19APR26
Hey! Glad you’re here. Welcome to my blog. I started putting this portfolio together as winter was coming to an end and the yearning for spring was at its utmost. It’s only fitting that I’m adding a blog at the same time as floral bursting from ground with a new array of colors and the trees surrounding me begin to bloom leaves.
///DESIGN UPDATES
I’d like to congratulate as well as express my gratitude to the guys in Demmers on the release of their debut album, Forced Perspective. It was an incredible experience to be given the opportunity to not only craft artwork that represents their music, but also apply that across multiple mediums. I had the opportunity to check out their set a couple weeks ago in Asbury park at Wild-Air Beerworks and it was awesome. I let that show with advanced copies of the vinyl variants and it always a surreal moment to hold your artisic output in your hands and experience it the same way that everyone else who buys it is going to take it in for the first time. I’m very proud to have been part of this release.
Recently I put together an ad for Chris from WXAX. He approached me about doing something special on April Fools Day for Bring The Noise : Hardcore Punk Radio. He wanted to pay tribute to legendary NYHC band, Raw Deal and their 1988 demo. Being right up my alley as it was (and with the blessing of the band) of course I said yes. I isolated the joker from the artwork and did the best I could to emulates the typeface they used in the original demo artwork. For me this was an entirely new method because up until this project, I’ve only really ever needed to crop, not isolate. I think the end result speaks for itself. It achieved the client’s goal and was an effective marketing tool.
As important as it is to work with independent and DIY musicians and creatives, that energy often extends outside the confines of a VFW hall or small club and increasingly into the professional world. Thats why I was thrilled help out my friend Steve with updating the logo of his electrical contracting business. Steve has been grinding professionally now for well over a decade. His grit and determination is not only inspiring to those among us who want to start their businesses, but it has also landed him at the very top of the list of electrical contractors in our area. Why should his logo not reflect all that he’s achieved.
Steve already had a great color scheme picked out. My main goal in updating his logo was to maintain the skeletal structure of what he already had while using the tools at my disposal to create something eye-catching and legible.
Most recently, I put together this flyer for Outsider Magazine. This is the third show flyer I’ve done for Outsider. Due to the big differences in sound between each band on this bill, I thought it was fitting to try to take a more 2D geometric approach to the overall design. For me, sometimes keeping it simple, at least at the start, is the only way forward. I crafted something that would have equal weight at the top and bottom of the page as well display some level of symmetry. Where I got stuck for a little while was trying to jam all the show information into the triangles I created. It kinda worked until it didn’t. Rather than starting over, I played with the size and weight of the band names, which turned out to solve al the problems I seemingly created.
In the spirit of keeping it simple, I used only one typeface and labored to use only two colors throughout the design. During the course of creating this flyer, it dawned on me that I might be leaning on red too much in my designs, though it’s hard not to. Red is such a fantastic color in terms of conveying urgency. Thankfully, thanks to the use of gradient maps, I was able to provide the client with several color options that can easily be added or removed. The end result is a strong and easily legible flyer with a plethora of color options.
///DESIGN COMMENTARY
My goal with this blog is to showcase recent projects but also give an inside look into the things that inspire me to create in a professional space. One of the things I left out of my ABOUT page is the fact that for nearly 30 years, I have been deeply involved in the punk/hardcore music scene. From the moment I steeped through the doors of my first local show here in NJ, I have been enamored with the level of creativity that continues to present itself in new and exciting ways. My appreciation for visual art started with album covers, flyers and font logos of bands that I look back on so fondly. I view the world through a lens shaped and crafted by the values and lessons I’ve learned both as an artist and an observer. In the spirit of that, I’d like to take the time to comment on some of the album covers and works of visual art that I find truly beautiful and worth celebrating. While composing this blog post, I listened to the classic Zen Arcade by Hüsker Dü.
artwork by FAKE NAME GRAPHICS
SST Records - 1983
This album art is beautiful for a number of reasons. The color choices are so unnatural, even as they try to emerge through the gritty textures of the photo. When you hold it in your hands, the pinks, blues, greens and yellows all look like crayon or soft color pencil, adding to the noise and confusion. One of the things that I notice when looking at it is the ground the figures are standing on. The grey sky above them captures dark rain clouds but the puddles in which they stand reflect the colors in the logo, not the clouds.
Hüsker Dü’s font logo is iconic, partly because they chose to include umlauts above each ‘U”, but also because of the kerning variants between each letter and the crack that holds them altogether. For my money I think the choice to vertically center the album title within a group of horizontal lines spanning the albums cover was one of those subtle choices that anchors the album cover together. The strong use of pink and blue is a call back to one of the albums strongest tracks “Pink Turns To Blue”, but also guides your eye back to the tile and the multicolor background that stands in contrast.
///ONE LAST THING
Before the warm spring weather began to appear, I realized that I didn’t have any good professional photos taken for either my portfolio or my professional platforms (IG, LinkedIn, etc.). Thankfully though, My friend Candace was available to come over to Lake Mohawk to take some pictures for me. This area is a full populated through all four season, but when it’s frigid, people tend to stay in, which meant that on a cold and gray day before lunch, the streets and panoramic views were there for us to use at out liesure. These photos came out great. If you are in need of similar services, you can reach Candace on by going to her page HERE.
Thanks for taking the time to read and catch up with me. There will be plenty more posts coming.
Brian J. Burdzy
artist/designer
