Monday morning are known to be rough. This Monday was no different! Late starts, forgotten equipment-wrong lunch orders-edgy crew. It all makes for an energy that can either pull you up or push you down. This is why you build a team of battle tested veterans that continue to perform at a high production level regardless of the elements.

Location: Deep Ellum

The exposed brick loft interior and the original worn wood floors is a perfect place to shoot brand name merchandise photography. Super producer Amy Mintz worked her magic booking nothing but very best model talent came up with two great ones. Bekka and Nicole really got what we wanted and gave it all to the camera. Spot on!



Laura Tostenson fashion stylist selected specific themed wardrobe to put together the look and feel that matched exactly to the project. Lana Adams make up artist to the stars was her usual flawless self.


Photog Marlon Taylor brought the heat...Thanks Marlon you make the impossible possible.
The assist. Photog Shane Boughton & Jason Stoehr created stunning lighting for all.

Without control systematic improvements are impossible.

We had a soap star on the set today. Passions own Charles Divens (Chad Harris). Charles is a rare talent in the entertainment industry. He continues to be very humble in his approach. We wish him nothing but the best. But I have to ask "What happen to the flat twist Charles?"

We arrive on set and the crew and talent are in high spirits.
Lets make something beautiful today.

Ike made U.S. landfall at Galveston, Texas, on September 13 at 2:10am CDT (07:10 UTC), as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph (177 km/h) and a central pressure of 952 mbar (28.11 inHg). The 2:00 am NHC advisory cited tropical storm and hurricane force winds extending 275 miles (443 km) and 120 miles (190 km), respectively, from the center. The weather service warns "Certain Death" for those that do not evacuate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ike

Seaons and Reasons, Purposes and times.
Lauren LH Jones

Is Brand Jordan an American Icon?

As I watched the USA Olympic boxing team get under pointed by the judges, I noticed that all the US boxing uniforms had the ubiquitous jump man logo. Of course the Jordan sneaker brand is one of the most sought after sneaker brand. The value actually appreciates with age. Go to ebay and do a search. As the world looks on do they view Brand Jordan as an American Icon?

http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/flightclub/

The Greening of marketing is pushing the industry to educate themselves and the client base we serve. Navigating through the many ways of environmental responsibility and doesn't happen overnight.

Trees saved; energy saved; Kilowatt hours saved; Greenhouse Gas emissions saved; Waste water reduction; solid waste reduction. Plant based inks vs Soy based inks. ___?Percentage of post consumer recovered fiber. Keeping up with the speed and sheer volume of green change can be taxing.

www.appletoncoated.com is leading in educating designers, printers, marketers and the end user, by establishing a Environmental Management System in strict compliant with The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC was established to provide standards for forest management globally. The FSC trademarked logo should be included in all printed marketing material that met it's standards.

We are in constant environmental learning mode. Sometime we must go back to the basics and plant a tree, so that's what we did. 3 Red Pine (The Red Pine (Pinus resinosa)trees given to us at a conference we attended in Baton Rogue, La. You can say the future is in the trees.

A successful professional fashion photo shoot depends on many elements. The location, which can pose many challenges. The quality level of the model talent that the producer(Amy Mintz) books. The hair and make up artist (Lana Adams) skill level. The photographer (Marlon Taylor) and his command of the technical aspects. Photo assistants(Shane Boughton & Jason Stoehr )that support the photographers every request. The wardrobe stylist (Barri Martin) that meticulously assembles the merchandise. The vision of the (J. Jerome Jones) Art director that can see the finish product before a single frame has been taken, and a client that has the trust in the crew. When all of these things come together you have a successful photo shoot.

Location: The Harbor Project
Temp: A sunny 95 degrees.
Project: Business to Business Catalog PhotoShoot.
Talent: Ford Models, NY

The goal: Create high impact covers for a catalog. The print run will be in the millions.

The crew was a capable one.

Reunited with one of the trail blazers of digital fashion photography, Marlon Taylor, highly sought after wardrobe stylist; Barri Martin, Make up artist to the stars; Lana Adams. The swiss army knife of photo assistants; Shane Boughton, Super producer; Amy Mintz, Digital processing photo assistant Jason Stoehr; and The Vibe Refinery own Creative Art Director J. Jerome Jones.

