In 2009 and 2010, inspired by Nicholas Felton’s annual reports, I tracked various data from the year to assemble into an annual report that charts interesting statistics from the past twelve months. Now in its third year, my reports continue to be a popular piece in my portfolio so I’m excited to present my third, the 2011 annual report poster.
I updated my portfolio with tons of new work in preparation for The Great Job Search of 2011™. Some pieces I’m especially proud of include The Spirit of Overton branding project, the annual reports, and, of course, the Being God’s Medium books. I’ve also included for the first time ever a few pages from my sketchbooks.
Throughtout 2009, inspired by Nicolas Felton’s popular personal annual reports, I decided to track various data to put together a report of my own. The result was my 2009 Annual Report poster featuring data ranging from time spent to books read to movies watched. I was extremely proud of the end result and it seemed to be well received (including recognition by Mr. Felton himself!) that I decided to try to make it an annual endeavor. So in 2010, I record even more data resulting in my second annual report poster.
If you asked me what I’ve been working some time over the past four months, there is a good chance I mentioned something about an independent study I was doing this semester and then try and explain it by mumbling something about Marshall McLuhan, communication, churches, and religion.
Well, after working the entire semester on this massive project, it is finally complete and back from the printer, and I’m going to attempt to clearly explain what it was I was trying to achieve with it.
It’s hard to believe that this school year has come to a close. I seriously have no idea where it went as it often feels like I just started at Kutztown yesterday. Tomorrow, I’m turning in my final project for the semester, that I have photographed in it’s entirety above. The project is a full hardcover book based off a Grimms Fairytale. I’m really happy with the end result and while I’m not sure it’s my favorite project I’ve ever done, I think it’s a nice representation of a style I’ve found myself growing into as of late and culmination of the various design experiments I’ve done this past year.
The book evolved slightly from my original plan, mostly in an attempt to simplify and only show what is necessary. All the watercolor and pen and ink illustrations were done by hand (something I’ve never done in a finished project before) and I’m quite proud of how they turned out. The finished book is printed on lightweight watercolor paper and bound in a hard cover. The final presentation looks really nice, if I do say so myself, and think this is a good project to finish up on.
There are some exciting things in the works for this summer and then I’ll be back at Kutztown for one more year in the Fall before I’m let loose in the design world. It’s going to be a good year.
Over the past few years, I’ve become extremely passionate about the creative process, studying about inspiration, workflow, and the habits of “successful” creatives. If I had to boil down everything I’ve learned into two ideas they would be:
The common tie between the two are obviously the parts about actually making things. The best way to get better at your craft is to just keep doing it. Every single day. I want to get better.
Today Jarrett Made is my response to learning these two things. The site serves as a challenge to myself to make something every day. That can be an illustration or a design or a photograph, a drawing or a collage. I’m free to experiment and try whatever I want; the point is to get into the habit of making stuff each day.
I don’t know how long it will last or how long I can go, but we’re going to see how this works for a while. It’s an experiment. Feel free to follow on Tumblr or RSS if you are into that sort of thing. It should be fun!
I recently finished up a quick project for my good friend Alanna Weaver. Alanna is a “photographer, aspiring style maven and world traveler from Chattanooga, TN” and needed a header for her wonderful blog.
I hand drew this header based off her name and then did a custom illustration around it. I wanted to go with something more hand-made to reflect her crafty, vintage style. I’m really happy with how it turned out and think it really fits the aesthetic of her blog.
