TSmithCreative

Graduation Announcement

tsmith — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:28:19 +0000

In the words of a good friend: This makes it real.

Rather than the standard announcements produced by the school’s contractor, I opted for something I could use as a mini-portfolio piece and website referral tool. The announcement is also intended to match the new design of my website, resume, and business cards as I start looking for new ways to keep boredom and sleeping at bay. I attempted to show two pieces of each of my areas of focus: photography, book design, print design, and theatrical lighting.

Work featured on the card:

The BOK Center and Bayless Night photos from the ADDY44 Winners Book
West Side Story backdrop design
University of Texas Commencement (which serves the two-fold purpose as portfolio credit and acknowledgement of my Longhorn roots)
NSAC 2010 Plansbook
ADDY44 Winners Book
Visual Thinking Tri-fold Invitation
West Side Story Poster

The copy reads: “If it all goes according to the master plan / The University of Tulsa / might actually graduate / Taylor Smith / Bachelor of Fine Arts / Graphic Design / and let him take a nap after the ceremony at / Nine O’Clock on May 7th, 2011 / in the Reynolds Center.”

ARTSCAPE 2011

tsmith — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:17:13 +0000

The Tristesse Grief Center provides free grief counseling in individual and group settings. Times of need are not restricted to those able to afford help. The Grief Center employs full-time and part-time professional therapists and counselors. ARTSCAPE is one of their primary annual fundraisers and, along with other efforts this year, has successfully allowed them to move to a larger space and bring on an additional full-time staff member.

Susan Bramsch, current President of the Tulsa Chapter of the American Advertising Federation, asked me to produce invitations and programs for this event using the previous year’s logo but using a distinctly new feel which included as much of the donated artwork as possible.

Gospel, Grits, and Gershwin

tsmith — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:42:29 +0000

Gospel, Grits, and Gershwin is an annual weekend brunch event for Booker T. Washington (a Tulsa high school) which features performances by the Jazz Band, Gospel Choir, and other groups. The invitation has been mailed; the program and signage are both pending.

The invitation combines newer trends in design with basic staples of 1920′s Jazz era posters: bold colors, harsh diagonals, stylized figures, and geometric type. It was important to merge this with the youth of the performers as a high school with such a rich history continues in a strong tradition, not only in academics, but also in the arts. I am honored to have been selected to support them in their efforts to fund their programs.

ADDY44

tsmith — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 03:42:17 +0000

I was honored to serve as a Co-Chair for the American Advertising Federation Tulsa Chapter’s 44th Annual ADDY Awards Banquet. I served primarily as their graphic designer, creating an event logo, a Winners Book, the certificate for “Citation of Excellence” Awards (generally known as Silver ADDYs), and a few other odds and ends. The event went very well, and I was very excited to participate.

AAF-T is preparing to host the 2013 District Convention and as such, is trying to “show off” all things Tulsa all the time. As such, I decided to shoot a series of photos of major local landmarks with the assistance of good friend Evan Mackay. In order to make the photos feel more consistent and take a backseat to the outstanding creative work the book is intended to display, I duotoned them with black and simulated reflex blue.

I was thrilled to have received a two Student ADDY awards for the Club 209 Website and the 2010 NSAC Cool Old Guy Plansbook. The Ad Program at TU won several additional awards for both NSAC and the 2010 CUSA Basketball Tournament. Additionally, I was ecstatic to be present when Walsh Branding won not only an ADDY Award but a Best in Show for Print award for their work on the 2009 Annual Report for the Boy Scouts of America Indian Nations Council. I am currently an intern with Walsh Associates, working under Walsh:Barnes Interactive, and was very glad to be present when my friends there were called to the stage.

As always, I am very grateful for the support and the opportunities that AAF-Tulsa has given me over the past two years.

TSmithCreative 2010 Christmas Card

tsmith — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 02:29:08 +0000

A little thank you to my family, friends, and partners in crime who helped make 2010 such a wonderful year.

The card uses a rather disturbing photo taken during my first ever ice storm. Being from the wonderful land of Austin, Texas, I thoroughly believed that ice is something that never covers more than one’s windshield and snow always disappears by noon. As they say, ignorance is bliss; God bless Texas.

