2003 AIGA WORK SHOW — AIGA Las Vegas

The AIGA Work Shows are one of the more fun projects to work on. A good friend (and fellow founding member of the AIGA Las Vegas Chapter), Scott Wizell, had passed away shortly before the show was announced. I proposed theming the show in his honor. He was a big fan of the film Pulp Fiction, but I wanted to do something less of a slot tournament (Pulp Jackpots!) and more visually interesting.

I found some of Norman Saunders’ old pulp novel illustrations, thought they would be a fun twist on the theme and contacted his son for permission to use some of them, hopefully for free. Well, it was a jackpot. His son agreed, if we credited his father, and provided several scans of the art. That gave me covers, but the insides of the pieces were a lot more time consuming.

Not only did I design all of the pieces, including call for entries, invitation, Judges’ Speak invitation and souvenir book, but all of the environmental graphics as well, including slide show, banners and trophies. Not only that, but I wrote a serialized gumshoe thriller (under the pseudonym Robert Paulson; Scott liked Fight Club, too) for the printed pieces. I even presented a special award on Scott’s behalf to his sister.

Art Direction, Copy & Design: Michael Dunn
Cover Illustrations: Norman Suanders Additional Illustrations: Bruce Sereta, Adam Lawarence & Mike Lawrence