Earlier this year I was approached by Dr. Judene Benoit with an interesting project. She had just written a book on natural cavity prevention and remineralization, and needed a cover designed for it. I had never designed something book related of a medical non-fiction nature and it presented some unique challenges.

The obvious design quandary was how to stay within the usual medical realm (which is traditionally dull and features a standard author pic), so as to not alienate industry professionals, while at the same time keeping it fresh. Another target demographic of the book slants towards the younger, total health philosophy crowd, which is more at home in the yoga studio or health food aisles rather than a lab. I drew visual influence from cookbooks and fitness books while steering clear of making it look too close to Dr. Phil’s latest release.



We looked at a handful of typefaces and colour palettes in the concepts and in the end decided that cool tones on crisp white with spacious type, worked really well with a warm, inviting author photo. It struck just the right amount of balance of not intimidating the average health-minded individual while still feeling at home on a doctor’s bookshelf. We continued on with the feel through Dr. Judene’s website, which offers podcasts, blogs and info on her book signing appearances.

When I was younger I would come up with a Christmas art-type project to fill up the free time away from school on Christmas vacation. I was always totally hyped about Christmas and loved everything to do with it, including the special cartoons and books. Often my project would be a Christmas book of my own...which tended to involve drawing up a cover and character sketches and then not getting to actually finish the story as my enthusiasm waned.

One particular project I recently unearthed, is most notable to me because I did actually finish it in time for Christmas. As a twelve year old, I completed my own version of the classic The Night Before Christmas, beginning December 1st and finishing on Christmas Eve. It turned into a completely stressful ordeal, the thought of not finishing my book in time literally haunting my sleep. Each page featured a full colour illustration, and as the book goes on, they become more and more obscure as I rushed to get it done.

By far my biggest mistake was to write each page's text in alternating red green typewriter serif. Perhaps a little too ambitious. I still remember this project being my first introduction to the serif typeface though...and it actually helped me to memorize all the letter forms...still ingrained twenty years later

After several months in the making, the new website is finally launched. Featuring a ton of new portfolio content and a streamlined navigation system, jasondwyer.ca, is a new and welcome departure from the old site. I toyed around with several looks before going with clean and simple, which puts an emphasis on the work and not on the website.

One big reason for the redesign is that I wanted to include both my Illustration and Design work in the same website. Previously the two halves of me were kept separate, where as now I am just one creative entity. As my focus in art has been drifting into the fine art realm, that aspect has been given showcase room as well.

The other reason for the site redesign is that it has been a long time coming. The old sites were 2.5 and 4 years old, and a lot has changed in the web design world. I wanted to stay fresh with the new technologies and standards and have a web portfolio that is easy to update. The Bill Barilko artwork currently on the main landing page, is a tribute to how long it has taken to finally get around to making the changes. Not quite 49 years. but close enough.

www.jasondwyer.ca

When I was younger I would always get really excited about doing a special project over the Christmas season. The holiday decorations and items would all come out of storage somewhere, and I'd dive into the books, like Ted E. Bear Saves Christmas, the Honeybears, Tolkien's Father Christmas Letters and the Grinch. Eventually I would get inspired, and go into production mode, writing and illustrating some Christmasy thing, often a book, and more often than not, getting stalled on the perfect title page. One year when I was 12, I burned the midnight oil to have my own illustrated version of Night Before Christmas, done before the big day and actually succeeded. Perhaps the sign of a budding workaholic or maybe just someone who liked Christmas, I'm still very proud of that one. With text written out in typewritter serif and alternating red and green each letter, how could I not be? About five years ago, I continued on in that tradition, doing some artwork for a small press children's book, My Best Christmas and found out that a good holiday project never loses its fun.