Good News, Everybody!

It’s always nice to have a referral lead to a new client. It’s even better when that client is a company that values good design as much as you do. That happened to me recently when Peter Cohen recommended me to the marketing and communication team at Palladeo.

Palladeo is a really cool company. They design and create store environments for retailers like Ralph’s, WaMu, Baskin Robbins, Java City and Albertsons just to name a few. In other words, the reason design matters so much to them is that it's what they do. They live and breath it.

So, when they asked me to redesign their employee newsletter (RADIUS), I had to play it cool. Sure, some would say that it was just internal communication, but I was pretty excited. With a company like Palladeo, branding and design are taken seriously even when creating an internal newsletter. I knew that this could be a very good thing.

What they needed was to reconfigure their newsletter from an unusually shaped (8" x 14") two-sider to a more conventional, self-mailing, letter-sized 8-pager and they didn't have a lot of time to make the transition. This was actually more of an evolution than a full redesign but it still presented several design problems. They wanted to extend the design to handle more content and conform it to the new format while keeping all the creative energy and interest of the original. Working together with the incredibly professional Palladeo team, we managed to define the style of new departments, create rhythm and flow within the document and establish additional elements and conventions that have actually improved upon the design in spite of the more conventional format.

I asked for a quote to include in this case study and received one that has me both blushing and bursting with pride. Here it is:

“As an immensely talented and accomplished graphic designer, Tom possesses a rare combination: He not only sees the big picture of your design intent, he also pays close attention to the details. In working with Tom to quadruple the size of our employee newsletter, these attributes came into play and resulted in an outstanding final product that is getting rave reviews within our organization.”

Kimberly Cecere
Director of Corporate Communications
Palladeo

Wow! Thanks, Kim! You’re the best. Didn’t I say it’s a pleasure working with this company?

Now, have a look at the March/April 2008 edition and judge the final results for yourself:

Project: Newsletter Redesign
Client: Palladeo









I think it turned out pretty well and the Palladeo team was happy enough with it to ask if I was interested in doing more work for them. Well, I'd like nothing better.

Thanks again, Peter!

Defaced Art

Have you ever wanted to draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa? Yeah, so have I. In fact, I have a hard time keeping my filthy paws off famous works of art.

Just take a look at this:


("This is not an Apple" with apologies to Rene Magritte)

See what I mean? I swapped the pomme Magritte stuck on that guy's face with another, er, Apple. No wonder art museum guards always keep an eye on me.

It's just part of a series I created called "Defaced Art."

Here are a few more:


("Messed up Pollock #1" with apologies to Jackson Pollock)


("Defaced Cafe II" with Apologies to Edward Hopper)


("Non-Standard Station" with apologies to Edward Ruscha)

I made these just for the fun of it. I confess, I have a need for a little irreverence now and then. It's funny how many of them are commentaries on advertising and commercialism, don't you think?

Blogging by Design

I'm starting this blog as a way to share some of my work and thoughts about design. I'm planning on using it to talk about new work as I finish it, post case studies of older work and make commentaries on design in the culture, in history and in general. I'll also post some goofy stuff just for fun once in a while.

What would you like to read about?