Articles by Month: May 2015
WMC 6 Go Media Podcast Interviews: Michael Rivette, Christina Sharp, JP Boneyard, and Jordan Schiller of Real Thread
Go Media Podcast Time!
In this episode, Bryan and Heather sit down with speakers Michael Rivette, Christina Sharp, and JP Boneyard, as well as sponsor and panelist, Jordan Schiller from Real Thread to talk about what they’re most looking forward to at this year’s WMC Fest 6.
The Branding Process: 4 Steps to Success
Steps involved in Branding Process
Now that you’re fully educated on the difference between logo design and branding, you’re probably coming to a realization.
And that understanding might be something like this, “Bill, I really need more than a logo. I need a full Go Media branding experience.”
Wondering what that will look like? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
While each branding process is unique, the following examples will walk you through a typical experience.
1. In the first round of proofs, after research and the kick-off meeting, our designers are going to put together several possible brand directions. Each direction will include their thoughts and visual examples to explain the ideas behind the aesthetic.
2. Once a direction (or several directions) are selected, the team will begin to explore designs for your company. You may see a mark, logotype and supporting examples of the brand in use. Exactly what’s designed is based on your needs.
3. Based on your feedback, the design team will continue to refine the brand – exploring more applications and dialing in the fonts, colors, mark and logotype.
This example only shows four steps in our process, but frequently our branding process will have over seven rounds of revisions. We’re going to keep working until you’re overjoyed with your new brand.
4. Once you’re satisfied with the final brand, we package up your assets and deliver them to you through email as well as on disk. We can prep your assets in any file format you need. Your assets are yours to keep. We also keep a copy of all your brand assets on our servers for any future need you might have.
Still not satisfied? Want to see more? Check out our branding project, Trés Chic.
1. Exploration of many directions.
2. Further exploration of selected directions, including marks, logotypes, and supporting elements of your brand.
3. Refining the brand, dialing in on details, and exploring more applications including fonts, colors, mark and logotype.
4. Design is finalized and assets are packaged and delivered to the client.
So, that’s it in a nutshell.
Sold? Ready to start your branding project with Go Media?Request a Quote for your next Logo Design Project. Or give us a call! 216-939-0000
Logo Design vs. Branding – what’s the difference?
What’s the Difference between Logo Design and Branding?
Why do I hate my new logo?
Never fear, your Cleveland Logo design firm Go Media is here to explain!
Everyone knows what a logo is. It’s that shape companies use to represent their company; like Nike’s swoosh, McDonald’s golden arches (M) or Starbucks green mermaid. But what’s branding exactly? Branding is a more holistic perspective of how your customers experience your company. While a logo is only a small simple mark, a brand includes every single touch-point your customers have with your company.
Let’s use Nike as an example and consider the differences between a logo and a brand.
Nike’s logo is the swoosh. It’s a nice clean simple shape that represents motion and speed. The name Nike is derived from the greek Winged Goddess of Victory. It’s very nice, but it’s just a mark – a simple shape.
Nike’s branding includes its commercials, sports celebrity endorsements, product packaging, store design, product placement on tv and in movies, sponsorships, in-store graphics, hang-tags, the music in its videos, the design of its website, print ads, product photography, technology, and on and on and on… It’s every touch point you have with Nike.
So, why does it matter? Why should I care that my Cleveland Logo Design company Go Media does branding and not just logo design? Here’s why: your customers don’t experience your company in the form of a logo floating to them in a white Matrix-like void. They experience your brand through your website, or your menu or your product packaging or your commercials. It’s important that the design company that is working on your logo understands that your logo is just one small part of a large collection of graphics.
Unfortunately, this is how many business owners think a good logo design works.
Step 1. A potential customer sees a logo.
Step 2. If the logo is ‘good’, they have an emotional and intellectual reaction. They instantly know what the company sells, and they know it’s awesome!
Step 3. They decide to purchase the product or service.
Naturally, if this is how business owners think branding works, then they would expect to have a strong positive emotional reaction when seeing a new logo concept for their company. But they don’t. Almost all business owners upon seeing a new logo design for their company do NOT have a strong emotional reaction. And since they don’t, they assume the logo design is bad. After all, they have a strong positive emotional reaction to the Nike logo! That’s what makes it a good logo. Right?
