The Duluth Grill recently unveiled their new T-shirt and Sweatshirt designs to their loyal following of customers to rave reviews. Chani Becker of HotHouse Design was thrilled to have the opportunity to hand draw the illustrations for the shirts. Upon seeing the design, the Duluth Grill decided to use it as their new logo!
Shipwrecks Alive! Exhibit Opens at Great Lakes Aquarium
Great Lakes Aquarium launched their latest and most ambitious exhibit, "Shipwrecks Alive!". The exhibit explores what happens to ships after they sink and the wildlife that develop around the wreckage. Using three shipwrecks around the world (the Great Lakes, the Pacific Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea), the exhibit explores how different water conditions effect the ship structure, how humans explore these underwater landscapes, and how wrecked ships effect the environment around them.
Along with the Aquarium staff, many artists, including lighting designers, scenic designers, and sculptors worked to bring this exhibit to life. Chani Becker of HotHouse Design & Post designed all of the interpretive signage in the exhibit, the logo and marketing materials, and other special pieces for the exhibit - including a 40 foot wide photo mural wall and the overall layout of the SCUBA history wall.
Ads inform Duluthians about affordable health coverage
HotHouse recently produced two ads for non-profit organization Generations Health Care Initiatives, urging Duluthians to sign up for affordable health coverage. One ad was specifically targeted for the local week-long Homegrown music & art extravaganza audience (and features the Homegrown chicken), and one ad was geared to a general audience.
Chris Monroe created the artwork featured in the fundraising poster designed by HotHouse Design & Post.
Helping to fund Art & Media Education in Public Schools
I was definitely one of those kids who benefitted from the art curriculum in my public school when I was growing up in Madison, Wis. I loved painting, drawing, learning other skills like photography and the darkroom process, and eventually I graduated from High School and went on to study art, design and filmmaking. But even for kids who don't self-identify as "artists", Arts & Media education are crucial to their education. Art making develops critical thinking, focus, creative problem solving, engineering, design, and communication skills. The list goes on. So, when HotHouse was asked to design a poster to advertise a fundraiser for art education in the Duluth Public Schools, I was eager to say "heck, yes!". The poster features artwork by Chris Monroe, who donated her talents to the cause. The event raised over $3,000 for the Duluth Public Schools Art & Media curriculum.
HotHouse designs look for latest Aquarium exhibit
This past summer, Great Lakes Aquarium opened their newest exhibit "Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life". This exhibit brings visitors to the Lake Superior region from the beginning of life on earth to present day. The show features live coral, nautilus, fossils, a very impressive turtle, and a fossil cast of a dunkleosteus skull. HotHouse was lucky to work with the Aquarium on designing an overall look for the exhibit's interpretive signage, as well as the logo for the exhibit itself and the exhibit's marketing pieces.
Draw Me a Copepod
A what ? A Copepod! These small marine crustaceans play a very important role in the marine food chain, serving as food for a wide variety of fish. I learned about these creatures while working with Great Lakes Aquarium on what I call the "Magnet Board" project.
The project involved illustrating over 20 creatures, including animals, plants and microscopic organisms. Copepods, turtles, fish, and shrimp! Logs, rocks, aquatic plants and otters! You can see some of my favorites here. These illustrations are to become magnets, die cut into custom shapes. They all fit onto a large backdrop portraying the natural landscape, specifically a cross-section of a lake, where most of the action takes place. This is all a part of the Aquarium's Gitchee Gumi Connection - an interactive video conferencing program that connects classrooms around the state to the Aquarium - offering Lake Superior-based environmental educational programs.
Copepod
Algae. They need sunlight to synthesize their food, hence the sunglasses.
The Mysis Shrimp is a very tiny, translucent creature yet has six sets of legs, and a mustache to inspire envy!
I was happy with the way this turtle foot turned out.
HotHouse Team Wins National Ad Competition
This summer, Chani Becker (of HotHouse Design & Post) teamed up with friend Jill Ellen Hall, (creative powerhouse behind Duluth's Semblesque Performance Co.) to create a series of ads for a competition held by Flora, Inc. a company specializing in top-quality health and wellness products. The ads were specifically for the anti-aging product "Floressence Rejuvenating Cream".
Flora, Inc. scored the over-200 entries based on creativity and continuity with their brand, along with the number of social media "votes" each ad received during the voting period.
Shortly after the online voting period ended, Flora, Inc. informed Becker and Hall that their "Crow's Feet" ad was the third place winner in the competition.
"It was such a great experience working with Jill (Hall) again," Becker said. "We had such a great time, and it shows in the work we did. Our collaboration created something more than either of us could have created alone. Well, us and of course Edger Alan Poe."
Becker and Hall first worked together in 2010 on a project called 3N6D: 3 Nights in 6 Dimensions, a performance art collaboration with photographer John Heino and musician Alan Sparhawk.