The location is very versatile. Our model Rhonda was stunning in a red tank top with the cool blue waters of an Italian water fountain. Look for the post of this cover. It is sure to please.

We have to go off topic for a second. Tiger Woods won the 2008 US Open today in spectacular fashion. Whether you are a golf fan or know nothing at all about the game of golf, one must appreciate this achievement.

We have witnessed a rare feat in sports history that will be talked about in sports lore for years and decades to come. Now, I know what your thinking 'but Tiger always wins.' Yes, he does but HOW he won is the amazing part. Set in California's Torrey Pines Golf course was special. Rocco Mediate was a true competitor he kept tiger at bay, playing a had fought round that kept Tiger from winning the championship in regulation. Tiger hobbled by pain in his knee from surgery months prior at times looked like he wouldn't even finish, could have folded and still keep his reputation intact. But unlike most he pressed on and on and on. Just when you thought he was out of it...he found a way to pull a tiger out of his hat.

Answering questions about the pain in his knee after every swing he replied "Its just pain"
The 2008 US open would be decided with by another round of 18 holes. The crowd learned something about two golfers today, even with Rocco playing his very best round he could not beat what we are coming to see is the best athlete in all sports. Class, grace and tremendous focus.

It would be interesting to see Nike ROI in Tiger. In the end, Tiger embodies what Nike has told us throughout the years. JUST DO IT.

The Jazz scence continues to be a source of inspiration. Jerome Jones looks to Graham Marsh the legendary Blue Note Records Art Director for inspiration when designing CD jackets for client Nichelson Entertainment. "Graham Marsh set an incredible design pace at times designing as many as 50 Album covers in a year. This is incredible because he often photographed the subjects in studio or were ever he could catch up with them. Marsh also didn't have the convenience of computers to help turn the product out!" _Jerome Jones.

Look for the latest release from Jazz drummer Sebastian Whittaker and the creators. "Moving on and upward" Read more about Sebastian Whittaker go to Record Company www.upfront-music.com


To see the design work of Graham Marsh http://lpcoverlover.com/category/blue-note/

The Vibe Refinery was invited by Kim Starr of Appleton coated (a premier paper mill) to judge the top printed sample in the region for The Utopia design award show titled "UB the Judge". Held at the very swank DALLAS DESIGN DISTRICT's "The Apartment." WWW.THEAPARTMENTDALLAS.COM
While munching on great food and sipping on sour green martini's and chatting up fellow design firm heads, other designers and CDs and we had the pleasure of reviewing impressive entries.

A few stood out immediately: The 50 year retrospect of the Hunt Oil company was extremely impressive. Not only did it have a blind embossed title and raised gold seal on the cover, but the black on shiney black printing technique has flawless. This should have been in unlimited budget catagory. However the one that really showed the best use of paper, high concept and design plus best printing practices , was the piece "The Magic of Ten" designed by Squire and Co. A slick capabilities piece for the Allen, Texas based printer Color Dynamics. "The Magic of Ten" revolved around the many uses of a 10 color press, The design theme focused on magic tricks, this may sound lame-however the execution was amazing. The use of dull varnish on a bright coated Utopia 1X green got our vote. And prevailed as the regional winner.

Happy Birthday to a visual artist Frank Frazier, a mentor, friend, business partner, a trail blazer.

Happy Birthday to Dominique Jones studying at Long Island U.
Stay Focused.

Happy Birthday to Mother Jones. You look better than ever. Keep doing what you do!

Happy Birthday Ayanna. Keep up the good work.

We have designed trade show booths and graphics before. This would be a first in directing the actual construction of an entire convention. Since there is no template or prefabricated modules to build out, the trade show contractors have to rely on the design team. We are confident that we worked every detail out in the design. What I do know is that union workers can be really difficult to work with when you are in effect bossing them around.

Working on a international trade show presents an opportunity to work with other languages. We enlisted the help of a international designer and translation specialist. Yuki is a great asset to the creative team.
This retractable banner was designed to meet the convention goes at the entrance to the international booth. Each country would have a custom designed banner in their native language a graphic shape of the country as well as the actual country flag.

