waterloo gin – point of purchase posters

executive creative director: craig mikes, art director: rob story, writers: kathy farley (england, punch), rob story (treason), typography: jon contino, photography: joel salcido, custom flag production: gallery of the republic, austin

this was the first project I worked on at proof. the idea came instantaneously and it was about as simple as they come to produce. jon contino was absolutely fantastic. i started by having the flags made, then joel came in and shot them, and then we sent the lines off to jon so he could do his part. it took a while, but in the end he nailed it. the retouching was a joint effort between jon, my friend kevin peake and myself.

shortly after i finished these, they started showing up on ad sites – people really seemed to like them. after they were featured on archive magazine’s site, craig got a call from someone wanting to use the “england” ad on the cover of a book. he agreed, and a year and a half  later we received the book. it turns out that it was used for the cover of a textbook (or journal) from the heidelberg university press that, generally speaking, discusses the point where advertising and art meet and how effective the blending of the two can be. the title translates as “advertising – not art? phenomenons and processes of making advertising more astatic.” although the publication seems to be made up of articles by various scholars, the book is attributed to hartmut stockl, a professor at the university of salzburg. i’d have to say that this is one of the bigger honors of my career. yes, it’s fantastic to win awards for the work, but to have it recognized and discussed in an educational arena is downright flattering. here’s the book.