When Chad Dee, from National Bookstore marketing emailed me, I was extremely excited at the same time extremely cautious. I am obsessed with NBS and I blow all my design money on books and office supplies in their store but will they even like my work? You have seen my work–pretty simple stuff. Will their customers receive it well? Also, National Bookstore is such a big company, the approval process might kill me. I’ve been so used to working with the brand owners directly and I can’t afford to get discouraged by different opinions right now. Too many chefs spoil the broth and will just ruin the momentum.

But I love National Bookstore. I’ve purchased too many foam boards to not even consider it so I met Chad and Christine from marketing and Miguel Ramos (brand owner, prayers answered) at the National Bookstore office. This place to me was where “all the magic happened.” There were books in every corner of this place. I was told books are sent to them for review so they can decide whether or not they’re going to put it in the stores. If you’re a bookworm, you should get a job here. You will never have to socialize with your officemates on your free time because you’ll be too busy reading. Oh joy.

Anyway, to revamp NationalBookstore.com was the plan for 2012. Make it THE website for not just books, but later on electronics and other things. Yes, this country needs an Amazon.com and yah, I feel the pressure.

Miguel wanted a distinct looking “.com” National Bookstore has been around for 70 years. That’s a long time and they have not stopped growing. I think their success is because of their adaptability. They keep up with the times. I wanted to design a .com that represents our time and if I’m not mistaken, we’re in a touch screen generation, aren’t we? Well the kids now at least. I remember watching Minority Report and seeing Tom Cruise move his fingers on the screen and I wondered how soon it would happen. (I just had to put a picture of Tom Cruise in there. So hot.)

And it’s happened alright. My nephews are on my iPad nonstop, thanks Steve. Here are my sketches based on the touch sensor idea.

I never use the outer glow effect on Photoshop. I used different shades of the NBS red instead. I proposed something like this. Maybe for their banner ads too?

Oh yeah! Work. It. Ok maybe it’s a bit much and irritating. A little disco. But you get the idea. Approved without the enclosure. Website next. This was their website before we changed it.

Here’s my sketch.

I wanted to use an approachable typeface, it has to look good in all type sizes and because National Bookstore’s colors are red, it’s just appropriate to use Helvetica. So they say, Helvetica is like air… it’s just there. But that can be a good thing for a brand that talks to a lot of people.

I wanted the buttons to be very clear because they will be teeny tiny.

I also didn’t want them to have a lot of effects. The reason why buttons from sites look like they’re about to pop out of the page is because people had to know which ones were buttons and which weren’t. Designers had to make it obvious before but because the we’ve become so familiar with the web, we don’t have to design that way anymore.

Approved home page. I arranged it in a four-column grid (you can’t see it), for the site to feel organized. Books and prices are pretend content.

Events page. Also pretend content ok? Lauren Paul did not come over.

The site is up today and it’s a work in progress. I didn’t do the back end (I am not a programmer) and a meeting will be set soon to iron out the details. Click here to visit the site.

It was so easy working with National Bookstore. Really fast. Website draft approved right away, a couple of movements here and there but they generally let me do my thing. Amazing how much they trusted me with this. Thank you Chad, Christine and Miguel for making me design the site! I have never been so nervous and excited about a project. Thank you Daphne and Ito for blogging about me.

This is Raab after a few rum cokes and me after two glasses of Coca Cola. (Thanks for this picture Mikey M)

He asked me for a monogram, how could I say no? You don’t say no to Raab. Now, two years after his request, I’m finally done with it. What can I say, procrastination is part of my creative process (lame excuse). RAAB is an acronym for Rene Alfred Anton Bustamante. Whew! A mouthful. He wanted something Rococo, that’s his favorite period. I love that period too. The right amount of grandeur and gilding with too much pastel. Unlike Baroque, everything in Rococo is asymmetrical. There has to be something uneven in the furniture, in the moldings, nothing is ever balanced. Perfect because there are two As between R and B then I’ll make the R extend a little further.

Here are my sketches. Forcing the Fleur de Lis in there but it just won’t work.

Telling you already, the Fleur de Lis won’t work. Eliminate. (This is me talking to myself, not listening to myself.) I also massacred that piece of paper with all my erasures.

Finally in the computer.

Had to print it out and draw some shading in there.

Then scan and illustrate the shading in the computer again. See those lines and twirls? Those were tiring to do. Did it all point by point. For some weird reason, I didn’t hate doing it. Guess I really like what I do.

If it it were up to me, these are the colors I would choose.

Ah well my name is not Raab. This is how Raab would want it. I think. He hasn’t seen the finished monogram yet.

We’ll see if he approves.

Ito is very easy to work with because he decides fast and he gives very clear instructions. I asked him if we should do it a la Tom Ford with just text (easy route) or if he wanted a logo. He wanted a logo and I said, let’s go old school! He was open to it and said yes. Old school it is.

