AI-assisted Poster Art

A poster for the 2024 eclipse. The background image is modified from something I made with Google’s AI-powered image generation tool.  A note on the AI aspect of this: for the last few months I've used a set of similar prompts as a sort of homemade benchmark for the tools from Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI.  This is one of the resulting images that I especially liked.

Family History Graphic

I put this together for my extended family.  We grew up hearing about how Grandpa Don built airplanes during the war, and this shows exactly where it happened and some of what it looked like.  It started when I tried looking up "Weeks Ave." after I came across the photo of the house; it turns out that the street no longer exists.  So instead I found a map of San Diego from just before the war (the map is from 1940), and the rest came together from there.  

Postscript: Consolidated merged with Vultee in 1943 and became Convair, which was bough by General Dynamics in the 1950s, which was bought in turn by McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s.  McDonnell Douglas closed all manufacturing operations in San Diego by the mid-1990s, and Lindbergh Field is now the San Diego International Airport.  All the old buildings are long gone, but you can still see artifacts from the 1940s on display at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park, including a fully restored PBY.

Branding for Wasatch Elementary School 75th Anniversary

I worked with others on the basic design, then refined it and provided multiple variations in vector and raster formats to allow for use in digital form, on posters, banners, clothing, stationary, etc.  Every time we stop by the school it's cool to see it in new and different forms and in new and different places.

Cover design and Photography

I made the cover for the self-published book Encounters with Rabbits.  I also provided the main images on the front and back cover.

Office of Economic Development Booklet

An eight-page opportunity zone booklet I put together for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development after researching and writing the content.  As with the Campus Overview (and many of my other projects), I used existing material and created graphics and took photos as needed to get the best finished result.  

Campus Overview

A real estate report available both as a 27-slide deck and 27-page PDF.  Contains background information, photos, and floor plans for over a dozen industrial buildings.  I kept the report updated, and it grew another three slides/pages over time.  As of 2024 the newer version is still posted here.

Framed Engineering Posters

A total of over 80 items used for a mix of permanent display, VIP tours, and open house events over several years (sample set shown below). Worked with engineers and management on everything from the design of the original template to the assembly and creation of component visuals to the drafting of copy. Also worked with two different printers and framers on final production. Typical size of 60" by 38", with some much larger. 

Desk Sign

A small side project completed with the help of a laser engraving machine and the cabinet shop.

iOS Work Aids App

My first mobile app, designed from scratch and coded, tested, and distributed internally, with the post-design development done in coordination with a different programming team than the one I work with for web app development.  Some features:

• Detailed profile with live updates and hooks into other system functions (this piece of the app is what's shown in the image set below).
• Media capture and uploading to user file repository (and, optionally, local saving).
• Hooks into the company's web app [overview post forthcoming, see also here, here, and here].
• A catalog of other software tools.
• Inline help/documentation.

It would actually be fitting to call this my third or fourth mobile app, since the package has gone through several major revisions since mid-2011.  Screen mockups from earlier versions are available after the break, starting with the version that was limited to providing an automated on site/off site status indicator and basic company directory info.  (Copyright disclaimer is also after the break.)

Company Logo and Branding Materials (ongoing)

Late in 2011, I created the original Hidden Butler company logo after talking with the company owner about the desired look.  I've since made several variations of the all-vector design, and used them for branding and advertising across many mediums. (Some of the examples noted below are more recent than the date on this post, and still more may be added in the future.)

The composite image shows some of the variety; on the top left you see an embroidered sample and mockups for use on a polo shirt and laundry bag.  Below these is a business card, in the center are two six-foot tall banners (used for trade show advertising), and on the right are two views of the branding on a fleet vehicle (a baseline version of the 2012 Ford Transit).

After the break you'll find an inverted background version, the logo as placed on the main product (cut into the metal plaque/nameplate), and, as soon as they're released, links to the company's dedicated smartphone apps.

The copyright for all of these images is owned by Hidden Butler.  Click here for more info on the company, and here, here, and here [forthcoming] for posts on my other logo design work.

Annotated Mockups for Profile Module

The image below is a composite of a few composites, all prepared in the course of working with an independent off-site programmer/developer to update the profile editor portion of the Novatek employee portal. These images were used together with standalone specs, flowcharts, and correspondence (phone, e-mail, and Basecamp).

(Standard disclaimers apply: the copyright of the component images belongs to Novatek and

 the mockups pictured are intentionally shown at a size that obscures all the good stuff, alas.)

Personal History (the rest)

As noted in this earlier post, I started a regular job while in the thick of doing a personal history.

And now it's done: adding a few dozen evenings and weekends to the mix has resulted in nearly 150 more pages, front and back covers, all final proofing and editing, and a very happy customer (she is happy with both the substance and the timing; the digital content made it to the printer in time for her to get finished copies to giver to her family as Christmas gifts).

Even though I based the formatting on what I had developed for an earlier book, this just-finished book was made as a a glossy paperback with perfect binding (rather than a stitched hardback with endpapers).

