Sean Adams and Noreen Morioka are firm owners of AdamsMorioka, and noted around the world for their innovation and creativity in the design world. They are also authors (with Terry Stone) of two widely-referenced design books: Logo Design Workbook and Color Design Workbook (both through Rockport Publishers). The Richmond Chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design, was fortunate to book Adams as a speaker.

 

The creation of the announcement collateral included a small web banner, posters (both tabloid and letter-sizes), and event planning and signage for the evening. Posters and signs were produced in-house (and pro bono) at a sponsor agency.

 

After reading a bit about Adams, I wanted the posters to evoke the image I had of the him. Sean is fit and tanned, effortless and cool, attractive in that Southern California way. I imagined he lived life by the side a pool in Palm Springs, surrounded by pool guests in square-cut trunks and bright polka-dot bikinis, where everyone sipped Mai Tai's and martinis. These thoughts could quickly turn kitsch, and the posters could have easily been overrun with tiki images and crazy kaleidoscope patterns.

 

Instead, I took the topic of Adam's talk (the evolution of AdamsMorioka) to inspire a simplified evolution. By breaking down the squared asterisk in the Adams Morioka logo, one spoke at a time, the symbol became the genesis of where most ideas start: a single line. By reversing the order of how it is read, moving down the page, adding one spoke here, another there, the logo is formed. Keeping with the simplicity of the style, colors of hot pink and cool lagoon were uses as a background for the evolution.