Georgetown Presbyterian Church - Reformation Ale Bottle

---

At the end of this month is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 theses. To celebrate the milestone, Georgetown Presbyterian Church will host a hymnsong, and serve a special era-inspired German beer to honor the spirit of the reformers generally, but specifically honor Katie Luther - the wife of Martin. 

In case you cannot read the text above - 

In late October of 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther published a few ideas on theology - 95 to be precise. Though he guessed they might make for lively discussion, little did he know his these would spark a revolution - or rather a reformation.

A few years later Luther married another rebel, a nun-on-the-run named Katharina von Bora. "Katie" Luther wielded a dual reputation: for influence over her famed husband, and for brewing excellent ale. Many of the liveliest discussions of the Reformation took place in the Luther household, over several pints of Katie Luther's esteemed beer.

The discussion begun in 1615 continues today, five hundred years later. So raise a glass to Katie Luther and the Reformation." 

The quote at the bottom "Here I stand - I can drink no other." is a reference to Martin's mythical quote at the Diet of Worms in 1521.

This post represents a thank you to Georgetown Presbyterian Church, Ceramic Decorating Co. for supplying the glass and decoration at-cost, the illustrator Steven Noble who supplied the mallet and nails illustration.

Images by photographer Adrian Vaagnes.

Goodbye, Nickelfish. Hello, Brandit.

This week is my first full week at The Brandit.Friday was my last day at Nickelfish Interactive Design and Marketing.

jbd_blog_nfidm_desk_2

I came on board with Nickelfish as their first Senior Designer in July of 2010, one month after getting married and one week after moving up to Princeton, New Jersey. Since that summer the staff has doubled in size and we expanded to our downstairs workspace. Check out these photos of the awesome space.

jbd_blog_nfidm_desk

If you look above my desk you will see a panoramic image. This is one of the most fun projects I worked on during my time there: The Nickelfish League of Heroes. Over a lunch early in my Nickelfish career, I said it might be fun to illustrate our Nickelfish group as a team of superheroes. This was mentioned casually (and if you've known me for any length of time you will recognize this suggestion as pretty standard procedure anytime I am in a new professional or social setting), but the proposition was immediately taken up by the CEO, Justin Marcucci.

Though the pet project was delayed by busy months of actual client work I eventually began sketching on our then-15-person team and researching professional comic artists to render them. After many months of sketching, revising and proofing we finally printed our inaugural class image in the summer of 2011. The long-term plan is to re-print a new league poster every summer, updating the team as necessary.

The portfolio section of this site is littered with projects I've done while with Nickelfish, and my time there truly expanded my skill set and pushed me in directions I otherwise would not have explored. My relationship with the people at NFIDM is excellent, and I am leaving on equally excellent terms. I will continue to work for Nickelfish as necessary, wrapping up the rest of my remaining projects on a freelance basis and helping the team out as needed.

Thanks to everyone at Nickelfish for making my time there enjoyable and rewarding. I hope I contributed to the team's experience as much as they contributed to mine. My best wishes to everyone over there, I hope to see you all soon.

What about The Brandit, you ask? That will have to be saved for another time.