Out for a Stroll.

This image is part of an in-progress series I've been working on in my free time for a while now. I just decided to share one because they've been fun to make and they are totally different from much of my work. Click the image to view full size.

Coldfront Redesign

I recently completed a website design for online poetry purveyors Coldfront. I began by designing their logo, using a decorative cloud element from their previous site as the primary image. Then we embarked on the task of designing a website that would include an ambitious front page that would feature a multi-tiered magazine-style layout. As always, I chose Wordpress as the platform with which to power the site and customize its appearance. The Coldfront editors have yet to migrate the entirety of their content to the new site, but I hope you'll stop by and take a look at the results of our hard work!

And of course, if you're in the market for a new website or blog, please send an email to dan at magnetic state dot com!

'The Bear' Shirt

Check out the shirt I designed for my friends in Stephen Kellogg and The Sixers. Their new album The Bear is due out in early September.

Photo by Elmo Thamm.

Here's the design triumphantly emblazoned on the bass drum of Brian 'Boots' Factor. Many thanks, gentlemen!

Handmade Promotional Mailers

Here is my recently completed series of six handmade promotional mailers for Magnetic State. They are due to be shipped out to former and potential clients this week. Each one is unique. They were fun to make and I hope it shows!

Attention: Artists

Do you need to get your portfolio online or upgrade your web presence? I'd like to build your site - and at a very low price. I've been building websites for the last year (mostly Wordpress-based blog/magazine sites like the one I built at www.fivechapters.com) but I'd like to begin building portfolio sites (view the one I built for my own work at www.magneticstate.com). My goal is to build simple, professional sites with intelligent navigation and a layout that makes your work shine. Take advantage of my cheap rates while they last and drop me a line at dan@magneticstate.com.

Five Chapters Redesign

Five Chapters logo by Magnetic State

I am pleased to announce my redesign of literary website Five Chapters! I was asked to design the logo (shown above) and redesign the site, and the results went live at www.fivechapters.com over the weekend. Five Chapters is an online magazine that publishes a new short story in five parts each week. As a fledgling fiction writer myself as well as a fan of many of the authors featured on Five Chapters (including John Cheever and Jay McInerney), I found this project to be an exciting challenge. I am quite happy with the results, and in the spirit of President Obama's fondness for transparency, I thought I'd discuss some of the work and share a few of the logo designs that didn't make the cut.

I began the project with the logo design; below are two of my favorites from the rejected concepts (I especially like the 'bookmark' concept). Five Chapters editor David Daley gave me his initial brief on the nature of the site's identity: it combines a 19th century reading format (serialized fiction) with a modern one (online publishing). This was an inspiring starting point that led to lots of research and some interesting results (like the old-style printer's ornament adorning the second logo below), but eventually, we began to feel hampered by it, and chose our final logo, whose primary functions are aesthetic and visual rather than conceptual.

Two unused logo designs.

The previous version of the website (see below), was abrasively colored, contained the site's name in the header but had no logo, and contained only one way to access the site's archives.

Old site.

To power the new site, I chose the extraordinarily powerful content management system Wordpress and designed a custom theme to control the appearance of the site. I modernized the site by equipping it with access to the Five Chapters RSS feed, and added alphabetized menus for the archives, which are now categorized by story and author. Finally, I extended the Five Chapters brand by revising the 'about' blurb, making it the first thing visitors see in the sidebar, and then embedding the new logo in the header and background. The 'bookmark' concept from our rejected logos can now be seen in the favicon.

New site!

So visit Five Chapters and read today's chapter or a full story. There's enough free fiction on this site to entertain us all until the next century. There's even a story about my 'hood Greenpoint!

Visit www.fivechapters.com

New Winterfresh Scent!

The brand-spanking-new version of www.magneticstate.com is online! Now with %100 more newness! Now available in winterfresh scent!*

Please stop by and have a look at the work. I built the site myself, and I hope anyone who needs a website will get in touch! I especially encourage artists/photographers/balloon-tyers who need their portfolios online to contact me at dan@magneticstate.com. And, of course, you should get in touch if you need a logo/t-shirt/poster design for your band/company/diabolical invention. Thanks and Happy New Year!

Also, if you haven't read them yet, here are the two most-read Magnet Cat posts of 2008: 'Great Design in Music Now,' and 'The Best of Thrash Metal Cover Art.'

*Does not apply in certain parts of most parts of everywhere.

Proof Pudding

They say the proof is in the pudding, and now you can get both online. My good friend Scott and I have collaborated on his new food blog, Proof Pudding. I designed the logo and the website (with Wordpress). Visit the blog and leave a comment!

Ween Designs!

So I came into contact with the mighty Ween recently and they were kind enough to consider four t-shirt designs that I pitched to them. Unfortunately, they did not decide to print any. Here are two of the four designs (click images to enlarge). For those of you who are not initiated Ween fans like the rest of us, here are three very brown facts about the band: that toothy face you see below is The Boognish (Ween's logo/mascot), the band's debut album is titled GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, and Ween's favorite adjective is 'brown' (carrying connotations of 'cool,' 'chocolate,' and 'shitty'). Thanks to Ween. Stay brown.

Design #1 'God Ween Satan'





Design #2 'The Ween Trinity'

Werewolf Sale

'The Party Werewolf' shirt by Magnetic State is on sale for only $8.99! Everybody knows that the economy blows and everything's on sale this year. Celebrate by taking advantage of this great deal before these shirts are gone!

New Web Design

I'm happy to announce the launch of www.kimandteo.com, built and designed by yours truly. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Please contact me if you or anyone you know is in need of a website. Artists - need your portfolio online? Drop me a line!

New Shirt

Today I added this new shirt for Judge Roy Bean to the Magnetic State portfolio. It's currently available for sale at the band's shows. Click the design view to enlarge!

Monuments at Union Pool 11/13

Here's a flyer I made for my good friends in Monuments. Click the image to enlarge.