Card 31 | (Ruby) Ellen Lupton

Ellen Lupton, author of Thinking With Type, and other typography reference books, enlightened us with a wonderful keynote speech at the DSVC Conference in 2006. I spoke with her after her book signing, and she was very interested in this project. She commissioned her daughter, Ruby, to write my name for this book.

Card 30 | John Bielenberg

After meeting John Bielenberg a couple times at AIGA events and conferences, he exclaimed to me, “Every time I come to Texas, I see YOU.” As the creator of Project M, John spends parts of his summers in different parts of the world holding design workshops for students and young creatives.

Some of these cards from the summer were forwarded to Houston when I was teaching color guard on a national summer tour with a drum corps from San Antonio. (That is why there are remains from a forwarding sticker.)

Card 29 | Ron Bowdoin

Also from the mighty Shoehorn Design of Austin, TX, (at the time in 2005) Ron will always be permanently associated with basil. This is due to the fact that when I was interning there, he ate, grew, and spoke about it constantly. Ron also sent me this card with some of the best words I have heard in a long time, and I would expect him to do so, because he’s always been good with phrases and wit.

Card 28 | Nick Glenn

As a colleague, friend, and fellow AIGA Student Group officer, Nick went above and beyond when designing a card for my book. He had to hand it to me in person, and I’ve been taking good care of it on my messy computer desk. I was lucky to have photographer Dennis Fagan of Austin, TX, shoot a very nice image of Nick’s 3D art.

Card 27 | Nigel Holmes

Always dressed in blue, from head to toe, Nigel Holmes was easy to spot when I picked him up from the airport in 2005. As his personal ‘speaker buddy’ , I made sure he got from here to there during the Creative Summit weekend. Originally from England, Nigel makes the east coast his home and does phenomenal informational graphics. He also has a huge obsession with cheese, and even informed us during his presentation that while digesting, cheese somehow releases a chemical or substance that makes us happy. He also thanked me for being a wonderful ‘student driver’, but it sounded like I was practicing for my driving test. At least he sent me a free signed copy of his book, Wordless Diagrams, which is now available at Amazon.com.




Check out Nigel and his amazing graphics here.

Card 26 | Christian Helms

What more is there to say about Christian Helms? I’ve actually met him at many conferences and AIGA events around Texas, and he was kind enough to take the time to look at my portfolio when I was fresh out of school and give me some great pointers. For those who don’t know, this ‘teenage witch’ character (Melissa Joan Hart) is actually sitting on a Chevy Vega. My dad pointed this out to me one day because apparently he used to drive one.

See more of Christian and The Decoder Ring here.

Card 25 | Casey McGarr

Another great letter pressed card comes from Casey McGarr of Dallas, TX. Like most people I met from Dallas, I talked briefly with Casey about this project while at the DSVC Conference in 2006. This card is interesting because you can actually feel the indention that the letterpress machine actually makes on the paper.