Middle Ear Media

September Poster Design for Harley’s Lounge

obadiah — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:11:20 +0000

The September poster for Harley’s Lounge features a photo of an old Polaroid camera at the top. This camera represents those special moments in life that can be captured instantly, but will eventually fade away to be replaced by others. The camera sits on a wooden shelf and is peaking out from underneath a dark, grimy texture with the overall effect resembling old film that wasn’t stored properly or maybe a photo that was just pulled from a fire.

Only one font, Zurich LtXCn BT was used for this poster. It is a clean looking, easy-to-read font that contrasts with the dirty, grungy background. The title and the band names are green, the dates and details are purple. These aren’t just flat colors though, because I’ve employed a subtle gradient on them to make them stand out more.

Harley’s Lounge is one of the few venues in Marquette that supports local music and I am proud to design their monthly posters.

August Poster Design for Harley’s Lounge

obadiah — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:19:43 +0000

The August poster for Harley’s Lounge features the Mayan calendar both as the center piece as well as the background. In the center, it is covered by white splatter which makes the title easier to read. For the background, I used a gray, brushed metal texture. Also, the large Mayan calendar in the background is offset to the lower left with blend mode set to luminosity and opacity set to 14% so the brushed metal texture comes through.

Three different fonts were used for this design. Most of the copy, including the dates and band names use AlternateGothic2 BT while the month uses AmerType Md BT and the title uses Action Is, Shaded JL.

Harley’s Lounge is one of the few venues in Marquette that supports local music and I am proud to design their monthly posters.

Wings and Seeds — The Zaagkii Project

obadiah — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:29:17 +0000

There is a project I’ve been working on lately that I’d like to share with you called Wings and Seeds — The Zaagkii Project. It is a native plant and pollinator protection initiative that began in 2008. It’s all about recognizing that pollination is an essential ecological function for our survival, and then doing something about it.

Brought to you by the Cedar Tree Institute in collaboration with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the United States Forest Service, this initiative makes an intentional connection between the restoration and healing of the earth with the renewal of the human spirit.

If this strikes a chord with you, please get involved in any way you can.

This site was developed specifically to utilize many of the new features that WordPress 3.0 offers. Some of these features include swappable default header images, custom header images for each page or post, multiple widgetized areas in the side bar as well as the footer, custom styles for certain categories, and a customizable drop down navigation menu.

I worked closely with the project leaders to develop an identity for the site. I designed the logo, the custom graphics, and chose the color scheme of white, gray, orange, and blue. I’d like to give a big thanks to Greg Peterson for supplying most of the content for the site.

Check out wingsandseeds.org to see the web site for yourself.

July Poster Design for Harley’s Lounge

obadiah — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:05:14 +0000

The July poster for Harley’s Lounge incorporates a military-industrial style in honor of my brother who recently re-enlisted in the service. The font used is Stencil BT for that “military crate” look. The color scheme for the copy is based on camouflage and includes various greens, rust brown and gray. A light drop shadow helps set the copy apart from the background.

The background consists of faded green schematics that look like they’ve just been pulled out of the glove box of an old jeep. Harley’s Lounge is one of the few venues in Marquette that supports local music and I am proud to design their monthly posters.

The 2010 Anthony Line

obadiah — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:10:56 +0000

Although Anthony & Co., Inc. has been producing advertising specialty items for over fifty years, I’ve only been designing their web site for twelve. The last major update was done about three years ago, so I was glad to get a chance to redesign basically from scratch. The idea here was to create a simple, modern design that matched the look of existing brochures.

This web site was designed with PHP in order to utilize some of it’s advance features. A modular design was implemented to reduce redundancy. So, any element of the design that is repeated on multiple pages was written in a separate file that is added dynamically when the page loads. Also, the date in the copyright section of the footer automatically updates on the first of every year.

I used some CSS trickery to add some nice features. For instance, the main navigation bar knows what page is currently loaded and styles the corresponding link to let the visitor know what page they’re on. These particular links are also made non clickable since they lead to the same place. This should help to reduce confusion for the user.

Speaking of which, I wanted to make navigation very easy and intuitive. The product pages have a sub-navigation section with links to all product pages so all the products can be reached easily. These links, like the main navigation, behave differently depending on which page is loaded.

Each product page has a reminder about artwork specifications running vertically along the left edge. When clicked, the general information page is loaded. Also, to save the users from extensive scrolling, a “Back to Top” link was added to the lower right hand corner of all product pages.

