Finally in the ring chart (that’s what I am calling it) there are 2 dissimilar axes representing professional deployment vs. % personal development time. This is by far my favorite chart, but I feel that it does a disservice to the myriad software packages and input/output operations in which I have at least a reasonable skill level. Not to boast, but a comprehensive list would take a bit more space.

At least this is a more visible and obvious way of displaying information, even if it is just a concept piece, I invested a good deal of time in plotting my energy expenditure, and I feel it is at least relative and accurately for a month-to-month average. I may revisit this piece and try to give some basic units sometime in the future, but for now, I like it just the way it is.

This is a One-Sheet / Poster to quickly convey the concept of the documentary “Shades of Gray,” directed by Bob Wilkinson. Allegheny Image Factory brought me in to visually represent the doc. and create a sense of consistency between the movie titles, credits and the printed matter.

When considering the many ways you could stress the 1950’s UFO conspiracy theme, Bob Tinnell also wanted something a bit Saul Bass like in the titles. The evolution of these concepts lead us to the frantic mash of documents, photos, pamphlets and clipping that convey the energy of discovery and defy organization and labeling. There is no small amount of photocopied punk-rock poster in this layout, with a tip-o-the-hat to the collage art of the dadaists.

As much as I like working on the poster, I am going to enjoy the movie more.

The ubiquity of silver in most forms of commercial design makes it a great second color for logos, promotional designs, etc. and with this in mind, we will be venturing through my imagination as I remember and illustrate a few good silver ideas. Note: as most monitors can’t display silver, I will be representing it with the gray from illustrators 877c swatch in the Pantone Coated Library. Additionally, all of these designs are vector as Raster Metallic effects will be covered in another article.

No. 1

This illustrates the use of silver in a background texture, in this case a fishnet like texture that will pick up light when the card is moved. To further the illusion of the fishnets, one may vary the frequency of the intersections making them closer at the ends to imply a roundedness beyond the gradient.

No. 2

Using Magenta, Black and Silver this card moves to the edge of taste. The type and flower imply serenity, while the colors including the silver(Background texture) make it memorable.

No. 3

Using 877c in real world objects is an excellent way to show purpose. I was so taken with the fence company signs, looking like an engineer had designed them, that I mimicked this in the card. The next step in this construction is to drop in a blurry background of a person’s yard or part of a house to complete the sense of fence-ness. The silver is in the fence and the gray lettering, an allusion to the metal.

No.4

Using solarized photos came into vogue in the late ’70s for some applications, and later resurged in the ’90s a bit. I at first didn’t like solarized photos at first, but there are really good examples. This is a concept that I was working with as an employee at a print shop, which through lack of resources I never printed. The silver should serve as both bright and medium gray counter-point to the rest of the photo. This will be revisited in the Duotone silver article later.

No. 5

This is a printed circuit board design that is both techie and aesthetic without being over-processed. The background is the first pass and would be lightened, with an ideal printing being on vellum with a translucent green. Then the silver would reflect and the green would transmit light.

No. 6

This card has the most potential of almost any of the designs. The gray will be 887c and in a perfect world, the outside (bottle) will be UV coated with the inside being matte. Furthering the impression of a bottle and a label. The outline/shadow of the lettering is also silver. This might also be a good candidate for foil stamping, embossing and/or textured paper.

No. 7

This is a high-concept card with many alternative processes, including: Spot UV on the plate and on the textured wallpaper. Silver ink for the silverware and some type. Emboss the plate down while leaving the silverware up. Use puff ink or a type of thermographic for the background texture instead of the Spot UV.

Silver is an excellent way to add value to a print job, logo or other investment without breaking the bank. It is best to talk to your printer or find one that specializes in printing silver (877c) or another ink called first down that is mixable with other printing inks. We will cover that in the next silver article.

In case anyone wanted to know how I did my Categories when there is not a wp call for it.

Simple Loop with a few calls:

<ul>
 
    < ?php $category_ids = get_all_category_ids(); 
    
    $a_length = count($category_ids);
    
    for ( $counter = 0; $counter < $a_length; $counter += 1) {
    
      echo "<li class='cat_sub";
    
      if (is_category($category_ids[$counter])) { 
    
        echo " current-cat";
    
        }
    
      echo "'> <a href='";
    
      echo get_category_link($category_ids[$counter]);
    
      echo "'>";
    
      echo get_cat_name($category_ids[$counter]);
    
      echo "<span class='cat_description'>";
    
      echo category_description($category_ids[$counter]);
    
      echo "</span>";
    
      echo "</a>";
    
    }
    
    ?>
    
</ul>

This spits out a nice little segmented piece of Html that I can apply all kinds of fun CSS too and even keeps the handy “current-cat” Class. Comments are coming before the Standards retro-fit, so you can tell me how useless this is very soon.

I like their logo, it is one of my favorites and I enjoy working around it. When I design for them, I try to retain a slightly comic but professional feel with the use of brighter colors and slightly playful layout. This is a short Suite of just a Business Card and Letterhead.