Wrong.
So, if the logo itself doesn’t trigger a positive emotional reaction, why the heck do I get so excited when I see the Nike logo? Here’s how it really works:
Step 1. A potential customer sees a logo.
Step 2. If the logo is familiar to them (such as Nike’s swoosh), they will instantly remember all the experiences they’ve had with the brand – the commercials, your experience owning Nike products, seeing your hot neighbor wearing Nike clothes, the packaging, the way your friends talk about the brand, celebrity endorsements, etc.
Step 3. These memories trigger the emotional and intellectual response. Yes! I know this company! I know their products, and they’re COOL!
Step 4. They decide to purchase the latest pair of Nike shoes.
As you can see, the logo is only a visual queue to the brain to recall their experiences interacting with the company (also known as the ‘brand’!) The memory of the brand experience is what triggers the emotional reaction!
So, back to the business owner and the new logo. This is how their experience looks when looking at their new logo.
Step 1. A potential customer sees their new logo design.
Step 2. They do NOT have any memories tied to the new mark.
Step 3. Because they have no memories, they do not feel ‘excited’ or enlightened in any way.
Step 4. They fire their designer.
Now, let me just clarify something. I don’t want to suggest that all business owners instantly hate their logo design and fire their designers. But this is certainly a challenge that designers face when working with business owners – particularly those who have well established brands. Companies with well established brands have many years of experiences with their logo – creating strong emotional attachments. Hopefully this knowledge will help you understand why you’re still clinging to your old logo and not upgrading to a new, better one.
“Well, that’s all fine and dandy Bill, but why are you telling us all of this?” I can hear you thinking. I just want to make a clear distinction between ‘logo design’ and ‘branding.’ What Go Media does for it’s clients is ‘branding.’ We consider all aspects of what makes up a brand, and integrate that into our design process. So, yes, at the end of the project you WILL have:
- logo
- fonts
- color scheme
- brand style guide
These are all the foundational elements you need for your brand. But during the process, you will find that our team also considers other aspects of your brand. This is unique to each project, but might include things like: hang tags, signage, website, apparel, paper type and finishes, uniforms, billboards, product packaging, etc.
This design process is different than most other firms take and can even be confusing at first to our own clients. In the first couple of rounds they might ask: “Hey! Where’s the logo?” Invariably, they come to understand what we’re doing and by the end they have a much more well thought-out solution for their company. They have more than a logo, they have a brand!
“But Bill!” I can hear you saying “One last thing. Why does your website call your service ‘Logo Design’ if what you really do is ‘Branding?’” Well, the answer to that is simple. More business owners search on Google for the term ‘logo design’ than they do ‘branding.’ So, naturally, I want my website to be optimized for the term people search more. When communicating with clients it’s important to maintain a client centric perspective.
Stay tuned for the next article that details a step-by-step example of our logo (branding) design process: “The Branding Process: 4 Steps to Success”
Sold? Ready to start your branding project with Go Media? Request a Quote for your next Logo Design Project. Or give us a call! 216-939-000
Your Favorite Mockup App Back: Mockup Everything’s May Templates are Here!
Your Favorite Mockup App Back
Mockup Everything your favorite way to mockup designs in an instant (without fancy software like Photoshop) & Go Media, Cleveland’s best Graphic Design firm is here with 6 brand-new templates.
After all, we promised. Yep, you Pro Users are treated to new (at least 6) templates each and every month, as well as such luxuries as:
- Larger image sizes
- No watermarks
- and our transparent background option
If you’re not yet a Pro User, give it a try!
Not ready to commit to our Pro Account yet? It’s okay! We still love you. Go ahead and use our free templates over at Mockup Everything.
Now, let’s take a peek at the 6 new templates we have available to you Pro Users this month!
Look!
Men’s Triblend Raglan, Ghosted – Front
Buy my product Men’s Triblend Raglan, Ghosted – Back 
//
Baby Onesie
Buy my product Rectangle Shop Sign, Version 1 
Rectangle Shop Sign, Version 2
Buy my product Oval Shop Sign 
Now go Mockup Everything!
