WishCreative

The Bay Area has a long tradition of sick beats and dope rhymes, and Alexander Spit just may be the next in line to explode in Bay Area hip hop. With the upcoming exposure of the South by Southwest Festival, I’m preparing him for the buzz by designing all of his marketing materials—mostly things that get stuck to other things, like stickers, posters, magnets, shirts (which stick to bodies), and hats (to heads!) to name a few. Oh, and I’m also designing this über-stylish full-featured website, cause Alexander is one stylish fellow. This project is still in progress, but here's a taste.

Dear Inchworm Studio, Do you remember when you were just a thought, a dream, a little seedling of an idea? Well, you grew up. You got your own identity (thanks to me) and even a brand image (again, thanks to me). I gave you my time, my energy— I even made your business cards! I hear you’re on your own now, out in the real world, and that’s cool. I’m happy for you. Really. Just don’t forget where you came from. Take care, Derek

With not a single link working, The Signatures Network Business-to-Business website might as well have been a telephone listing before I got to it. Constructed in accordance with the Magento framework, I saw the site through from concept to design and was in charge of all creative direction, from concept to photo shoot.

What? Who? But whose website? The Who? How it was possible that The Who didn’t have a site was nearly as confounding to me as the fact that I was assigned to create one of my favorite band’s first-ever website. I did this project when I was with Live Nation, and for some reason unknown to me, the project was never implemented. Components such as the WhoTube video player and The Who Sell Out merchandise store made this one of my most treasured projects.

18th Street Software asked me to design the website for CodaServer, their new business rules engine. In order to keep the emphasis on the software, I designed the site with simplicity and ease of navigation in mind, creating a simple template from which all of the pages are formatted upon. In addition to creating CodaServer’s logo to be used as their brand, I also delivered the XHTML, the CSS and the Javascript.

In case you haven’t been keeping up, he goes by John Mellencamp these days. And yes, he’s still putting out good records, the latest being Life, Death, Love and Freedom, which I think pretty much says it all. Working closely with his management, I created an art direction and design for their website to help promote this all-encompassing album.

“I need a splash page for Tommy Lee, and I need it like five hours ago!” someone screamed at me with a frantic gleam in their eyes, leaving me one picture of Tommy Lee in front of a dotted blue sky to work with. Forty-five minutes later, I delivered them a fully conceptualized and designed promo splash page with the venerable Tommy Lee in all of his glory.

In conjunction with the release of his album Magic, I was asked to redesign Bruce Springsteen’s website. I provided the concepts, art direction, and design for his site, which, for some bureaucratic detail, was sadly never implemented. Long live The Boss!

Passafire, a popular reggae band from Savannah, Georgia, needed a website with a sleek look and a little spunk so they called me up and the site was born. A full-featured website with a content management system, Passafire has the ability to upload new media and a spiffy video player through which to play clips of their choosing. Since the launch of the new website, Passafire has seen a major increase in web traffic and have reported to feel in better overall health.