Added some work from the 2011 year. I've been slow to update anything on this blog, so a recap of some things I did last year -

RovettiDesign: Had the pleasure of working closely with design verteran Stephen Rovetti for over a year now. As a freelancer from Madison, he's got a tight grip on the scene and does some really killer and fun work for some great clients. Steve is all about work but more importantly having fun doing it. Looking forward to keep doing great things with him. We have a big project under wraps right now that we're hammering away at, so I'll be excited to show that when it's time.

Some notable work we did together:

Whiskey Disks: A really fun project providing a full marketing makeover for a couple of tough guy stones men in the local scene. Jessie Billin came to Steve with his simple, but genius product; handcrafted soapstone disks meant to be chilled and set in Whiskey to keep a drink happy cold and to prevent diluting. We did what we do best; did a killer photo shoot with them giving them a revamped marketing aesthetic. Additionally we gave them a new website and a fresh blog to keep customers in the loop. They've noticed tremendous growth since and have landed an awesome deal with Maker's Mark to produce custom disks. What a happy ending.

SingerLewak: SingerLewak came to us for their annual holiday card solution. As a big financial firm in California, they needed a fun way to ring in the holidays to their customers and employees. As we did last year, we worked closely with in-house designers to conceptualize a idea and turned into into animated magic. Utilizing a financial CFO wheel tool and transforming it into an animated holiday card. It was challenging making something so stationary come alive, but in the end everyone was happy with the finished product.

Corporate Communications: Corporate Communications (http://www.corporatecommunication.net) is a full service marketing and advertising agency primarily designed to advertise and provide economic growth to small businesses and tourism in Mount Washington Valley. During my time there, I took a technical lead on their network of websites that essentially expanded on their printed brochures. The network of sites can be viewed here: http://hospitalitymaps.com/ My role generally included SEO improvements, maintence, updates, minimal design changes and upgrades.

Additionally, I added another website to their network, http://www.northconwaycoupons.com. I developed around a design that aimed to give shoppers of North Conway a way to easily access and print coupons.

While working here, I also created a website for owner / artist Kimberly Beals. She needed an easier and faster solution to update her portfolio on a more rountine basis, so I provided a customized WordPress theme that features all her paintings, her biography and a means of contact.

Limp Bizkit: Haven't done too many LB projects as of late, been pretty busy with other stuff since coming back from the South America tour. Did a cool little thing for them that should be popping up sooner than later, and definitely hope to get back into the mix here in 2012.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Mean Street Meat Gang - Sao Paolo, Brazil

Just came back from the 2011 Limp Bizkit tour in Europe and South America. Dates were as follows -

I had a killer time, but good to be home! Looking forward to kickin' it here and relaxing before another round! Booyah!

Thanks Kadaver and Gabe for photos!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Click here to watch (12:11)

Another video from their Portland, ME show I helped filmed. Edited and directed by Sebastein Paquet

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Messing around with the FX7's super slow mo. 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Check out a couple of videos Sebastein put together with the footage I helped him shoot. I was stage left, so Fieldy, some JD, and crowd shots were mine.

• Freak On a Leash: (2:50)
• Shoots & Ladders / Got the Life: (7:06)
  

Check out the rest of Sebastein's stuff some more great videos. Thanks again to Sebastein!!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Made a little website that plots Limp Bizkit fansites on a global map. Thought it'd be cool to give these little communities a bit of recognition. Check it out at http://www.limpbizkitfamily.com

Actually really happy with the way this site looks. CSS3 trickery!

You can add your project too!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Had a kickass time in Portland, Maine last night. Got the opportunity to meet Korn and do a bit of filming for them. Got to test out my new Sony FX7 camcorder and had a blast filming their show. Many thanks to Sebastein Paquet for giving me the chance to hang out and do some work! Great guy... he's going to edit some footage together of the show at some point, so I'm excited to see how that looks and comes out. I'll follow up soon with some screenshots and video clips. 

Again thanks to Sebastein for making everything possible, you rock!!!!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

So as if the story with my involvement with Limp Bizkit hadn't been incredible enough meeting Fred Durst and helping them out with their website all thanks to playing some Xbox Live, it's seemily just the beginning of a very special relationship. Fred has been more than kind in reaching out a with hand-full of opportunities. The last couple months have been the start of my newest job, Limp Bizkit's full time photographer / videographer. I have embarked with the band to do several radio based festivals this month, getting to check out Quebec, Mississippi, Connecticut and New York. It has been amazing getting to see the well oiled machine that is Limp Bizkit's process when it comes to touring, and getting acquainted with all the moving parts that make it happen on a daily basis.

From the production manager to the crew, everyone has been more than kind and helpful in making me feel like one of the guys. I've made mistakes in trying to find my role, but stepping on my own toes have only given me a better understanding on how I can improve myself and do my job better. I could not ask for a more understanding and patient team. As a long-time fan of Limp Bizkit, it's been a dream come true to be the one to experience a very rare and special process. Behind the scenes I try to capture the story, life and essence that makes this band so special and unique. While they perform I get to experience the live show from a perspective never seen before. The road to the new album Gold Cobra has been journey but it's only the beginning.