The Plus booth graphics help to communicate the benefits of the product. Sarah the copywriter boiled down complex information to small nuggets of great copy

graphics The elements with in the convention will be varied. The great think that helps this fact is the support from Glenn the Director of creative services. Glen has shown a willingness to go to bat for us. All the environmental graphics that will hang above the booths almost didn't make the cut. These pieces will serve to give the viewers a variety of visual elements to enjoy.

One of the interactive elements of the booths will be a butterfly image that will be cut out and constructed on site. The final size will be 5 Ft.
The butterfly will attach to the wall just over a flower graphic.

With a project this large, it is possible to lose focus, you constantly have to look at all the elements to make sure that all parts need flow consistently. Jerome Jones makes sure that the design direction continues to flow.

The self learning area of the convention will be equipped with flat screen PCs. We moved toward a design that would focus on the use of the technology as well as serve as a backdrop for the PCs. Keeping the design simple and direct.

Here is the final approved registration banner design. It measures 19 Feet x 45 Feet. Sarah the copywritering whiz created a series of feel good statements that helped to set the tone. The color theory is set in tones of green-to keep the natural, healthy feeling.

The Indesign workflow really helps to organize the production. Christy and Matt kept the production of the files moving. To keep the file size managable, we created the designs 1/4 of final size output.

When your on a deadline this tight it helps to order in. Jason Deli for lunch hit the spot. OK team lets get back to it.

Blueprints of each design booth and lighting were ftp to Freeman.
The booth average size is 10FT X 60 FT.

The blueprints of each booth are due today. Each blueprint includes the lighting scheme, banner application and curved wall dimensions.

redesigning all of the booth graphic and elements. Looks like we will be working through the night. Pizza is on the way...

The budget is cut? WHAT?

A 2 hour starbucks meeting resulted in solutions. A suggestion of removing the booth carpeting and and reducing the height of booth walls by a foot resulted in a 6 figure saving. The interactive elements are safe...for now.

The trade show budget was trimmed today, so the design team has to go back and rework all the elements that were built in to make the booths interactive. The pressure has just been turned up.

The aggressive design schedule has every one pushing. However we had made substantial progress in getting the overall booth designs approved. Behind Jerome you can see the design direction hang on the "wall."

Out of the quest-to be bigger, bolder and better. We arrived at a MONSTER VISUAL EFFECT.
The MannnaFest 2008 branding system's "M" was rendered by Chris Hoover as a 30 ft. tall structure. The Big M placed at the main entrance could be seen from anywhere within the convention, serving as a landmark to the main entrance as well as provide a vibrant photo op for conference attendees.

Design direction feedback from Director of creative services "make a visual statement-Keep in mind we have to fill a large space-Make sure we THINK BIG".
We munch on lunch -Buffalo wild wings. As we absorb the feedback.

The brain storm session resulted in,Copywriter Sarah Angle pushing out, a tight creative brief. The rhythm of the creative brief gave the team a clear vision of the work ahead. Now can we sell it?

Chris Hoover Sr. Art Director used his amazing hand skills to create detailed renderings of each booth design direction. A rendering is a critical piece on a project of this size. Something that a designer loves to have and a tool to sell the big idea.

2008 copyright Mannatech Renderings
All rights reserved.
Do not copy without legal approval.

The first meeting takes place with Mannatech, Inc. Creative Director, Katherine Hitt, to discuss the design direction of an annual international trade show; MannaFest.

Our job was to guide the creative process, extending the new Mannatech brand into the tradeshow graphics. Making the convention bigger, bolder and better than in previous years.

The deadline of 36 days was impossible.

www.theviberefinery.com

The TVR website is a go for launch.

Here is a sample of our work. Comments welcome.

http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A26C632C516&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW

The Staton Wholesale Business Two Business Catalog was released this week. The photography is stunning. Surf the website below to review some of the images. Kudos to the photo team, we did it again!! Model: Priscila Represented by nextmodelsusa.com

http://www.statononline.com/cgi-bin/livew/site.w?location=http://www.statononline.com/cgi-bin/livew/olc/cobrand-product.w&product=7010&frames=no&target=main&sponsor=000009

google379379a70a5777d8.html

http://www.threethreethreefirstavenue.com/space1.htm
333 First Avenue is one of the best daylight studios in the southwest. A perfect place to create online fashion photography for a major fashion retailer. Working with Paul Morgan, a bleeding edge digital fashion shooter was the key to creating stunning photography. The client response was unbelieveable and we are looking to secure a long term relationship!

