Changethethought

I have been interviewed recently by several publications including Pilot Magazine in New Zealand, .PSD Magazine and an interview with Advanced Photoshop UK that hit the newstands today. Being interviewed is always interesting in my case because since I have been so open about my political beliefs on the site, I am often asked questions that I don’t think a lot of other designers would be asked. Inevitably the discussion always shifts away from design and into ideas about the future and where exactly civilization is going. It’s hard for me to talk about what I do without talking about how I see the bigger picture influencing my work. One thing I always hate talking about is style. I always feel like there is this urgent need to be able to pigeon hole designers and artists into a neat little definable genre. I like to experiment a lot and never really settle on any discernable style. I feel like the digital age offers up that opportunity now and I like to take advantage of that.

Anyway, those are some of the things discussed in my recent interviews. If you would like to read my interview with Advanced Photoshop UK, you can do so by downloading a low-res PDF of the interview here.

I also put a couple new poster designs in the print section of the site that you can check out. You can read more about them there as well. There is one in there for all of you fellow Helvetica lovers. There are lots of things going on in my life right now. Stay tuned. I promise you posters will be printed soon. This whole blog thing along with a fulltime job are really pulling me at both ends. It’s been difficult to stay on top of it all lately. I am going back into classes for acting next week as well. So, there are lots of things happening. You gotta live while you can.

written by Christopher | tags: Advanced Photoshop Magazine, Changethethought Posters, Ctt News, Poster

I created yet one more pack of free posters as a creative alternative to the existing posters. This set comes with a version at 8.5 x 11 so it is even more ‘at home’ printer friendly. It is also available in both 11×17 and 24×36. In all honesty these were created because I was experimenting with a new style of vector illustration and a poster came out of that experimentation. I thought I might as well offer it up to anyone who might like to use it to promote Obama. I created this at the same time as the commemoritive poster but decided to go with the look and feel for the commemoritive poster versus this style. It’s a bit more of a characatur than previous images. The image does translate well from a distance though.

As always you can download all of the files in the Obama section and use at your discression (so long as you do not intend to sell them).

I am in the process of gathering price quotes for the printing of the large scale commemoritive poster, so it should be available for sale within the next 3 weeks.

written by Christopher | tags: Barack Obama, Changethethought, Ctt News, Free Obama Posters

I just wanted to note that the reason for the decreased amount of entries over the last few days is because of my absence from the United States. I am currently lounging by the pool at the San Carlos Plaza Hotel in San Carlos, Mexico (you can see it on the coastline in the distance in the picture above). It is absolutely beautiful here. My brother-in-law’s wife’s father owns the hotel and it is a real tropical paradise. I went fishing on a yacht in the Sea of Cortez yesterday and have been on a steady diet of seafood and mojitos now for about 2 days straight. It has been great to unwind. The blog has been kicking my ass lately and wearing me out, so it has been nice to take a little break.

I will be back in the saddle on Wednesday so expect the regular amount of entries later this week.

Viva la Mexico.

written by Christopher | tags: Ctt News, Mexico, San Carlos Plaza Hotel, vacation

Alright, so the fateful time has finally drawn near where it is time to actually print some of the posters I have created over the last several months. I have my quotes in for the first 7 posters. All of the posters (minus the Iso Series posters commemorating the isometric paper system) will be printed on A3 size paper. A3 is pretty close to 11×17. All of the posters will be printed on 100lb stock paper, some on white others on natural tone. Since they aren’t really large posters, they will be fairly inexpensive. The cost per poster will probably be in the 15-20 dollar range and I will be able to ship overseas, which makes it a pretty good deal if you are not subjugated to the sinking dollar like we are here in the states.

