The JEB Blog gives the back story on our creative projects of illustration and graphic design.

Friday
Mar232012

BBSC branded apparel and merchandise on sale! Branding by JEB Design, Inc.

Help support the Broadneck Baseball and Softball Club and purchase their new branded-apparel and merchandise. Shown here are some of the their shirts and backpack that are for sale. Please visit the BBSC website to see more and purchase.

JEB Design provided logo and branding services pro bono to help this great organization. Play Ball! 

Friday
Mar162012

It's Good to be Green. The Ready Group's new website and identity meets SEC compliance.

The Ready Group, a financial management and planning firm, came to JEB Design to develop their corporate identity, marketing materials and SEC compliant website. Shown in this image are the various marketing materials we designed for TRG. It includes the cover of their folder, capabilities insert, envelope and business card. The main image is a screen capture of their website. To review TRG's live site, please follow this link. 

Wednesday
Mar072012

Announcing the New USNA "Class of 1986" Crest Illustration

New USNA 1986 Class Crest - full color; © USNA Class of 1986CAPT W. Scott Gureck, USN (Ret.), President of the Naval Academy Class of 1986, recently commissioned Joe Barsin to re-illustrate the official 1986 class crest since for over 25 years, the original art never matched the design that ultimately wound up on the class ring – which is primary purpose of the class crest.

“It’s unclear why the art we’ve been using all of these years differs in so many ways from our actual class rings, but at the end of the day, the crest on our rings is the official Class of 1986 crest,” Gureck said.

Shown below is a picture of the crest as it appears on the class rings, as it appears on the matching lapel pin, the original line art, and the updated line art as illustrated by Barsin.

New Crest in 2 color; © USNA Class of 1986“My guidance to Joe was to be as true to what appears on the ring as possible. Our crest is what’s on the ring, and the goal was to create matching, high-quality line art, not to create a new crest.  Accuracy and fidelity to the original, with one small exception, was paramount.”

On both the original art and on the actual rings, the handles of the U.S. Navy sword and the U.S. Marine Corps Marmeluke are reversed.  Gureck asked Barsin to fix the error since he ultimately wanted a vector file that could be easily reproduced at any size and on any medium.  Joe provided full color, two color and black & white files for all possible reproduction needs. 

L to R: Class ring, Class lapel pin, Original crest & New crest; All Rights Reserved. © USNA Class of 1986

“The error on the rings is an interesting piece of trivia and mostly inside information known by classmates.  But to reproduce the art in its new glory on posters, banners and other items we might use at future reunions, it only made sense not to continue to reproduce the error.  Instead, it can remain a bit of class trivia, and can serve as something fun to test children, grandchildren and friends by asking ‘what’s different between the art and the actual ring?’”

Tony Thamasangvarn, Signcraft Annapolis Signcraft Annapolis has taken Barsin’s art and has created the clay relief you see here. Below is a photo of the final bronze relief that will be on display at the USNA.

"It is not every day I see one of my illustrations in relief," said Barsin. "Owner John Prehn and his artist Tony Thamasangvarn did an excellent job of translating the crest into three dimensions. Very exciting!"

Joe Barsin is proud that he could play a small part in the rich history of the U.S. Naval Academy, and especially, for the great Class of 1986.

To learn more about Joe Barsin's illustration work related to the USNA and Annapolis please follow this link.

To see more graphic design work for USNI then follow this link.

Bronze relief of the new USNA Class of 1986 Crest

Sunday
Mar042012

Read All About It! The New Baltimore Poster is in the Paper!

The Sunday Capital featured Joe Barsin's new art release, "Baltimore: By Dawn's Early Light" in the March 4, 2012 Gallery section. The article is targeted to art collectors who embrace galleries in Annapolis, MD.

Learn more about Joe's Baltimore poster here. To purchase, go here.

Wednesday
Feb292012

Anne Arundel County and Annapolis illustration for the Chamber of Commerce

7 foot tall banner

Click to enlarge

The Annapolis & Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce commissioned Joe Barsin of JEB Design to illustrate and design their new promotional banner. The 7 foot tall banner was produced and donated by Art Display Co. of Capital Heights.

The goal of the illustration was to promote key businesses and institutions that make Anne Arundel and Annapolis a special place to do business. These are the new Maryland "Live" Casino, the Anne Arundel Medical Center, Anne Arundel Community College, the Thurgood Marshall Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) with its Southwest Airlines hub and the US Naval Academy.

See more of Joe Barsin's illustration work here. JEB Design specializes in banner design and meeting promotions. See related banner work here.

Learn more about AAAC Chamber of Commerce here.

Thursday
Feb232012

This much appreciated comment is not only amusing ...

... but also supports one of our most valued benefits in offering experienced design and service. In the end, you SAVE money and time while receiving a better quality product.