Front, Side & Back: Say Hello to the Multiple Views Men’s Ghosted T-Shirt Mockup Templates Pack
You have nothing to hide. Show them all sides.
Our Multiple Views Men’s Ghosted T-Shirt Mockup Templates Pack includes front, back and side versions of 3 of your favorite men’s t-shirts, each set in its own Photoshop file. This allows you to show your client or printer what a final design might look like (from each view) upon completion.
We (that’s Cleveland web designing company, Go Media) hook you up with the following multiple view templates:
- Men’s Crew Neck
- Men’s Long Sleeve
- Men’s V-Neck
as well as the front, back and side single PSD files for each. That’s a total of 12 PSDs!
Let’s take a closer look >
Our Multiple Views Men’s Ghosted T-Shirt Mockup Templates Pack gives you three nice and neatly packaged multiple view PSDS. Each shirt style includes separate layer structures for the front, side and back versions within each. Here is what is included in the pack:
- Men’s Crew Neck Ghosted T-Shirt (Multiple Views Template)
- Men’s Long Sleeve Ghosted T-Shirt (Multiple Views Template)
- Men’s V-Neck Ghosted T-Shirt (Multiple Views Template)
BONUS! We also include the separate PSDs of each front, back and side template giving you an additional 9 PSDs
- Men’s Crew Neck Ghosted T-Shirt – Front View
- Men’s Crew Neck Ghosted T-Shirt – Back View
- Men’s Crew Neck Ghosted T-Shirt – Side View
- Men’s Long Sleeve Ghosted T-Shirt – Front View
- Men’s Long Sleeve Ghosted T-Shirt – Back View
- Men’s Long Sleeve Ghosted T-Shirt – Side View
- Men’s V-Neck Ghosted T-Shirt- Front View
- Men’s V-Neck Ghosted T-Shirt – Back View
- Men’s V-Neck Ghosted T-Shirt – Side View
For a total of 12 PSDs!
Note: Each shirt includes 4 preset colors
— Now, go get ’em tiger! —
Have an eCommerce Site? Make Sure it has these 3 Key Elements:
You Asked, We Answered.
How Do I Improve My eCommerce Site?
We all want to see more traffic and conversions on our ecommerce sites, right? Of course! This even includes all of us at Cleveland Design firm, Go Media.
With numerous tricks and tips swarming the web, knowing what, when, and how to make those improvements can be overwhelming.
Today, let’s start from square one and make sure we all have these three fool-proof elements, all of which can be accomplished this afternoon. Let’s get to it!
1. A Very Obvious & Enticing Email Sign-Up
Did you know that only 1 to 3% of people that land on your website will actually make a full and complete sale? Frightening, huh?
Panic not, dear friends. As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” In order to build trust and, in a sense, convince customers that your product is worth what you claim it is, add a simple email sign-up to your page.
Think of this simple email opt-in as a customer’s small commitment to you. A baby step if you will. The next step may be reading your email, the following step considering a purchase. Then, perhaps, after days, weeks, even months, a final sale. These are all very important baby steps in what will hopefully be a long and happy relationship between you and your customer.
Now, many of you have an email sign-up on your page – but today, let’s make it both:
- Obvious and
- Enticing
Offer up an incredibly irresistible reason for your visitor to want to enter their name into the “Enter your email address here” box. This could be a freebie of which dreams are made or an exclusive coupon.
We recommend using:
- Mailchimp or
- List Builder from Sumo.com to build your list and add a download or redirect as necessary
———————
2. A Clear Call to Action
Call to Action is another phrase for, “This is what the heck you are supposed to do here.” Or, as Wikipedia more eloquently states, a banner, button or some type of graphic or text on a website meant to prompt a user to click on it…an essential part of marketing…that actively strives to convert a user into a lead and later into a customer.”
Here are some really effective Call to Action Examples >
Today, ensure that:
- You have a Call to Action to begin with
- Your Call to Action is dummy proof (People will undoubtedly click on it.)
- It is above the fold (ie. the portion of the site immediately visible when the page first loads).
To test that your call to action is working, use a heat map, through:
to make sure your visitors are really clicking that “big red button,” so to speak.
