ORK City Neighborhood Posters – STL?

ORK City Neighborhood Posters – STL?
10/6/09

I saw these posters and prints on Uncrate today, and thought they were worth a share.

They are from Ork Posters. They’re cool. Simple and almost novice typography manipulation, but it really works.

I just wish they had a STL version.

I want St. Louis get back on its game, reintroduce ourselves to the world as a place of popularity with a cool cultural vibe. Personally, I think, and I am one of the biggest critics I know, that STL is an awesome city.

In the last year I have been to Nashville, Chicago, Portland, Rome, Paris, Philly, NYC, Orlando, Kansas City and San Diego. After reflecting on each trip, each city, I look back and say, “That was awesome, but really, honestly, did I do anything different here that I do in St. Louis? Was I more cultured, was the food better, were the women more beautiful, did I have more fun?”

Obviously there were various check marks in the “Yes” category for multiple reasons (The Beach, Gniocci, Subways, Mountains, etc.). But in each place I always felt like, if I got past the touristiness and the shock of seeing things I’m not used to, I would do pretty much the same thing there that I do here. Plus I would miss a lot from STL as well.

Things like relatively cheap housing. Farms. Sold Out Baseball Stadiums where people come early and stay till the game is over. The Hill. Frozen Custard (I know its everywhere, but I have a distinguished palette in this regard). House design and architecture styles (plus basements, storage, brick, backyards, trees, etc). Food. We have great food, again with good quantities, and not so presumptuous an attitude or prices as other cities. What else? Free concerts under the Arch. Seasons. You know, Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall. They smell so nice in St. Louis. Sure they get old, but right when you’re pissed off about them they change, and there’s that sweet smell that makes you want to lay down wherever you are and stay there the entire day.

Anyway, we just need to communicate to the world what we know and they forgot. That we can compete in the culture war. We can create new things, be thought leaders, make art, win Superbowls and World Series and Stanely Cups, but most importantly, we need to come together as a city and MAKE IT HAPPEN. Maybe we’ll get a city neighborhood poster. Or maybe we should be the ones creating posters of our own.

Here are a few more posters from other cities.

Fun work

Martin Luther King Tribute
06/1/10

I wanted to attempt this style  in February, and being Black History Month I chose the Rev. as my muse.

His face is made up of the words of his epic Lincoln Memorial “I have a dream…” speech.

Take a look. I am having it framed as I type.

Smoking Goat Branding
04/1/10

I like beer.

Beer high in flavor, alcohol and price. I brew at home, but wouldn’t consider myself very good at this point. I’m working on it.

We have friends in Louisiana who I would consider really good. I designed some branding for their forthcoming brewery down there.

The Smoking Goat will hopefully be amazing, especially if I get some good beer out of the deal.

Have a look. Then drink a beer and have a look again. Continue this process until the logo looks awesome.

New Poster
02/4/10

This is a poster I made for my buddy Dustin.

A classic quote from him as we drove by Effingham, IL’s infamous and huge cross.

I thought it would look good in his new apartment.

Sheltered Perceptions
01/6/10

I recently got the chance to work on a project for the Humane Society. Given the fact that every time I walk into an animal shelter I have to be talked down from taking home every animal in the place, I was happy to help in anyway I could.

With the majority of pet buying in the United States coming from breeders, mall pet shops and unfortunately mills, animal shelters (specifically the Humane Society) are left overflowing with pets that need loving homes. They are running into a perception problem however, and many misconceptions about shelter pets are accepted as fact, and often repeated as such.

To get past this, we decided to take the problem head on, and address the most common misconceptions individually.

Here is where we landed:

Lauren and Dan sit’n in a tree…
01/5/10

My good friend Lauren is getting married in July, and though I am extremely jealous of her fiance Dan (don’t tell my wife), I made their save the date cards.

I use VistaPrint to print these types of things. Though the quality suffers, and the rumor is that they are destroying local community printers nationwide, for the price they can’t be beat. Check them out next time you want to customize your own holiday card or invitation.

Here’s how Lauren’s STDs turned out: