Posts in ISO50

I’m very pleased to announce that not only will I be speaking at the next FITC, but it will be right here in San Francisco, August 16th-19th, 2010. I’ve presented at FITC numerous times in the past — recently Toronto and Amsterdam — and it’s always an incredibly immersive and educational experience. For the uninitiated, FITC is a series of events focused around interactive platforms like Flash, Flex, and AIR, along with animation and motion/film. But that’s just sort of the core of it, there are all sorts of other design related topics being covered (case in point: the fact that a print designer / musician like myself is involved). Basically just a very inspirational event centered around design and technology. Also, they have incredible parties each night often involving boats and free booze.

For the San Francisco event I’ll be speaking a bit about my background, process, and theory along with some walkthroughs and presentations of recent work. For a rough idea of the style of my presentations have a look at my Academy of Art lecture from April (although this was geared for the students in the Academy program, as opposed to professionals, so it was a little different from what I normally do).

FITC always stack the events with great speakers but this SF date seems to be the most epic yet. It’s the only where you’ll see Yugo Nakamura, Colin Moock, Erik Natzke, Kyle Cooper, Jared Ficklin, Kevin Lynch, and Robert Hodgin (along with over 60 others). It’s also probably the last time I’ll be speaking in 2010 as I finish up the Tycho album and prepare for touring.

Early bird pricing for the event ends Friday July 2nd, so be sure to get your tickets now (they also sell out very quickly, so if you don’t get in on the early bird be sure to get them soon after). You can register here. Enter code “isofifty” under discount code to get an additional 10% off the registration.

Hope to see you out there!

FITC: Tickets | More Info

A couple updates from The ISO50 Shop for you. First up, a new shirt is now available. The summer edition of the Syv shirt in white on American Apparel 50/50 is now available. The 50/50 is a light, flexible cotton/poly blend which is nice and breathable for the hot summer months ahead. It has a very tailored fit with a perfect length. Get your size while they last here.

We’re also having a 20% Summer Sale going on now at the shop. Take 20% off most items in the shop (excludes giclee prints). The discount will be reflected in your checkout total, not on the individual pages. The sale runs for a limited time only so get on it!

I’m very pleased to announce that the new Dusty Brown EP, This City is Killing Me, is now available. I’m even more pleased to announce that Dusty was generous enough to give it to us for free. If you like it (which I am sure you will, just have one listen to “Back to Back” and you’ll be hooked), please consider supporting his music by making a donation.

For the uninitiated, Dusty Brown is an insanely talented Sacramento-based producer and musician who, along with his eponymous band, creates a sort of beat-centric clash between raw ambient-electronic and synth-driven indie rock. Dusty got me into the live music scene when I was starting out in Sacramento and over the years we’ve collaborated on all sorts of projects. I’ve learned more about music from Dusty than anyone else; his production style and methods are truly awe inspiring. People who have been following along for a while might also remember that Dusty did all the flash work for both the original versions of the ISO50 portfolio.

I’ve really been anticipating this EP so it was great to also be able to create the album artwork for the release. The artwork is based on the photography of another incredible talent from Sacramento, photographer Raoul Ortega. The front and back covers feature various images from this set which Raoul shot with the Canon 5D at Dusty’s Harlow’s show last week. It’s so inspiring as a designer to work with talented photographers; images like this are just begging to be treated and make the whole process such a pleasure. The EP download includes print sized versions of the front and back covers.

Enjoy! And please thank Dusty for hooking us up in the comments!

Dusty Brown – This City is Killing Me Download | Donate

ISO50 Studio Edition #008, Madrone, is now available through the ISO50 Shop. This print features updated artwork from the original poster for the Madrone show in San Francisco. Four limited edition formats are available: 14×24″, 18×30″, 24×40″, and 36×60″. All are printed on Hahnemühle German Etching 310 gsm (120# cover, 100% alpha-Cellulose white mould-made) using the Epson 9900 10 color UltraChrome HDR™ pigment-based ink system.

You can view the Madrone print here and view other Studio Editions here.

Just a quick reminder I’ll be speaking at FITC Toronto today. The talk starts at 2:30pm in Toronto 1 room at the Hilton. Hope to see some of you out there!

More information

Starting later today, Shelby White will join the ISO50 team as a contributor to the blog. Many of you will recognize Shelby as a frequent commenter here on ISO50. He also runs his own design blog, Wanken, which he has curated for the last couple years. As is evident from his posts, Shelby is extremely passionate about design. He has a remarkably discerning eye for captivating work — especially of the mid-century modern variety — and his aesthetic should fit right in here at the blog. He is currently living in Seattle, Washington, where he is studying at the Art Institute and working for BKWLD (A Sacramento/Seattle-based design agency where Scott spent some time as well).

We are excited to add a new perspective to ISO50 — please give Shelby a warm welcome, his first post should go up later this afternoon.

A few weeks ago, Scott gave a lecture to my fellow Academy of Art students. The talk was part of the Designspeak lecture series and was open to students and faculty (and 20 lucky blog readers). The room was jam packed, with a bunch of people even crammed in on the floor. The talk covered a wide range of topics: early influences, current design process, Tycho, the blog, and much more. We even got a glimpse of the first poster Scott ever designed!

The lecture was about 1.5 hours long, with a 30 minute Q&A at the end. In addition to the Academy film crew, I was on hand with my 5DMKII to capture some of the evening. Given the massive file size, and limited continuous shot duration on the 5D, I only recorded sporadically, and wasn’t able to capture everything I would have liked. I shot until my memory card filled up and was able to capture a total of 30 minutes of the talk. I selected the shots you see in the video above from this sample.

As I said in my intro that night, it would be hard for me to convey how much I’ve learned from Scott over these last two years interning at the studio. I consider myself enrolled in two design schools (Scott’s, and the Academy) and it was really exciting for me to see these two worlds combined. I’m very glad that everyone at the Academy was able to get a glimpse into Scott’s world and I’m also really excited now to be able to show you all at least a little bit of the talk. If you haven’t been fortunate enough to see one of the talks in person, I highly suggest you make that happen (I think Toronto is your next opportunity). In the meantime, hopefully this video will tide you over.

Recording the talk was another great test run with the 5D and I learn something new each time I take it out. This time, audio was the main issue as I wasn’t able to find a suitable solution before the talk. What you hear through most of video was from the Academy microphone — at the end is what it sounds like off the internal mic on the 5D. Basically the on camera mic is completely useless. It helps for syncing external audio to the video, but that’s about it. For future excursions I am definitely going to look into some form of either a mounted shotgun mic or wireless LAV.

Video Link

Over the past year I’ve been going through the process of scaling some of my posters for large format (e.g. the Knitting print: Old | New). Most of these were originally designed for 12×18″ format so they had to be re-created from scratch. It’s been a painstaking process at times, but it has also allowed me a chance to approach some of the designs from a fresh perspective. Something about stripping a design down to nothing and building it back up again gives you a clearer view of the essential nature of the piece allowing for more objectivity when making design decisions.

The latest print to be scaled up is the poster for the Terrabyte music festival (pictured above — view original). As you can see, I’ve made some changes and cleaned a few things up. I’ll be posting a process piece detailing the various earlier versions of the print and the transition from small to large format next week. The print is currently available as a giclee from the ISO50 Shop.

On a side note, if you’re partial to any of the older designs in the small formats now would be the time to grab some, they will not be reprinted. They can be viewed in the prints section at the shop.

ISO50 Studio Edition #007: Terrabyte

Welcome to ISO50 Playlist #8. Enjoy.

If you like what you hear be sure to let us know in the comments.

ISO50 Playlist 8 – Compiled By Tycho

Track Listing

The Radio Dept. – Domestic Scene
King Of Woolworths – Nuada
Deerhunter – Little Kids
Headphones – Gas And Matches
Caribou – Odessa
Mux Mool – 11 Lady Linda
Siriusmo – Nights Off
Kavinsky – Pacific Coast Highway (Jackson Remix)
Toro Y Moi – Low Shoulder
Deru – Hello
Jon Hopkins – Light Through The Veins
Toro Y Moi – 109
The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s On Fire
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Come Saturday
Paul Michel – Lonely Dirges
Alcian Blue – You Just Disappear
Trans Am – Music For Dogs
Little Dragon – A New
The XX – Islands
Stars – This Charming Man
Yo La Tengo – Little Eyes
Midlake – Rulers, Ruling All Things
Chris and Thomas – Broken Chair
The Advisory Circle – Sundial
Casino Versus Japan – Hello You
Stars – Set Yourself On Fire (End Times Edit)

You can always listen to previous Playlists in The Playlist Archive

I’ll be giving a talk at the Academy of Art in San Francisco this Thursday evening, March 18th. I’m going to be covering a lot of ground — the talk is 2 hours — mostly talking about background, inspiration and process along with a question and answer period. The talk is limited to students (AAU students get in with ID) but the Academy has given us 20 additional seats to give away on the blog. If you’re interested in going just comment on this post and be sure to leave a valid email in the “email” field (email will not be published). We will then contact you with full details for the talk and get you put on the list.

Please only enter if you intend to go, spots are limited. Also, if you’re reading this and there are already 20 comments below, don’t give up! You’ll be put down as an alternate for people who end up not being able to make it (in our experience a lot of people either drop out or are unreachable via the email they provided.)

Good luck! Hope to see you Thursday.