———————
3. Live Chat!
Interact with your customers live and in the flesh (well, almost) when you install live chat on your ecommerce website. Live chat serves as a great customer service tool, allowing you to know your customer and their needs on a more intimate level. Live chat also connects you with your customer so that they can view you as a real live human being, instead of a nameless, faceless entity. Once they know you and come to understand your product, they’re more likely to buy from you. It’s as simple as that.
We recommend:
What tips and tricks have you used to improve your eCommerce site? Please share your knowledge with me in the comments below!
The Wait is over! This is Dirty: From Sketch to Vector Illustration Video Tutorial is Here!
From Sketch to Vector Illustration Video Tutorial
The wait is finally over.
The long awaited, highly anticipated video tutorial by Cleveland brand design services guru & Go Media President William Beachy, is finally here. Based on his wildly popular blog post, From Sketch to Vector Illustration, “This is Dirty: From Sketch to Vector Illustration Video Tutorial,” is an intimate look into Bill’s design process.
{Whoops! Somehow missed the popular “From Sketch to Vector Illustration post? Check it out here.}
“This is Dirty,” is a compilation of all Bill has learned over twenty years as an illustrator, designer and entrepreneur.
You’ll spend an intimate 1 hour, 11 minutes with Bill, pouring over an illustration he has created specifically for this tutorial. Bill gives you a raw, rare look into his process from start to finish. Giving away all of his secrets, tips, tricks and talents, Bill shares the resources you’ll need to follow along and includes the following recommendations/information:
Supplies
The Staedler Mars mechanical pencil and sharpener
Eraser of choice
The pros and cons of hard vs. soft lead
Preferred paper type
Drawing (Pencil Sketch)
Getting into the right head-space
Getting your arm loose
Why starting with rough sketches is so important
Getting started
Having proper expectations of yourself
Being flexible while drawing
Drawing using basic geometrical shapes
Drawing the human face
Developing a series of cheats to draw
Shading – how much black vs. white
Using reference materials
Scanning
Equipment specifications
Scanning specifications
(Vector) Inking
Equipment and software specifications
Dell(PC) vs. Apple
Mouse vs. Wacom
Nodes and bezier lines
Setting up your layers
Setting up gradients and picking colors
Inking options
Creating shapes in Illustrator
Cross hatching
Coloring
Photoshop vs. Illustrator
Setting up your layers
Process strategy
Highlights and secondary light source
Adding Shadows
Adding a texture
What you receive with the download:
- Extended Tutorial (MP4 Video)
- Blue Concrete Square texture (jpeg)
- This is Dirty Illustration (pencil art)
- This is Dirty Illustration Version 1 (jpeg)
- This is Dirty Illustration Version 2 (jpeg)
- This is Dirty Illustration – Final (AI File)
We can’t wait to see what you create! Share your work with us over at our Flickr Pool Showcase.
7 Reasons You Need to Attend Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 6
Best Design Conference 2015
This, above all summers, is the one to head to our annual creative conference, Weapons of Mass Creation Festival. Why? Well, now that we’re in our sixth year, we feel like – more than ever – there’s something to prove. We want to tell the world that WMC Fest is indeed a movement in the making – one dedicated to providing opportunities for attendees to grow and challenge themselves at every turn. Not only are we upgrading our venue this year – but every aspect of our programming.
Umm…what? (Gasp!) You’re not convinced yet?
Here are 7 Reasons You Need to Attend WMC Fest 6:
1. Education You Can Apply Immediately
We’re not talking some lecture line-up snooze-fest here. Quite the contrary. Talks, panels and workshops are known industry wide for an authenticity and digestibility that is purely WMC. You’ll leave the Allen Theatre completely inspired by creative and entrepreneurs you follow on Behance, Dribble. Design legends – like Michael Bierut, Debbie Millman, Mark Brickey and Aaron Sechrist – aka OkPants, you follow on Twitter. You’ll hear their stories – challenges, triumphs. They’ll unselfishly share secrets of their success and teach practical knowledge you’ll be itching to put into practice immediately.
2. Geek Out
Let’s be honest, as designers, developers, entrepreneurs, creatives – we proudly obsess over everything that we do. WMC Fest 6 is the perfect opportunity for a three day geek out sesh about all that is graphic design, art, entrepreneurship, leadership, productivity, creativity and more. Not only will you be on the edge of your seat during talks, attend panels and workshops, but you’ll have loads of face to face time with all the folks you have always dreamed of meeting. New friends that will soon be sitting right across from you, ready to share a Parmageddon with fries.
