Categories: Case studies
My brother Devin and I recently completed this collaboration based on an idea proposed by famed artist/author/illustrator James Gurney: “How would an Art Nouveau designer (such as Alphonse Mucha or Henri Privat-Livemont) design a label for an imaginary product called ‘Lionfish Shampoo?’” We went a little far afield from the original prompt, in that our […]
Categories: General updates
Here’s a peek at the extra special packaging we’ve put together for our brand new print series. Get ’em while they’re hot on Etsy!
Categories: General updates, Inspiration
I’m really proud to announce the “official” launch of the Three Steps Ahead Etsy Shop, where we are selling a diverse and frequently updated array of vintage goods and graphic design related pieces. Our current listings include: Canvas prints of Three Steps Ahead original designs, such as the “NYC: Isle of Manhattan” poster, derived from […]
Categories: Case studies
When our friends Jen & Noah came to stay with us recently, we jointly decided it would be a good idea to make each other mixtapes/mix-CDs/mix-p-threes after everybody had to return back to real life. Alyssa and I went straight to work on “Gonetimes,” a mix of music mostly themed around sadness, loss, and loneliness, […]
Categories: Case studies
I was fortunate to be asked to provide some design and layout for Eef Barzelay and Clem Snide‘s forthcoming album, The Meat of Life, due out on February 23. The painting was done by my very talented friend Jen Uman, who has also posted some information about her process on her blog. The album […]
Categories: Inspiration
After the last treasure trove of matchbooks I came across, the idea of starting a collection of my own has been on my radar. I found a few on eBay that were from Torrance, California, the current location of three steps ahead and a subject of particular interest to me. The same seller had a […]
Categories: Inspiration
I just love packaging from the ’60s. This one may have been printed later (it says “Series ’76”), but I’m pretty sure it had to have been designed in the 1960s and used a few years beyond its intended shelf life.
Categories: Inspiration
At my fiancée’s grandparents’ house, I recently photographed a treasure trove of vintage matchbooks that her grandfather has collected over the years, mostly from gambling joints or local establishments in SoCal. He’s quit smoking since and these have just been sitting in a cupboard…until now. (I think the Space Needle might be my fave.)
Categories: Inspiration
One of my favorite things is… well… brown paper packages tied up with string. Well, perhaps not so Sound-of-Music-literally. But I love getting interestingly-packaged items in the mail, especially from foreign countries. For example I wish I had taken pictures of the post-Soviet Belarussian packaging that my first fisheye lens, the Peleng, came in. (Luckily, […]
Josh Korwin has been running Three Steps Ahead, a creative design studio, since the late 1990s. He has been a typography nerd for as long as he can remember, and rabidly collects (and sometimes sells) just about everything with neat type or lettering on it. While graphic design and web design fill most of his days, he dabbles in photography and letterpress printing.
