GDUSA’s American Graphic Design Awards
The December issue of Graphic Design USA showcases selected winners of their three decade old American Graphic Design Awards competition, and Connecticut made a strong showing.
Catalogs: Taylor Design, Stamford
Promotions: TFI Envision, Norwalk
Public Service/Pro Bono: Caserta Design, Stratford
Packaging: Zunda Group, Norwalk; The Worx Group, Prospect; Hughes Design Group, Norwalk; Group 4, Avon
Multimedia/Broadcast: The Worx Group, Prospect
Web: LK Design, Wilton
Corporate Identity: The Worx Group, Prospect
Logos & Trademarks: fiZz, Bridgeport
Publications: John Kallio Graphic Design, New Haven; Cheney & Company, New Haven
Books: The Worx Group, Prospect
Annual Reports: The Worx Group, Prospect; Taylor Design, Stamford; John Kallio Graphic Design, New Haven; Caserta Design, Stratford; Pappas MacDonnell, Southport
Direct Mail: TFI Envision, Norwalk
Advertising: Williams & House, Avon; TFI Envision, Norwalk
Announcements & Invitations: TFI Envision, Norwalk; The Worx Group, Prospect
Collateral: Taylor Design, Stamford; TFI Envision, Norwalk; Pappas MacDonnell, Southport
Calendars: Cheney & Company, New Haven
Fathom’s Holiday Game
Fathom of Hartford celebrates the holidays with a Flash-based sledding game. The game offers players the ability to upload their own face picture and post their personalized sledding action shot to the gallery.
A Facebook App counterpart was also created, where you can challenge friends and view their action shows in a Friends Gallery.
Jargon Boy Design Studio
Featured in Communication Arts
Jargon Boy Design Studio of Fairfield was recently featured online in the Fresh section of Communication Arts. CA talks to Greg Chinn about his studio, his influences and his philosophies, and presents a portfolio of his work.
The section is their weekly feature of innovative work by people, firms and agencies working professionally for approximately five years, including those who have recently changed careers and/or styles.
MillerWhite School of Design
Launches Video Series
Fairfield County-based MillerWhite School of Design has launched a series of videos on their site, featuring the industry’s leading authorities on design, typography and design education.
The initial group of videos features interviews with School cofounder Alex W. White, Charles Nix (Scott & Nix), Graham Clifford (Graham Clifford Design), Rosanne S. Guararra (Triumph Learning) and Anne Twomey (Grand Central Publishing).
The MillerWhite School of Design offers pre-college programs for high school students, as well as professional development workshops for agencies and in-house creative departments.
Fred Caserta’s Art On Display
Caserta Design’s Fred Caserta was selected to be part of an exhibit at the Nanjing Art Institute, Nanjing, China.
The exhibition, “Commemoration of 5.12: China’s Massive Earthquake,” features work from more than 200 artists, designers, film makers and musicians from across the globe. “It is a perfect global response to tragedy and a our greatest hope for the future,” says designer and co-curator Robert Appleton.
Fred’s piece, “MAGNITUDE,” is a 60×60 in. digital illustration, inkjet on paper.
Fred describes the piece: “‘MAGNITUDE’ pulls the viewer from a distance. 70,000 Chinese-red ‘pixels’ demonstrate the MAGNITUDE of the loss of life resulting from the 5.12.08 earthquake. It is a reference to the Chinese Red Egg and Ginger ceremony in which babies are named at one month old. It calls attention to the truth that each pixel/egg/life was a real person, possessing their own significant identity.”
Cronin’s Wayne Raicik Promoted
Cronin and Company of Glastonbury has promoted Wayne Raicik from executive art director to vice president, associate creative director. Wayne has had two stints at Cronin culminating in 15 years experience at the agency. He has helped create memorable and effective print, web and TV advertising for the CT Lottery, Northeast Utilities, Twinings Tea, Garelick Milk and Tuscan Dairy. Wayne has also designed award-winning logos for Konica Minolta, the CT Lottery, Centerplate and The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Some of his better known work has been cited by The Advertising Club of Boston (Hatch Awards), The Connecticut Art Directors Club, Print Magazine, Communication Arts Magazine and Adweek. Wayne is a graduate of Syracuse University.
Connecticut In Print
Gluekit of Hamden created the cover and eight interior pages for Print’s 2008 Regional Design Annual. There’s an interesting “making of” piece highlighting the studio and its principals, Christopher Sleboda and Kathleen Burns.
Gluekit had a number of winning pieces in the Annual, from their sister business, Part of It. Part of It works with artists to create products for causes they are passionate about, with sales from products benefiting charities chosen by the artists.
Also representing Connecticut in the Annual are Jargon Boy of Fairfield, Winterhouse of Falls Village and Bertz Design Group of Middletown.
New HAS Website
Fathom of Hartford has launched an exciting new website for The Hartford Art School, one of America’s oldest art institutions. The new website had to live within the family of University of Hartford’s already established sites, but be distinctive enough to make an impact. The Hartford Art School sought a design that would engage and excite potential students, but convey their legitimacy and prestige.
“The goal,” Fathom’s Anthony Acock explained, “was to find a way to strike a balance between fulfilling the desire to surprise and underscore the school’s status.”
An additional challenge for Fathom designers came in working to make the new site complement the art school’s existing print collateral without mimicking it. The resulting Hartford Art School website has stand-alone personality that answers both of the client’s concerns while dovetailing nicely with its existing print materials.
Each page of HAS’s new website engages with vibrant colors and unexpected shapes, prominently featuring black and white snapshots of students perfecting their craft. Standout typography and a streamlined, readable text flow unite the new design to The University of Hartford’s other sites and existing print pieces.
An additional feature of the new art school site is the unique identity assigned to each discipline within the school. “All of the departments have a radically different look and feel,” Acock said. “The differences amongst the pages underscore the diversity of the Hartford Art School’s offerings.” The final product, in hues of electric purple, bright green, yellow, teal and eye-popping scarlet certainly accomplishes the goal.
“Stylistically, it’s really different from where they were before,” commented Fathom Account Executive Sarah Curran. “The new design gives each department the opportunity to showcase their uniqueness.”
Jennifer Tiroletto
Joins Mintz & Hoke
Jennifer Tiroletto has joined Mintz & Hoke Communications Group of Avon as Art Director. Tiroletto will work on the AIG, Aetna and Embraer accounts in her new position. Prior to joining Mintz & Hoke, she was freelancing in the Hartford area and earlier spent six years with Happy Dog Advertising as a Vice President and Senior Designer. Tiroletto worked on the Clarke, LifeOptions and Gelatissimo accounts during her career at Happy Dog.
Connecticut in Logolounge 5
logolounge.com will be releasing their Logolounge 5 book, the latest in their series of annual catalogs of the best logos from around the world. This year, 35,000 logos were submitted and less than 5% were selected for publication — and Connecticut was well represented. Two logos by co:lab of Hartford will be included, one for a local arts council and one for global Motorola. Taylor Design of Stamford is represented by their identity program created for TowerGroup in Boston. And the Brian Miller Design Group was selected for their identity for the musical group Spinning Plates.
