*Be A Design Group, and its founders/owners Adrian Hanft and Bennett Holzworth, would like you to know that Be A Design Group does not officially support or endorse any political cause, candidate, or issue, and prefers Be A Design Group readers feel free to discuss graphic design when they visit this site without being pressured by any author’s personal political views. Any political views expressed by authors of Be A Design Group should be taken only as that person’s views and not as a representation of Be A Design Group. Furthermore, I distinctly believe they would prefer that I not post the following, however my sense of civic duty compels me to do so:*

Oh to hell with BA’s official rules on posting about politics. Get out there and vote for Barack Obama! He has better posters and is good for the country!

(A reminder that Nebraska holds it first-ever caucuses on Saturday, which will mark pretty much the first time Nebraska had a say in, well, anything.)

I’ve been thinking lately, “If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is willing to continue opening up new awards categories for art direction, editing, sound design, costuming, etc., isn’t it about time they considered the “Best Movie Promotional One Sheet” category?

Maybe none of us really want to see designers, photographers, illustrators, and art directors also getting up on stage and thanking their Moms, third grade teachers, 2nd assistant directors, and favorite spices for everything they’ve done to bring them to this point…

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What were they thinking?

I just spotted a copy of the 2007 poster for the Art Director’s Club show on a colleague’s desk yesterday and was morbidly curious to see what the ADC had done for their poster this time, immediately recalling last year’s bizarre and racist image combination.

Steven Heller took the 85th Annual ADC Call For Entries poster to task in Voice on the AIGA site last year at about this same time, and it looks like they’re serving an even bigger helping of the same this year…

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or, I said the “F” word at Hatch Show Print!

As a preface, a portion of the history of Hatch Show Print is documented in a book, so trying to give you a history lesson would take several posts. I am going to focus on the present. For those that haven’t read the book or heard the history, Hatch Show Print is an old fashioned letterpress shop that has been in existence since 1879. The shop has had its ups and downs over its history, and their clientele has varied a great deal, but they are most known for their show posters for entertainment acts. Their history follows Minstrel Shows, Circuses, Country and Blue Grass stars and the list goes on. If you don’t have the book, it is a great addition to any design library and a very entertaining read for just about anyone (not just designers). Hatch has changed ownership over the years but it is now owned by the Country Music Hall of Fame. The shop is now a working museum and as the man (Jim Sherraden) that has taken Hatch to where is it today says … “preservation through production”. To keep Hatch alive they are a very active letterpress shop that prints posters (among other things) for a large variety of clients.

I recently spent a week down in Nashville to help out at Hatch and to learn from, and breath the rare air of a working letterpress shop. I will share a few of the things that I learned while playing the role of intern/volunteer. I will start at the very beginning.

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My continued fascination with the successful and unsuccesful aesthetic “teases” of film posters led me recently to several new one-sheets that really caught my eyes.
The first, teased further by this lead image, was a very recent “separated at birth” set of images that could spark a good discussion – an example of horror and surrealism finding fairly naturally bedfellows in one another…

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