Staton WholeSale Trade show graphics. Clean photography transfered well from the catalog photoshoot.

Kanye West, we wish you well in this time of despair.

Our condolences to the Sam Bowie Family.
Sam was a great photographer, and a one-of-a-kind dude.
The Urban Creative Network will miss you.
Photo: 1996 Sam Bowie for Urban sportsgear.
Art Direction: Jerome Jones

Promise House, a Dallas based non-profit safe haven for teens in crisis, needed a new brand to signal to the donors, staff, community and clients that changes were abound.

Lauren Jones, President of TVR spearheaded the refining process started four months ago.
The process included a detailed look into the great work that this organization has produced as well as the services that make Promise House a great choice for teens and young families in crisis. The positive response that we recieved from every level of the organization allowed us to extract the needed elements of the rebrand.

The final approved design intergrates all the various input we recieved over the refining process. The chosen logo is a vibrant and upbeat appoach.The tangy orange color palette is balenced by the calm green and friendly blue. The logotype had to be approachable but also had to convey safety and stability. The "window panes" of the logo communicates window of opportunity for teens. The new Tagline communicates this best.
PROMISING TEENS. PROMISING FUTURES

Location: Photopia, Miami.

The last day of the photoshoot was a great one. The crew's energy was very strong and you knew that the photography created today would be on a new level.

Photog Marlon Taylor created the type of shots that really captured the art direction of the set.

Merchandise: Sports Bras and Lingerie.

SuperModel Priscilla made quick work of the Sportsbra and Camisole sets. Showing again why she is tops in the industry.

All video and photos were taken with a Palm Treo 755 Thanks to Jason Stoehr

Miami is a tough place to find a parking space.

Sunrise

Palm Treo 755

Hey Pete THANKS for getting us to and from the Beaches of Miami. Great Artwork on the RV.
1/20/09

The client was on the set for the 2nd cover at Haulover Beach. The tension is high. The weather was cooperating and we had the best model talent on South Beach. Marlon and the photocrew snapped into action and everything falls into place. We captured a phenominal cover shot, and the client caught her flight with a smile on her facing knowing 2008 looks like clear sailing.

Lauren Jones The Vibe Refinery, Inc. President / Photographer and Indie.

The Cover. Dinner Park Marina, Pier 7

The Client has arrived to sign off on the main cover of the catalog. We set sail in the 52 footer with Capt'n Conrad at the wheel, we zipped around the Bay. Fashion Stylist Laura T put her personal best together for this one.

You never know who you may run into in South Beach! Grammy winner,

MTV Video Award winning, Rap star Busta Rhymes was on the beach with

The Vibe Refinery Creative Director,

Jay Jones.

Yah, yah, yah, yah, yah

"When I step up in the place, ay yo I step correct Woo hah, got you all in check "

Lyrics for: Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check
From the album: The Best Of Busta Rhymes
Songwriters: Macdermot, Galt, Smith, Rashad, Smith, Trevor
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Genres: Mainstream Rap, Hip-Hop/Rap

Welcome to Miami.

"I presented the slides to another group yesterday in anticipation of the larger Board meeting and it, again, was very favorably received. People felt that the project had really been brought to life and that the presentation was exciting and inspiring. Based on the ideas generated in the meetings, I believe that I had everyone’s attention.

Kudos to you both!"

-Client comment

The Vibe Refinery and Harvey Communications teamed up to produce an animated high powered custom presentation for THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL An independent college preparatory day and boarding school for girls. Located in North Dallas.

The 2008 Staton Business to Business Catalog Photoshoot begins.

Business to Business projects are increasingly becoming a part of the Pitch.

Superpages business to business brand standards guide upgraded.

Life comes at you fast campaign.

American Airlines spurs Caribbean & Latin American travel with this deal.