Our friend at Armchair Media, Aaron Byrd, has been working on his new typeface, Schoolblock®. It’s still in the works but here’s a lil taste of what he’s got cooking. As some of you might know, the design of a typeface takes awhile and it’s not something you rush. It’s like designing 26 logos and that’s not including the special characters. Schoolblock® will be available in eps format, meaning you will have to hand kern it yourself. No optical kerning for you non-designers.

It’s good to see great design coming out of Atlanta. I will post a download link for your consumption once it’s available.

Check out more here.

ATTN: I forgot to mention before that if you add Schoolblock® as a contact on Flickr, then you might just get your name designed by Aaron himself. Didn’t realize my name was so long.

Today, the StandardATL.com website relaunched with simplified navigation and the Listen Up section that I’ve been contributing to now occupies some prime real estate on the site. Bookmark the page and head over to the site often to not only find out about great gear to wear, but to stay up on music issues myself and the rest of the crew find interesting. And as always, leave comments!

The past few days, I’ve been working for Franco from XTM Online as he gears up for his big event, Exposure, on August 7th. Our line, We Are The Process, will be featured in his fashion show, as well as some of our favorite designers from Atlanta. This post isn’t really about the fashion show, per se. It’s more about one of the fundamental skills I learned while in design school that I was reminded of today. It dawned on me that this could be the proper forum to drop some knowledge on (or at least remind) a few readers on the benefits of sketching.

All too often, designers will skip the essential step of sketching. Going straight to the computer to work through all of your good and bad ideas typically leads to a generic/cold result. People forget that a freakin’ Apple computer is really just a design tool, not a way of doing things.

Usually my sketches aren’t very detailed (I like to spend more time getting the ideas out as quickly as possible), yet I still take the time to put pen to paper. Whether it is a layout challenge or a logo, you have to commit to working things out by hand before going to the computer. Sketching actually saves time in the long run!

I apologize if this post has put-off anyone. However, if you guys are into this kind of post, I have a lot more where that came from… “Logo Basics” could be a 10 part series in itself!

Last week I was fortunate enough to visit my dad and grandparents in Seattle. I was born out in the Washington state area and its always a great feeling heading back out there. I shot a lot of images of my grandparents and my father as well as some sights from my adventures around the city. If you have never been out to Seattle then I would do yourself a favor and go out there as soon as you get the chance. Its a pretty rad city with tons of stuff to do. This collection of images is just a small amount of what I shot while I was there and hopefully I will have some more for you once I get my film back from the lab. Check out my photos after the jump. Read more »

Ted and I recently added finishing tweaks and updates to Jamie Hopper’s photography portfolio site, JamieHopper.com. Head over there to check out the new interface, as well as a bunch of new Fashion and Editorial shots by one of our favorite local photographers.

Name:
GREG MIKE

Aka:  
GMIKE, GM, MR MIKE.

Website:
http://www.gregmike.com

Other projects I am involved in:
www.carpeusa.com
www.freemaven.com
www.themidnightsocialite.com
www.gmcreativegroup.com

Where are you from?
Danbury, Connecticut. (Located in southwest CT about 45 min from NYC) Only thing cool from there growing up was the DANBURY FAIR MALL and the graffiti scene.

Who do you work for? 
Primarily, I work for GM CREATIVE which is a one stop VISUAL / CREATIVE / FASHION DESIGN FIRM that I launched this past year. There are a few other projects I started in the past few years but as for those I am only involved on a creative direction and /or investment level.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
I have been spending my days handling various creative projects for clients ranging anywhere from designing and producing full fashion collections to branding and graphic / visual work. Most recently, We launched Dallas Austin’s line  “ROWDY” in LENOX MALL which is his first flagship store carrying everything from hoodies to teeshirts to accessories.

My evenings have consisted of focusing on a large series of pieces for a few ART SHOWS we will be doing this fall in ATL, SAN FRAN and NYC.  It’s consisting of 120 pieces, clothing, merch and more. Approximately 65 pieces have been completed and it’s looking like I will be finished by the mid September.  We will be launching the show details next month so stay tuned to http://www.gregmike.com for details.

Also, over the past few years, Caleb Gauge, Issac Madrid (SMUG) and I have been working on “FREEMAVEN”.  A business that is a culmination of all our areas of expertise: FASHION, MUSIC, ENTERTAINMENT and DESIGN.  We are letting it build organically and taking our time with it and have some really exciting things in store for the next few years.

Who would you love to work with?
Ron English because he’s so versatile and talented, Mike Giant because his line art and handskills are topnotch, Banksy because he’s so anonymous and genius, Zevs because he doesn’t give a fuck and Bob Ross cause he’s was so happy (R.I.P)..

