with that in mind i'm simply going to use the existing spreads and work around that changing stuff as i feel fit.

The city of angels is a beautiful place and has numerous studios to visit. The main places to visit for me however, are High Voltage Tatto shop owned by Kat Von D and the viper room.

I like the balance between each spread and the simplistic use of colour.

The Hundreds are my favourite brand / lifestyle group out of LA and must visit their store. They also have one in San Francisco but figure i'd place it in the LA section as that is where they are primarily based.

I tried a different layout for the Arkitip and Project Space gallery. 

I entered the full address for Arkitip, but seeing as its a PO BOX it doesn't really help. I did however like the red type overlaying the blue but felt the blue type was unreadable so i took it out.

I wasn't feeling the 3 images and felt the page was too cluttered so i tried a different layout of the images.

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Cowboy's Dream is a beautiful hotel / ranch located in Nevada. I was shown this place by Anand who showed me their branding that was featured on a design blog. It simply is incredible. Check the website out
www.cowboysdream.com

I just want to stop off for a drink.

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I had the idea of vegas having a one page intro and featured mini mosaic of photos but that changed as i decided to use the similar design as LA/Hollywood intro and use a tag line for the city.

My main objective when visiting Las Vegas is to re enact the hangover, take shrooms and go see Cirque de Soleil and visit the chicken ranch. All in all should be a good few days. Due to the time left on the project i'm just trying to produce the work as fast as possible. Ive found a way in which i can work quickly and produce work i'm very proud of. Currently i'm feeling a little anxious about how i will get everything finished on time. As such i am not exploring as many options as i should but trying to meet a deadline means you have to make decisions and do your best to finish on time.

Over the last month or so my motivation has been lacking and that worries me that it would happen so close to the finish. I'm tired. I've not been able to produce as many design sheets and explore a lot of different options. However, i have also produced some of what i consider to be my best work but have cut back on the information i wanted to include. I would like to revise this project over the summer i am in america and produce it so it can become a full book and a first hand account of my visit.

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The grand canyon is a slight detour away from the route to Texas from Las Vegas so will be  a quick pit stop.

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Back to the Future is one of my favourite series of films and the company was bought by an American business man, Stephen Wynne and they are based just outside of Houston. So definitely have to pay them a visit. They even do custom flux capacitor mods.

I decided to include a map taken from the delorean website on this page as it's away from the main stop off on route. 

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I used three images for memphis - one is a scenic picture, the other two are places which need visiting while i am there. Graceland - home of The King and Sun Studios - where Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison

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Originally i planned on having a section about Al Capone, but i decided people didn't really need to know about Al Capon as it was irrelevant and was unnecessary to branch off. As i said before about shortage of time and revising the information i wanted to contain as i am going to have to print this at university.

Threadless have a flagship store in Chicago. I plan on submitting t-shirt designs to threadless over summer as a way of keeping my mind fresh whilst i find a job. I would also like to work at Size? and work my way up to their design department.

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Detroit is the home of Motown and the Ford Motor Company.

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I created the image above by combining two images - one of columbus and another of pittsburgh and how its a pitt stop on the way from Chicago to Washington and New York

I really like the way the tones of the images differ.

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The most obvious place to visit in Washington is the White House.

OBAMA LIVES HERE. Another amazing place to visit would be the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Its an incredible museum featuring a range of incredible air craft from the Wright Brothers Flyer

SR71 - blackbird

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The heads of state are a design firm in Philadelphia. I also got in contact with them for my design context as they are the studio who produced the Travel Posters.

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New York is the place i really can't wait to visit. I wouldn't mind staying for a week or two.
There are two many places to go in New York so i featured the ones i really want to go to.

Exploring different variations of the page.

Supreme and Alife are NYC stores places i must visit. Aswell as aNYthing and Dave's Quality Meat. These are the two places i must visit and they are integral parts of the NYC skate culture.

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Final Booklet

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I also screen printed the limited edition map.
The route featured on the map is traced from a screen shot of google maps.
I had originally planned on screen printing the map in red white and blue but decided to move away from that colour scheme for the map and went with a black and gold metallic finish. I figure the map is more a keep sake than anything to with a guide.

The t-shirt is another promotional item. I had originally planned on producing this pack as a promotional pack for travellers and provide promotional posters for the pack. Due to time restrictions i have no time for that. Again it is something i could do when i revise this project.

I wanted to be able to package the guide, screen print and t-shirt in a box of some kind of packaging. I discovered though that the map i had screen printed was large enough to contain within its folds the booklet and t-shirt.

In the final crit it was mentioned that the folded up poster was too bulging to be used as packaging and i should find something else. I had the idea of packaging the product inside an american flag wrapped with a band.

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Photos

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The work i've produced for this brief i think has been some of my best yet. I was able to turn around the brief quickly and produced a booklet with an strong American vibe in aesthetic. I just wish i'd of started this earlier and explored more options as to how to tie everything together. 


As i have said i plan on reproducing this after my trip containing real interviews and photos i've taken along the way.  I'm really pleased with the outcomes of this brief considering the amount of time i've actually spent on it. I feel some what ashamed that my motivation and attitude has been up and down over the last few months as if i'd of produced more incredible work. If i'd of had more time i planned on packaging this in a way  so the flag, t-shirt booklet and limited edition map are all contained in a promotional box; similar to the one i posted above.

I also would like to have conducted real interviews but this i plan on doing during my trip as apposed to via email.