Next week, Charleston Dribbblers gather at eHouse Studio to meetup and listen up as illustrator Timothy Banks talks about using Photoshop like a studio painter. Go RSVP, Charleston!
This week — today, in fact — all the Dribbblers gather right here to learn more about Charleston and its design scene from Timothy, who in addition to speaking created the meetup shot (right), and designer and Charleston meetup organizer Mike Hartwell.
Tell us what you love about Charleston.
Timothy: I love Charleston. It really is in class all its own. A beautiful, hip historic downtown, lovely harbor (with amazing views), and it’s an iconic American city. Also, it’s a travel-magazine darling, so each year Charleston tops the list for one of the best cities in the country to visit or move to. It’s the perfect size for a town too. Outer burb commuters are able to get across the city in 30 to 40 minutes, so great culture is accessible to everyone in the metro area. And that helps for keeping the design community connected and in touch with each other. Charleston’s importance and location as a southern American city definitely gives the town its personality, and an authentic feeling you crave to be near as an artist. (Timothy’s home and dog, left.)
Mike: Charleston’s jam-packed with talented and innovative folks. I can’t think of a better small BIG city to continually be inspired by and collaborate with some of the creative industry’s finest. There’s always something creative and accessible happening, enough to satisfy most tastes, of which I’m happy to contribute to.
Tell us where you work, in relation to the rest of the city.
Timothy: My studio is in Mount Pleasant. I’m about 20 minutes from downtown and 5 minutes from the beach (Isle of Palms).
Mike: I work on the upside of downtown at the UX design agency eHouse Studio (pictured above). We’re on upper King St. across from our coffeehouse friends over at St. Alban’s working the daily grind. Although I don’t have the luxury of biking to work, we do have a brigade of bikes at the office ready for the impromptu pedal.
Tell us about the Charleston design scene.
Timothy: It’s hot (yes, literally and figuratively). Thanks to Charleston’s attraction, we have a lot of amazing designers and creative artists who choose to move here purely for the town. So even though the market size might be smaller, we enjoy finding work on the national stage thanks to companies and individuals that relocate here. There are also a lot of great meetups and resources for designers (Dribbble Charleston being one of them) which enhance the creative spirit of the town. There’s the always inspiring Pecha Kucha Charleston and for the creative tech side we host a great conference run by Dig South. (Timothy’s studio above.)
Mike: Charleston, AKA Silicon Harbor, has blown up considerably in the last few years. And collectively I’d like to think we have a pretty tight-knit design community. We’re still small enough that everybody just about knows everybody, and like a few other Dribbble communities, we’ve dedicated a Slack channel to keep up with each other. Here’s just a few of the events designers in Chucktown have to look forward to: Creative Mornings, TEDx, Giant Conference, RefreshCHS, AIGA SC, Dig South, among others.
Timothy, choose three shots from Charleston Dribbblers and tell us why you like them.
Jay Fletcher, DH, above left.
Jay’s one of the great, trendsetting designers for Charleston. His work has elevated so many cool restaurants and shops in the city, and I love how he fuses a slick design style with a touch of illustrative class. This shot is a such clever play on brand and character, and the palette is a great rendition of the city.
Stitch Design Co., Party, above center.
Elegant design and very inspirational work from this little company. I enjoy everything they produce, and they recently got a spread in Comm Arts for their design with a local restaurant. This wallpaper they created is great, enjoy.
Fuzzco, Badger, above right.
In keeping with my animal theme for shots … I love Badger! This is such a cool little sketch, and I think it embodies a lot about this studio. Beautiful work that has a sense of humor and style.
Mike, choose three shots from Charleston Dribbblers and tell us why you like them.
Gil Shuler, Salty Dog Improv Theater, above left.
Gil Shuler is the man. I especially love hearing him talk about the work. Gil’s a patriarch when it comes to graphic design in Charleston and has continued be an inspiration for the last 25 years, which is not an easy task. Gil truly speaks his mind, which might be why I totally dig his fun design.
On a more serious note, his design titled “we shall overcome” honoring the victims of the AME church tragedy was particularly moving. [Ed Note: We agree, so we’ve added the shot above middle.]
Jay Fletcher, Cardinal Chocolates pt. II, above right.
I really admire the simplicity and wittiness of Mr. Jay Fletcher. Jay has laid down some of the most rock-solid branding design I’ve seen. He’s truly a rockstar, and he’s has been making Charleston sexier by design on a daily basis. It’s honestly hard not to blessed by one of his marks no matter what corner of the Holy City you find yourself in.
David Stanfield, Accelerating the Switch, below left.
I always expect to be surprised by David Stanfield’s next animation. I’ve always been fascinated by his playful manipulation of color and shape. Animation designers are like graphic designers who pen their lines out into the world likes ours, where stories are told through what changes versus through the meaning of the line itself. Respect!
In addition to David Stanfield’s shot, left, the above grid includes Timothy’s No moon for you, center, and Mike’s Food Truck Sunday, right.
Find Timothy Banks at Dribbble, on Twitter, and at timothybanks.com.
Find Mike Hartwell at Dribbble and at www.ehousestudio.com.
Find eHouse Studio at Dribbble, on Twitter, and at www.eHouseStudio.com.
For more of our recent armchair travel adventures, read Pep Rally: Odessa and Pep Rally: Philadelphia. To find out if there’s a meetup near you, visit Dribbble Meetups.
Find more Meetups stories on our blog Courtside. Have a suggestion? Contact stories@dribbble.com.