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
My black hightop converse chucks, because they are forever classic and they go with anything. Big ups to ARE BERNARD at ABADABBAS for keeping the 12’s coming.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Trouble & Bass, Duck Sauce, Donnis, B.O.B, Mike Posner, 90 songs from the 1990’s thanks to LARRY @ (PROCESS) and bunch of other ATL tunes and random remixes I downloaded and never listen to anymore.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
El Myr or La Fonda, behind that it’s got to be MF SUSHI.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
My design / art studio during the day and the condo at night. Relaxing and recapping.

What are your Pet Peeves?
kids crying on airplanes, clients with past due invoices, stubborn and non-driven individuals.

Shout outs?
KTL, Caleb Gauge, Tommy Gunz, Smug, 335mm, SchoolBoy and Asher Paul, H.Sauce, Donnis, Dallas A + Rowdy, Smiles, ACNY, The Whiz Kid, Gentlemen Jim and Carpe Family, Henny B, PROCESS, The Danger Dudes, Patty & ADLT SWIM, Petey Smallz, The LoudMouth and PS+CH Crew, Cory, MDNGHT, Both sides of the FAM, special thanks and shout outs to anyone who has been down for the cause!

We’ve been invited to participate in a 1st of it’s kind fashion show on August 7th. The show will feature all Atlanta designers including our favorite party girl’s line, Megan Huntz Dresses. We’ve got something up our sleeves on this one…

“On August 7, 2009, XTM Online will unveil its official website with a fashion show to be held at the Rialto Center for the Arts. The show will highlight some of Atlanta’s finest talent in the fashion industry. Designers will include Megan Huntz, PROCESS, IMBYU, Jamie Marx, The Legendary Convertible Bertt, and Ms. Mary Mac. Reebok is the official shoe sponsor. Music Provided by KLEVER. Complimentary bar sponsored by Gerard Bertrand Wines and Ciroc Vodka.

Friday, August 7th
8 p.m.
Rialto Center for the Arts
80 Forsyth St NW.
(404) 413-9849.
TICKETS.

XTM Online was created in August 2008 as a platform to give individuals in Atlanta, and abroad, a medium in which to showcase their gifts and talents to a wider audience.” (via xtmonline)

Congrats to Eric V for submitting the winning name for our Tomahawk Girl contest. The graphic will forever be known as Maddie the Tomahawk Girl named after Braves great, Greg Maddux. The timing was perfect and we couldn’t deny the name, given that Maddux’s #31 jersey was retired over the weekend.

Other honorable mentions were:
Darrell Sabbs - Lil’ Bearfight (referencing our favorite boys night out ritual)
Chris W - Georgia (plain and simple. We loved it.)

All winners will be notified by email. Your prizes will be mailed out after that!

Also, thank you to everyone that submitted a name. They were all really good and some were hilarious. We’ll be in touch about some special things to come just for you all.

Show your support and send ATL’s finest to Lollapalooza. Right now, Rob Wonder is sitting at #3 on the list. All he needs is a few more people to sign up and vote. If he wins, everyone will drink for FREE at El Bar on a special night with Klever. All you have to do is leave a comment on his profile page after voting and you’ll be on the list!

Voting ends today. Let’s do this… VOTE HERE

Awhile back, I gave everyone a preview of some behind-the-scenes at Megan Huntz’ lastest photo shoot by Jorge Menes of EC. Well, Jorge has sent over his images and I decided that this week’s Photo Friday was an appropriate venue for debuting the new looks.

Check ‘em out after the jump. Read more »

We spent all of Wednesday on location at the studio of Atlanta photographer, Hannibal Matthews. Known for his star-studded client list, he was commissioned by XTM Online to shoot a lookbook for their fashion show, Exposure, that we’re participating in on August 7th. It’s inspiring to watch Hannibal work and we’re in love with the bang-up job he did for us and the other designers with Exposure. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his photos start to appear in our PROCESS Gallery (hint).

Name:
Franco Roberts

Aka:  
According to Cory Sontag… “Tight Pants”

Website:
xtmonline.com

Where are you from?
Born in S.Carolina, raised in Saudi Arabia and finished high school right here in GA.

Who do you work for? 
XTM, Inc.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
I’m currently working on the relaunch of XTM Online, I’ve got a full interactive website coming August 7. I’m also working on the EXPOSURE fashion show which is August 7. I think PROCESS is featuring their line in the show, but let me double check on that. I’m also working on some film projects, but you’ll hear more about that later this year. And hopefully I can graduate from GA State this year.

Who would you love to work with?
I’m currently working with a lot of the people that I wanted to work with right now with the Exposure show. If I’m not working with them right now, I have plans to work with them. Things are just moving very quickly for me. 

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
I love my black on black vans but I don’t know what I would do without my Red Olympic Dunks. 

