Fourth Year Studio

And so is John Shim!  He is a fantastic local photographer and a good friend of Fourth Year Studio.  He photographed Emily’s wedding and her most adorable proposal.  Her husband proposed while mountain biking and asked John to hide out and capture Emily’s very surprised and extremely happy reaction.  It really doesn’t get any better than that.

John came to us in need of a memorable, simple business card that spoke true to his brand.  The cards are printed onto either side of Crane’s 220lb cotton stock. We felt we needed to spice things up a little bit and the double thick paper gave us the perfect medium to use for edge painting.

We matched the letterpress ink tone and used an airbrush to paint the edges.  It was thrilling to see how well it turned out and it was truly the perfect pop!

Thank you John for allowing us to experiment on you!

edge detail

Photos by John Shim

My day job as an intern architect typically keeps me busy with drawing, coordination, and sometimes actually designing but in December I have the opportunity to design our firm holiday card.  Last year (click CDP holiday card 2009) was the first time we switched from a traditional envelope and stamp card to an online version.  I have been thinking, for longer than I probably should, on how to build off the same character of last year’s but make this one even better. You may disagree if it is better, but I can assure you it was more complicated. Turn on your sound, sit back in your seat and enjoy this small break in your day.

What does this woodland scene have to do with architecture you might ask? As designers we are thinking year round about how to improve the spaces of others and during the holidays it becomes even more important to be sure you are surrounded by loved ones and decor help you feel comfortable and cozy. These little squirrels are improving their space too and working darn hard to do it, I respect their persistence and attention to detail.

How was this possible?  I designed the scene in Illustrator.  Then I separated each frame out in order to create the illusion of movement, in a similar fashion to a flip-book. Chris, a co-worker, used Flash to thread the scenes together.  There he added the zoom effect, falling snow, and the Nutcracker tune.  It is a really fun way to touch base with our clients and friends as well as make new ones. My hope is for it to put a smile on your face while “gearing you up” for the chilly winter and Happy New Year.  For more information about CDP (Cockrill Design & Planning) please visit their site.

Enjoy!

How does a graphic designer showcase their work at a meeting with new clients or even friends for that matter? You don’t want to open a website and fumble through online images, the whole beauty of our work is its tactility and texture. We wanted our clients to be able to hold our work and get a good feel for its materiality and proportion with a little more finesse than toting around a manila envelope.

We studied the small sketchbooks that I made themed from Dianna’s wedding fabrics and wondered if we could make a bigger, bolder coptic bound portfolio book with the same character of the mini versions. And, while we’re at it why not stitch fabric pockets to house each project.

What is Coptic Binding you ask? Coptic Binding is dated back to the 2nd or 3rd Century AD. The name comes from the “copts”, a name given to Egyptians who converted to Christianity in the 1st century. This method was a variation of carpet weaving and they used it to hold their papyrus books together between wood covers (beautiful I can imagine)!

Why is it so great? Not only is coptic binding striking but it is also functional and here at Fourth Year Studio we are all about getting the most bang for your buck.  It is great for sketchbooks because when opened to any section, be it the first page or the last, the book lays flat. There’s no using one hand to hold the book open while the other is drawing. There is something to be said about a hand stitched binding versus a saddle stitch (staple) or coil binding.  Due to the size of our book it took two people; one to pull the thread and another to keep the book tight.

How do you do it? There are several tutorials on line, but in college I made my first coptic bound book during a graphic design class and since have made more than a dozen books from those same instructions. You start with 2 covers (matte board, chip board, or thin wood work great), at least 5 signatures (folded sections of paper ex. if your book is 4×6 then your paper is 8×6 folded horizontally — you can put as many sheets in a section I like to use 3), waxed thread (you can get online — try etsy), an awl, and a large enough sewing needle to thread a 3 or 4ply waxed thread. If you are interested in trying it for yourself use the web to search for tutorials or for detailed illustrations reference Volume III Non-Adhesive Binding: Exposed Spine Sewings by Keith Smith.

Do you think this technique will showcase our product well?