KN Work // Aquarium Drunkard Redesign

A couple months ago I got an email from Justin Gage, creator of the Los Angeles music blog Aquarium Drunkard asking me if I’d be interested in helping his site out with a redesign. I had been a fan of his blog for years now, so I was totally excited that he asked me to help him.

Checking out his old blog, which I failed to take a screen cap of to show the before and after, it was kind of a mess. First off it was extremely dark, using prmarily blacks, browns and golds. Second all of the content was contained in one tiny main column and it was all pushed to the left side, only 20px left of the edge of the browser. To say it felt cramped would be an understatement. My idea for the site was to lighten everything up, increasing font sizes, giving the site brighter colors and making it feel more welcome in every way possible.

My inspiration for the site was old bars, as Justin and I are both expert beer drinkers. The difficult part was not making it too campy or too tongue in cheek, with bottles of booze or drink rings. I went through several versions, you can see earlier versions under the cut, but it wasn’t until I created the background pattern that I found my direction. I decided to go with a blue and creme color palette with accents of black. I also wanted to make things a little gritty cuz that’s how a bar should feel and I like how it looks.

Overall I’m really happy with how it turned out. As with all my projects I really try to focus on simplicity, usability and legibility. Making it snazzy looking is just a perk of the job. Big thanks to my buddy Justin for reaching out to me on this project, I had a blast doing it.

Check under the cut for more early versions of the site.

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Bobby Solomon

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November 23, 2009 - See more posts by Bobby

KN Work // Skingraft Redesign and Live Improve Movie Project Poster

Since I’m starting to do more freelance work I thought I’d start posting more of the projects I’ve been working on over the last few weeks. The first was a logo redesign for my friends fashion label, Skingraft, a brand that makes contemporary feeling clothes that are Victorian-era inspired, and they also create a lot of leather pieces as well.

The name alone connotates some not so cute imagery, so I went with a really simple but unique font that would contrast well with their harder edged look. They were also looking for some sort of crest or mark as well, so we took inspiration from all of the mounts on the walls of their studio and created a stylized ‘S’ inside of a mount. It’s a bit gothic, a bit old fashioned, and definitely bold.

The poster above was created for the Live Improv Movie Project, a project my friend Ari is a part of. Basically, the old poster was desperate for an update, so I decided to go with an old fashioned, sort of 70′s French cinema feel, or at least that was my inspiration. I figured simple and bold was the best way to go, I figured I’d stop and look to see what this poster was about.

I’ll try to post updates more frequently if you guys are interested.

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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May 20, 2009 - See more posts by Bobby

A Fresh Look

Last night I decided to give the site some minor tweaks, just to freshen things up. I wanted to keep things similar to what I already had, but still make things feel new. I decided to take some inspiration from the two magazine covers above, both are from last month. After I finished some things last night I kept thinking, ‘Oh, it’s Watchmen flavored”, but that’s not where the inspiration came from.

The title is set in Helvetica Ultra Condensed Bold, which gives it sort of a Metropolis magazine or Metal Gear Solid feel. The background was inspired by my Postalco notebook and it’s perfect little grid paper. The second image is from the book Japan Style, which inspired the background of the header as well as trying to clean up the design overall as well.

The last piece was installing Firebug, which allowed me to find and tweaked the code. I’ve known about Firebug for about six months now, but hadn’t used it until now. It seriously was my saving grace last night.

I hope everyone enjoys the subtle shift. I’ll be adding and tweaking to the design over the next week. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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March 12, 2009 - See more posts by Bobby

Anothercompany Updates

Joachim Baan, who designs under the name Anothercompany, recently refreshed his site with some really great new work. He’s got pieces from all over the place, in all kinds of mediums. One of my favorites is the poster he did for the project Connected, where you ‘remix’ someone else’s poster design. It’s funny how gray can be so expressive!

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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March 9, 2009 - See more posts by Bobby

Moving Brands Gives Norton & Sons A Fresh Look

I love love love this redesign by Moving Brands of Saville Row tailors, Norton & Sons. Not only redid their logos and marks, they also helped re-shape their entire brand including their storefront. There’s something really elegant and simple about the rebrand that I’m really enjoying. I also think it’s rad that their crest was “awarded by a Prussian emperor in the 19th century.” Too cool.

For more information about their process click here.

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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February 10, 2009 - See more posts by Bobby

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