Archive for category News
A Great April Fool’s Joke!
Posted by Kris Sheppard in Humor, News on 04/06/2011
I was reading The Magic Newswire and came across this post about The Magic Circle preparing to sue EU over forced changes to playing cards. Since this revolves around the design of playing cards, I thought it would be an appropriate post.
Read the full story here for a great laugh!
The new phonebooks are…I mean, the New Mandala is here!
Posted by Kris Sheppard in News, The Mandala on 04/06/2011
Be sure to check out my latest column in the new issue of The Mandala. In this issue I finish up a two part series on “Taboo Design Practices and how to fix them.”
This issue also features Shawn McMaster’s cover story on Michael Carbonaro: Performance Bizarrist, and other articles by Shawn McMaster, Geoff Williams, Lou Serrano, Rich Cowley, Keith Dion, Tony Clark, Paul Romhany, Brent Geris and Tom Burgoon.
The Mandala March/April 2011
Lee Asher’s Diving Board Double
Posted by Kris Sheppard in News, Projects, Redesign on 04/01/2011
Lee Asher's New Diving Board Double Ebook Title
Original Diving Board Double Cover
Lee Asher had contacted me to redesign his Diving Board Double ebook.
The main reason he wanted to do this was to include his own Fournier 605 playing cards in place of the Bicycle card he had previously used.
With this in mind, I made a couple suggestions. First was to find new photography. I wanted to find a shot that showed more of the diving board because I wanted to add the Fournier card back directly onto the board. My second suggestion was to replace the feet with shoes…because feet are, well, just gross looking. As you’ll see, you can’t go wrong with some Chuck Taylors.
Finally, I wanted to spice things up with the typography for the title. You can see, above, how I make it look like it’s floating above the water, complete with the shadow on the bottom of the pool.
I love it. You’ve managed to modernize the concept. Great work.—Lee Asher
Here is the complete, finished cover in its natural habitat.
New Header over at the Magic Newswire!
Posted by Kris Sheppard in News, Projects on 03/26/2011
Dodd Vickers approached me to design a new header for his magic news blog, The Magic Newswire. Given pretty much free creative reign, I created something a little more edgy than what he was previously using.
Dodd says, “I like it, a lot!!” How can I argue with that?
2011 American Package Design Winner!
Posted by Kris Sheppard in Awards, News, Projects on 02/01/2011
I have great news! I just saved a lot of money by switching over to…nevermind.
But, seriously. I recently put together some new packaging for Kostya Kimlat’s !WARNING trick and what do you know? It won an award! The 2011 American Package Design Award put out by Graphic Design USA, to be exact. So not only does he have an awesome bar trick, but he now has award winning packaging to go with it.
He had contracted with me to design both the DVD and the refill packages and he wanted something strong and bold that commanded attention. After working together with him, this is what we came up with. Combining loud vibrant colors with an attractive typographic layout these sleeves draw attention like a magnet.
It’s Official! I’m a Columnist for the Mandala!
Posted by Kris Sheppard in News, The Mandala on 10/07/2010
I’m very excited to announce that I am officially a columnist for Shawn McMaster’s and Jonathan Levit’s new publication, The Mandala. If you haven’t heard about it yet, it is an online magazine for magicians that puts out material that you won’t typically find in the regular magic magazines.
For more information about the current issue, please go here: http://themandalamag.com/preview.html
Woo hoo!
Follow The Method!