Annual Report Design for Insight Prison Project

A friend of mine connected me with the staff of Insight Prison Project several months ago. IPP needed an annual report and wanted it to accomplish several goals. It should inform supporters of their programs and financial status while additionally celebrating the accomplishments of the program members. Here’s a description of their mission and goals taken from their website:

Since 1997, the Insight Prison Project has been dedicated to reducing recidivism rates and improving public safety by conducting highly-effective in-prison rehabilitation programs that provide prisoners with the tools and life skills necessary to create durable change. Working in partnership with San Quentin State Prison, IPP conducts 19 weekly classes involving more than 200 prisoners. Our classes focus on preparing the men to become responsible and productive members of the community when they leave prison.

There was a limited budget for the project so the annual report was printed in black and white. This could have been a problem – annual reports often demand color – but the black and white photos I was provided with were extremely powerful and provided a story in themselves. The photos show program participants doing group work and in meditation.

The content required a serious design so I chose to provide a more corporate framework and let the photos and words from program participants appear without too much design interference. The program’s goal is personal clarity – the design responds to this goal by providing a clarity of design.

IPP Annual Report 2009_2010

A New Cover Design

I Got Scammed So You Don’t Have To

Author Bethany Mooradian wanted a cover design for her new book – I Got Scammed So You Don’t Have To. Mooradian has done most jobs you can think of and many jobs that you’ve never imagined. She uses her experience to teach others – via her book, classes and workshops – to determine if a work-at-home or alternative job is a scam or a good opportunity. I wanted the cover to have an impact and reflect Mooradian’s upbeat, funny and friendly personality. The best way to reflect those characteristics is a photograph of the author. The photo supports the strong title type and is contextualized by a big pile of money in the background.

Painting with Photoshop

I have a wacom tablet that’s been collecting dust over the past few months so I thought I’d give it a try. There’s a whole new type of hand and eye coordination that I need to master to use the tablet effectively. So, I figured, I’d try doing a painting in Photoshop. Usually, I use acrylics. And after several weeks of scribbling away on my tablet I’ve created this “painting,” which is not unlike the work I make with actual paint. I’ll keep experimenting with this technique and see what happens.

Allen Ginsberg Poetry Marathon Poster

SPLAB’s Allen Ginsberg Memorial Poetry Marathon

I recently designed a poster announcing this great event. It’s a fund raiser for SPLAB and is scheduled for April 3 at 8pm at Empire Espresso in Seattle. Last year’s marathon lasted for 10.5 hours. This year might break that record. There will be readings, an open mic, writing exercises, films and a special appearance by The Band of Poets.  I enjoyed working on this pro bono project. Once I found the photo of the howling man it came together quickly. Hope to see you there. Also, I’m always interested in providing pro bono design services for non profits.

I’m a Liar

A Search for Authentic Design

I want to clean up my portfolio. Over months and even years thing collect, get dumped, abandoned, dusty, ignored. Years of things have collected in my portfolio and it has begun to spill off of shelves and out of boxes. My brilliant design work. My so-so design work. My pay-the-bills design work.

What I hoped to feature in my portfolio is somewhat less exciting than I remember. So how did I misremember it? I think, over time, one adds a certain aura to one’s work. Now with piles of work scattered around me I want to figure out how to organize it honestly. Throwing it all away seems like a possible option. But before I dump everything into the recycle bin I have to decide if there is something worth saving.

Painting a Website

I’m an artist. I use charcoal, graphite and acrylic paints and occasionally a cold cup of coffee thrown against the canvas when I’m kind of annoyed with my work. I like making paintings because the work evolves. I get an idea and work it out. I may develop a series of paintings exploring one idea or form. I may decide to limit myself to a few different colors or select a standard size of paper for a series of works.

Starting out with a gesture or a form, an image is built up over time. Ignored. Soaked in water. Repainted. Painted out. There are times when the work gets put aside for a month or two.

Figuring Fluxus

In November 1980 Robert Filliou, Ben Vautier and Dick Higgins were part of an exhibit of work by Fluxus artists at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. Fluxus gets complicated when I try to explain it and get all the names and dates correct. For me, one needs to discover Fluxus. It’s more about seeing the work, experiencing it.

The exhibit, as I remember it, was in one or two large, open rooms filled with strange stuff. Stuff I had never seen before at an art museum. The floor of one room was covered with salt as deep as sand on a beach. Scattered around the room and on the walls were small sculptures and objects that offered a chance for the viewer to make an incursion and launch a personal art event. Several of these experiences are still with me. I hope my memories are accurate:

The Summer of My Social Networking Discontent

A summer vacation on the beach is an ordered way to disorder my life. I escape social networks. Biznik and Linkedin are ignored. Facebook and Twitter are update free. My email accounts swell.

Was it my vacation, which caused my discontent? Not discontent, actually. It’s closer to a state of clarity. An absence of social networks restored my unplugged self. While watching the tide roll away I didn’t consider who would respond to my deep thoughts. I enjoyed spending quality time with my ideas without sharing them as tweets or updates.

During my unplugged vacation I started to examine the difference between a social network friend and a real-life friend. Visiting real-life friends during vacation was organic. We hugged. We laughed. We shared family photos and smiles sans emoticons.

Now I’m back from the beach and my photos have been uploaded. But no one is commenting. There aren’t even any “likes” or “unlikes.” Is this rejection? My Facebook page is a version of me and I’m not just being ignored. I’m being “unloved.”

Jason Kilar CEO of hulu.com Makes Me Nervous

Jason Kilar was on Charlie Rose the other night. He’s an interesting guy. He spoke with enthusiasm about hulu’s mission, hulu’s team of owner-employees, hulu’s positioning in the media business. He presents himself as a serious, smart leader. So why does he make me nervous?

During his conversation with Rose, Kilar mentions that hulu has three customers – their audience, their advertisers and their content creators. That breakdown bothers me for some reason. The “audience” is part of hulu’s business model – a silent partner of sorts. Isn’t the audience a separate entity? Kilar is suggesting that viewers are members and participants. He trumpets hulu’s ethos – success is achieved only when each customer group loves their product. They have to love it or they have failed. Love is the word.

Rent that e-Book!

MIT Press now lets you rent a book. Is this model a more “honest” approach to retailing e-books? Downloading a book on Kindle usually means that you’ve purchased that title. But the Amazon Cloud might part and decide to remove your treasured and annotated copy from your Kindle. Hmmmm. Would they actually come to my home and remove a book from my bedside table? I don’t think so.

It appears that I’m actually renting a book from Kindle, not buying it. But what if I want to save certain passages in the Kindle book or the MIT book rental? I’m beginning to imagine lines of people at copying machines with their e-book readers making hard copies of the pages they don’t want to lose. Will I need to purchase a pocket-size e-book reader copier?

Check out the story by Nazlah Salam or visit MIT Press.