But this card, sent out during my senior year of exile in the winter wonderland, signals a great defeat of winter weather and a substantial increase of my investments in winter clothing. The photo was transformed into a hospitable (or maybe just less-threatening) scene courtesy of the magic of adjustment layers.

Merry Christmas,
TSmith

Club 209 Website and Photography

tsmith — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:12:35 +0000

Club 209 needed a new website which could be more easily maintained and better exemplify visually its atmosphere and sophistication. I began with a location photoshoot; each photo was processed in HDR and are displayed on the website in a Polaroid-esque frame, which is intended to resonate with a crowd of an age that will remember their heyday, without alienating the youngest legal audience.

Club 209 also has very different crowds on different evenings. Photography was location-only to avoid building an expectation of a “typical” customer.

Special Fact: Two weeks after this website launched, I started working there as a bartender.

West Side Story

tsmith — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:49:22 +0000

I could not have been more excited to be working on another fall musical at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School! Rick Garcia, director, initially asked me to produce a backdrop for West Side Story. We went through several design iterations, beginning with a view of the fallen World Trade Center towers symbolizing the escalation of the gang wars of West Side Story to international violence and terrorism. Finally, however, we decided upon using a deconstructed view of the Statue of Liberty, as the production concept turned to focus more on the statue of equality in America, particularly immigration issues and civil liberties/discrimination among various minority groups. The Statue of Liberty played a two-fold purpose: for the more literal theatre-goer, it signified the setting of New York City. Its primary purpose, however, was to evoke the question “Has Lady Liberty turned her back on (some of) her people?” Thus, the final drop (drop E, stage left/house right) shows the Statue from behind. This is shown more literally in the canvas banner which shows a protest sign saying, “No Human Being is Illegal,” which is seen on stage as liter leading into a trashcan (although in the concept elevations, it was facing for the step ladders).

After the backdrops were decided upon, it was determined that I would also serve as production graphic designer. The production logo was the next piece to complete. The original logo with the dancers on scaffolding and stencilized type is so iconic, but not fitting for this production. I kept the stenciling, but updated it with a more “grunge” outline and a view of the statue. The canvas “trash” drop became a violator on the posters and the front cover of the program because of how thoroughly the image summed up the visual concept of inequality under the eye of the Statue.

It was, as always, a pleasure to work with the St. Andrew’s community on this production. The talent of some of the performers even surpasses professionals who have been in the business for years. That talent is matched only by their gratitude, sincerity, and professionalism. The show was absolutely fantastic. I wish them all the best as they continue their production this weekend. Have good shows!

Go Cru!

Visual Thinking: Faculty Show 2010

tsmith — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:41:02 +0000

Through Third Floor, I was selected to design a postcard for The School of Art’s Faculty Show. Professors submitted work, of which primarily detail views are shown. The tri-fold interoir expands to 18″ which allowed me to display the work in an almost confrontational way. My goal was to contrast the breadth of the type of work being created by our faculty with a sense of unity to indicate the strength and cooperation within the department.

Oktoberfest Brochure

tsmith — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:52:59 +0000

Oktoberfest contacted me to revamp their annual booklet/brochure. Traditionally, they have produced a half-letter book of at least twenty pages, costing approximately $30,000. I worked with their executive director to determine what was necessary to include and what could be stripped out. We ultimately decided on using a folded tabloid brochure reminiscent of an amusement park map. From there, I used the original poster art from Gorfam Marketing to style a layout that organized as much information as possible into the smallest size possible. This reduced their ultimate printing total down to under $7,000 for 75,000 brochures.

It must also be noted that the event map and the new identity (which was developed in 2008) were skillfully designed by TU graduate Ruby Whitney. It was a privilege to step in and continue in her absence as she thrives in New York City.