3. Awe-Inspiring Events and Experiences
Since our talks, panels and workshops will be incredibly hard to leave (never mind the Allen Theatre’s plush seats), we’ve built in several breaks during the three day weekend. These breaks will ensure you get some sustenance as well as provide you with some awe-inspiring special event awesomeness.
Friday, we’ll kick off the fest with our Cleveland Design Studio tour, which will take you and 29 lucky attendees* around to local design studios in our great city (including our own, Go Media). Favorite past dynamic events, including live art battle Ink Wars and the Go Media Podcast, will also be returning to the fest. We’ve got some other surprises built into the action. We can’t give all of our surprises away now, can we?
Apply to Participate in Ink Wars>
4. Hands-On Experiences
Our Vendor Village has also been given more focus so this year so that the conversation can start right outside of the theatre. We’re also incorporating a new, fully immersive experience in our Maker Station, that will allow you to get your hands dirty and create while interacting with vendors like never before.
5. “We’re” Hiring
Our vendor village will be swarming with design studios and agencies who are begging for great talent to fall into their laps. Come prepared for our portfolio review, which will be held during the fest. This will be run by your friends at Go Media and other professionals in our industry. Check it out – you could leave the three day weekend not only completely inspired, but with the job of your dreams as well.
6. Cleveland Really Does Rock
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, Cleveland really does rock. And this year, more than ever before, we’re celebrating this, the city that we love. After all, our venue, the Allen Theatre, is right in the heart of downtown Cleveland and in the largest performing arts center in the United States (apart from New York City). And we’re beneath the largest outdoor chandelier in the nation. (I mean, that’s just kinda fun). Plus, although Cleveland’s always been in our hearts, it’s finally being recognized by the rest of the world. And this year – we promise you’ll be able to see why.
7. The WMC Fest Community Needs You
The single important element of WMC is not the speakers, or the art battles, or even great design. WMC Fest is truly about our community. The community who comes together annually to celebrate art, design, success, failure, inspiration, entrepreneurship and a collective drive to create. Don’t forget that you are a very important part of that community.
We need your presence and voice to move this thing forward. To make it better.
Join us. This very inspiring message was brought to you by Go Media, the patron saints of inspiring web design
* Attendance to our design tour is limited. Separate fee is required. More information coming to wmcfest.com soon.
Thank You to our Sponsors
From Sketch to Vector Illustration Video Tutorial
The Tutorial you’ve been waiting for is finally upon us.
//
Introducing…
Long awaited, highly anticipated.
Our newest tutorial on the Go Media Arsenal release is based on Go Media President William Beachy’s wildly popular blog post on our ‘Zine, From Sketch to Vector Illustration.
This is Dirty: From Sketch to Vector Illustration Video Tutorial is an intimate look into Bill’s design process.
Included in this 1 hour, 11 minute intimate instructional tutorial:
* All the resources you’ll need to follow along including: the extended tutorial (mp4 video), textures, pencil art, jpeg illustrations and AI illustration file
* Bill’s tips and tricks on >
– Supplies (the Staedler Mars mechanical pencil and sharpener, eraser of choice, the pros and cons of hard vs. soft lead, preferred paper type)
– Drawing (Pencil Sketch) (Getting into the right head-space, getting your arm loose, why starting with rough sketches is so important, getting started, having proper expectations of yourself, being flexible while drawing, drawing using basic geometrical shapes, drawing the human face, developing a series of cheats to draw, shading – how much black vs. white, using reference materials)
– Scanning (equipment specifications, scanning specifications)
– (Vector) Inking (Equipment and software specifications, Dell(PC) vs. Apple, Mouse vs. Wacom, nodes and bezier lines, setting up your layers, setting up gradients and picking colors, inking options, creating shapes in Illustrator, cross hatching)
– Coloring (Photoshop vs. Illustrator, setting up your layers, process strategy, highlights and secondary light source, adding shadows, adding a texture)
Stay tuned to this spot, as well as to our Arsenal to find out when and how you can buy this product.
