design

Winter Solstice Card 2014

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We managed to carve out some time to prepare for this year’s winter solstice and are delighted to have put the analog results in the mail to our clients. As is our tradition we’ve posted a print quality pdf for download for any of the roughly 6 billion people we can’t mail one to.

For this year’s graphic each quarter of 2014 is represented as a circle divided into two arcs – one for the total hours of light and the other the total hours of dark in Minneapolis, MN USA. The arcs for each month have been colored using a gradient that represents the quality of the light (nobody said info graphics can’t have a subjective layer). The circles are then set concentrically and each one rotated 90º clockwise.

Artcrank Proud Papa Jersey

At last you can wear your Proud Papa on your sleeve. We’re excited to announce that BrainstormOverload has partnered with Donkey Label to present a sweet, high-end jersey sporting our Proud Papa design from Artcrank Minneapolis 2012. Check out the Donkey Label site for more details and a discounted pre-order deal. We’ll try to get Todd to wear his to the Artcank 2013 opening tomorrow evening. Here are some preview pics.

Winter Solstice Card 2012

After today every subsequent day will enjoy a few more minutes of sunlight as we rotate inexorably back toward the planetary orientation we like to call “cycling season”.  Just in time to celebrate (it’s been a very busy year) we’ve finished this years winter solstice Info graphic card. We’re excited to deliver them to our incredible clients whom we appreciate very much (it’s been a very busy year). It’s also become a tradition to provide a print quality pdf for download, so we did. We’re all in this thing called Winter together after all and we really appreciate the requests we get every year. So, with that stay warm and enjoy.

For this year’s graphic each month of 2012 is represented as a circle divided into two arcs with the total hours of night on the left and the total hours of day light on the right. The arcs for each month have been colored using a gradient that represents the quality of the light (nobody said info graphics can’t have a subjective layer). The circles are then set concentrically and overlapping each other to cause the creation of serendipitous effects, labeled as minimally as possible and voilà.

We should add that these are the product of a completely manual process. We add everything up by hand, rotate all the angles one at a time in Adobe Illustrator and adjust all the details until we’re happy with them. Probably “there’s an ap for that” but we enjoy spending the time with the design. Check out cards from past years.

CD Packaging for V

Hot off the press and available from CD Baby (and iTunes) is the new EP from Victor Johnson a.k.a “V”. Victor’s second release is a dreamy, moody but ultimately optimistic collection of songs you’ll love as much as we hope you dig the packaging. We combined vintage photographs with striking, dream-like colors to allude to the story in the title song “Know Your Exit” in which each life is like a balloon floated off into the unknown filled with potential. Though no one knew it at the time the early hot air balloon flights pictured were a tentative first step into space. A crucial and adventurous first step on the very same journey that made it possible to put a footprint on the moon.

Winter Solstice Card 2011


We just got our fifth annual Winter Solstice cards back from the printer and are excited to sit down and write notes to family, friends and clients. Since we can’t send a card to every amazing person out there we are also happy to carry on the tradition of sharing the design here. Please feel free to download the print quality pdf during December for your personal use with our best wishes for a happy solstice and a terrific new year.

Here’s how we arrived at this year’s graphic: The total number of minutes of light or dark for each week in 2012 have been added together and turned into an equivalent line length. Months are colored (blues for night and warm tones for day) to evoke seasonal color shift and changes in the quality of the light. Each line is divided into segments with a full segment equal to 1000 minutes of light or dark. Note: All the times are relative to Minneapolis, MN. Because the moment of the solstice is at 11:30 p.m CST if you find yourself east of the central time zone Winter Solstice will actually arrive on Thursday the 22nd.

The Race Has Begun

It was a beautiful Fall morning for a 5k and great to see so many participants running in the official shirt. Now wear them out among the unsuspecting public and our plan will be complete (see previous post). Also, have to give a shout out to our good friend Tom Flint who took time off from deadlines at GdB to play at the run with his band.

Our shirts were popular with the cool kids.

And the little kids (some of them preferred to wear them backwards).

Father and son teams liked the shirts.

They were also a hit with the girls.

Speaking of hits – someone get Tom and the band some shirts!


 

Runnin with the Law

We just executed step two (delivery) in our evil plot to inject over 400 long sleeve Runnin’ with the Law 5k shirts into the wardrobes of Minnesota runners. In step one we designed a blue and blue on blue design that we hope will flatter even the potentially pallid complexion of midwesterners heading into winter. We hope the fun, dare we say handsome, design will inspire frequent wear long after the race to insure massive spread. The kid size shirts (on black) are super cute so in addition to running clubs and offices we expect that our design will find its way into elementary schools. Think of it, an entire generation will develop a new appreciation for design. They’ll grow up demanding it for every event and BrainstormOverload – in addition to becoming world famous – will achieve its goal of becoming the most powerful design force in the Universe.

The final step (distribution) will happen at race check-in which is at the Lake Harriet band shell and starts at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, October 15th. The race starts at 9:00. Hope to see you there. We’ll be the ones laughing maniacally and photographing the design outbreak.

 

Artcrank Interbike “Early Bird” Prints

It was fantastic to be part of the first ever ARTCRANK Interbike Poster Show. There were some great designs and I’m anxious to see more photos from the show. In the meantime I printed an edition of 50 but could only send 30 to the show so for those who have expressed an interest there are a few posters for sale in my Etsy shop. They’re cheaper than they were at the show and you don’t even have to go to Vegas. Speaking of in the meantime more views of it are available here until the new BrainstormOverload website is developed.

Artcrank Interbike Sneak Peeks


Since the general public won’t be able to attend the ARTCRANK Interbike show it seems like a good idea to compile a list of all the sneak peeks provided by the artists. I’ll add more as they become available and update when new images are released.

Big Table Studios – Official Show Poster
Aaron Hansen
Adam Turman
Anne Ulku
Blaine Deutsch
Bobby Dixon
Chelsea Brink
Colby Brooks
Derek Ballard
Emory Allen
Eric Ruffing
Erica Birkman
Farizwan Fajari
Jason Craig
Jeremy Loyd
Jerome Daksiewicz
Levi McGranahan
Matt Giordano-Bibby
Pete Locke
Sarah Richardson
Todd Zerger
Tom Gundred
Victor Beuren

Carlson – Swanson Wedding Invitations

The beauty of being more or less snowed in at the moment is that we’re catching up on a few things like posting about the wedding materials (save the date card, invitation and program) we did for Geoff Carlson and Tina Swanson. The beauty of posting about it is that we are reminded of that lovely, warm afternoon in the upper peninsula of Michigan surrounded by the trees that served as a big part of the inspiration for our design. Working on the design was a tremendous pleasure; as was the wedding itself and we were delighted to be a part of both. More images are available in the graphic design section of our portfolio site.

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