SKATE DREAM
Well tribute skateshop allowed me to cross a design off of my bucket list this year. Here's a shop curated version of the Tribute 10th anniversary skate deck. This design pays homage to the skull art tradition of skate design, as well as acknowledging the inevitability of the image to be scraped away from skating. Check out the deck here:
HOME
Sara Spicer (Lion-S) and Mike Paine (better known as Hoola), have been helping to organize the Shambhala festival since it began. These original Kootenay Scene pioneers blazed the trail for west coast electronic music. Arguably the Shambhala festival would not be what it is today without the vision and tenacity for booking the best music that this dynamic duo bring to the table. As the the Pride, these two continue to book incredible music, on the LIVING ROOM beach stage. They get some of their Top Notch talent to play smaller clubs in Vancouver as a showcase of the Kootenay energy they espouse. It's been such a great experience working with them on this series, which had animal totems as a theme. HUGE gratitude to Mugwort who provide the Owl in Home 1, and the Lion in Home 2.
GTC AND BEYOND
The Galactic Trading Card oracle complex is one of Onbeyond's most distinguished and long running design contracts.  This is in the realm of soul work, a dream of a dream. Initially a collaboration of ideas presented by Dew press to Onbeyond Metamedia (then a fledgling company ) inspired by the world of trading cards, the deck grew to encompass the art of many of the worlds living visionary painters, poetry and metapoetics in many languages spanning many traditions, as well as many of the world's visionary graphic designers. It is a syncretic oracle consisting of  trading cards with gorgeous art on the front, and a complex design interface on the back delivering an incredibly detailed information system pertaining to the card. It acts as a tarot, amongst other divinatory, educational and entertainment purposes. It is breathtaking and has evolved a long way from its humble beginnings.
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CLOTHES ENCOUNTERS
Early in 2013 I had the pleasure of working for Nomad's Hemp Wear on the third catalogue I had done for them. Louis and Anik are of my most favourite clients to work with because they are organized, know what they want, set deadlines and keep to those deadlines as a point of professional integrity. It always steps my game up to respond to clients who need professional output done in a relaxed design style and delivered on time to the printers. Louis and Anik have built their business organically, taking pride in the quality and intention of their product as well as the way that they represent and market it to others. I see their business as one of the top inspirations for sustainable models which truly reflect environmental concerns. They are an exemplary brand and I am honoured to work with them.
The catalogue is 40 pages and takes about two weeks of work time, full power, to complete (i do get some morning snowboard sessions in!). Louis and Anik shoot a lot of this photography and pick their models very carefully to reflect the core of the market who likes their clothes. We have similar design aesthetics and our templates are relatively easy to decide on. We like each others' style. Louis is organized at making sure files are labelled as to what the content is, they have decided on a conceptual flow, and that folders arrive which make the placement of the content that much easier. Clients like this make my job much more relaxed and fun, as it allows a great deal of time for design placement and an easy, quick output of the final product.
LOVETWENTYTWO
After many years of grazing the surface of clothing design, LOVETWENTYWO has been launched as a collaboration with my partner Niki Hunter. Together we are approaching the daunting task of making a new clothing brand amongst a million brands, and we think we have a great plan. It involves creating and stewarding a growing design community. The shirts will be small print run and not available for long periods of time. It is not a logo centric brand and all shirts go towards supporting different projects and initiatives which promote evolution and change in the world.
LONG TIME NO SEE
I can barely begin to scratch the surface of what has happened in the last year. I feel like I need to make a number of solid updates in here. The bulk of my time now goes to art directing commentcanada, a new media magazine out of Nelson BC. I've also been making CD art for adham Shaikh, making catalogs for Nomads Hemp Wear, helping design spreads for Cosm magazine (upcoming!), and helping launch a number of new businesses. There a metric ton of new design, including some new posters. Here comes the winter!
ENTHEOS 2012
I have been part of Entheos since its early stages of conception. Part of Entheos from day 1 has been a desire to work with design whole systems, integrated media platforms, and technological communication arrays. Entheos, while being one of western Canada's most grassroots festivals, has always equivalently priveleged the technological future with the grounded earthbased intelligence of permaculture incentives, holistic lifestyles and community education. Design has been a deep part of Entheos' image reflecting an awareness the role that the event plays in the world and the lives of people that contribute. Media impact. Read more
Living Room 2012
Mike and Sara from The Pride, are the cofounders of Shambhala's legendary Beach stage. In fact they were original members of the inaugral shambhala crew, helping to build the foundation of one of the world's best electronic Music festivals. Onbeyond has been working with the pride since 2005, first as a DJ, then as a visualist and graphic designer. We've been hooking up The pride with posters for their events as well as logos and branding for various side projects. Mike even gave me a snowboard (which has been well loved!). Here's a sneak peak at some the new design for the beach in 2012.
Nomads 2012 Fall Collection Catalog
Nomads Hemp Wear, an awesome clothing company based in the Slocan Valley, approached onbeyond to have us design their new fall line catalog. Louis and Anik had been doing the catalog themselves for a number of years and this year they had a time crunch to get the clothing photographed in their models down in LA.
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Mayan Appocalypse 1 year Pre-Party.
December 21, 2012 is the reputed end date of the current mayan calendar cycle. We have no idea what is in store for us and we wanted to celebrate that uncertainty as a great mystery we get to watch unfold for us. Cynical or serious? Paradigm changing or subtle irony? A really fun vector design.