new work: avenue bistro ad/promo campaign

just finished up my recent advertising/promotion campaign for avenue bistro in clifton. you might remember them being on van houten ave in clifton near school 13. due to unfortunate circumstances out of their hands, they had to move their location a couple months ago. they've finally settled at a new location in clifton on grunwald street. it's a block over from dingo's den. the old angie's bar, if you remember where that is.

the new location has turned out to be a better choice. it has a full sit-down bar, and much more room for tables/guests. the food hasn't changed. if you were at the old location, you know the food was top notch and very affordable. if you haven't tried it out, i would absolutely recommend going there. they have amazing lunch, dinner and bar menus. you can get food from 11am and up til midnight most of the week.

anyway, the owner/head chef is my boy pat that i've known for many years. and my boy andy is also a chef there as well. they contacted me recently to get some stuff ready for their grand opening reception, which is this coming saturday (6/26). they asked me to put a flyer together. i laid out this flyer for them, which they actually didn't use:



although i thought the original flyers looked really dope and eye-catching, they didn't really want any kind of graphic. so we wound up going with something much more plain:



just goes to show, that with design, as much as you know something will catch people's eye and actually make them pick a flyer up and look at it, you will inevitably have to do it the way the customer wants regardless of what you think. but i digress. the last part of the campaign is a full-page ad for stepping out magazine. the ad is also pretty simple, but they wanted it really similar to the flyer:


all this stuff will be dropping this week. if you are around on saturday, come down to the grand opening reception. starts at 9pm. they will have free hors d'oeuvres along with $2 domestic bottles, $3 import bottles and $5 car bombs. there is also a live jazz band playing. the matt panayides group. they are pretty awesome.

if you build it, they will come.

once again i find myself needing to stress a few points to some inquiring minds in regards to my affiliations and work with dingo's den. as many people well know, i took over all the promotion and advertising for them. people have been wondering what i'm getting out of it and what i'm doing it for. and for all the inquiring minds, i'm going to break it down for you:

many people also know that i bartended and bounced at dingos for a few years. i was always a regular at dingos since i was old enough to drink. but when i started working there, my life was at a very low point. i had been fired from my previous job over some complete bullshit and i was collecting minimal unemployment and just barely scraping by with my bills and even putting food in my stomach. at this shitty time in my life, freddy dingo was kind enough to throw me a few bouncing shifts here and there for extra cash. i told him that i had bartended for many years, but there were no openings behind the bar. one night i went in for a bouncing shift, and one of the bartenders called out last minute. they asked me if i wanted to bartend and obviously, i said yes. it was all history from there. i wound up becoming a steady bartender there for a couple of years after that.

so obviously, i will always have loyalty to dingo's den because it helped me in a real time of need. but beyond that, i truly believe it is an awesome place with tons of potential. it is literally one of the only places in clifton and the surrounding areas where you have basically zero chance of running into guidos and such. it is the only place around that has such a diverse selection of music without a DJ. the selection of metal, rock, oldies, classic rock, 80's, funk, indy, hardcore, punk, thrash and everything else is second to none and its still being improved upon. there is definitely something for everyone. we never made the switch over to a digital jukebox, because i think some old-school things are better. but i challenge anyone to find a better selection in an old-school CD jukebox anywhere in this area. outside of possibly bars in manhattan or other parts of the city, i doubt you'll find it.

i've travelled all over the place. i've been to countless numbers of bars in different cities and countries. i can honestly say that dingo's den is a truly amazing bar. it is a dive bar and its dingy, rustic and old-school, and that's exactly what i like about it. in a lot of ways, i have a very old spirit. i enjoy simplicity and good times with good friends. i've gotten to a point where i've seen so much and explored so many places, that i can truly appreciate a place that just feels like home. i've met so many amazing friends in dingos. i've met so many talented artists and musicians. people from all walks of life. rich, poor, young, old. you name it. i've never been anywhere else that has such a diverse group of people that all like to hang out at the same place.

but i digress.. basically what this boils down to is that i ain't making shit from all the advertising and promotion that i do for dingos. not one single dollar. i do it because it's something that i believe in, and something that i'm taking on like a school project in a sense. it used to be packed 7 nights a week. now its packed on weekends and randomly during the week. obviously, i understand the economy tanked and people had to curb a lot of spending, but i really believe we can get it back to its rightful place. as of late, i have done many major improvements to start getting people back. anyone who knows me, knows that i throw good parties and fun events.

here's a breakdown of everything we are doing:

DAYS:

HAPPY HOUR 12PM-7PM / 7 DAYS A WEEK

SUNDAY - FREE BACKYARD BBQ 12PM-9PM (WEATHER PERMITTING) / FREE HOTDOGS AND BURGERS FOR EVERYONE AND YOU CAN ALSO BRING ANYTHING YOU WANT FROM HOME OR THE STORE AND USE THE GRILL LIKE YOUR OWN.