In total, the book has over 80,000 words spread over 17 chapters and complimented by over 650 pictures.

(An image with tiny thumbnails of the middle 100 pages is past the break.)

Company Business Overview Report

A multipage report made to provide a high-level overview of the company for select external partners.  As with the publicly-available press report [post forthcoming - available here in the meantime], this was designed to work both as a printed booklet and as an all-digital package.  Some design cues also taken from the capabilities report.

As indicated in the tags for this post, the project required a combination of creating new content, finding and adapting existing content, copy writing/editing, and then bringing it together into a cohesive whole.

The copyright on these images belongs to Novatek, and the versions posted are intentionally shown at a size that obscures the finer details, alas.  Though it's probably overcautious on my part, I've also blacked out some sections, just to be sure nothing even remotely sensitive is wrongly hinted at.  A further disclaimer: a period of time after the first drafts were proofed, the report was updated before further internal or external distribution, but what's posted here is the old, outdated content.

Personal History (first third)

Time to break a long drought in postings, not with a finished product, but with a snapshot of the reason for the drought: ongoing work on my last big freelance job.  I committed to it before starting full time with Novatek (see below), and I've been working on it in fits and starts ever since.

To date, squeezing in a few hours at a time has totaled in 108 finished pages (the first 100 shown to the right in miniature; a mix of fully-formatted text and just short of 300 pictures).  I've used the same basic layout that is shown here, and hope to be done before summer is over...

Novatek Capabilities Report

Copyright for this image belongs to Novatek.

A hybrid technical report and marketing booklet focused on the company's capabilities.  This started as a set of eight .pdf pages focused on existing and planned drill testing facilities, but it has since tripled in size to cover different production, R&D, and other areas.

The report also grew into a top-level page featured in the main navigation bar of the company website.  The image to the right shows a screen grab of the page, which I designed.

I was in charge of collecting all information and graphics, writing and editing copy, and producing, posting, and printing the final digital and print versions.

As shown in the graphic, the print versions were produced with formatting that took advantage of the medium by using mirrored layouts for facing pages.

Another Custom Family Calendar

Another very very very custom calendar - see this post for the 2010 version.  Again designed with full bleed tabloid-sized sheets and different layouts for every page.  Again printed and distributed to all adult members of the family for less than what it would have cost to make a template-based calendar of a smaller size.

(There are more than twelve pages in the montage because several February variations were considered, including one featuring a picture of a trilobite I found over the summer near Delta, Utah.)

Web Graphics for Novatek, Inc.

I started working for Novatek in June of 2010 doing engineering research and analysis.  In September I was internally recruited/promoted into the Information Systems department.  One of my first assignments involved prepping for a soon-to-launch website redesign.  The majority of the effort was focused on updating dozens of placeholder images, but there was also a fair deal of copy work (production and editing), and even some tweaking of the site design.

All of the material is available on the site itself, so clicking on the image set below will take you directly to the Novatek domain.  Note that I did not take the pictures or do the rendering or the modeling – what I did was sort through the available images, pick the best ones, improve them as needed, and then give all the different labs and projects a consistent look.  Note also that Novatek owns the copyright for these images.

Pancuts (old pans + water jet cutter)

 In progress - will be updated when finished. 

I made my first set of pancuts while still in college.  The project started with a sketch and a cabinet full of very beat-up frying pans.  They were useless for cooking, which was why I had the thought of using them as blank canvases.

After scanning and vectorizing my sketch, I was able to use the school's water jet cutter to slice the design into the pans.  The final product turned out great, and for a few years I didn't pursue the idea further. (These first pancuts are now in storage, but a rendering of the design is here.)

In 2009, I had another thought: what about cutting a pan to make it look like a clock face?  This idea expanded out to the twenty designs shown to the right, with many more on the drawing board.

The bad news is that I'm not sure how much longer this will be an in-progress project.  I've made a few visits to second-hand stores and stocked up on old pans, but getting a new full-time job has put a damper on side projects.  Additionally, finding a local job shop with the right equipment and an interest in doing art parts has been surprisingly hard.

I'm planning to sell these once they are made, so I'm very interested in knowing if anyone out there would consider buying something like this.  Please let me know if you want to reserve a copy of one of the designs shown and/or would like to request some other design and/or have any other thoughts on the subject.  You can either write direct or use the contact form found here.  

Simple Heritage Chart

 In progress. 

A quick layout showing four generations for each half of a recently married couple.  A little too simple or basic to stand alone, but I'm not sure what I'll do to complete it.  Maybe add ancestor pictures, maybe add a map, maybe add another generation... Note that the names are not blurred on the original.

Family Reunion Invitation

An invitation printed two-to-a-page for a biennial reunion, with a "historic photo" of the root family at the top.  In the original photo, the family was arranged in more of a tall pyramid shape, so it took some masking and cloning work to get the result shown.

Also including a screen capture from within the program used to make the invite (Fireworks CS4), to give an idea of the number of elements used to create the finished product.