WMC Fest 6 Poster Design Process: An Inside Look (Part II)
Hello, again! In Thoughts Behind the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 6 Poster, I went over my process of researching, note taking, and inspiration hunting for the creation of this year’s event poster. Welcome to part II, in which I will go through my steps of making the poster, from sketches to the final design.
Before I start drawing, I need to be aware of what I’m visually aiming for. This year’s Cleveland design fest is slightly more upscale than the previous ones, yet it will still carry that grassroots, inspiration-driven, draw-lots-of-cool-shit feel. I must ensure this is visually represented. Therefore, the illustration should be ornate, but not so decorative that the fest is mistaken as uninvitingly sophisticated and elitist. It is a premier event, but an warm, inviting one that emphasizes inspiration and community. Okay, I’ve figured out the personality of the poster, now onto picturing the subject matter. An astral-projected, cosmic, robot Buddha is not an something I admittedly imagine everyday (and maybe I should). So it is difficult to envision what something like this would look like all at once (especially since the subject is mechanized). In figuring this all out bit by bit, I chose to start with the head.
Buddhist imagery shows this deity with a divine crown, prayer beads, and multiple faces, so I decided to utilize those elements. At first, I was thinking of having its face look like something from Transformers or Gundam, but then settled on a monitor-esque head. This works better in my aim to reference technology and the computer. You’ll notice that I only drew half of the face. Drawing perfect symmetry can an absolute pain, so to speed up the process (and not lose my mind obsessing over perfection), I sketched the one half, flipped, and merged it with the other in Photoshop. Once you have drawn the one side, you also have the other completed, resulting in complete and symmetrical form. (Two birds, one stone.)
With the head and torso drawn, I then illustrated the arm(s) and lower portion of the figure. I also added this adorning, flowing fabric to help imply the Buddha’s divinity and presence as a cosmic entity.
Depicting the rest of the leg and hand was next. Take note that I am drawing, scanning, and then drawing more of the figure. Again, I do this to maintain symmetry while it also it allows me to hone in on specific parts, yet make steady progress. When tasks are broken down into smaller, unintimidating steps, a lot can be accomplished.
Bam! The sketch of the main body is now done.
Because I’m depicting a robot subject, I want the line work to be clean and uniform. Therefore, the figure is then re-illustrated in Adobe Illustrator. Hello, pen tool (my best friend).
The line work made in Illustrator is printed out so I can draw on half of the first set of arms. I’m not sure yet what specific art tools I want to include in the hands, so I only draw the handles. Things can always be edited – added in or taken out.
On the right (faintly shown), is the copied, flipped, and aligned half of the first set of arms, completing the left and right side of the first set of arms. Art tools are drawn in on both sides. The left side shows the beginning of the SECOND set of arms.
The last set of arms is finished off with the art tools drawn into the hands. Our tiny, yet powerful artist is also depicted.
Back in Illustrator, the omnipotent force of creativity is completed. Floating outside of the artboard are some extra paths and shapes, un-outlined and editable (just incase). The cosmic robot Buddha is the star of the show, therefore most of the work is now done. The artboard is changed to the size of the poster, a green background is placed in, the color of our small heroic artist is changed to make him or her stand out, and the deity of artistic brilliance is set to a celestial gold (same gold of the “6” in this year’s WMC logo).
Add a little ornamentation, the type, and it’s done!
There you have it, a step-by-step on how the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 6 poster was created. So buy your tickets and get ready to talk about art stuff and designy things, all while high-fiving and being inspired! Can’t wait to see you all at this year’s WMC Fest!
WMC Fest 6 Poster Design Process: An Inside Look
I had the honor of designing the poster for this year’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest. For those who do not know, I am a recent addition to the Cleveland Graphic firm, Go Media and WMC Team, and when I started in February, I thought I would be working alongside the other designers in creating the promotional material for WMC. Nope. Instead: “It’s all you. We’re excited to see what you come up with.” Entrusting me with such important work had me both fired up and terrified. With the event poster being one of the first things needed done, I hit the ground running. One thought continuously played in my head: This poster needs to kick some serious ass.
