I Often Dream of Trains in New York DELUXE EDITION

Gamil Design worked with Yep Roc and Robyn Hitchcock to create a deluxe CD package for a limited Deluxe Edition of “I Often Dream of Trains in New York”. The classic looking CD package unfolds and transforms into a phenakistoscope, or moving picture machine. Original CD and DVD artwork can be viewed as animations through the included viewer. Gamil developed and produced the package concept, design and artwork. Each part of this deluxe package was made in the USA. This Deluxe Edition can be purchased at Yep Roc!

Robyn Hitchcock Deluxe Edition

Robyn Hitchcock Phenakistoscope Assembled

Check out the video below that Yep Roc put together showing the phenakistoscope in action!

Blue Flame Tattoo came to Gamil Design wanting a new website that was simple yet decorative, and able to accommodate large galleries for each of the artist. We designed a custom Wordpress theme which includes a homepage slideshow. Check out our portfolio site for more information on the project. or check out the new Blue Flame Tattoo website.

Away We Go Movie Poster

A couple years ago Beth wrote about the yU+co title sequence for The Bee Movie. Well it is about time for us to take note of another movie that has beautiful Typography and Illustration. I saw the Trailer for “Away We Go” a month or so ago, and it has been on my mind often. I absolutely love the movie poster (above) with the mix of photography, illustrated background, and Hand-Lettered Type.

Away We Go comes out in Theaters June 12, 2009.

(below are stills from the Trailer)

This signage for the brand new McDonalds, on the corner of Boylan and Peace Street in Raleigh, pretty much sums up my own mental turmoil upon going there. MMMM…fries…no, it’s bad for me….mmmmmm…no I should support local businesses…french fries mmmmm…no!…mmmmm.

When it rains it pours...in a cute dress

Sometimes its sad when they take your pickle away but hey, they have been shrinking it for years.

Have you seen my gherkin?

Sometimes it gets to modern for my tastes… too san-serif-euro not enough juice.

too Madison Ave not enough Indian River...

and I never have liked Pepsi and now it has a loose end. What does it men when your yin/yang gets ‘young’.

Change we wont drink.

via Cool Hunting

Check out what your Christmas will look like this year! A fellow Raleigh design agency, R+M (and also friends!), put this fun li’l setting together. No matter whether you are deemed Naughty or Nice, you’ll surely be able to blow some time finding the hidden Christmas gems.

The pain reliever, Motrin, lost a major bonding opportunity by poking fun at new moms who use baby slings and other “close to the body” carriers. A new online and magazine ad was pulled Monday with an apology on their home page due to thousands and thousands of twitter comments by outraged moms and blogs around the world analyzing the intent of the ad. From there, the big guys then had to pay attention and report on it as well. Check out Advertising Age article on it.

Designed by Taxi to possibly follow (or knock off) the look and humor of “The Baby Owner’s Manual,” the ad, instead sounds like a snide and snarky “I’m too cool to be a mom, but I do have a baby,” woman who generally looks down on the very idea of bonding or closeness. One line in the ad even uses the “s” word, the one word definition of cynicism: “Supposedly it’s a real bonding experience…”

I’d bet too that Motrin has incured the ire of every baby carrier brand out there, as the ad is flat out insulting to them. We all know many many ergonomic studies are done, safety studies and R&D development in order to design baby slings and alleviate or reduce fatigue and pain from repetitive hours of carrying a baby (a wriggling extra 10-20lbs) each day. The ad negates that honest intention and declares the slings themselves as the reason for back pain.

And, yes, Mom’s are “supposedly” a huge market. But the ad could only appeal to that niche market segment, as motherhood is everything to mothers but not really an empathetic or understood state of being for others. So the only people who truly understand the ad are pissed off. AND, the ad was supposed to coincide with International baby wearing month! Now that’s funny.

Ultimately, it’s an interesting study— what makes sense to a design team might not hit the target market the same way. And the incredible power of social media will amplify the resulting consumer tantrum to a level that makes the ad agency wish they’d never left the house.

calendar dreams...

Hey, I hate to brag on the creative scene in North Carolina but Mebane is the home of this online service for the ultimate in DYI fabric fun! The crafting revolution is going tech in all the right ways with sites like Etsy and Raleigh based groups like The Handmaidens.

pretty bird...

Upload your ideas and get sewing your dream weaver fantasies today…

The graphic design of the Obama campaign has just been sick…always on target, great looking, incredibly easy to get the message, and even hip when it needed to be. Add to that all the unofficial campaign artwork and the visuals succeeded in carrying politics into counter culture and back again. Shepard Fairey’s iconic Obama posters contributed greatly to that movement.

Although I’m very happy the election is finally over and the transition to a change in government has officially begun, I have to admit that from the perspective of a graphic designer, I will miss seeing Obama’s consistent campaign continue to unfold, evolve and inspire.

Apparently MoveOn.org realized that many people might feel the way I do. Shepard Fairey designed a follow-up poster to his original HOPE/CHANGE/PROGRESS versions that encapsulate both the win and the message. Looking  modern and classic all at once, Shepard Fairey’s poster inspired the Obama masses to get out their wallets one more time.

There were a total of 5000 posters printed and hand numbered. Some undisclosed percentage of those numbered posters were also signed. MoveOn members could buy the basic unsigned poster for $90 ($80 plus shipping), or they could upgrade by adding Shepard Fairey’s signature for another $420 ($500 total plus shipping). I had decided I would just by the $80 version and then carry it around with me until I somehow ran into Shepard Fairey myself, thrusting the poster in his face and asking him for his autograph.

Unfortunately, the posters all sold out (signed and unsigned) before I got a chance to get to my computer. I guess I’ll just have to wait til Obama gets his puppy and Fairey does an iconic portrait of it. I hope it’s a pitbull with lipstick.