Chris Blanc: Play and Projects: Blog

Purple House, LLC — a brand-conscious design firm

Detroit graphic artist Steve Noxon has launched his new design firm, Purple House, LLC. Specializing in branding and enhancing brand value while providing branded identity in design, the firm gathers talented and experienced graphic designers and uses them to study a client’s brand strategy in order to begin the brand-conscious design process. The result is graphic design that not only visually supports the brand, but seems a natural extension of it.

Steve is an art director and graphic designer with a great deal of experience in high-profile projects. Where he shines is in practical and visually compelling results for his clients. Steve has the skills to make projects beautiful and interfaces excellent. It’s not just diligent attention to detail — lots of designers can do that — but the ability to integrate all of those details into a single functional entity, like a language.

I’ve known Steve for over a decade. His style of graphic design straddles the line between product design and visual art. It reminds me of the work of Steve Jobs, who while no longer with us, lives on through a legacy of revolutionary streamlined product design. That legacy is the idea that design should be like a language, as simple as possible, and every aspect should work with every other toward an overall experience that is not just functional, but pleasant. I’ve seen Steve Noxon do this to interfaces which started out jumbled and ended up like an iPod: simple, intuitive and a joy to use.

He is also a master of branded visual design. He will study a client and their business, talk to their employees and clients, and walk away with a thorough understanding of what they do and how they must present it to succeed. He comes back with sharp designs that are both simple and precisely targeted to the client’s need. It’s no surprise that a collaboration like Purple House is turning heads on both coasts.

It’s going to be great to watch Steve and Purple House, LLC, as this new firm thrives in the up-and-coming market of branded design.

Click here on Thursday, September 6, for a live performance by Owen Plant and friends.

An old buddy and mentor, Mark Rice, and his friend, Carter Wallace, have had a radio show on KPFK, the Pacifica station in Los Angeles.

Their topic is food, specifically sustainable local gardening. With minimal resources and an amazing community they have built up a following. Among our guests have been Dr. Vandana Shiva, Raj Patal, and numerous local heroes championing local sustainably grown food.

The show airs during the summer at 3 p.m. PST on KPFK 90.7 or online.

• Listen Live
• Show Archives (Today’s episode)
• Website: Pasadena Learning Gardens
• Facebook page
• Twitter account

Check them out. Mark Rice is one of the more inspirational people I’ve met, and if he’s put his mind to food, he’s surely reforming it to a better place.

You’re going to need kleenex — a story of great fears faced, and triumph pulled from the jaws of disaster:

On my first day of chemo, just as I was finishing, I heard the sound of a loud, ringing bell and the cheers and applause echoing through the halls. “What is that?” I asked the nurse. Smiling, she told me, “Someone’s just completed their last round of chemo, when that happens we have a celebration and you ring the bell. When you finish, you too will ring the bell.”

This is the lady who officiated at our wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony. She is a beautiful person, in the homegrown and authentic way. I am glad she’s still with us and celebrate her triumph with a raised mug of green tea.

Talented and intelligent folk/reggae musician Owen Plant is releasing a brand new CD, that he’s been pouring his heart and soul into. He promised it will have a “kinda a mellow folky sound perfect for Summer.”

If you want to help him visualize his dream, you can reserve a copy with a donation to cover production costs.

Also this summer…

Owen will be on the Vans Warped Tour. Come see him on the Acoustic basement Stage from July 5 ’til August 5, winding through the USA and Canada.

www.OwenPlant.net

I’ve made available a mix by Jason Lamport, which you can and should download here.

This style of music — mixing together different tracks to create a continuous ambient experience — was popular in the middle 1990s and is still practiced by diehards. In particular, I’d like to thank Lara Schneider for her contributions, and Shepherd Griffin for providing the archive. You can listen to Lara’s music on that page; I recommend this hymn to the dark goddess.

I knew this man was a fantastic guitarist, and it’s interesting to see where he takes it. Check his tunes out here:

http://www.myspace.com/gransassoband