South Magazine

Focus Lab was featured in South magazine, obviously the South’s hottest mag, for our recent work and location—the South. Here is the cover and photos of us.

My boi, André

L to R: Bill, Erik, me & Alicja

I’m ready for my close up.

BFA, GRDS: SCAD

As of this week, I have officially met all requirements to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

cook out

icons for a project

test prints

Belasko v2.1 test prints: mixed case & a few numerals, set at 9pt.

(I completely made up that statistic.)

continu. finished.

Just finished a long branding process that included a name change and a trademark conflict. Fortunately, the client is happy and the final solution is probably the best-case scenario. I’ll follow up with all sorts of collateral, details and a lengthy case study.

Belasko revisited

Previously Belasko had very soft strokes with very round terminals. There was an attempt at the true translation of the pen with the joints and junctions. I’ve removed a lot of curves and anchors to experiment with a more modern, angular version—see second k. 

There is a lot left to do but I’m satisfied with the new direction and concept. Lots of test printing and refining still remains.

Kipling

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
—Rudyard Kipling

Unearthed icons

I was recently asked by Matthew Spiel to help create a small set of three icons for Unearthed, a Christian organization. In order here are pray, give & share.

process

This mark still needs technical edits, but here is a basic “making of”.

discard!

Some discarded icons from my website. I wanted to showcase icons, photography and archived work. These were supposed to represent each of those categories.

16px

Some marks that I’ve made set at 16×16px favicon dimensions. I love pressing the integrity of the mark at such a tiny scale.

logo construction

Buckminster

“A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist, and evolutionary strategist.” 
—R. Buckminster Fuller

certifyD

certifyD : establishing values through professional certification

A graduate thesis by Esteban Pérez-Hemminger

(The audio quality isn’t the best in the world.)

Problem statement 

Today, the term “graphic designer,” rather than understood and respected, has become devalued and insignificant. The tools we use, not the knowledge or expertise we possess, have unfavorably defined our profession. Design's focus on problem-solving, creative-thinking and its obligation to society has been displaced as a needless expendability by commercialism and the prevalent notion that “anyone can do it.” As a profession, graphic design needs to establish achievable standards that objectively measure educational experience, business competency and ethics within all practicing members. These parameters would provide a platform for redefining our profession's purpose, delineating the basic qualifications necessary for professional practice, and reinforcing our relationship with society. Such principles would become a guideline for young designers, a measure of excellence among practitioners and a facilitating tool for clients to identify designers of parallel vision, beliefs and thorough expertise. Communications Design not as computer dexterity or a tool for propaganda, but as a validated responsible profession, would then become a viable instrument for solving the communication, social and environmental problems we face today. 

 Within the 5 major design fields (industrial, engineering, architecture, graphic, interior), graphic design remains as the only field in the USA with no system of requirements, standards or benchmarks to follow.

Be forewarned, this is 2:09:36 — not a brief video. From :00 to 6:30 sets the stage with a thesis on certification. Jump to 9:30 for dialogue with panelists.

Here is a PDF of the thesis paper.