Principal, Ashby Design,
Alexandria, VA
ashbydesign.com
Title: Violet & The Same Old Chap
Company: Brooke Engdahl, MCAD
Category: Student Work
To compare a student project, with its hypothetical objectives, to a project in the real world doesn’t seem fair. But when the day was over, this is the single piece that resonated–that moved me–and inspired me more than any other. It is a massive hand-made book with countless fold outs that chronicle the real love story of two people from Nebraska. With over 60 years of letters, artifacts and photographs, it is not only a brilliantly conceived project, but meticulously crafted, organized and considered in its designer’s choices. There is a strange relationship between the specific and the generic in graphic design. Ironically, with great personal specificity comes the more universal appeal. “Violet & The Same Old Chap” is an intensely personal work that ultimately shows us a universal truth: that love is ageless and timeless.
More About Neal Ashby: Neal Ashby is the principal of Ashby Design, a design studio whose clients include Warner Bros. Records, Virgin Entertainment Group, Capitol Records, ESL Records, EMI Music Group and National Geographic. For 10 years, Neal was Vice President and Creative Director for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His work has been published by Print, HOW, I.D., Graphis and Communication Arts magazines, and has won awards from the New York Art Directors’ Club, AIGA, the Type Directors Club, the American Center for Design and the Designers and Art Directors Association of the United Kingdom (D&AD). He was nominated for a GRAMMY® in 2005 for Best Recording Package. His work has been displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also an associate professor at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, D.C.