watching Ghostbusters with my little boys tonight and remembering that Bill Murray makes great movies. period. Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Scrooged, The Fantastic Mister Fox, City of Ember, Caddyshack… just funny!
Happy Birthday to Miles Davis and Pam Grier, two big style inspirations at Hayes Design Studios.
… on side note: I was thinking recently, that if Miles Davis was a big star today they would probably try and get him on a reality tv series. and I am pretty sure I still wouldn’t want to watch it. I WILL however continue to rock his records ceaselessly! Also looking forward to meeting Quincy Troupe at this years Martha’s Vineyard Jazz Fest (which HDS is doing all the branding for). His bio on Miles is still a must read for every musician and jazz fan.
help our partner, Samantha photograph Kimbra!
Hayes Design Studios’ creative team includes 2 partner photography studios; Steve Parke Photography and DeCoteau Photography. Samantha DeCoteau of DeCoteau Photography is an amazing professional with a wide range of specialties from hi-end retouching and compositing to commercial work, beautiful, stylized portraits and wedding photography.
Now she needs your help. She is in the running to photograph one of our teams favorite new musical artists; Kimbra. Follow the link to make your vote and please feel free to pass it on. There are only a few days left and every vote counts! Thanks in advance, for your support.
album packaging and working with musicians and record labels: this designer’s first love and literally where I got my start.
These days much of our work is for Corporations, Non-Profits and small businesses, but this month I am excited to be digging my teeth into a number projects for long-time Hayes Design Studios music associates.
There is a distinct difference between a great album and a great album cover. The above are a few examples when the cover and the music are both first rate.
We’ll call this Jesse’s Favorite Album Covers (part 1)
New Responsive Website designed by HDS
We’re always trying to find web solutions that are forward thinking and aesthetically elegant. Responsive web design is just that. For Give Me Air, a fun curating site aimed at busy, artistic, women 35+, we wanted something that looked and performed beautifully on desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices, not by default but by design!
Stylistically it was all about merging the vintage and modern; creating a virtual coffee house that existed a little out of time. We Utilized some great images culled for the vast library of congress catalog for whimsy. With a little lite “steampunk” touch of copper border and tons of “clean lines”, as my wife’s grandmother loves to say, I think we achieved our goal. And most importantly the client was very happy and the feedback has been great!
One of our favorite touches is the used teabag at the bottom that links to the archive.
Please visit the site (on any internet device you like) and be sure to share it.
- Jesse Hayes, creative director
“Are You Happy?”
After a LONG week of work…
Enjoying my afternoon, hanging with my little boys. The 5 yr old playing Mario, 2 year old putting together puzzles and Papa’s kicking back listening to one of my favorite bands Graham Central Station and the above song “Are You Happy?” from My Radio Sure Sounds Good To Me.
I love this picture, the retro-cool and wish I could hear the sounds in that room. There definitely needs to be more Larry Graham rocking an acoustic guitar. Gut-bucket Funk!
it doesn’t get much more timeless than this. Marilyn Monroe represents iconic style to me and this photo captures it with such simplicity.
(via vintagebeauties)
corky mccoy - designing electric miles
an amazing illustrator/cartoonist; Corky’s album cover art for Miles Davis, Funkadelic and others was full of humor, sexiness, politics and attitude, not to mention great use of space, color and typography. this feature focuses on Corky’s design for Miles Davis’ “On The Corner”, which was my first conscious introduction to his work, all though as mentioned in previous posts, my favorite Corky McCoy piece is the artwork for Miles Davis’ “Big Fun” album. so much to be learned from Corky McCoy for any visual artist.
(Source: hayesdesignstudios.com)
it’s spring all over new england! Hayes Design Studios is in planning mode for the summer on Martha’s Vineyard. I very excited about some events with 2 wonderful ladies, Ingrid Chavez and Samantha DeCoteau… more news soon.
It’s happening… (Taken with instagram)
I LOVE album covers, looking at them and designing them. 2 of my favorite illustrated covers are The NPG (a prince side project) album “Exodus” and Miles Davis’ “Big Fun”. Both records are always on hand at Hayes Design Studios for both visual and auditory inspiration.
“Exodus” was designed by two of my dear friends, HDS collaborator Steve Parke and Michael Van Huffel, utilizing the sketches of Debbie McGuan. This record is a funk monster! The music and images are a perfect match.
“Big Fun”, from the height of Miles’ electric period, was perfectly executed by cartoonist Corky McCoy, who had done a number of covers for Miles Davis, Funkadelic and others which are all really cool, but nothing compares to the simplicity and almost architectural sexiness of this cover. Again a perfect compliment to the stripped down, raw funk sounds of “Big Fun”.