The question is, and I am having trouble with this myself so I am asking you, which ones do I print first? I will only be doing 7 at first and depending on how well the first series goes, I will be printing more in the fall. Which posters would you buy? Which posters do you like? Let me know with your comments or send me an email. I will be printing the ‘We Not Me’ poster for sure because there has been a really high volume of emails requesting that particular poster. Outside of that, they are all fair game. Please help me decide. I value your opinion as readers and you, after all, are my audience. If you frequent the blog often and enjoy the work I do, now is your chance to help determine what you would like to own for yourself. If you need a memory refresher, the posters are all listed in the PRINT section of the website.

Thank you so much in advance for reading the blog and supporting the site.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

I wanted to officially put out a notice that I am currently seeking new opportunities. I realize immediately that sounds vague, so let me explain. I am currently looking for several things. I am seeking representation artistically. I would like to gain representation to help me better access freelance projects for both my design and illustration work. With that said I am also actively seeking freelance work at this time. I want to emphasize that the work on this website, all filed under the ‘WORK’ section and subsections was all created by me (Christopher Cox) individually and no one else. So, if you feel you may have a project suitable for me but would like to see my capabilities you can find a good cross section of my work in the work section of the site. I have no real discernable style but consider myself a bit of a renaissance man in that regard. I feel comfortable working in whatever style best suits the unique considerations of the project. If you would like to see something more in a specific style I would be happy to send samples, if available, that are not currently on the site. I am fully capable in creating motion boards, digital illustration, typography, branding, logo development, design for apparel (t-shirt art), posters, comps for websites and providing concepts for television commercials. I am willing and happy to work for or with clients both in the United States and overseas.

In the very near future, because the site is growing so rapidly in audience and content, I will most likely have to move the site to a new host and server. So I am seeking hosting sponsorship along with potential advertising on and for the site. If you or anyone you know are interested in this please contact me.

In the near future I will be printing several posters and I am also looking for good printers for that project as well. I will be printing both digitally on heavy stock paper and screen printing. So for those of you that have been requesting posters, there will be several available before the summer is out.

If you would like to contact me regarding representation, a creative project, or are interested in advertising on the site please contact me via the contact section. Thank you so much for your support and for visiting the site. It’s been a fascinating sociological experiment and it has been great sharing with and engaging with you all on a daily basis. It has been a real growing experience and it will continue to be. Changethethought is only just beginning.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Seeking Opportunity

I created two more Changethethought ‘message’ posters last week. I wanted to try to create something timeless, yet stylish that looks as though it could either be current or could have been created years back. The font is entirely custom. It is a variant of the font I created for the Barack Obama posters that some people loved and others hated. I have since refined the font greatly to make it my own.

These posters will most likely be silkscreened on heavy paper, natural tone stock for the chocolate poster and white for the lime poster. I have been receiving a lot of emails lately requesting posters. I have not printed any officially yet but there should be some available near the end of this summer. I will let everyone know when they are in the storefront.

It’s been great just working with pure typography again lately. I almost forgot how much I love type. I have a new image series in the works however and that will be on the site sometime in the next few weeks. Lots of things going on. Stay tuned.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

Well, I pulled a fast one and deleted a poster I created yesterday because I just didn’t like how it came out. This is another one I had been working on, off and on for a while. I finished it up to my satisfaction today and thought I would give it a post. You can view it along with all the other posters in the print section. As I said in the post I deleted, I have also put a bunch of my past type treatments in the type section as well.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

The very kind and true purveyor of all things creative, Matthew Newton interviewed me this week for his ‘Made You Look’ column. It is a pretty long interview actually because anyone who knows me knows that I can be a bit of a rambler once you pull my string. He did a great job at getting across my personality though and I was able to answer some pretty fundamental questions about my ethos and established philosophy. I really appreciated him asking me to interview and please visit, not just to read my interview, but to support Matthew and his website because he is building a great interview archive there. Even if you are not a fan of my work, I can guarantee he has interviewed someone that you are interested in and would like to find out more about.