Another cool feature is located on the main product page. Images of the products are laid out in a thumbnail gallery. Using CSS sprites and the JavaScript library JQuery, I added an animated hover effect that turns the image to gray scale and fades in a dark inner glow.

Check out anthonyco.com to see the web site for yourself.

June Poster Design for Harley’s Lounge

obadiah — Sun, 30 May 2010 17:45:37 +0000

For the June poster design, I used a close-up photo of some old barn wood for the background. I love the rugged look of the wood. It has such a great, weathered character and so much depth. I added a little flare and contrast with three brightly colored gears. The way the gears overlap each other combined with the bright colors almost make it look like a bouquet of flowers.

I wanted the words to look somewhat hand drawn, but very legible. I kept the font colors very light with white, blue, and gray. Two fonts were used, one for the title, and the other for everything else. Both have rough edges and irregularities that give them a hand drawn effect.

Also, drop shadows help set the copy apart from the background and improve readability. The final design is an interesting mix of historical character and energetic vigor. Harley’s Lounge is one of the few venues in Marquette that supports local music and I am proud to design their monthly posters.

New and Improved Portfolio

obadiah — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:54:51 +0000

I just thought I’d let you know about a few changes I’ve made to this site (middleearmedia.com) lately. Nothing too drastic really, but I’d like to document the evolution here. Just some minor stylistic changes and progressive enhancements here and there. Most importantly, I redesigned my portfolio. I’ll get into more about that in a minute, but first let me tell you about…

Changes to header and sidebar graphics

Subtle changes were made to the header and sidebar graphics. In the header, I changed the font for my tag line and also made it all caps.

Also, I added a new version of my logo in the empty white space underneath the tag line. I’m not totally happy with this because it seems too busy, but this is the way it will look for now anyway.

I’m very satisfied with the new background graphic for the sidebar headings which are now all caps. This is basically an extension of the brushed metal texture with a bit of depth added.

Text shadow added to titles

And finally, a text shadow was added to both the main headings and sidebar headings. This shadow really brings copy out from the background on the sidebar in particular.

Most modern browsers can now render the CSS 3 tag text-shadow. This change is a progressive enhancement, and as such, will render only if your browser is capable. If not, it looks exactly the same as it used to look.

Portfolio Updated

I’ve implemented a tabbed navigation system. This makes it easier to find what you’re looking for. The default tab when the page loads is Web Design, where you can see large images under each title.

Either the name or the image can be clicked to expand a section underneath with a smaller image or logo, a URL if applicable, and information about the project including Client, Date, Tasks, etc.

Additional tabs include Graphic Design, Audio, and Other. Again, content here is displayed as a name and image that are click-able to expand more details. Although there is some content in these tabs, I am still in the process of adding more.

Please leave a comment below and let me know if you like the new look and what you like about it, or what you don’t like and any suggestions.

Thanks.

May Poster Design for Harley’s Lounge

obadiah — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:50:14 +0000

For the May poster design, I used a photo of the rocks at Presque Isle on the shore of Lake Superior for the background. By laying a close-up image of the rocks over the clear blue sky, I achieved an effect similar to satellite imagery of clouds.

I chose a sans serif font for readability. The final design is very vibrant and shows the natural beauty of Marquette in May. Harley’s Lounge is one of the few venues in Marquette that supports local music and I am proud to design their monthly posters.

Check out the Current Poster

April Poster Design for Harley’s Lounge

obadiah — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:41:58 +0000

For the April poster design, I kept it fairly simple with a focus on readability. I used a dark gray to black gradient for the background, then added a very faint but highly warped version of the text for a little bit of attitude. Finally, I chose white, and a couple shades of vibrant blue for the text colors.

This creates a high contrast between the background and foreground for better visibility in dimly lit areas. The modern font, tilted slightly, is clean and easy to read. The use of all capitals (except for the band names) makes it even easier to read from a distance. Harley’s Lounge is one of the few venues in Marquette that supports local music and I am proud to design their monthly posters.

Check out the Current Poster

March Poster Design for Harley’s Lounge

obadiah — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:03:33 +0000

For the March poster design, I returned to the idea of doing a text based design that I had last month. The layout is loosely structured around the sacred geometry of a golden spiral that sweeps out from the bottom right corner and curves around from the upper left to the upper right corner where it closes in on itself.

I used many different fonts overlayed on each other to give a feeling of depth. The busyness of the fonts are balanced by the minimal color scheme including various shades of gray, purple, and pink.

The cool, simple effect matches the reality of March in Marquette, Michigan. Harley’s Lounge is one of the few venues in Marquette that supports local music and I am proud to design their monthly posters.

Check out the Current Poster