Booklet/Poster for Self-promotion by Commercial Artisan

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CLIENT

Commercial Artisan is the graphic design studio of brothers James and Jon Sholly, located in Indianapolis, IN. They work with clients in the arts, tourism, education, and the not-for-profit sectors. The studio specializes in printed material with an emphasis on regional history projects and publications.

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BRIEF

This issue of Commercial Article is a self-generated project and the continuation of an ongoing study of regional design history. It tells the story of Indiana ceramicists Jane and Gordon Martz and their family business Marshall Studios. Their work was featured in MoMA’s 1953 “Good Design" exhibition.

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APPROACH

This is the fourth issue of a self-generated publication that aims to document the stories of designers from Indiana that have made significant contributions to their fields but remain relatively unknown outside—and sometimes inside—the state borders. It is a small way to document the work and life stories that might otherwise go unseen. A secondary purpose is to prompt others to tell the stories of similar figures in their areas, and thereby create an independent design history network.

PRODUCTION LESSONSWe learned a lot about the limitations of working with multiple folds and maximizing the sheet size on the press that was available to us. Our end size was pre-determined and we wanted the poster to be as large as possible, so we printed on a lightweight opaque sheet. Each side was printed in CMYK, but only two colors at a time. There was no room on the sheet for color bars, so we had to estimate the color. It was a seat-of-our-pants way to print, but I’m happy with the way it turned out.