What’s on your iPod right now?
keep a little bit of everything on my Ipod from Outkast, DMX and Common to Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, and Bloc Party. Although when I’m writing I try to listen to jazz. It helps me be a little more creative. 

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
I’ll take a slice of green olive pizza from Rosa’s any day of the week. If you don’t know where it is don’t worry about it. The lines are already long enough. Oh yeah, I can’t forget about Papi’s on Ponce. 

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Home!!!  I really don’t go out much. 

What are your Pet Peeves?
People that play games. If I wanted to play a game I would pick up a joy stick.  

Shout outs?
What up “B”,  XTM Crew,  Eric, Cory Sontag, Mary, Serious Ron, No Brakes, Standard Crew, Street Local, Shih, EC/PROCESS, IMBYU, MNDFRM, SOLE Crew, Wish Crew, Phonz, and everyone that’s showed support.

Rob Wonder remixed Passion Pit’s The Reeling for Lollapalooza’s Last Band Standing contest. The artist with the most fan votes will be invited to play the festival in Chicago’s Grant Park this summer.

Rob asked us to put together some cover art for the track and he uploaded it to his contestant profile here. Please go to the following link to hear the track and take 2 minutes to vote for him. You can vote once a day, until the contest ends on the 20th, so make sure you do the right thing to send some ATL steeze up to Chicago. You know he’s gonna show the world how to hold it down Atlanta style…

If you’re one of those people that’s always talking about how “Atlanta needs to come together, work together and get on the national radar some more”, you need to do your part right now. Rob will represent.

Vote to send Rob Wonder to Lollapalooza

Meet Shane Smallz & Myk Pate. These dudes are some of our favorite people to hang out with when we’re in Charlotte. They also make it down to the A often, so get familiar! They were recently featured in a Creative Loafing blog called Who Shot Ya.

We intentionally gave our Tomahawk Girl graphic a generic name because we want our crew/readers/fans to come up with a name for her. The direction of the brand is ultimately dictated by you. So, come up with something clever and email your ideas to and we’ll choose a winner on Monday the 20th of July.

Not only will the winner receive creative bragging rights, but they’ll also win 3 Process tees (including the newly-named Tomahawk Girl tee), a cap, stickers, and additional goodies.

EC blog readers: Leaving a comment on this blog post counts as a submission as well. Happy naming!

Listen to Cartel’s new single, Let’s Go, on absolutepunk.net right now. The song from their new album, Cycles, hits iTunes on the 28th, but be one of the first to hear these hometown heroes right now!

This week I bring to you a pretty interesting story. Guillaume and Remi were recently the winners of the Grand Prix du Photoreportage Etudiant which is a pretty big photojournalism contest put on by Paris-Match, a French magazine. Their essay depicted the trials and tribulations of students and the things they need to do to survive. The images make for a really interesting photo essay except for one small thing… they were all staged! That’s right, all the images from the award winning photo essay by the two students were all staged by the two which they revealed at the award ceremony. After looking at the images from the previous years winners the previous years the two art students thought the images looked more like vacation photos than photojournalism. They did it to prove to everyone that the styles used so often in most photojournalism work could be staged and still have the same effect. The images are pretty awesome and to know that they are all staged makes me wonder about what other photos that you see in the newspaper and in other news sources are staged too. If you can read french you can check out the story here or check out more after the jump. Read more »

Up and coming ATL artist, Kam Parker, sent in these pics of himself rocking his Dirty Octopi tee from our PROCESS collection. Download his super-soulful track, VIP, on iTunes.

Name:
Christos Meli

Aka:
I don’t really have one.

Website:
feralpartykids.com

Where are you from?
Originally Athens, Greece. But I’ve lived everywhere from Montreal to Los Angeles.

Who do you work for?
Myself

What are your Current Project(s)?
My website, and my linens company.

Who would you love to work with?
I would like to work with Sebastien Tellier, Daft Punk, and Busy P.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
That’s a hard question ummmmm either my Wu-tang dunks or my McFlys.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Way too much junk. I need to re-organize it.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
ummm don’t have one yet. But here in CLT, its been Soul lately.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
I need to get my ass down there don’t I. In QC, The Forum and my pool. I spend a lot of time poolside.

What are your Pet Peeves?
Guido’s, people moving shit on me (I hate that I’m so OCD), cold food, and fat chicks.

Shout outs?
Kris (Money For Sluts), Shane (Stranger Day), Lord Walrus, Gumby, Eric Pliner for Dharma, Bobby at Niche, Kevin Mitchell at The Forum, Cory (King Alga), Rolling Stone Magazine, HypeM.com, Cody of TADT, Virgina Pizzi, Shaun Robertson, Prince Presto, Cristo Disco, and the people who support my website.

A lil’ glimpse into the future…