Andrea

I resolve not to make New Years resolutions. I think it sets me up for failure from the start. I guess I just set my mind to want to make each year the best that I can. To try new things, to work hard, to spend quality time with the people that I love, to learn from all that has happened in the previous year and to grow in the new one. And I think as the years pass, I have done just that.

Justin

I made a New Years Resolution to never make NYE Resolutions again, and it’s worked out really well. 

Brad

Yes, I always want the New Year to be better than the last. This coming year I want to complete a sprint triathlon and do another death-defying backpack or climbing trip with my son.

Gwen

I don’t believe I’ve ever made one. If I did…I’ve forgotten about it.

Kyle

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I tried once. It was to stop eating so much junk food, and well…yeah.

Joe

No, and so, no.

Paul

Never made a resolution I can remember. I’m too cynical. Always seemed like a dumb reason to do something I should already be doing. 

Kevin

No.

Andrea

Joe. He shares in my love of craft beer. So maybe there’s a mix-a-six in my future.

Justin

I hope it was Joe, because I think he’d ask Allie what to do. 

Brad

Kevin…because he knows nothing about me.

Gwen

Brad. It would probably be the least ridiculous and I could really use a kettle bell set at home.

Kyle

I know whoever pulled my name will get me something I will love and cherish, so I can’t say it matters who actually did.

Joe

Either Paul or Andrea, because he probably knows me best, and she would get me some good beer.

Paul

Kevin, because it’s his last shot at redemption.

Kevin

I hope Paul gets me a gift because we are besties and we are going to Dave & Busters after work to hang out and play games and drink beers. I feel so fortunate to have a great friend like him!!! He loves me. 

Andrea

Elf has always been my favorite. Why? Well, I don’t really think this requires much of an explanation. Will Ferrell…in a giant elf costume. “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!” However, I have a three-year-old and have recently been introduced to the Polar Express. So I guess that snuggling on the couch with my little nugget has probably made that my new favorite Christmas movie.

Gwen

I love the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s always been a tradition between my sisters and I to watch that movie the night before Christmas.

Justin

It’s a Wonderful Life and Christmas Vacation.  It’s a Wonderful Life because it’s charming and Mr. Potter is a hero to us all.  Christmas Vacation because, well… “shitter’s full”. 

Brad

Love Christmas Vacation…especially the cat chewing on the lights scene! Most of those who are closest to me will understand why.

Paul

Die Hard. Die Hard is a Christmas classic.  They tried to recreate the magic in Die Hard 2: Die Harder, but it pales in comparison to the original.

Kyle

Home Alone (and Home Alone 2). I don’t think I need to explain why.

Joe

I’ve got to go with the classic A Christmas Story, but I also have a soft spot for those stop motion Rankin/Bass films from the 60’s. Who doesn’t love “The Bumble”? 

Kevin

I don’t like Christmas movies.

Gwen

When I was about 8, my sisters and I opened a box that just had a key in it and were told to go look out back. When we went to check, there was a four-wheeler sitting on the deck!

Joe

Probably the Ghostbusters Fire House. It was like the crown jewel of playsets, and provided me countless years of action figure mayhem. I think that came out in ‘87, which makes me three years old at the time. It was probably just as tall as I was.

Kyle

I guess the best Christmas gift has to be the only one I can remember right? I was 10. All my brothers and sisters had bikes of their own. I walked downstairs Christmas morning and BAM… Awesome Huffy 5-Speed bike with a speedometer and the gear shifter in the center of the handlebars. I still have it today actually.

Brad

Boy, that’s a tough one. So many great ones through the years. I’m going to have to say the one I haven’t received yet… My son Bryan, daughter Erin and wife Jamie are getting me hooked up with a really sweet Trek Domane 4 Series bike. It really pays to know people in high places (Bryan is an industrial designer for Trek.)

Paul

It was Christmas 1992. I was six and we spent Christmas morning in Ohio with my Grandma before driving nine hours home to New Jersey. Despite having already opened presents at Grandma’s, when we got home there were gifts aplenty under the tree. Highlights included the Crash Test Dummies Crash Test Center, which provided 101 ways to kill Crash Test Dummies, and a Creepy Crawlers machine. Probably the best Christmas ever.

Andrea

When I was in sixth grade I wanted a Yo! MTV Raps leather jacket (don’t ask questions). I was certain it was my ticket to eternal, epic coolness. And sure enough, my parents totally bought it for me for Christmas. Then, tragedy struck. Before you could say “Downtown Julie Brown”, my aunt told my clueless, suburban, not-so-music-minded parents that Yo! MTV Raps was a rap/hip hop music show (evidently the name wasn’t telling) and they promptly returned it for something they deemed more “age appropriate”. Worst. Christmas. Ever.

Justin

BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT?!  Yeesh.  Hard one. I’ve been really lucky. So many people in my life have really paid attention the little things that make me… well, ME. so picking one gift out of so many awesome gestures is impossible.  From my mom and dad getting me my first set of tools which helped me with countless little projects… to my best friends giving me paintings they made, or drawings they created… to people giving me a really great song they think I might never have otherwise heard.  All of those things sort of just became a part of who I am. Those were, and I guess always will be, the best gifts I could ever get.  

NOW.  BEST GIFT GIVER?!  Man, that’s  Alexandra Charitan.  This is a person that I SWEAR thinks about Christmas ALL YEAR. And has to be, by far, the most endearing, thoughtful person at Christmas I’ve ever met. Every Christmas detail is always perfect and genuine. And I can’t not think about how awesome someone with that much heart makes christmas that much better.  Or. Worse, if you think of it as a competition, because you lose. 

Kevin

Nacho cheese. Two years ago, my mom wrapped up little packs of nacho cheese because I didn’t have very many presents that year and she wanted to get me multiple things. So she found them and thought they were cute. And I don’t even really like nacho cheese, so it was pretty random. I told her this year not to wrap up any food items. Its always a disappointment to get food. 

For the past four years we have opened our doors, and our print lab, to the students of the University of Akron Myers School of Art for a hands-on, screen printing workshop. This two-night workshop is one of many opportunities open to design students as a part of the program’s Design Week activities. The poster that we design and print is specifically tied to their annual Fontoween event where each student is encouraged to dress up as their favorite font.

The poster-making process begins with the team at 427 Design collaborating on concepts for the new Fontoween design. A series of sketches are drawn and revised until the team agrees on the final poster concept. Then comes the creation of ink drawings, layers of textures, colorizing and finally setting up the files for film creation to be used in imaging the screens for printing.

When the students arrive at 427 Design they are coached through the steps of creating the art using software and given some pointers and best practices throughout the process.  They are then guided into transferring the artwork to the screens for printing, mixing the colors, and finally, registering and printing the actual posters. This year’s poster included a series of four colors. Since two groups of students participate the workshop, different students attending each night, two unique colors are printed during each session. 

“This workshop gives students who want to learn about screen printing an opportunity to get hands on experience in a more condensed, focused way… while ruining others equipment and supplies”, says Justin Tokos, Vice President and Creative Director here at 427 Design. Tokos, who has been teaching Production and Illustration at the University of Akron since 2008, coordinates the event each year with the head of the Graphic Design Department, Janice Troutman. 

The annual Fontoween screen printing workshop is an event that our team really looks forward to each fall. It’s refreshing to spend a little time with such eager and energetic design students and we really like being able to share our space with them.

Click here to see the previous Fontoween poster design.