chess design
Back in the Dark Ages, when Steve Jobs was still tinkering in his garage, we used to make designs through a torturous process called Paste Up. This required sending out type, waiting all day for it to be delivered, and then pasting it onto boards with wax and exacto knives. Kerning and corrections were often done with the sharp point of a knife, and a lot of spilled blood!
Nowadays, we use fancy Space Age computers and high-speed internet. It’s a lot faster, but sometimes we miss the tactile sensation of wax on your fingers and type kerned just so. But it also means, in this digital age, we can work with faraway clients, in exotic places like Riverdale, Ojai, and London. And we have! We’ve worked for many good causes, designing logos and marketing materials, for non-profits all over the country. And we’ve launched and redesigned lots of magazines for clients who’s actual offices are in zip codes far, far away.
We also love to work with genius illustrators and visionary photographers in far-flung corners of the world. With a lot of art direction, and the flick of a computer key, the images magically appear in our humble studio.
Our favorite part is getting to know the clients and their audience; the incredibly vital schools we design for, the tireless directors of non-profits we help, the brilliant, but visually challenged editors of magazines we talk into letting us design with white space on the pages…
Call us at (323) 930-1706. We’d like to get to know you too!
Contact us: chessdesign@earthlink.net
Awards: Society of Publication Designers, Communication Arts, Print Magazine, American Illustration, and featured in the design book "Magazine Design That Works."
Education: Columbia University, Art Center College of Design, School of Visual Arts and Phillips Academy Andover.
Illustration: clients include Newsweek, Harvard Business Review, LA Times, Oracle and National Law Journal.
Interview: click here to read a conversation about photography and design with POP blog
(iPad portrait by Tobie, age 11)