Tulsa Camerata Brochure

tsmith — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:41:14 +0000

Third Floor Design connected me with the Tulsa Camerata, a chamber music group in Tulsa. They aim to interest a younger audience in an energetic way to this very traditional musical form. They wanted a modern brochure that incorporated something of Tulsa. I felt it prudent to gain inspiration from traditional musical performance collateral and then giving it a modern twist. I took the HDR Photo on the front cover in Downtown Tulsa in the 5th and Boston Avenue area. I felt it appropriate because of the unification of many generations of well-known Tulsan architecture (as far back as 1920′s art deco) in a single view, as Tulsa Camerata infuses a young life in otherwise older music.

Olden Lighting Website

tsmith — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:19:04 +0000

The Olden Lighting website needed to be modernized, reorganized, and built within a CMS instead of static HTML pages. Their web presence was information-rich, but the look was dated. They wanted to update the appearance without losing their well-established corporate identity along with the teal and tan color scheme. In my view, it was most critical that the new site have an easy-to-use navigation system because of the amount of information on every page in the site.

Thus, the website was divided into three branches: See, Learn, Do. Each of these had several categories of pages listed with the branches. For example, “Learn” featured a “Theatrical Lighting” category. Each category contains several pages (like “Theatrical Fixtures”) which were listed in tabs at the top of the content area. Finally, each page can contain several different products (like “Ellipsoidals”) which had target anchors after an introductory paragraph.

Additionally, a photo management system was needed so that new images could be more easily added to the site as Olden produces more work. NextGen gallery is my image management plug-in of choice, and for its tasteful simplicity, I used the standard thickbox display method.

Finally, Olden Lighting’s original website contained more copy that was necessary, some of which needed minor edits, and a few sections needed significant revision as well as updating with newer information.

As of this posting, Olden Lighting’s website project is awaiting final content edits, approval, and new photography, so it is not yet posted to their servers. Instead, it is posted to a subdomain on my server and can be viewed there. Full cross-browser testing is not yet complete, so certain versions of certain browsers may display the site improperly. (Please be aware that the “Contact Us” email form is functioning and that emails will be delivered to their corporate box.)

Eye of God Poster

tsmith — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:17:14 +0000

Third Floor Design was asked to develop proposals of posters for Theatre Pops’s production of Eye of God, am engaging dark play with religious commentary about the murder of a woman by the ex-con she married. The original photo was manipulated in several ways in Photoshop in order to give a haunting/disturbed quality to the light, with special attention paid to the gutted tree, which overshadows the church house in the image. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the play and am excited to see where Theatre Pops will take it. Break a leg!

Rocky Horror Show

tsmith — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 03:13:27 +0000

Third Floor was asked to revamp the traditional “Rocky Horror Show” imagery for this year’s production, which is being held at The Joint, a new, huge, advanced theatrical venue at the Hard Rock Casino (formerly the Cherokee Nation Casino) on Interstate 44 in northeast Tulsa. The show itself was being redesigned with an 80′s/Club Kids theme.

Initially, I found the task of re-imagining Rocky Horror as very daunting because of its iconic status. However, this production must cater to a different audience. Traditional Rocky Horror fans will either show up regardless of the Club Kids influence and Casino location or they will be so turned off by both that they won’t go. I decided they are not the primary audience for this communication. Instead, any production collateral must engage the casino audience and show them that this is Rocky Horror in a new way.

The playing card was a possible use. In previous years, the Tulsa production has made business-card sized flyers that can be handed out among potential audience members. I designed an Ace of Spades (which, upon further consideration, might more appropriately have been a Queen of Spades) featuring Frank N. Furter.

I wish my friends in the company all the best. Break a leg this Halloween!

Maestro Theatre 2010 Flyer

tsmith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:18:19 +0000

I was called to design a flyer for Maestro Theatre that had to be distributed immediately. This was completed and emailed back to the client within an hour.

Freshman Leadership Institute Logo

tsmith — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:31:01 +0000

The University of Tulsa’s Freshman Leadership Institute is being restructured with a new focus on empowering students with real world advice (often referred to as “tools for success” in the brief) and on student retention. The new program had six areas of focus, one for each of the six scheduled meetings throughout the freshman year. I developed three logo concepts for them.