Thank you again Matt. You can read the interview here.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Made You Look, Matthew Newton

Well, there has been some debate and backlash over the poster I created for Buckminster Fuller sharing some similarities to the work of Scott Hansen AKA ISO50. Scott’s work has always been a huge influence on me and my work. A lot of his imagery has been burned into my memory and I think is buried pretty deeply in my subconscious. A user left a comment today linking to the poster above comparing it to my own and I admit there are definitely some similarities. The embarrassing thing is, I hadn’t even seen that particular poster by ISO50 in quite a while.

I had an idea already in my mind of how I wanted to lay the Fuller poster out beforehand and I didn’t really know where I got the idea. It was just in my head. I used the strong diagonal lines as well to give the poster a forward direction to kind of help communicate the ‘progress’ Fuller stood for and also emphasize his upward gaze.

I have always liked the way Scott annotates his posters as well and I have started trying to do something similar on some of my recent posters by kind of signing off on them and numbering them in some way. It wasn’t until I saw the poster Hansen had done that I realized how close I was getting to the way he had done it on some of his own posters.

So, I am going to answer the call and do something totally different. I will pull the poster down and do an entirely new one sometime this week or later this week. When I am finished I will post the new one and you can have at it and see what you think. I am going to use the same vector image of Fuller along with the same colorway. I’ll just do a totally different layout. Then you can fire away and see what you think.

I just wanted to address this directly and nip it in the bud. I thought that would be the best way to handle it. I didn’t want to leave it out there for people to stew upon. I know how angry designers can get over things like this.

written by Christopher | tags: Buckminster Fuller, Changethethought, Ctt News, Iso50

I bet you didn’t think it was possible for me to create even more posters did you? Well, think again. There are yet even more in the PRINT section of the site and I am adding one at the rate of about one a week to every two weeks. I will be gathering price quotes later this month on printing and should have some in the store late this summer. I am looking into metallics, varnishes and potentially fluorescents. Should be a little something to love for every design nerd. Don’t take offense to that statement by the way, I am probably the biggest one of all. I have been experimenting with all manner of illustration style and typography. I am trying to really take one each poster individually and do something unique for each. There is a little more Brazilian love in there too since the love of my life is Brazilian. I will be going there again later this summer as well. I am ready now. I could really use a vacation.

There will also be a digital downloads section in my storefront later this year that will offer up, for a very low price, bundles of the vector art I have amassed and categorized over the last decade. I am also planning on offering up store space to my other bloggers, so there may be some of their tees, posters etc. available in the store later this year as well.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

If you have yet to notice, I have updated my personal work section on the site with a whole bunch of shiny new candy. Specifically, there is new work in both the Print and Illustration sections. You may have seen some of the images recently on FFFFound. Someone over there has been picking up what I have been laying down. I have plans to start printing and selling posters to beef up the online store this summer as well, and you can see a preview of what will be available in the Print section. I will also be adding a digital download section to my store where you can buy and download all the vector madness I have created over the last few years to create the some 10 million t-shirts I have made in the last several years. I have amassed quite a library of vectors over the last decade and I think they could be put to good use by other people out there now. I will also be potentially adding merchandise from other friends and Editors on the site over this summer into next fall as well. The store will be getting a much needed makeover later this year as well. There are all kinds of plans in the works.  I will be adding an author soon as well who will be writing more about independent film and short films.

If you have any suggestions for the blog, or you feel we are missing something that you would like to see more of, please leave a comment after this post or send me an email. Thanks again to all of you reading regularly, I am working day and night to keep searching for new and better content. I know you have voracious appetites.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News