Working with young designers is a colossal pain in the A**. They want to have meetings and talk for hours over coffee about little details. 'Meetings' are the reason our nation is so inefficient. Just do the fu*king work, people!!! You and Joe are truly gems in a sea of flaky artists with far less talent.

— The identity of the client who provided the above statement is withheld so to not harm the delicate feelings of young designers.

 

Tired of swimming in the "sea of inexperience?" Visit the island of JEB Design!

 

Thursday
Feb162012

New illustration by Joe Barsin, "Baltimore: By the Dawn's Early Light," commemorates the War in 1812: Bicentennial Celebration

The poster celebrates the rich history that Baltimore and Maryland played in the War of 1812. Joe Barsin captures the patriotic energy that was part of Francis Scott Key's writing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor. "O! say can you see, by the dawn's early light ... that our flag was still there." Thirty five stars and 200 years later, Old Glory is still flying over Baltimore! This is Joe's second poster in his Mid-Atlantic series. You can see his other work at BarsinArt.com.

 
Joe Barsin provided the following thoughts on his inspiration:

 

In this poster, I wanted to represent Baltimore's Bicentennial history through the USS Frigate Constellation and Fort McHenry but, at the same time, celebrate today's Baltimore through its dynamic skyline. Also, I am hoping to clear up some confusion in regards to the USS Constellation which I explain below.

 

The theme is grand and patriotic in this poster but it is also very personal to me. I try to convey this perspective here.

My wife, Eva, and I moved from Kent, Ohio to Baltimore in 1992 and we immediately fell in love with the city and its history. While researching for this poster, my family and I have visited these great landmarks. I am using this blog to show some photos and movies we took over the past recent years 

Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry is a beautiful place to visit and the museum is very informative. It is hard to believe the nightmare that must have been taking place here 200 years ago when the British bombarded this fort. Hopefully, many of you can make it here to take part in the Bicentennial celebrations that will be going on through 2015. Learn more here.

 

 

USS Constellation

USS Sloop-of-War ConstellationUSS Frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides)The main ship in this poster is the USS Frigate Constellation which fought in the War of 1812. It was built in Baltimore in 1797 and some of her timbers survive today inside the USS Sloop-of-War Constellation which served during the Civil War. I did come across some confusion with whether the ship docked at Baltimore's Inner Harbor saw service during the War of 1812 but I think this is due to the USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) which is docked in Boston harbor. The original Constellation was built in the same year as "Old Ironsides" (1797) and had the same design (Learn more here: Constitution;  Constellation).

I have fond memories as a boy traveling with my family to Boston to see "Old Ironsides". My Dad was researching for his labor of love, to build a wooden replica of the ship. I remember many holiday vacations watching him steaming the miniature hull boards in which he could bend them around the frame and then rigging the sails. For this reason, it gave me great joy to illustrate this ship. Granted, it is suppose to be the Constellation but since the Constitution was her sister ship, I feel safe in pleading artistic license.

3 a.m. - Night watch on the ConstellationAs my father did for me, I hope to instill the love of these old sailing ships to my two boys. These pictures and movies show the great time we had spending the night with our Cub Scout pack aboard the USS Sloop-of-War Constellation which is docked in Baltimore's Inner harbor. In the poster, you can see it as part of the modern day Baltimore skyline. What a great experience we had from running out the guns, eating hard tack, sleeping in canvas hammocks to turning the capstan. My highlight was taking part in the 3 a.m. night watch aboard the old ship. This ship was impressive yet silent while modern day Baltimore was alive with lights and sound.

I hope you enjoy the poster. Sincerely, Joe

You can see more of my work at BarsinArt.com.

 

 

Wednesday
Jan112012

Just developed the Chesapeake Bay Trust Annual Report for 2011

JEB Design continues the tradition of designing the Chesapeake Bay Trust's annual report. Below is the cover and two spreads. You can see the entire Report here (PDF).

JEB Design has been working with the Chesapeake Bay Trust since 2000. We thought it would be fun to show some of the previous annual report covers we have designed. Nature photography by David Harp.

See other work we have designed for the Trust: Identity Campaigns | Event Displays and Signage | Bay Plate

2004

200520062007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010200320022001

Sunday
Dec042011

Barsin showcased in The Sunday Capital. The 12/4/11 The Gallery section.

It is very exciitng news for Joe Barsin to be selected for top billing in the Annapolis Sunday Capital's The Gallery! This section only runs once a month since it announces the work that is being presented at the Annapolis-area art galleries.

Learn more about this work, Annapolis Holiday, here. Follow this link to read the full article online.



Wednesday
Nov162011

THANK YOU to the boat teams of "Bjorn to Run," "Blue Jay" and "Z-One"!

They ordered customized prints by Joe Barsin to commemorate this year's Fish for A Cure event! Learn how to order yours here.
Three new personalized posters for F4AC teams.