The First in a List of Obsessions

In an attempt to aid myself in realizing (or accepting) a statement of obsession I will begin to admit my compulsions, infatuations, fixations and whatever other words that fit the meaning of obsession. Some will be more compromising than others, but I think that this coming year is about vulnerability.

So, to begin, I will admit to myself, and you, my first (in no particular order) obsession. I think it would be far too broad to simply say graphic design, so I will probably list a few obsessions that fall within this category. The first being posters. A poster, be it for a band, an event, a lecture, a series or a new type of toothpaste represents to me one of the free-est, most open-ended and "creative" type of project. I may have just been extremely lucky thus far in the sorts of (and I hesitate greatly in saying this out of fear of sounding like an asshole) clients I've had. But posters have allowed me to develop my ability to think conceptually and critically. The objective is simple, really. To communicate a message to a particular audience (which may be very broad or specific). The complexities arise in the dissection of the meaning of the message being communicated and the mentality of the target audience. It is within this dissection where ideas are found (as opposed to "came up with").

I suppose that my first real introduction to poster making came in my 3rd year of undergrad (or ED2). Zach Pauls and I decided we wanted to run for the "Graphics Council" within the SAS student committee. Our first posters were fairly crude, with most of our imagery manually cut and pasted from magazines or newspapers. It was a good start though. I still think of the playfulness of those posters when I get too "serious" about whatever it is I am designing. We ended up being elected into the Graphics position and were endowed with the responsibility of creating all of the posters for SAS events. It was a great experience.

At some point within ED3 I stumbled upon a website. Not just any website. It was (and still is) Poster Mecca - www.gigposters.com. This website is one of the single most important discoveries pertaining to my development as a designer (in general - not simply graphics). It opened my eyes to an entire scene that was (and still is) thriving. I began to browse through thousands and thousands - there are currently over 78,000+ posters listed on the site - of images. I became exposed to work being done by the likes of Aesthetic Apparatus, Jason Munn, The Heads of State, Seripop, Patent Pending - Jeff Kleinsmith and Jesse LeDoux to name only a handful.

I guess I should also say that giposters.com (or "geepee") is not simply a collection of poster artists and enthusiasts. It really is a community of extremely talented artists. It has basically led to many different personal discoveries, some being other obsessions that I will talk about - namely screen printing. I would encourage everyone to at least check out the site and browse through some of the work. I suppose I will also throw in a shameless plug for my own work. Click here to see it - feel free to sign up and leave a comment or critique. Or do it here, whatever you wish. I always enjoy feedback.

So, this is basically my story of obsession for posters. It continues to only get stronger with every poster I make as well as every new inspiring piece of work that I am subjected to.