Studiobenben News

In December, I was contacted by the Mid-Amercia Arts Alliance to create a board game for a traveling exhibition entitled The Bison: American Icon. I love this type of project with its blend of illustration and educational elements. The game is part of a larger exhibition, much of which is fairly serious in content and tone, so I designed the game to contrast the rest of the displays, and more importantly, give the the appearance of something friendly that would invite patrons, kids and adults alike, to interact with the game.

Gameplay is simple with players answering questions, each correct answer increasing their cache of tiny bison figures. The player with the most bison wins. Landing on an arrow in any of the sections ringing the board forces the player to surrender one of their bison to the variety of developments that led to the animal’s near extinction. I connected all the sections either through elements bleeding from one section to the next or simple alignment. For example, the railroad track connects to industry’s piping. This emphasizes the relationship between all of the developments combining to nearly wipe Bison from the plains of North America. Their habitat forms the center of the board and one gets the sense that it is rapidly shrinking as the few remaining Bison scurry farther west.

I’m not sure if the exhibition will ‘Go West’ as far as LA, so I may not have the chance to see the final setup. If you happen across it let me know how it looked and whether your bison herd thrived or was decimated by the railroad, the hide market or just a general lack of bison knowledge.

New City Shippers 1 Print now available on Etsy. This is a reproduction of a 6in x 6in acrylic painting on board. Enjoy!

New Nightscape 1 print now available on Etsy.  This is a reproduction of a 6in x 6in acrylic painting on board.  Enjoy!

A simple rocket illustration for your weekend enjoyment!

I’ve set up a Studiobenben Facebook page.  Feel free to become a fan.  Hope to see you there!

I’ve posted a selection of ready to hang mounted prints to my Etsy shop.

The prints are made on 100% recycled, archival, matte paper with archival inks. They are then securely mounted to wood blocks with an archival quality adhesive and sealed completely with an archival, non toxic, acrylic varnish.  A small hole in the back makes them ready to hang right out of the box.  Each block is $28.  Enjoy!

I’ve created a set of iPhone wallpapers based off of my Matryoshka Icons.  Enjoy!

-Click the images to download-

See all iPhone wallpapers

The perfect folder metaphor now in (6) six carefully crafted icons.  I’ve had this idea floating around in my sketchbook for a while now.  Nice to finally see them done!

Download for Mac

Download for Windows

These icons are also available as prints via Etsy and as free iPhone wallpapers.

Erin and I are participating as vendors in the 1st annual Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles! With less than a week to go, we find ourselves living in the studio with only occasional breaks for food and drink!  We’d love to see you there, so feel free to stop by booth #208 and say hello! Check out this link for more information about Renegade and other details about the Craft Fair.

My work was recently published in several books…

Postcard by FL@33 is a collection of recent postcard design and includes the work of over 100 designers.  It also includes 20 real postcards tucked into the cover.  This a nice touch and makes perfect sense given the content.  You’ll find my Geo + Info Cards sitting humbly alongside some really great postcard concepts.

Design Matters: Packaging 01 by Capsule included my TwentyFour Wine as an example of innovative material use.  This book is great for learning more about the packaging design process and also includes a strong set of example projects.

1000 Package Designs by Grip also featured TwentyFour along with my Questionable Songs CD.  This book is packed with good examples and I find myself getting lost in its beautiful pages now and then.

Thanks to all the hardworking designers and publishing folks who make these books possible!