Archive for category design
Big Kids/Little Kids 2012 eBook edition is now available
Five (plus) years later “Big Kids/Little Kids” is back in a newly formed digital edition. All the good stuff from the print original plus new chapters about the 5 city art show tour and an updated “Where are they now” section. The eBook is available on the Apple iBookstore in 32 countries.
If you missed the print edition:
Big Kids/Little Kids chronicles the first 8 years of the newly emerging contemporary art movement in Philadelphia. It features artists from SPACE1026, 1Pixel, 222gallery and Spector (the galleries that have supported this energy) and artists from outside of Philly who have shown in these spaces by shaping and being influenced by this scene. The book showcases the artwork and asks some simple questions of each artist. John Freeborn, one of the founders of SPACE1026, tells the story through his viewpoint, guiding you through the multi-layered connections that have helped fuel a new generation of artists from the city of brotherly love.
Artist list:
In order of appearance – Ben Woodward, John Freeborn, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Jeff Wiesner, Adam Wallacavge, Brian Chippendale, Mat Brinkman, Leif Goldberg, Brian Ralph, Jim Drain, Shelter Serra, Max Lawrence, Clare Rojas, Isaac Lin, Jesse Goldstein, Shepard Fairey, Ed Templeton, Rebecca Westcott, Rich Jacobs, Andrew Kuo, Dan Murphy, Niel Rassmussen, Jordin Isip, Amy S. Kauffman, Tim Lewis, Ryan Wallace, Tom Maher, Chris Johanson, Barry McGee, Shelley Spector, Jim Houser, Thom Lessner, Eric McDade, Phil Otto, Todd St. John, Dave Delaney, Andy Cruz, and Ryan McGinness.
Motivational Cubicle Signage
From February of 2010 until July I found myself back in the cubicle trenches. This was not my first cube run so I knew the ropes well. Something new hit me this time that I didn’t notice in my younger days. People decorate their cubes a lot. Some take a “home away from home” approach. Others try and simulate a cool office with design-y posters and hip toys. After a few weeks, I found myself doing the same without even realizing it.
One fine morning as I rolled into my cube, my neighbor asked, “How you doing?” My answer, channeling my best Allen Iverson, “Living every day like it’s my last!” For some reason this quote, in this context made me laugh all day long. This brought about my first ironic motivational quote poster. I was working in the kind of office that likes to put motivational quotes on the wall in gold letters, so this wink and nod to that was a huge bonus. In my downtime I created the “Live Every Day Like It’s Your Last” poster.
Once this first one was made the creative flood gates we’re opened. A series of 9 were made and you can download the whole set at the bottom of the post here. Some are famous quotes and others are my own invention. They all will raise your cube status and help you get through the day. Enjoy.
This could be you!!! Download the full set as a PDF here –> John Freeborn’s Motivational Cube Signs.PDF
Or, just grab your favorites as good ole’ JPG below.
New Patterns & Pixels
I love to experiment with patterns and if you know me at all then you know how much I like pixelated icons and forms. I’ve been doing a lot of repeat patterns lately and here’s a sampling of the new ideas. The top row: Right, expansion of an arabian pattern. Top Middle, I call this one bodies. Top Left, This one is inspired by Donkey Kong Jr. The second row: Bottom Right, this one is a hexagonal repeat that I call enemies. Bottom Middle, Fire Flower repeat, inspired by Mario Bros. Bottom Right, spinning scorpions in two color ways.
Kia Rajon Rondo
Posted by jfx in basketball, design on May 3, 2009
As anyone who knows me knows – I’m a basketball guy, and the NBA playoffs are taking a huge amount of my personal time. The recent Bulls/Celtics series was great and I find it amazing that on the heels of that Kia and the NBA release this?
New Look
After a long while with my old theme, it was long overdue to update the look of this site. Big thanks to the creators of Fusion, which is the basis of this new look you see. I’ve adjusted the header height, tweaked some elements in the sidebar, new custom bullets and did some color shifting. Overall, I didn’t really change it too much – it’s a nice clean theme.
my own limited edition Big Kids/Little Kids
I do not know how this happened. Worse than that, it took me almost a week to get this post up. Way back in September of 2008 Big Kids/Little Kids opened in Houston, Texas at Domy Books. That opening was the kick off for the above limited edition version of my book, with my own artwork adorning the hand screen printed dust jacket. Of course I never posted about it, or even put it on my online store for sale. My bad. These things are all now corrected. Let’s move forward. Buy the John Freeborn limited edition version of Big Kids/Little Kids here.
Boomboxes, Scorpions & more Joysticks
After the great response to my joystick necklace I decided to keep the ball rolling with some more fun stuff. So, now you can get pink joystick necklaces, boomboxes in pink and orange, and also pink scorpions – all of this is on my etsy shop.
Joystick Necklace
After months of dilly dally I’ve finally procured the materials to complete the joystick necklace that I teased when I got the laser cut parts. So, now you can actually go and buy one of these on my etsy shop. I’ll post them into my online store soon…yeah soon.
A Golden Bag
I kept this from a lunch many moons ago. I thought it was so funny at the time and I decided then to scan it for posterity. That scan finally took place today and here it is for public consumption. I’m not so sure it’s as funny as I thought it was, but hey.
Lasers!!!
I love the internet. Nothing like uploading a few files and getting laser cut plastic in the mail – this internet thing might just stick. I used ponoko.com, it’s a really great tool and super easy to use. Look for some of this in the near future on my etsy store, or in my online store.
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The three types of specialists needed to make great change
From a passage of Kurt Vonnegut’s Bluebeard, the three types of specialists needed for the success of any revolution.
Slazinger claims to have learned from history that most people cannot open their minds to new ideas unless a mind-opening teams with a peculiar membership goes to work on them. Otherwise, life will go on exactly as before, no matter how painful, unrealistic, unjust, ludicrous, or downright dumb that life may be.
The team must consist of three sorts of specialists, he says. Otherwise the revolution, whether in politics or the arts or the sciences or whatever, is sure to fail.
The rarest of these specialists, he says, is an authentic genius — a person capable of having seemingly good ideas not in in general circulation. “A genius working alone,” he says, “is invariably ignored as a lunatic.”
The second sort of specialist is a lot easier to find: a highly intelligent citizen in good standing in his or her community, who understands and admires the fresh ideas of the genius, and who testifies that the genius is far from mad. “A person like this working alone,” says Slazinger, “can only yearn loud for changes, but fail to say what their shapes should be.”
The third sort of specialist is a person who can explain everything, no matter how complicated, to the satisfaction of most people, no matter how stupid or pigheaded they may be. “He will say almost anything in order to be interesting and exciting,” says Slazinger. “Working alone, depending solely on his own shallow ideas, he would be regarded as being as full of shit as a Christmas turkey.”
Slazinger, high as a kite, says that every successful revolution, including Abstract Expressionism, the one I took part in, had that cast of characters at the top — Pollock being the genius in our case, Lenin being the one in Russia’s, Christ being the one in Christianity’s.
He says that if you can’t get a cast like that together, you can forget changing anything in a great big way.
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