Jamie Stark

Inspirational Typographic Design

admin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:05:27 +0000

Letterheadfonts.com sells fonts, but what is really remarkable about the site is the amazing typographic designs in the portfolio section. Typographic skill is what separates real graphic designers and art directors from the pikers and this guy has skill in spades. The gallery section has a couple hundred samples of logos, signs, covers, and packages that scream talent. It is a really impressive collection of work.

Santa Smokes Pall Mall’s

admin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:45:24 +0000

The Times had great article on classic advertising (pure snake oil sales) for tobacco. Lot’s of lessons for aspiring art directors, copy writers and ethicists. Check it out here.

Fine Art: Nicolás Uribe

admin — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:27:57 +0000

Here is another oil painter that I admire tremendously. He has the traditional, technical skills of a realist combined with a modern, artistic vision. He combines these to create some incredibly striking art. Check it out here.

New Stark Designs site

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:18:17 +0000

Just finished my companies new site. I wanted something clean and modern, while still being true to the style of graphic design that I am most comfortable with. If you have a minute check it out here.

Library of Congress Image Collections

admin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:11:04 +0000

This is a great place for the image obsessed to look at historical images. There is historical advertising, propaganda posters, war related art, WPA era photographers like Walker Evans, all kinds of cool stuff. It is a huge collection and a lot of it it available in high res. Take a few minutes and check it out here.

The image below is a magic show poster from one of their collections.

Logo Development

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:57:56 +0000

I was hired to redesign the corporate logo for Zerega Pasta. I came up with the following options some of which are better than others. They have yet to choose one so I’ll have to update it when and if they do make a decision. Until then the bills are paid and I’m mostly pleased with the results. Click for larger image.

Fine Art: Duane Keiser

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:33:56 +0000

This guy is a painter’s painter. Check out his amazing work here and best of all watch time lapse videos of his painting process. For anyone who paints or is interested in the process of making an oil painting this is just great. He also does a really cool project called a painting-a-day.

Click he image to see a larger version of his awesome peanut butter and jelly painting.

Tips and Tricks: Inkjets

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:23:03 +0000

Inkjet printers rock. We produce really nice signage, counter cards and invitations on a canon i9900. It prints 13 x 19 full bleed. The cost per unit is not really cheap because the disposables are expensive, but if you need to produce 4 signs, then 5 dollars worth of ink, paper, and foam core per sign is not a big expense. I produced my wedding invitations on an ink jet. I used inkjet friendly water color paper, transparent vellum, punched them by hand and bound them with silver cord. Very nice result, but a lot of work. I also do the studio holiday card on the inkjet since I only send out 20 or 30. Below is art of last years and tried to simulate the paper texture that I used in photoshop. Got a nice letterpress kind of feel to go with the idea.

Folio Magazine

admin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:11:18 +0000

Folio is a magazine for magazine pros–art directors, designers, writers, and business types. It’s a great publication. Recently I was asked to be a panelist for their cover critique section. Art directors of various publications submit their covers for critique and a panel of other magazine designers share their thoughts. Maybe one of these days I’ll work up the courage to submit one of my covers, but it is so much more fun to be a critic than to take criticism. Check it out here and here.

Public Opinion- Evolution of a logo design

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:40:28 +0000

The president of the New York chapter of the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers approached me about their lack of an identifying mark so I came up with the logos below. Public Opinion as a graphic concept is a little vague. The checkmark as a representation of the survey process seemed to make the most sense. The other thought I had was the traditional group of people type design with the people in various shades of color to represent varying opinions.

These were well received, but they were missing the New York aspect of the organization. This was very important to them because they are the largest and most relevant branch of the organization and the needed to differentiate themselves from the national group umbrella. So the basic NY icons are lady liberty, Empire State Building, and the ubiquitous apple. Here was the final logo design. Click for larger Image.