The Art of Bowling

This one’s a special post for me personally. These are samples of an AIGA Austin invite I designed back in 1999 which really helped launch my career. Here’s the story behind it..

In ’98 I moved to Austin. I was in my early 20s and trying really hard to establish myself in a city with an overwhelming amount of amazing talent (it’s only grown crazier since then!). It was super intimidating. One of the first things I did was get involved in the local AIGA, meeting everyone I could, developing friendships & relationships. About a year in, an incredible opportunity landed in my lap.

AIGA Austin had a bowling event coming up and their membership director reached out to me for help designing the invitation. I excitedly accepted and was thrilled for the opportunity to make something cool. The event itself was a mix of 1/2 bowling, 1/2 exhibit showcasing everyone's recent work. So I had the idea of making the invite a how-to-bowl handbook which I called “The Art of Bowling”. I knew I wanted it to be silly with some good humor, so I contacted a very talented writer friend of mine. Together we developed this invaluably useless guide on what to wear, proper bowling etiquette, what to drink, and plenty of other unnecessary trivia about bowling.

So here’s some samples of the illustrations and excerpts of the invite. I didn’t have access to the original digital files cuz my ZIP drive is down, so I rescanned all the original drawings and carefully rebuilt everything. I wanted to make it look like the actual printed piece, so a tip of the cap to True Grit Supply's Atomica Effects Kit for giving me the ability to simulate the real thing.

It’s still one of my favorite pieces. It went on to get featured in CA’s Design Annual 40 which was an AMAZING moment for me. Which, btw, I officially learned by FAX! It’s quite possible I may never receive a cooler fax again in my life.