Alphabet Arm Design News

Not long ago, artist, former intern, and curator extraordinaire, Silver Oris, assembled a gallery show aptly titled, Human Powered Works.

She asked Alphabet Arm to design a few new pieces for the show and we collectively agreed skate decks would be the ideal medium. Not only do we appreciate skate culture, the decks themselves allow a great deal of creative leeway. Whether it be conceptual, playful, ironic or topical, we embrace the fact boards have become a medium for fine art. The format itself allows us to break out of the typical rectangular framework we find ourselves often working with. We’ll be post some new deck designs over the next few months, here the first installment of the series.

As one of us here at the studio has become somewhat consumed with the social-media-image-driven-craze of Instagram, it made perfect sense to design a board using some of our favorite shots. The idea of having a print medium for these images was rather exciting as we’re usually held to the confides of the interwebs. Ride on.

Hello there! My name is Laurie Rane Mildenhall and I am a newly enlisted member of Alphabet Arm’s intern army. I can’t believe I get to work here. I hail from San Diego-Encinitas if you want to get technical-where I learned to love the beaches, cheap Mexican food, traveling and music.

It was not a struggle. I’ve always loved drawing, but I suppose my passion for typography began in middle school when I started making these elaborate hand-lettered doodles in my school notebooks, often to the chagrin of my teachers. However, it was many years, two unfinished majors, and three years in college before I met with the head of graphic design at BYU and asked, “What exactly is graphic design?” Instead of throwing my ignorant behind out of his office, he explained that graphic design is about solving problems and communicating through type and images. He also said that if I wasn’t committed to excellence I should find a different major. Sold. It has been about a year and a half since then and my life has been a giant design explosion. I graduated a couple of months ago and then moved to Boston which, it turns out, is just about the best place ever. Some other fun facts: I love black liquorice, I’ve fractured and sprained both of my arms, and I’m married to a guy named Nick.

To wrap things up, I can’t think of a better place to be learning the ropes than Alphabet Arm. Aaron, Ryan, and my fellow interns are quite simply the cat’s pajamas, and I’m lucky to work with them.
Feel free to say hello! laurie@alphabetarm.com or check out some of my work:http://cargocollective.com/laurierane

Hello all you type and design groupies…

My name is Ryan Severance and I am the most recent intern for Alphabet Arm. This is my first installment of bloggery goodness. Due to a certain Senior Designer here at Alphabet Arm, I am banished from the privilege of using my given birth name. Subsequently, I have already accumulated a plethora of nicknames, none of which we will delve into at this juncture. I have achieved most of my schooling in the oh-so-corrupt city of Chicago. I have a great love for typography and the individual form of letters, but interesting ligatures seriously launch my Apollo. I stumbled across the work of Alphabet Arm, by chance, and inquired of an opportunity such as the one I am in.
But, you know what they say, ’til next time, Alfred signing out.

Whether you are serious about the process of recording, the history of all things audio, or simply a music enthusiast – we feel you. And YOU will feel this shirt that proudly honors the aesthetic of music’s past. With this three color, screen-printed American Apparel T, now you can finally look as good as you sound!

Snag your own at our store while they last.

I recall wanting to be a part of Alphabet Arm for three years, when I got this amazing opportunity to Intern this Summer with Aaron and Ryan, I was so thrilled. Today is my last day here at Alphabet Arm and as my last hours pass by with tears as I think that this has been one of the best experiences & times of my life. What more can you ask for when you get to spend your day with two incredible human beings, artists and inspirational people that push you to be better and help you grow in many areas of your life as possible. I must say that Aaron Belyea and Ryan Frease have been not only great inspiration and motivation for me and the other interns here this summer, but great friends. From helping me grow as a designer to being part of a show I curated this summer (Human Powered Works) to BBQs and ball games at lunch, I know these guys will always be a part of my life. I am very sad to go but am also excited to use all the things I’ve learned here in future projects. I’m sure I’ll always refer and remember the little tricks Ryan taught me and the process that Aaron helped me develop.

YOU GUYS ROCK!!! I hope that every Intern from now on has just as great of a time here as Matt, Flo and I shared.

We recently completed a BzzAgent project for a Covergirl product, LipPerfection. It’s a 6.25″ saddle-stitched, square booklet. It happens to feature a perfectly executed, sculptured emboss cover (courtesy of Flagship Press) as well as a selectively placed UV varnish. Not only is the lovely Drew Barrymore the spokesmodel, but the booklet is bilingual. We opted to use a “flip book” layout to accomplish this. Depending on which side you open, the content reads in either English or Spanish. ¡Es hermoso!

Let’s face it, most Americans struggle with lackluster zipper experiences everyday. What could be worse than being completely uninspired when securing a bag shut or zipping up a jacket? Statistics show that adults spent approximately 11.5 hours a week wrestling with faulty zipper products* and many instances result in serious bodily injuries**. That’s no way to live. Well – fret no more friends – Alphabet Arm has a solution.

And in 5 friendly flavors.

That’s right, you guessed it, we have some new zipperpulls, courtesy of our friends at Pure Buttons. Want to snag a set of your own? That’s easy, head to our store!

*Give or take 11.0 hours – Source : Dr. Steve Brule **Source : Dr. Who (Classic)

All good things must come to an end. Here is the last of the one-off, full color, high resolution dye sublimation t-shirt series all lovingly printed by Jakprints. This design is a graphic, cautionary tale inspired by the dangers of keeping wild animals as household pets. Oh, and also because we heavily dig wood cut type.

NO WOMEN, TIGERS OR TYPE WERE INJURED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS T-SHIRT.

Whatup blog readers! The name’s Matt Kaiser, and I’m a new summer intern here at Alphabet Arm. It’s only been a week and I’m already way too excited, so I’ll reel it in just do what I do best: talk about myself. I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland where I never really left my bubble. I was just a nerd who also played soccer, ran track and got into art and digital media (through Pokémon, actually, but that’s a story for another day). When college rolled around, I only knew two things: I wanted to study graphic design, and I wanted to get the hell out of Baltimore. Now I’m a rising third year graphic design major at MassArt and I’m loving every moment of it.

I have a real passion for branding/identity design and typography, and would probably have an alphabet half sleeve if that was an original idea… Alphabet Arm was foreign to me until the end of my freshman year when Aaron and Ryan held a presentation at my school, showing off their rather incredible branding projects and CD art direction. I was impressed. When the time came this year to find a summer internship, former intern Jeremiah mentioned the work he did here and how talented yet laid back the guys were, so I drafted an email and gave it a shot. As a younger designer I feel very fortunate to have secured this position and to have the opportunity to work with a studio that follows my exact plan for the future. Just a few days in I’ve already been included in apparel design projects for multiple clients. And I’ve acquired an awesome hat.

This will be quite a summer working alongside Aaron, Ryan, and Silvi – the other 2011 summer intern who does a great job keeping us laughing (unintentionally) – I’m psyched!

Feel free to get in touch with me at matt@alphabetarm.com and keep an eye on our gradual loss of sanity at http://twitter.com/alphabetarm

P.s. I hope you like the design above. See if you can catch the viking hat I subtly integrated into the logo.

At Alphabet Arm, we dig sweet, illustration-heavy design, we also dig music…oh, and we dig t-shirts too. With Summer at our doorstep, we decided it was the proper time to unveil this shirt and add it to our store. This design was unabashedly inspired by the Jamaican sound systems made popular in the 50′s + 60′s and was expertly illustrated by Alphabet Arm alum Ira F. Cummings. Heck, you can even win one if you act quickly and head over to our facebook page! No pressure, no problem man.