I just wanted to thank each and every one of you out there that has been linking back to the site. The traffic has quadrupled since I started the blog in January. I have had people coming from various community blogs at Barack Obama’s website because of the posters I did for his campaign. Texans for Obama were also very supportive. People have really responded to the creative I have generated to support his campaign and that is really exiting. I did that work out of a sincere desire to show my support for Obama. An amazing website called Stumble Upon has been almost single-handedly responsible for a gigantic amount of traffic. One of my favorite design blogs of all time, Computerlove was also kind enough to grant me a link. The Denver Egotist has also been very supportive of my endeavors. Joyengine has had my back from day one as well and I can’t thank all the guys over there enough for all of their support. Because We Like To has also been very supportive and was another nice little local Denver, now Minneapolis blog run by two good friends who are also amazingly talented designers. Josh Spear has really helped me out as well and offered me some key advice that helped me make the final decision to get the current version of the site online. Design You Trust was also kind enough to post a link. I also have had a couple images floating around FFFFound lately which was exiting since I check that site religiously. Thank you as well to all of the other smaller blogs that have linked my site as well, there are too many to list and if I tried I wouldn’t want to forget any. So in the interest of diplomacy, I just want to thank all of you who have your own blog and have still found enough inspiration here to link back to. Thank you sincerely. I mean it. This is a community and it wouldn’t exist without you.

Lastly I really want to thank Aaron and Matt who have been kind enough to start posting to the site. They are both incredibly talented designers and I can’t believe they are blogging on my website. Thank you so much guys. If you haven’t seen there work, you can read their bios now in the about section. Be sure to check out their individual websites because they are both incredibly talented designers.

Thank you in advance to my future bloggers as well. I have had a good response to the call for bloggers and am considering it closed for now. I will be selectively inviting more bloggers in the near future, so more will be added, but I think we have enough to get off the ground now.
Running a website like this, and I have had this site online for close to 6 years now, is a difficult thing. I haven’t exactly profited from it, but I have committed to it out of my sincere love of all things design and the desire to share that love with others. The global design community just keeps growing and blogs are a fascinating aspect of that social phenomenon. There is just so much out there to be inspired by that there really is something design-related for practically everyone now. You can really see design infiltrating mainstream culture right now on many levels and that is really exiting. Lets just hope we can all come together and find a way to use it to make a change for the better.

Thanks again for all of your support and keep checking the site because this is only the end of the beginning.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News

Well, since this is still my blog to some extent, I feel like this is a proper place to air my intentions. I had an epiphany last night and I woke up this morning in a different state of mind. I realized I have been trend whoring much too much lately and I need to slow down a little. I need to find my center if you will. I spend so much time, for obvious reasons when referencing the blog, looking at the up-to-the-moment trendy work that is out there and I allow it to over influence my thinking.

What it has left me with is no real definable identity. For a while I thought this could be a mark of pride, but I am not so sure about that anymore. What I feel I am missing and craving is just pure old fashioned good design. Good typography, good use of space versus negative space, clean lines, simplicity and form following function. The designers I really admire tend to really know who they are and commit, in some sense, to their identity. Scott Hansen is one who comes to top of mind quickly. His work at Iso50 is just all around well designed. Some of it is trendy, but it is all well designed. The ‘good design’ aspect of his work is what will make his work a reference point for years to come while the trend whores will most likely fall off the map. It is as though he holds up a measuring stick to all his work and asks, “alright, this is done, but is it well designed?”

I haven’t been doing this, what I have been asking myself too much is, “alright I am finished, is this cool?” Cool comes and goes and changes as a matter of perspective. Good design has staying power. So, it’s time to clear out my attic a little bit and start self-editing. I am going to commit to this statement of purpose starting today and start holding up that measuring stick to my work. Don’t worry, I will still be attracted to bright colors, and I think you will still see a lot of my identity in the work, but I am going to put more controls on what I produce. I think ‘better design’ will resonate with more people than just producing heaps and heaps of ‘cool stuff’. Hopefully I will begin to find myself in the process as well and there will be more clarity in my work. Don’t worry about the site either, that is staying for a while as well. I do actually think the site, although it is trendy, is still far better designed than 90% of the awful looking sites and blogs that are out there at the moment.

I will most likely start with a series of posters, similar to Scott Hansen that you will see on the site sometime over the next few months and move out from there. Please don’t mistake me, I will not be ripping off anything Scott designs, I am just going to follow a bit of his ethos, focus on doing only a few things, but do those things very very well. I know this will take time. If you have an opinion about my epiphany, leave me a comment or contact me via the contact section.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Personal