Sunrise
Stopped.
Half frozen
Hassenpfeffer. Watching Looney Tunes with the little guy and this popped up on screen. Had to grab a shot of it. #lettering #looneytunes
Enjoyed worshipping this morning at St. Paul in Aiken. Good to see lots of familiar faces.
My best nine. I had forgotten about a bunch of these. #2016bestnine
Palmetto Trail
Focus #grafitti
Bridge
My girls are having so much fun with their Instax cameras… I kind of want one now.
Merry Christmas from Team Wertz!
Foggy morning on the Horseshoe.
InShow 21, the cube
This post was originally posted on December 20, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
‘Sticking’ with tradition.
InShow is AIGA South Carolina’s annual awards program that honors the best work in the state of South Carolina. And each year, the award is in the shape of a cube.
It’s the 21st InShow, but the 14th cube. The original cube design and current InShow logo were created by Vince McCall back when InShow was run by The Columbia Communicating Arts Society. AIGA South Carolina took over with InShow 10… We’ve kept the tradition going, and each year, the InShow cube is made from a different material or reflects a theme. So far, we’ve had:
Aluminum. Concrete. Cardboard. Fauxquarium. Ceramic. Toy Block. Junction Boxes. Fake Cheese. Present. Pillow. Lumber. Paper. Chalkboard.
And now Firewood.
A pile of cubes about to be awarded.
This year’s cube is a bundle of kindling, tied together with twine. The logo is spray painted over the twine and the winners’ names were printed on labels and tied to the sticks. The special judges awards used red twine. I won’t bore you with the details, but building 42 “firewood” cubes was time consuming.
It’s one of my favorite designs, although I really do love them all. I’ve had a hand in a bunch of cubes over the years, but I’m going to hand off responsibility for next year’s cube. It really is a great project and it’s time to let someone else have some fun. Plus, I think I’ve used up almost* all the ideas floating around my garage.
Almost final prototypes… I decided not to hand letter the tags on the final cubes.
* I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried — and failed — to make an affordable candle cube. It’s the one that got away…
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he thinks about new cube concepts.
My first ever Sketchbook B “retreat.” Yes, there’s only one of me, but time alone to think about what I want to do with all my side projects is sorely needed. Oh, and I’m totally going to see Rogue One.
Braved the weather and ready for @aiga_sc ’s monthly coffee chat, AIGA@8.
Passenger seat.
Columbia.
Letters. #uofsc
What I love about Draplin...
This post was originally posted on November 19, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
This man loves to create.
I saw Aaron Draplin for the fourth time on Thursday night when he came to the Half and Half in Columbia. Over the last years 15 years or so, between CCAS, AIGA South Carolina and Converge SE, we’ve had a bunch of awesome designers come through Columbia… DJ Stout, David Carson, Chip Kidd, James Victore, Seymour Chwast, Michael Beirut, Sean Adams, Sagmeister… and that’s a really incomplete, partial list.
But Draplin is one of my favorites.
What I love about Draplin is how much he loves to make things. Other designers are passionate about solving business problems. Or challenging convention. Or tackling large international clients. But Draplin loves to create things. Sure, he solves problems for clients, he challenges conventional thinking, he has some large international clients. But the thing that really seems to drive Draplin is putting things out into the world, which I really do feel makes him unique among the big names in design.
(It’s also the reason why Draplin’s work is known beyond the design world. Field Notes is loved by people all over the world and they love Draplin, too.)
If he comes to a town near you, see him. You won’t be disappointed.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
Draplin.
