16 August 2011
I’ve just launched a new blog called The Depictionist over on tumblr. It’s all about storytelling—narrative branding—from both a professional and personal point of view. You can read a bit more in depth about what I hope it to become here. It’s a pretty excited endeavor for me as it gets right to the core of what I love about graphic design. It’s more than aesthetics; it’s story to incite change. So, check it out, follow it, comment, etc.
30 June 2011
It’s looking like the weather from the Caribbean back in January has finally caught up to us in New York. Enjoy the sun this weekend—and don’t forget your sunscreen…
02 April 2010
I’m currently working on the brand and other promotion material for Tough Guy, USA—the U.S. franchise of the infamous race of death over in the United Kingdom. Check out the video above to have your mind absolutely blown away. … I’m still reeling.
This should be a fun project.
15 September 2009
Earlier this year, the super-talented Joshua James called me up asking for some help designing the booklet for his upcoming album, Build Me This. The booklet was based on an old publication from the late 1800s and would be very typographic-driven. Right up my alley, right? So I gladly accepted. Naturally the project soon ballooned and we ended up (re)doing all the packaging, labels, and the booklet.
The photos below are not incredible because I didn’t have appropriate lighting in my house tonight. And the upload warped the colors all weird, but you should be able to get the gist.
We designed the digipack and insert book, CD face, vinyl sleeve, and vinyl face labels. I do say “we” because I want to recognize Joshua’s continual help and direction—as well as his second set of eyes at 4 in the morning before sending off to press. Also, credit to Weston Colton for the photography—much more impressive in real life/real color. Hopefully I can get some pictures soon that do the piece more justice. In the meantime, check out the music (iTunes link again…) because it really is something special. Write home about it, even. I know I did.
13 September 2009
A while ago, I posted a couple things about an art project that I did design for, titled I am Chris Purdie. Just tonight I found this video that explains and documents it better than I ever attempted to do on here. It’s pretty interesting, I think. Check it out if you have a few minutes (or 7). I’ve been told that catalogs have been printed, but I’ve yet to receive them. As soon as I do, I’ll post some images on here. Until then…
chrispurdie.com from skylerjeppson on Vimeo.
06 July 2009
Recently Shepard Fairey released his “FREEDOM TO LEAD” poster of Aung San Suu Kyi. His work is, as always, extraordinary and charged with tones of revolution and it’s great to see him helping out another great political cause—one that needs all the publicity it can garner.
A couple years ago, the US Campaign for Burma asked me to create a logo for them to commemorate her birthday and to try to raise awareness of Suu Kyi’s situation. I don’t know to what extent it was used (beyond a shirt and some patches that are pictured below)—although I did see a picture of a wall in Thailand tiled with wheat-pasted posters of it not long after I finished it.
The brief was two-colors max and simplified and iconic enough to be reproduced at small sizes. We tried to capture both her determined strength and her soft, motherly side. There was no budget, so the type had to be created by hand, as well. Anyways, not to compare mine vs. his, but… here’s mine, and (obviously) above is his.
09 June 2009
I posted yesterday about that 7′ tall banner that I had like a day to design. I forgot about the 15′ tall poster I threw together for Chris Purdie that I was graciously granted all of one lunch break to complete. We’ve made up for that with the months it’s taking us to complete to booklet to go along with the show (currently woring on this…).
photo credits: 1) Chad Keyes; 2) Justin Hackworth; and, of course, 3) all portrait photography used in the design by Leo Patrone
06 May 2009
Over two years ago I started working on a cartoon short called “Children Kids” with some friends of mine. Progress is really slow, but recently evidence has surfaced that there is indeed progress. And lots of it!
This particular piece is about a happy little boy named Zak who gets his Big Mac™ stolen by a bully named Jack. Have a look…
21 February 2009
For those of you who have kept your distance from this blog because it crashed your browser and/or computer, (first: sorry, but) rest assured: it’s safe to come back. We’ve turned off the sifr that was apparently causing all the problems. Until we can get that figured out again, we’ll just all have to make do with Arial.
I got a job. A real, full-time, designer job. Which is cool, but I’ve been super swamped getting up to speed there, as well as finishing freelance work after hours. Here are some of the projects I’ve been working on:
I’ve been working on preliminary ad design for the “i am chris purdy” show happening March 6th at the Sego Arts Center here in Provo. If you’re in the area, expect to see a lot more of this coming soon.
You may recognize Leo Patrone’s work in the photo shoot above (both he and Jon Canlas loaned their services and expertise to the Chris Purdy shoot). Leo just launched his updated site that I’ve been tweaking and updating for the past little bit. And Dane, as always, did masterful work with the flash design. We have a lot more work to accomplish in the next few months that I’m really excited about diving into. And as soon as we get some photos of Leo’s new business card, I’ll post that here, too. It’s pretty hot. Rob, at Tryst Press, letterpressed them beautifully. If anyone is looking for a photographer, Leo is a very special and amazing talent. Catch him while you can.
Thanks to Jon and Leo, I’ve had lots of opportunities to work with photographers over the past couple years. Mark Weinberg is another that I’ve worked with who produces amazing work. He’s releasing some post cards soon that we just finished up a couple days ago. I’ll let you know if and when and where you can see them and/or get your hands on them. They’re simple and beautiful and, naturally, have some great photos on them. Most, by the way, do not have type on the front.
That’s all the work I’m going to post today. I’ll post soon about the album cover I’ve been working on for Joshua James, as well as some fun and exciting design I’ve ran across in the past few weeks.
02 February 2009
It’s been almost a year and a half since I started working with Jonathan Canlas—a renowned film photographer from Utah. After admiring his images from afar for some time, it was a great opportunity to get in and work with them. Since then, we’ve produced the Film is Not Dead website, the Film is Not Dead workbook (images coming soon both here and on my site), we’ve rebranded him, created an updated portfolio site, and another promotional book (again, I’ll have images of that up here soon)—not to mention various collateral and pdfs and so on and on.
Today, information on Jon’s Film is Not Dead 3 workshop was announced and will be held in beautiful San Francisco this coming July. If you’re into photography and you want to learn a TON—check it out.
And, Jon— thanks for letting me explore my creative vision along side yours.
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