NIGHTS:

SUNDAYS, MONDAYS AND TUESDAYS: $2 DOMESTIC PINTS / $3 IMPORT PINTS 9PM-CLOSE

WEDNESDAYS: LADIES NIGHT - $2 LADIES DRINKS / $2 PBR CANS FOR ALL 9PM-CLOSE / HALF-PRICE APPETIZERS 9PM-2AM (INCLUDES 3 VARIETIES OF WINGS, CHICKEN TENDERS, BROCCOLI OR JALAPENO POPPERS, CHICKEN QUESADILLA ROLLS AND BAR PIES)

THURSDAYS: $2 BRING YOUR OWN MUG (DOMESTIC BEERS ONLY / 32oz MAX / MUST HAVE A HANDLE)

EVERY NIGHT: THE DINGO'S COCK AND BALLS SPECIAL - ONE DOMESTIC BEER AND TWO SHOTS FOR $10

WE HAVE 5 TVs IN THE FRONT ROOM FOR ALL YANKEES, METS, WORLD CUP, NBA, HOCKEY, FOOTBALL OR ANY OTHER GAME YOU WANT TO WATCH.

BACK ROOM HAS ITS OWN JUKEBOX ALONG WITH TWO POOL TABLES AND A DARTBOARD.

i put a lot of time and effort into all the improvements and i learned a lot in the process. i talked to literally hundreds of people over the last few months and got suggestions on music for the jukebox, specials and all kinds of other things. we are really trying to make it a bar for the people, by the people. if you have any suggestions, please send them my way.

and if you haven't already, please add the offical facebook page. click here. thanks!

new work: dingo's den full page ad

so after two weeks running with that horrendous mutation of my original half-page ad (read about it here), i finally got a new full-page ad finished and i just sent out the artwork today:

new work: dingo's den half page ad

worked long and hard to come up with some improvements for dingo's den. got the OKs with freddy and its ready to roll. just finished up this half-page ad for steppin out magazine:

(full page ad coming in a couple weeks)

NEW SPECIALS:

SUNDAY, MONDAY & TUESDAY:
$2 DOMESTIC PINTS / $3 IMPORT PINTS

WEDNESDAY:
$2 LADIES DRINKS / $2 PBRs / HALF PRICE APPETIZERS 9PM-2AM

THURSDAY:
$2 BRING YOUR OWN MUG (DOMESTICS)

WE ARE ALSO GOING TO BE ADDING SOME MORE STUFF TO THE JUKEBOX AS WELL. COME CHECK IT OUT. AND DON'T FORGET YOU CAN DRINK OUTSIDE UNTIL 9PM NOW.

obsession.

been heavy grinding lately. all kinds of print and web work. for starts i finally finished a long running project for my homegirl tara. she does writing, producing, directing and voice-overs for the likes of such channels as VH1, Syfy, IFC, Food Network, TBS and a ton of others. basically she wanted a fairly plain and simple website, and we went back and forth since early this year with design concepts and changes, etc. so the final product is finally done and it will definitely blow up my spot and get me some major exposure which i am fully stoked on.

http://www.tararao.com/

next up is this major dvd release i am doing for division east. title is going to be toxic avengers. my man davy is filming and editing. it looks super sick. all shot in super8 and the soundtrack is awesome. skating is awesome. lotta fresh young talent killing it in the streets. so naturally, i have to step it up for the packaging, artwork and everything else.

layout is a 4-panel digipak 5x7. the thick cardboard joint with the plastic inlay inside and a foldout poster. it will be laid out basically like this. i have most of the front cover done, but i'm not going to preview the any of dvd artwork before the premieres. but it is looking pretty dope i can tell you that. i do have a super rough concept draft of the basic logo though:

the final version is gonna be tweeked a little more with all kinds of like toxic waste barrels and nuclear silos and all types of shit. but this is gonna be the general feel of the text.

in addition to all the print work and packaging, i'm also doing all of the on-screen stuff aka dvd menus, titles and credits. this project is definitely consuming my life pretty heavily. well that and jamesons. but what else is new.

we were originally doing the premiere for the video at the clairidge theater on bloomfield ave in montclair, but they gave us a date and then pushed it back a month so we scratched it. instead we are going to do a series of premieres at five different places. i just sent out the artwork for this ad which will be in the upcoming issue of focus.

(colors are slightly off on this because its a copy of the actual print version and doesn't show up in true form on normal monitors)

so needless to say, i've been a busy boy. i'm also trying to finish up lunch, dinner and take-out menus for the avenue bistro in clifton but i'm still waiting for some more info from them. next projects are going to be some business cards for tara (see above), possibly stickers for fleshtemple if madden and pete can get me logos and whatever i need and then my own website because i need to start really grinding and getting my name out there and stop stressing over silly little things in my life. word the fuck up.

brilliant.

now this is some well thought out and well put together design work. great fonts. great flicks. great layout. i really need to start getting paid to do shit like this because i am beyond capable.

brazil.

apparently the wwf in brazil thinks its ok to trivialize 9/11. ok granted, they are referencing the tsunami where something like 200,000 people died. and that was also a tragedy. and on a strictly aesthetic basis as a designer, the artwork is nicely done. but regardless of any of that shit, it's still not an ad that should have made it off the drawing board into the public. go save animals. you don't need some renegade design staff putting this shit out for you.

groundwork.

i came across this completely amazing collection of vintage skateboard ads from the 70s and 80s.





























check out the rest of this huge collection here.