May 7, 2007May 14, 2007 / Don 3 Comments

Accomplishments

So I’m 29-years-old, now, and even though I’ll perpetually refer to myself as a kid, I’ve decided that I’ve lived roughly one-third of my life. Sandy Ford, my guidance counselor in high school, taught me about the value of 5-year plans and setting up processes for achieving my goals in life.

My five-year plan after I graduated came to fruition three years earlier than I’d expected. My list was quite short back then. I simply wanted to run my own business, be successful at what I did, and love every second of it. In 2002, two years after graduation, it happened. The network that I’d built while dodging bullets through the dot-com boom had paid off and before I knew it, I had more work moonlighting than I did at my deskjob. I’d survived the collapse of two companies and risked it all to accomplish this dream.

April 28, 2007July 8, 2007 / Don Leave a comment

Artistic License (New Crossword)

I just finished a new original crossword puzzle called “Artistic License” (PDF). It’s about a “Friday” in terms of the New York Times Difficulty Rating System (read: medium). I hope you like it. Comments are always welcome.

>> All My Puzzles
>> Artistic License (PDF)

April 21, 2007December 12, 2021 / Don 2 Comments

A Photographic Year in My Life

To document my 28th year, I put together a Flickr set that showcases most of the important events in my life from April 18, 2006, to April 18, 2007. I purposefully neglected to put any of my work in there, since the whole ERA404 site is devoted to my vocational triumphs and accomplishments. I doubt this post would be interesting to anyone that doesn’t know me, but you’re welcome to take a gander and let me know your thoughts.

April 10, 2007October 11, 2016 / Don 2 Comments

My Favorite Posters

Two of my favorite posters of all time are Little Boy, by Uwe Loesch, and Wave of Peace, by McRay Magelby.

March 31, 2007March 30, 2021 / Don Leave a comment

You Had Time

I’ve always been fascinated by the process more than the outcome.
A roundtrip’s destination is never as fun as the journey there.

I think that’s part of the reason I got into design as the journey to the final piecesâ€”the explorationâ€”is really the most illuminating part. Along the way there are hundreds of tiny little decisions that twist and contort the project. Each direction that’s taken could conceivably change the entire work drastically (The Sound of Thunder of the visual arts world). And when you pull your head up from your desk at 4am, hours before the project is to be shipped to the printer, you look at the final piece as the culmination of these infinite decisions. The creativity doesn’t lie in the product, but rather the journey.

March 31, 2007August 30, 2012 / Don Leave a comment

AmEx Photo Magnets

God bless the kind people at American Express. Each week, sometimes 2-3 times a week, they send me a nice letter to let me know that they approve of me. They’re probably the friendliest pen pals I’ve ever had. To make things better, they even send me a Self-Addressed Bulk Postage Paid Envelope so that I can keep in touch with them from time to time. Things are pretty busy around here, so I don’t have much time to write responses. Normally, I’ll send them a pizza coupon, or a Chinese menu, or whatever else I get in the mail that day, just to let them know that I care about them as well. Certainly, it’s not as reassuring as having them tell me that they approve of me each week, but it’s the least I can do for them. After all, I’ve started to grow distinctly suspicious that they may have other pen pals in my building.

Either way, AmEx has lovingly redoubled their interest in my self-happiness by sending me little gifts with their thoughtful messages of approval. You may be familiar with the magnetic credit cards they mail out with the ominous “Your Name Here” message that cast you a daunting leer every time you get more cream for your coffee.

As it turns out, these magnets delaminate quite easily. And, as they’d already held various family pictures to my stainless steel fridge, I realized the master plan behind my pals at AmEx: cut out the middle man.
Step 1: Pull apart the edges of the magnet slowly until it begins to separate. You’ll notice that the adhesive continues to stick to the magnet side, rather than the plastic card side (those kids thought of everything!) This way this project requires no art supply run as you should have everything you need at home (photo, magnet, scissors) and that’s it!

Step 2: Cut the magnet to slightly larger size than your photo. If your picture is larger than a wallet-size, you may need to crop the photo to fit the magnet.

Step 3: Adhere the magnet, pressing firmly at the corners.

Step 4: Cut the magnet flush with scissors or an X-acto Blade

Step 5: Place on fridge and lovingly adore.

That’s it! With friends like these…eh, Gary?

March 28, 2007July 7, 2017 / Don Leave a comment

Global Investment Project Illustrations

I’m mentioned in a previous post, here, that I was working on a number of illustrations for a 60 page printed book for a client of my company, ERA404. The book came out great and is in production now. 10,000 copies are being printed, bound in blind debossed leather and affixed with a wooden, laser-etched medallion soon to be shipped around the world. It’s by far the most intense print project I’ve ever worked on and, to make things more exciting, I was also contracted toÂ create the belowÂ illustrations.

The book is being printed at Premiere Printing Corporation, in Plainwell, MI, and bound at John Galt Bindery in Dayton, KY. Each book is going to be wrapped in aged, wrapping paper that we’re printing at Nova Offset, here in NYC, affixed with aged mailing labels and taped with printed tape, produced through PlusPackaging.com. I hope to add some pictures to the final pieces later, either here, or in the ERA404 portfolio.

While I’m waiting for the project to complete (and the NDA to lapse), and starting the web site to supplement it, I figure I might as well throw the illustrations online for others to see. Click any of the illustrations below to pop-up a window of a larger version. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.