A Peek at our Latest Spirit of Franklin Print

We’ve been working hard on the designs for our new Spirit of Franklin Collection—we are almost finished with 4 illustrated prints. In a few weeks, we’ll be going to press to produce limited edition prints of these new designs. Then we will start selling them in stores and on our new Spirit Of Franklin site. 

The Spirit of Franklin Collection aims to celebrate the history and charm of Franklin, TN through a collection of 12 illustrated prints. To do that, we are covering a range of themes like architecture,  historic sites, festivals and favorite local establishments.

One very important historical Franklin icon is the Carnton Plantation, battle field and cemetery. Since this landmark was established in the 1800s, the rendering style needs to resemble art from that era. In the past, we accomplished a 19th century look on a few Spirit of Nashville prints done by Abe Goolsby when he was a staff artist. Abe’s masterful pen and ink art gave a distinctive old-world look to our Union Station, State Capitol and Belle Meade Plantation prints.  

So for the Carnton design, Joel Anderson used the same old techniques starting with reference photos he shot on location. Like Abe, Joel painstakingly rendered an ink cross-hatched drawing, then created typography and line art similar that what might have been used back in the 1800s. Joel paid homage to his old buddy Abe by re-using line art of clouds from his 2005 State Capitol print.

More Franklin prints are in the works. Stay tuned to see the entire collection as we unveil it. Look for it in stores and on our web sites starting in May!

A Brief History of Title Design

A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

If you missed SXSW in Austin, Texas last week, here is a cool video presentation for the “SXSW Excellence in Title Design” competition screening. The video highlights title design for some of the most iconic films of all time.

50 & 50 Illustrated State Mottos

Fifty and Fifty is a collection of illustrations by designers who are invited to represent their state by illustrating its motto. It was created by Dan Cassaro in an attempt to revamp the way we look at our country. Each state is depicted in its own unique way, but the limited color palette unites them all.

 

Our very own state motto was designed and illustrated by Matt Lehman,who started out as an intern at ADG, worked on staff for four years, and went on to become a successful, independent designer. Way to go Matt!

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Lettering

As you guys well know, we're type fiends here at ADG. A few weeks ago we stumbled upon this collection on the BibliOdyssey blog, and needed to share it. You can check out the full collection here.

NEW Fanklin Town Square Poster Design!

We shared the development process of our first Franklin poster yesterday. Here is the final version, after taking it into Photoshop and applying some secret effects that emulate an old-time print shop look.

The result replicates vintage, off-register printing techniques in the art. We will go to press on this design in the next month or two, producing a limited edition run of 500 prints.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next posters in our Franklin line!