More Than A Brand – Art for People's Sake

Haiti is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. Even before the massive 7.0 earthquake in January, over 70% of the country was unemployed. Add to this the devastation of a natural disaster and the desperate need for basic necessities such as food and water and it’s painfully obvious to see why the residents of Haiti need our help.

In an attempt to aid in the rebuilding of Haiti, 50% of the sales from this poster, “For Haiti,” will be donated to the relief effort there. In addition, 50% of all poster sales through the end of March will also go to benefit Haiti. Visit the More Than A Brand Online Store to purchase this and other posters to show your support.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games began sadly with the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luge competitor from the former Soviet republic of Georgia. At the opening ceremony, a moment of silence was observed to honor Kumaritashvili, and his fellow Georgian Olympians wore black armbands in his memory.

This poster serves as a tribute to Nodar Kumaritashvili and all those whose lives have been lost in the pursuit of athletic immortality. You are all champions.

During the process of sending out posters for promotional purposes I noticed that simply placing a poster inside a tube and sending it just wouldn’t cut it. The poster expanded to the full length of the tube making it almost impossible to get back out without damaging. In addition, there was no good way to send along stickers and other printed materials other than throwing them inside the tube and hoping they survived the trip. In a previous life I was a graphic design major and decided to use my knowledge in that area to solve the problem. What follows is a series of images showing how an ordinary piece of paper was turned into a wrap for the poster, complete with a pocket for some propaganda.

Step One:

Here’s the poster wrap in its original state. Just a regular sheet of paper with some guides.

Step Two:

Excess paper is trimmed off the bottom to make sure that the completed wrap won’t exceed the diameter of the mailing tube.

Step Three:

Areas of paper are cut from the top to create a tab. This will be attached to the other end of the wrap to create the final packaging.

Step Four:

Notches are cut in the bottom corners and in the side. These will serve to keep the bottom pocket closed.

Step Five:

A crease is created along the bottom to make the pocket. The center is cut to allow the top tab to come through. This is then taped to the wrap.

Step Six:

The pocket is folded and closed using the notches that were cut earlier.

Step Seven:

Here’s the finished wrap looking pretty and waiting for a poster to hold.

Step Eight:

So now the poster is kept from expanding to the full length of the mailing tube. Plus, the wrap serves as a handy introduction letter complete with pocket for stickers, promotional items and whatever else needs to be sent along.

Step Nine:

Voila! Just add a mailing tube and a handsome More Than A Brand sticker and you have yourself a pretty nice way to mail posters. I just love hand-made ingenuity.

Not long ago I was contacted by Ankur Aras, a young photographer from India whose photography can be found on www.fingersandfeet.com. He is also the founder of ‘The Freedom Project’ which aims to provide an environment for children in Tibet to have a childhood. Through his efforts, awareness and funding has been raised to support these children and other organizations with the same desire to see freedom in Tibet.

I recently saw a design on Abduzeedo.com’s Daily Inspiration by Kid Cudi that I fell in love with and decided to make a More Than A Brand style version. This poster is called “Freedom for All,” and focuses on the issue of child soliders in Africa.

Through organizations such as Invisible Children many people have been made aware of this issue. And although much progress has been made in combating the abduction of children in Africa, the issue still persists. To find out more about how you can get involved, visit the Invisible Children website.

Artist: More Than A Brand - Bart Welt

Artist: Jeremy Agers

Artist: Jeremy Agers

Artist: Kelley & Brian Charpentier

Artist: Darren Moser (not in picture)

Last week’s opening for ‘A Displaced December’ was awesome, and it was a great chance to raise money to support The House, Food & Clothing Warehouse. For those of you who couldn’t make it out, here are some pictures from the show. Also, if you happen to be in downtown Fontana between now and December 20th you can stop by the Kohler Gallery and check out the art.

‘A Displaced December’ opens in a few days, and in the spirit of giving here is a shot of one of my entries coming off the press. To give you an idea of the scale, each piece is 4′ x 4′ in size and there are a total of 4 prints. Something about that number appeals to me I guess.

The artist reception for ‘A Displaced December’ is November 20th from 6:30 to 9:30PM at the Kohler Gallery in Fontana. You can find more information in my original post about the show.

Recently I was asked to develop a series of four design posters for Project Ink. There wasn’t any clear criteria for the posters other than they should be colorful as they will be the backdrop for a promotional video being shot by HP.

These designs merge my attraction to strong, vibrant colors with my love for effective typography. The design quotes, provided by Joe Sparano, Brian Reed, Frank Chimero & Mieke Gerritzen, really resonated with me as being not only applicable to the field of design, but other areas of life as well.

Photography courtesy of Katanaz-Stock.

This year has been a hard one for us all, and I have seen many around me struggle to provide for themselves and their families. ‘A Displaced December’ is a collection of local artists committed to the homeless and feeding the hungry during this holiday season. 100% of the proceeds for this show will be donated to The House: Food Warehouse, an organization that feeds over 2000 families each week in Fontana and it’s surrounding areas.

The show opens on November 16th and runs until December 20th. If you’re in the area, please come out and support local art and help raise awareness for those less fortunate than ourselves. I’m very excited to have work in this show and am putting the finishing touches on my submission as we speak. Hope to see you there.

*Flyer design by Jeremy Agers.

More Than A Brand stickers are in! I was so excited to get these today in the mail, and the guys over at Sticker Robot really did a great job. Every order from the More Than A Brand Store will now include some of these adhesive little guys.