“Ich bin kein Berliner”

We created a banner to run across the glass, and Berliner fit the bill.

Berliner, designed in 1979 by Erik Spiekermann, is bold and harkens back to the great lithographic posters of the early 20th century. It’s the perfect font for a first event which we hope will become an annual fundraiser for the Humboldt County Library.

We also chose warm colors which would evoke the past in order to give the inaugural event a sense of tradition which doesn’t yet exist.

Pro bono: “will work for beer…”

We’ve been tapped to contribute design and publicity work for a fundraiser for broadband and free Wi-Fi for the Humboldt County Library system. After rejecting Bivalves & Beer and Mollusks & Malt, the volunteer organizers settled on Oysters & Ale.

The major sponsor of the event is the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka. Oysters pair perfectly with beer (or a fine, grassy Loire Chardonnay—but that’s not a local product) and Humboldt Bay is a major source of oysters, so that explains the theme.

To get in the mood, we started with a beer illustration. Beginning with some simple vectors in Illustrator we started layering vector shapes with gradations and transparencies.

Next: Type treatment