Like with any design problem, starting with research is a good idea. I dug up the past WMC Fest promotional material, taking notes on aesthetic similarities and differences with each year. I also needed to understand the overall “feel” of the event, so I decided to chat with Chris, Aaron and Carly to receive some insight. The three of them wonderfully shared their past experiences at WMC, what it meant to them, as well as their opinions on this year’s event and the new changes it’s undergoing.
(Please excuse random doodles.)
With Jeff Finley stepping down, Heather Sakai stepping up, and a new venue ready to go, this year’s fest is bound to be a little different. With this in mind, I wanted to create a design that heralded the debut of Weapons of Mass Creation Fest Six. Yes, we are stepping up our game with a more sophisticated location. And yes, we are aiming to make WMC Fest more dynamic and inclusive by featuring creatives who are not necessarily just designers or illustrators. But above all, it is our every intention to preserve the tradition of being that grassroots-originated, premier art and design conference, focusing on community, encouraging others and defying the hand that is dealt.
I now had a more defined problem: What can I create that announces this year’s exciting changes, yet stays true to the WMC’s punk rock beginnings and foundational principles of inspiring and enabling the creative mind?
Because WMC Fest has a strong history of featuring illustration, I wanted the poster to pay tribute to that tradition by having it be detailed and illustrative, a piece that the viewer could spend time with. After perusing the internet, searching for inspiration from gig posters (which illustration has a heavy presence in) and anything related to design conferences, I arrived to the idea of using the image of Buddha.
More specifically the Thousand-Armed Buddha. According to Buddhist texts, this deity embodies the compassion of all Buddhas, having a crazy amount of arms to reach out to all sentient beings whom are in need of aid. From this I liked the imagery of multiple hands holding art tools, representing immense creative power. Also, the themes of compassion and helping others are parallel with WMC Fest’s philosophies of being a force of inspiration, support and encouragement.
Alright, cool, now I have a concept to work from. However, I did not want to lazily replicate (and bastardize) such a sacred figure by just depicting Buddha holding some paint brushes and pencils. I instead wanted to take that idea and expand upon it, resulting in a poster that is original and true to the WMC spirit. So I began to think about the term “Weapon of Mass Creation” and what it meant to me. For many of you who don’t know me or have not seen my work, galvanizing encouragement and invincible optimism have been major themes of my art. I am in love with the archetype of the “small” conquering the overwhelmingly “big.” (This concept was translated into large paintings I created in 2013 – The Power of Smallness.) I believe that being a Weapon of Mass Creation, specifically the concept of defying the hand that is dealt, very much relates to the universal experience of feeling inadequate, yet growing, pushing through, and achieving all that is enormous. Great! Another piece was added to the puzzle: the depiction of the seemingly small artist releasing the magnificently colossal creative drive that is within. So what would that look like?
An astral-projected, cosmic, robot Buddha (boy, that’s a mouthful). Of course.
(Robot reference photos)
Yes, a cosmic robot Buddha. But why the portrayal as a robot? There are several reasons, however the most honest one is that I freakin’ love robots. They’re super rad. But a more justifiable reason is that I wanted it to reference the computer and technology, which have had revolutionizing roles in art and design. The robot subject also works quite well for an illustrative poster – lots of lines detailing its mechanized form. Lastly, the notion of robots has strong ties with childhood (especially in the ‘80s and ‘90s) and the youthful imagination. They are the tools in taking on huge challenges – “I’ll just get into my super powerful, giant robot to fight the bad guy.” Perhaps we lose some of that wide-eyed, wonder-filled, childlike drive when we get older. But that does not mean it is completely gone.
So get ready to revive that drive and celebrate imagination at this year’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest!
Continue reading “Creating the WMC Fest 6 Poster” tomorrow to see the steps of how this year’s event poster was created.
Freebie: Vector Hand Drawn Elements
Coming to you, live, from the Go Media Arsenal – Hand Drawn Elements!
Download the Hand Drawn Elements Vector Freebie
This hand drawn vector pack has so many small details to choose from (52 if you want to get technical), you’ll want to fill your next project to the brim with them. With line flourishes and plant details, this little freebie has plenty of things that you didn’t even know were missing from your repertoire.
Download the Hand Drawn Elements Vector Freebie now and get to making some more wonderful things!
Want more freebies? Check out this freebie on the arsenal!