Is Your Refrigerator Running?

April Bell, an AD

  at Money, contacted me recently about coming up with a few spot illustrations and I was more than happy to take them on. April’s initial direction asked for very simple graphic images. The spots were running pretty small, at 1.25” x 1”, and in order for an image to read at that size it does help to keep it simple. I’m always excited to take on the challenge of doing spots in this size range. The restricted format forces you to create something that not only communicates very clearly, but also attracts a reader’s attention. Naturally, as an illustrator, you want to get the most out of any space you are given in a publication.

April sent the text that would accompany the 3 spots and I was off to the races. Some early concepts that I tried out had to do with very exact details from the text. The concept of saving money by purchasing energy-efficient appliances led me to draw a combination of a sales tag and an oven. The idea of “vampire appliances” (older appliances that drain energy and your wallet) was also an image I couldn’t keep from messing with. My focus was on very simple, graphic images that use shape and composition to communicate.

For some reason I drew this first round of sketches in a pretty absurd pink, purple and black color scheme. I’ll chalk this up to focusing a bit too much on the ideas of the images, and less on the images themselves. April was happy with some of the concepts, but asked me to focus on more widespread themes throughout the text…and politely asked for some colors that were a bit more palatable.

April liked the idea of the calculator paper forming the “energy star” so that was cleared to go to final. She also liked the idea of “knowing when rebate programs end in your state” but suggested the image not be about any certain state. As you can see in the second round of sketches, I chose some colors that aren’t nearly as piercing, and tried to refocus my concepts to cover a wider interpretation of what the entire section was about.

After another conversation with April, and some great input from AD John Sheppard, I went to final on the three spots.

It was exciting to bump into the new issue of Money on the newsstand (it was just to the left of the crowd of people climbing all over each other to get to a certain music magazine that got a General fired). April and John did a great job with the page layout, and the issue is teeming with strong illustration work throughout. Now I have to remember to send this article to all of my friends back in Brooklyn with their AC’s on full blast.