View and Comment at Behance

TAF Golf Tournament

tsmith — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:04:12 +0000

A series of signs produced for the Tulsa Advertising Federation’s 1st Annual Golf Tournament to mark hole sponsorships and challenges. After spending too much time watching Mad Men and playing Mirror’s Edge, my mind was stuck between AMC’s world of 1950′s Advertising and Electronic Arts’ sparkling clean, corporate-controlled, Helvetica-infused (except when they messed up and used Arial), surveillance-riddled environment. In said stupor, my friends at the Tulsa Advertising Federation requested event signage with no requirements or established identity. Knowing that it had to be stark and legible from across a golf green, I realized I had been staring at my answer for days. Besides, some of these people remember when Helvetica was new… It could be accused of being the easy way out, but it was fun.

Dave’s RV Free Show & Sale

tsmith — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:11:15 +0000

Event Identity for Dave’s RV Free Show & Sale in Claremore, Oklahoma for use in outdoor, television, and print materials related to the sales promotion.

2010 Texas Commencement

tsmith — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:02:10 +0000

My favorite job of the year, this was my third year (2007, 2008, and 2010) to work as an electrician for the University of Texas Spring Commencement. It’s the one time of year when my inner Longhorn gets to come out and work on the campus I grew up on, where most of my relatives and scores of friends call their Alma Mater.

The set up is distributed across five major areas of the Main Building:

The porch outside the presidential complex’s Stark Library hosts a bank of fixtures to side light the Tower and a primary distro box that serves power over 6-circuit and LeGrand cable to the rest of the roof.
The service porch behind the Presidential Lobby facing the UT Tower holds all the front light for the tower: VLX (the new Varilite LED Wash fixture), VL3000, and Cyberlight (one equipped with a glass litho of the UT Longhorn for projection).
Both sides of the roof/balconies on the loggia hold the side light for the south face of the Main Building and the courtyard where the ceremony takes place and LED wash bars to tone the columns outside the 2nd floor offices .
The courtyard below has architectural uplight and specials along the sides and specials throughout the “playing” space: HES StudioSpot, StudioColor, and StudioBeams as well as conventionals.
Both of the light posts in the South Mall, referred to us as the “rings,” are rigged with thirty feet of triangular truss to hold PARs for the seating area and automated front lighting for the playing space: VL3000 and VL3500.
At the back of the South Mall, a truss tower over the lighting and sound control booths holds HES Technobeams and Pars to light the graduate seating area.
Finally, along both sides of the green extending south of the Mall, each of the academic buildings is lit with four trees of white and orange PARs; at Degree Conferrment, the white PARs cross fade out and the orange upfades to color the entire mall in UT Burnt Orange.

It was, as always, a pleasure to work with Olden Lighting on this job and I hope to be able to do so again next year. It was not until I started attending other University graduations that I realized that this is a unique spectacle and celebration. Only in Texas. Congratulations to all my Longhorn Graduate friends. Best wishes.

Hook ‘em Horns!

Tulsa PAC Trust Season Teaser

tsmith — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:32:07 +0000

A simple season teaser card for the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust. A dream client who told me during the brief to “just run with it, I’m sure we’ll love it.” Their only requirement was to display as many photos of the performers as possible and noted that most of their other collateral is “edgy with clean lines, very modern looking.”

D&H Stage Lighting Website

tsmith — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:02:45 +0000

The D&H Stage Lighting website needed to be redesigned with a photographic focus to highlight each of four main specialties of the company with the ability to be updated easily and frequently. As a marketing tool, the website needed to position D&H Stage Lighting as a company with superior customer service experience. They carry an inventory skewed towards event (and wedding) lighting, which is a primary focus. Additionally, although the inventory of D&H is currently smaller than its local competitors, their ability to network with and ship to/from other businesses in the region allows them to offer a wider selection and higher quantity of equipment more easily than their competitors, making them a solid choice for tours and jobs with special or large requirements, which is their eventual goal.

The website is based on WordPress using the Next-Gen Gallery for image management with custom templates coded by hand in using XHTML and CSS 3 with basic PHP5. The development testing browser was Opera 10.51, and it has been extensively tested with the current versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. The site is designed to be backwards compatible with minimal loss in features or visual styling; the most notable loss is the CSS3 border radius property which is not visible at all in Internet Explorer or in older generations of other major browsers.