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Job:12-84823 Title:RP-Graphic Design That Works
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joel nakamura paintings & illustrations
Spiritual Icons
Illustrator Joel Nakamura needed a way to introduce a
new style to his repertoire of work while still maintaining
the promotion of his signature style that he had become
well-known for doing. “I wanted a promotion that
showed different projects and would function in two
ways—one, as a vehicle for prospecting illustration
clients; and two, as catalog for collectors who buy paintings,”
shares Nakamura. The biggest challenge for the artist
was trying to edit his vast collection of work into a
cohesive yet diverse sampling. “Making the right
selections was important,” notes Nakamura. “I wanted
to show work that would be interesting to a variety of
clients, from record companies and corporations to
galleries. I also wanted to show my ability to think
and solve problems.”
CLIENT:
Joel Nakamura is an illustrator
and fine artist working in
Santa Fe, New Mexico.
FIRM:
Joel Nakamura
Paintings & Illustrations
ART DIRECTOR:
Joel Nakamura
DESIGNER:
Greg Hally, Hally O’Toole Design
ILLUSTRATOR:
Joel Nakamura
ABOVE: The handsome brochure
contains Nakamura’s well-known
mythological and spiritual illus-
trations. Each piece is subtly
identified on a small sheet, which
can be flipped back and forth on
the spiral binding. The highly
textural cover features the
artist’s logo, and the solid pages
highlight the images and show off
the patterns that appear within
Nakamura’s work.
Graphic Design That Works
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Text (DS)
Job:12-84823 Title:RP-Graphic Design That Works
(NEW)
175# Dtp:22 Page:247
NEW)
e:246
What Works
The promotional duo not only helped the artist to
maintain his current market presence but also opened
doors for a new body of work to flourish. Because the
slide viewer was such a novel item, it captured the
attention of buyers, who held onto the promotional
piece for just the right assignment. “So many illustra-
tion promotions go into the round file, the trash can. I
feel pretty good that about 95% of the time, people
have kept these promotions and shared them with
other designers,” says Nakamura. “Both the catalog
and slide box have brought in a lot of work for me.”
The promotion ended up in the hands of the Olympic
Organizing Committee—landing work for the artist
with the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. “If you
can put good things out there, they will always pay
off down the road,” he concludes.
To capture a new and unexplored audience, Nakamura
created an interesting package that highlighted his
new creative endeavors. “It is what I call my primitive
work. It’s about line, color, and pattern—more distilled
down than my illustration work. A lot of people respond
to it, and it has allowed me to venture into different
areas,” says Nakamura. “Because it’s interactive, it was
a great way to debut a different wrinkle to what I do.”
The slide promotion, although complex, was quite easy
for Nakamura to produce. “I went to an ad specialty
company. They printed the viewer, duped the slides,
printed the stickers, and put everything together in
a box,” he shares. The artist finds that advertising
specialty catalogs are a great way to get ideas for
interesting promotions, especially ones not typically
seen in the illustration or fine arts industries. “It’s the
kind of promotion that someone is going to get curious
about sooner or later, and they are not going to throw
it away,” Nakamura adds. To maintain market presence
in his signature style, a brochure was also created to
beautifully display Nakamura’s mythological and
spiritual illustrations.
ABOVE AND LEFT: The customized
promotional package contains a
viewer, slides of the artist’s new
primitive work, and a business
card. It is flexible enough to be
sent as a self-mailer or as part
of another promotion.
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