Festival TransAmériques Website

Yes, I have a day job… and at times, it’s a drag. The day to day grind to make a buck takes its toll on everyone I suppose, but I think I have a severe, innate aversion to the 9-5 (or 10-7). Yet sometimes, as was the case at last week’s Boomerang awards, that feeling subsides for a bit and I’ll step out to appreciate the rewards and recognition from my peers in the industry. I had the honour of being awarded two grand prizes for two very different websites I art directed/designed over the last year. The team behind both these projects, from IA to integration, gave a superhuman effort, so I think a little ego-stroking is in order…

(more…)

you,
dressed in a formica yellow flower-print skirt
dark eye’d long leg’d, sweet lip’d,
took a pull from the bottle and
blew a line of smoke into the sky,
laughing “fuck them!”
(it didn’t really matter who)
and I fell into it then…

The tenth issue of Four Minutes to Midnight explores the idea of radical beauty (a theme inspired from this year’s Memefest) interpreted through the words and images of over 30 artists. Our ‘anniversary’ issue is the thickest (and prettiest) one yet, clocking in at a tidy 180 pages.

Some of my personal favorites among the diverse work featured in the issue include a selection of poetry from American ‘outsider’ poet F.A. Nettelbeck, two collaborations between myself and Montreal photographer Dita Kubin, a series of beautiful, seductive portraits painted by Kevin Ledo, and the surreal illustrations from my former student Ilinca Balaban.

(more…)

Cover design for Racine: A Perfect Hand

Racine (aka Yan Basque Thériault) asked me to help him out with the sleeve design for his first full-length album, A Perfect Hand. I was more than happy to oblige and work with the beautiful surreal illustration provided by Nicole Aline Legault.

Not visible in the comp above was the marrying of TSTAR mono and Mrs. Eaves for the track listings on the back… trust me, it actually works!

The album itself is inspired, technically masterful and emotionally powerful, with lyrics influenced strongly (I believe) by Situationsit thinking. How can you go wrong?

I recently designed this ad to promote reknowned MTL graffiti artist Omen‘s upcoming show at Yves Laroche. The show’s not for a while yet, but the ad is going to be featured in the October issues of both Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose magazines. We’ll also be issuing limited edition art prints/posters of this design during the show, so needless to say I’m pretty excited.

(more…)

It’s hard for me to believe that I launched LOKi design (labs) over 8 years ago now. Life is certainly quite different these days, but browsing through my archives, I’m surprised by how much has stayed the same within my work. It was nice to see the amount of (strange) self-initiated work I did and think about how it has in many way lead to the zine project. The numerous iterations of my site (this blog would officially be version 7!) that I created and carefully attended to over the years help me to believe that I genuinely do love this medium.

Looking back it’s also interesting to trace the currents and trends of (web) design that I voraciously followed and suppose in many ways still do. From the pointless lines and 45 degree angles, to miniscule pixel type, vector shapes and grungy posterised images, its all in there, part of my endlessly self-conscious searching for form. Presented here for your enjoyment/amusement, a selection of images from those years.

(more…)

Hel Grotesk Gothiq Typeface. 2006.

This typeface was born as the bastard love child of Helvetica Neue and Wilhelm Klingspor Gotisch during a tryst they had one sad, desperate night. The calligrapher seduced the industry leader with her curves, elegant vocabulary and hand skills. But the affair was not to last, and though their union was never recounted (Helvetica being one to bury the past), the hidden story of that night lives on in Hel Grotesk Gothiq.

I designed Hel as a critique of the supposed neutrality and authority of Helvetica and the stylistic reappropriations of Blackletter typefaces in contemporary design. A subversive typeface steeped in history and irony.

FREE download of Hel Grotesk Gothiq (OTF).

Hel is an all-caps typeface, and can prove a little difficult to work with on her own. However, her hefty-size and shape works perfectly paired with lowercase Helvetica Neue Black (she’s her daddy’s little girl…).

(more…)

I’m very pleased to announce the launch of the new Secret City Records website. This amazing Montreal-based independent record label hosts a small but incredibly talented roster of artists including Patrick Watson, The Go! Team and Plants and Animals. The site design and build was the result of a fruitful collaboration between LOKi design and Delmarr, featuring some very tight css scripting by Chris Desjardins.

We’re still working out a few kinks and getting all the content in place, but please check it out and let us know what you think. Welcome to our little corner of the web, your ears and eyes will thank you…

Critical Engagement Thesis, 2002

In 2002, I wrote and designed this extended essay as part of my Graduate Certificate Degree at Concordia University. Taking cues from literary criticism and political economy, it addresses the interrelation of formal strategies in (graphic) design and their socio-cultural implications, casting a critical eye on design’s central role in fostering a harmful, commodity-based culture.

(more…)

For the ninth issue of Four Minutes to Midnight, we sent out a call for submissions with the tentative theme of “conflict and silence” and were happy to receive responses that explored this relationship through personal and autobiographical perspectives. Gathering these together alongside numerous fragments found along the way, the issue was crafted over the course of a year in the margins of our days and nights. It was truly a labour of love to produce and we hope that it shows…

Featuring the work of over 25 contributors, FMTM 9 is filled with 112 pages of radical textual & visual stimulation. Without a doubt, our sexiest issue yet!

The issue will be launched this weekend at lab.synthese, with musical guests Parlovr, Flames! and American Devices.

(more…)