(Washington, DC – July Seaberry Design, a Washington, DC-based graphic design and communications firm, is expanding services to Dallas, TX in an exclusive partnership with Foote Communications LLC.

The partnership is part of Seaberry Design’s goal to establish itself as a one-stop source for providing private companies and government contractors a full suite of services, from graphic design and corporate branding, to public relations, media planning and strategy.

Seaberry Design, founded in 2007, is led by executives, Monica Seaberry and Toren Beasley, who have more than 25 years of experience in design and marketing. The firm specializes in creative and innovative design solutions. Its impressive list of clients includes the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Institutes for Health, The Adolphe Group and The CIDRZ Foundation.

Foote Communications is a three-year-old firm, founded by veteran media executive Neil Foote, whose has worked with such major clients as nationally syndicated media personality and philanthropist Tom Joyner, J. Anthony Brown and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation.

Seaberry Design was honored to be chosen to produce the visual theme for this momentous occasion. Come and enjoy the reception, entertainment and auction for a great cause. We hope to see you there!

Where:Aloft Washington National Harbor
156 Waterfront Street
When:Saturday May 1, 2010
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Proceeds benefit:
Art Creation Foundation for Children www.artforhatianchildren.org
Institute of Grace Haiti
www.instituteofgrace.org

copyright 2010 Seaberry Graphic Design & Communications

History is clear; from the early Egyptian hieroglyphs to original symbols designed by today’s graphic designers, icons are the cornerstones of communication. Professionally designed icons are a great way to enhance your proposals and other documents.

Seaberry Design Tips:

Icons are a valuable tool: Icons are useful for conveying information through a common “visual language” that can be understood regardless of one’s native language or degree of literacy.

Use icons to reinforce text: One important element of winning communications is the instant understanding of ideas and processes that graphics provide. Icons have the unique ability to stand alone in communicating an idea or to provide visual reinforcement for accompanying text.

Use icons instead of Bullets: Replace bullets with icons to double the impact of the bulleted text.

Courtesy designhistory.org

Courtesy designhistory.org

As always…Looking for something interesting in Graphic design. We found a site put together by Nancy Stock-Allen, who herself says she has been around pre-computer and even ordered metal type for her first project. Nancy’s site is Design History and the content, though directed to her students is useful to us all. Here is her take on the history of posters.

This and photo from MOMA.org:
Escaping to New York after the start of World War II, Mondrian delighted in the city’s architecture, and, an adept dancer, was fascinated by American jazz, particularly boogie–woogie. He saw the syncopated beat, irreverent approach to melody, and improvisational aesthetic of boogie–woogie as akin to his own “destruction of natural appearance; and construction through continuous opposition of pure means—dynamic rhythm.” Bands of stuttering chromatic pulses, paths of red, yellow, and blue interrupted by light gray suggest the city’s grid and the movement of traffic, while the staccato vibration of colors evokes the syncopation of jazz and the blinking electric lights of Broadway. Listen to the audio.

From Miro's Bleu Series

This from the Museum of Modern Art
Reflecting upon the recent exhibition Joan Miro: Painting and Anti-Painting 1927-1937, this lecture explores the profound influence that Miro’s unconventional painting, collage, and assemblage techniques have had on graphic design in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Celebrated American graphic designer Paul Rand, for example, consistently utilized Miro’s oeuvre as a point of departure for creative design assignments for students. Through a comparison of Miro’s works with those of Rand and other designers, this lecture considers how Miro’s revolutionary approach effectively altered the formal language of communication design. Listen to the audio

Lecturer Marianne Eggler, (MPhil, The Graduate Center, City University of New York) is a historian of art, architecture, and design. She is completing her doctorate at The Graduate Center and is currently a lecturer at Parsons The New School of Design, CUNY John Jay College, and The Museum of Modern Art.

Auctioneer Henry Wyndam sells the sculpture 'Walking Man I' or 'L'Homme qui marche I', by Alberto Giacometti, at Sotheby's auction rooms in London, Wednesday Feb. 3, 2010. The life-size bronze sculpture of a man by Alberto Giacometti was sold at the London auction for 65 million pounds (US$104 million). Sotheby's says the sale set a world record for the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. The auction house said Wednesday it took just eight minutes for bidders to reach the hammer price for the item. AP Photo / Anthony Devlin.

According to art daily this shatters the record set by Pablo Picasso’s Garcon a la Pipe. It says a lot tha art can still command a fair price in this economy. There’s hope for painters, photographers and sculptors everywere. Maybe even for designers. After we’re gone will our work command millions of dollars. I know we all have work in our studios that’s just waiting to hit Sothebys. Well now just might be the time to dust it off.

from the homepage of Capital Youth Empowerment Program

I went to a fundraiser for this incredible program ( Capital Youth Empowerment Program) aimed at serving fatherless homes. Their Mission statement:

CYEP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the Northern Virginia area with a Fatherhood and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. Our organization was founded to address and develop solutions to the issue of the fatherless home and to enhance the lives of youth through education, career planning and development. CYEP will combine the resources of government, corporations, and community organizations to unite families, and empower children to reach their full potential.

Just one of their programs:

Fathers in Touch
The fatherhood program FIT was developed to address the problem of the fatherless home epidemic that plagues our communities. The program’s core objective is to help develop committed, responsible fathers who establish values for their children and provide a nurturing environment for their family. It is composed of a 12 week parenting class that uses the 24/7TM Dad curriculum. Three supervised visitation activities are included throughout the program to promote strong relationships between fathers and their children. The program is a FREE resource for fathers, mothers, and children. It is designed to educate and empower fathers, support mothers, and enable children to develop strong self esteem, family identity, and values.

Design some love.

Home page image from do1thing.org

Watching the world come together in response to the devastation in Haiti is an awesome reminder of humanity’s good works in times of great need. It’s also a reminder that we need to be committed to good works at home. beneath the roaring call of mega disasters like Haiti’s earthquake, is the quiet but steady drone of suffering, loneliness and need here at home.

Please answer the call and Do1Thing. These are photographers, designers and artists committed to helping homeless youth. Their story is at do1thing.org