I’m a huge monogram fan. So I did my research and did some sketches and combined styles from different periods to give Ito something more original. After all, if you see his store, there are different pieces from different time periods and places.

Sketch 1.

Sketch 2.

What on earth am I’m doing here? Working with red so I don’t miss anything. Just making sure that the elements are properly spaced.  I don’t really know what you call it but I don’t want the monogram looking uncomfortable and I didn’t want any sharp edges in there either.

How long did it take me to do this exactly? Long. Very long. On one of the afternoons that I was working on this, I was in my friend Raab’s house and he was watching me work on it. He said, “Kabudlay sang obra mo.” Which is Ilonggo for, “Your work is so difficult.” I told him it could be easier but I’m the one making it hard for myself really. I overanalyze things too much I think.

But it’s always worth it.

With Neutra Display light. My favorite not-so-old font.

This is the kind of hate I love.

We might go letterpress or we might go just normal offset printing. Not sure yet but I will update you. Or… Ito can also embroider this on his pillowcases, napkins… maybe weld it on his iron gate? Have it stitched on the arm chair upholstery? Haha. I could go on and on. I honestly would love it see it applied to different areas of his house the next time I get invited to one of his dinner parties. Thank you Ito for keeping me in mind all the time and recommending me to everybody. I appreciate EVERYTHING.

My mentors have been telling me to steer clear from being dangerously overrated and stay somewhat bespoke. I was always told to only do what I’m comfortable with and I have been diligent in doing so. Last thing I want to be is a freaking sell out. While reading Steven Tyler’s latest book, this one struck a chord. Made me feel like it’s the right time to do things like these already.

Yeah well, what’s the big deal about holding back. Who gives a crap. I think I’ve done enough work. God knows I’ve put in the hours and sacrificed my social life (which I am slowly getting back).When Ritchie Baquirin of the Philippine Graphic Design Awards sent me some questions for their new section in BluPrint, I carefully answered them, hit the send button and braced myself for a wee bit more exposure that the usual.

It’s out and my answers are alongside designers who are very good at what they do. Hope you get a copy.

I was also interviewed for another magazine, will let you know when it’s out. Thank you Ritchie and BluPrint for making me a part of this month’s article.

When Cynthia emailed me asking me to do some work on their identity, I didn’t even have to think twice. Let’s get to it!

I didn’t want it to be so thick, not like the usual logos I design. Thin means delicate but when set against black, it makes for a bolder mark. I chose the circle because the icon is rounded and the outline outside will make it feel like a place that serves food, makes it look more like a label.

I paired it with Gotham Rounded, a very beautiful modern typeface. The Ps and the Bs look very good here.

It feels new without being trendy. The black circle makes it strong but the fluid mark keeps it delicate. I was thinking that if Laduree was created in this century, how would it feel? That’s how I really wanted to approach the brand. For it to be forward and timeless at the same time. I inserted a clean grey and white stripe behind the logo which can be included in the packaging or signage.

I also created another pattern they can apply to anything, their wallpaper, fabric for uniforms or even aprons. The last thing I want to do is to make the pastry shop feel sterile and boring. I want it to be interesting and I want it to have different layers but still keep it clean.

And because I had to present this study to them through email, I had to make them envision the identity applied to different things. I also chose salmon as one of their main colors. I wanted the colors light but not feel juvenile. Something from a more sophisticated palette that will still make the food stand out. Nothing too colorful because pastries are already beautiful, why take away the attention from them? I’m not trying to win an award here, I’m trying the make the graphic work with the actual products.

Then I added mint to compliment the salmon. It’s a very unusual palette but I think it’s different and it’s just what Bacolod needs. Mint also goes so well with dark chocolate colors so this will be great for the brown cookies or chocolate cake. Also, I think cake boxes should be simple. Some cake boxes can get so complicated and you can see the frustration of the person trying to put it together again after opening it. A simple two-piece box is elegant and you can stack them on top of each other, a 2-year-old should be able to make sense out of it. Also, even luxury designer brands use this kind of box because when you open one, you want the focus to be on what’s inside it, you don’t want mind space spent on figuring out how to work the damn box. You can also have so much of the cover printed but keep on changing the theme of the bottom piece. For Christmas, we had a red ones made for their fruitcake boxes.

More samples of how the identity could be applied.

They also have deli products so it will be applied to their packaging.

Because I didn’t spend the holidays in Bacolod, I still haven’t seen the cake boxes with actual cakes in them. I’m dying to see them.

There is a reason why I chose this project as my first design process entry of the year, it is because this is the stuff I really want to do in the next coming months  and these are the kind of clients I really want to work with. The ones who are comfortable with simplicity and the ones who are brave enough to implement something different. Come to think of it, all my clients are like this. I’m so thankful.

Thank you Cynthia and Bobby for getting me on board! I love this logo very much, I’m so proud of it.