In a couple of weeks we'll be leaving for Europe to continue the Gold Cobra tour. It's a little bit intimidating, especially because I've never really been to another country before... let alone another continent. But I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to be in 1 place for too long, so it's a very exciting opportunity, I cannot wait! I'm very excited about getting to share all the great moments and things I've been so fortunate to see and capture, but all in due time. I want to thank everyone for their support and I'm glad to see so much enthusiasm from the fans I've met and for the tracks that were leaked. Ninja power!!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Popular tutorial and web development tip resource Net Tuts Pus featured the new Limp Bizkit website as part of it's coverage on top 36 musician websites. The article praises the "large typography" as a great asset to it's overall design.  The exact excerpt is as follows:

Large typography tends to be bold, strong and “powerful.” It’s quite often the first and last thing we look at when entering and leaving a website. It usually has the power to tell you the nature of a website. For example, Limp Bizkit’s website uses a messy and grungy typeface for the word “Bizkit” in a bright yellow against a dark background. This immediately suggests loud and intrusive.

The article can be found here.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

It was brought to my attention that my hometown Conway's newpaper did a cool little article on my involvement with Limp Bizkit.  Thought I'd throw it up for you guys to check out.

"Max Avedisian, a 2007 graduate of Kennett High School and a telented graphics student, was recently hired by the rock band Limp Bizkit as graphic designer for the group's web site.  Avedisian has had a lifelong interest in graphic art and design.  He entered the graphics communications program, a part of the Mount Washington Valley Career and Technical Center at Kennett High School during his junior year and further developed his skills and interest in the field. During the two years he studied in Theresa Sires' class, he entered a portfolio of his photo montages and designs into the New Hampshire Scholastic Art Awards and was awarded a silver key. Avedisian is currently a student at Full Sail University and met Fred Durst, singer of Limp Bizkit, through X-Box Live.  Durst was familiar with the work Avedisian had done for The Armpit (http://www.thearmpit.net) -- a fansite for Limp Bizkit.  Avedisian has been creating content for The Armpit for 6 or 7 years now. Durst was impressed with Avedisian's work and asked him if he would be interested in making Limp Bizkit's new website. Avedisian immediately pitched an idea and got to work on it.  In the process, Durst invited Avedisian to visit and spend the holidays in Los Angeles, where Avedisian stayed for about a week.  While experiencing L.A., he met comedian Tom Green, among others. While working on the new Web Site at Durst's house and getting to know his family, Avedisian got to check out the sights of Hollywood and see first-hand the recording process for the new Limp Bizkit album currently in works. Avedisian is back at Full Sail University where he will be graduating this June.  Since he has returned he has been asked to go on an international tour with Limp Bizkit, which he has agreed to do.  According to Avedisian, "It is a dream come true, to say the least!". "We look forward to his ongoing success in graphic design", Sires said."

Thanks to everyone who said congrats and sent me kind messages, this whole journey has been very fortunate and I appreciate the love!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

I know, I know.  Usually when you hear the word fail on the interwebz, you're promptly thinking of skateboarder eating it, or a baseball athlete player taking a 95 mph pitch to the face.  However, I'm about to make the case that failing is a great thing...well if you happen to be a learning designer.  In a profession that is surrounded by subjective opinions, failing is inevitable.  There are a lot of up-in-the-air day to day decisions to make, and it's not an easy thing to perfect.

You will learn more in a single day of real world work than a month of schooling. While it sucks to miss deadlines, or misunderstand a client's needs, it's these mistakes that will help you perfect your craft more than anything else.  Sure, you can sit in a lecture for days on end, attentively listening to advice and jot down notes on how to manage your work flow and your work ethics, but it's the real life experience that will truly test your instinctive decision making.  After you slap yourself across the face or scream at your wall for an hour, you can get a real understanding of how the mistakes occurred and what you can personally do to fix them.  Failing can not be prevented!

The client is always right. This was one that was hard for me to swallow, but in the end it worked out for my best interests.  After studying design for as long as I have, it's hard to take orders from a client as they can seem so misaligned with your understanding of a project.  I have a lot of pride in my design skills and decisions, as should you.  This is why perfecting collaboration is important.  It's more than deciding "blue is a great color because it calms me, do you like blue too?  Great! Let's use it".  It's about entering a client's psychology and embracing their lifestyle.  Live in their shoes for a moment.  Really understand what makes him/her tick, and why they make the decisions they do.  What are their biggest personal influences / interests?  If you can come in at an angle with design suggestions that are cohesive with your clients personality, then you're much more likely to make your personal design solutions that much more relevant to your client.  However if you can't come to terms with a common solution, then don't be so persistent that you lose business.  Simply take requests as they come... after all, they are the ones with the money aren't they?

Lock down a plan. Don't waste time developing a personal idea when it all boils down to an epic fail - a scrapped project and your monitor thrown off a 30 story building.  Stress your concepts!  Really make sure your client likes the IDEA before it turns into production.  It is much like a house of cards, if your fundamentals are not strong, the whole thing will come down in an imploding mess.  Sketches, comps, and frameworks are great way to do this, but don't just do it once and get approval.  There are always gray areas in potential design solutions, iron out as many as possible before advancing to the next step.  You'd be amazed how far a dinky little sketch will come.

Refine your projects. If there's any 1 thing every designer should know, it's that their work can never be considered complete.  If something in your portfolio suggests even the smallest imperfection, do not flaunt it!  If it's a piece of work that is just sitting on your hard drive dying a slow death, work on it and make it a superstar!  Do not be content with your flaws, this is your passion.  Work diligently and passionately to bring a concept to a whole new level.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »