ALEX DAKOULAS NEWS/RANTS

Website is now UP!
Prices are DOWN!
S&H is FREE!

http://www.dancepartymassacre.com

If you're thinking about getting any of the Dance Party Massacre shirts now is the best time! Not only are the on sale, but until Sunday I'll send you them for free!

Holiday shopping??



I hope this all works out...

Dance Party Massacre is going full speed ahead! Check out pictures of the actual shirts under the cut. Working on getting up an online store, and getting them into places.

If you're interested in a shirt RIGHT NOW we're still in a release phase so they're only $20 each. They retail for $28. All colors are what is shown—same for men and women. Men sizes SM-LG and women sizes SM-XL. If you're inbetween sizes get the larger size. All shirts are super-soft 100% cotton, tagless, screenprinted logo inside, and come with a promo-pack. $5 S&H for every 2 shirts.

Just Paypal money to alexdakoulasATgmailDOTcom.

UPDATE: Made a way to order them through Paypal.

( THE SHIRTS )

For anybody interested in reading more about Dance Party Massacre, the ideas behind it, and checking out the designs, go ahead over to the latest blog I posted on DPM's myspace!

Aarrr... I want every day to be Halloween!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the release party. Video projections, a fog machine, dancing, blood, special drinks, Nightmare on Elm St playing cards, free shirts, and a whole lot more went down. You can check out the photos on Dance Party Massacre's myspace!

DPM RELEASE PHOTOS PART 1
DPM RELEASE PHOTOS PART 2

I am now contacting specialty stores about selling DPM to their customers, as well as working on getting the website up to sell them online directly through myself.

FUN!

I hope this all works out. Word of mouth has been good, but your friends always tell you good things. Now it's time for the public to decide.

PS-If you can't view the photos on myspace, try these here and here.

The Dance Party Massacre Release Weekend was a success! My skin is still dyed red from the blood!

Thanks to everyone who bought a shirt, came to the party to have some fun, or just stopped by my table at Mass Market to check out my stuff.

I'll try to post up pictures soon!

Busier than ever? I just accepted a job at Converse as a Junior Designer. Oh full time employment! They were able to reel me in.

In regards to my own work, all the shirts for Dance Party Massacre are now complete and in my hands. They'll be released to the public Halloween weekend with a VIP Halloween House Party on Saturday the 27th in Boston, and then proceeds to the next day at MassArt where I will be selling them at Mass Market (very similar to the now defunkt Punk Rock Flea Market.)

I hope some of you can make it to at least one of them, as it'll be your first look, the only places to buy them right now, and they'll be at a discount!

So my bank account just dropped $2,500 for the initial down payment on my first clothing line. Expect that to double within a few weeks as things are finalized.

If this fails, I fail. I've never put so much of my own money into anything—falling to almost zero savings when it's done. And I've never put out something I felt so connected with before. Nothing that I felt so much to be mine. Because of this I fear people won't care about it. I don't exactly have the most universal tastes.

If you wish to keep track of the endeavor check out the website, and add the line on myspace, virb, etc. If you want a sneak peak of the line, just e-mail me (alexdakoulasATgmail.com). I'd love to send it to you!

The Movie Poster Toolbox Version 2.0 is now online! With thanks to Mike Sokol and his coding capabilities we were able to fix up some bugs and features on the toolbox. This includes:

- Review quotes recognize whether to be white or black depending on background
- You can control which images go on top of what in the canvas with the last thing you click being on top
- You can save your poster easily and show it to friends!

In time I hope to add more features (create your own genre poster?!) and at least show the process and research that got me to this. One big thing right now is that every image ("tool") in this toolbox is derived form actual cliches used in real film posters.

I collected all the film posters I could from the past 5 years and separated them into genres (Drama, Comedy, Horror, Action). Looking at them side-by-side I noted similiarities between posters in each genre and in film posters in general. Ideally you could create your typical, generic film poster for each of those 4 genres using the cliches provided. There were also, of course, similarities between all film posters and I included those tools as well.

DANCE PARTY MASSACRE




Watch out.

They announced the winners of the Adobe Awards, and I'm up on the site for being an Honorable Mention.

http://www.adaagallery.com/honor/2126.php
http://www.adaagallery.com

I'm about 99 percent done with a new version of the toolbox that allows you to save the poster as well! It should be up soon, and for now you should check out this blog about the colors in film posters of top grossing movies.

It looks so much like my research into this project. I really want to get my research posted online as well, because I think it's very interesting and you might too! Maybe in the next version!

This shirt has been made for a while now, and I've even sold it at a few things, but I haven't had the chance to post it in my online store because I was hoping to get pictures of it on models. Well that's not working out right now so just check it out! The shirt looks exactly how the image looks (it's B&W and printed that big) and if you want to see someone with it on picture me wearing it with an American flag bandanna, jean cut-offs, and high-tops.

A bunch of people laugh and smile when they see this shirt, point it out to their friends, but then never actually buy it. What? Not wearable? I'm gonna wear this thing to work tomorrow you babies!

Also, the very few Scream shirts I have left are now $10 and the Three Way shirt is on sale for $15.

I finally received word back from Adobe about my semi-finalist pieces in the Adobe Awards. My t-shirts didn't get anything (unless they aren't done sending out news) and The Movie Poster Toolbox wasn't a finalist, or winner, but it did receive an honorable mention.

That's cool, but I'm not gonna pretend I'm not disappointed. Being an honorable mention is like getting 3rd place. And I just wonder if I sent along my process book, which explains evverrrything, if they would have understood it more. Not being there to be able to explain your work is rough. And I'm only disappointed because I feel as though there was one more step I could have taken to raise their interest.

Oh well, any publicity for this thing is good, and it still was one of the top few out of all the pieces sent in to be picked out for recognition. You can't win everything so I guess I should just suck it up and be happy. Blaahh... you learn from your mistakes, your work harder. My friend and I are already working on developing the Toolbox more, so stay tuned for that!

For the past 7 years or so (if I read correctly) Adobe has been asking students to send in their work which was made using mostly Adobe products where it is judged in different categories. The winners get a bunch of money, are flown out to California, and receive free publicity.

Two of my pieces were chosen as semi-finalists! I just sent out the agreement forms and actual work to them so they can be judged more closely and potentially be finalists or winners. The two pieces nominated are The Movie Poster Toolbox and (again I find this amusing) my apparel designs. We'll see what happens!

Check out the list of nominees for this year here, and last year's winners here.

The Spring Sale at MassArt went well! Thank you to everyone who stopped by to support us and see what we're making. And to anyone who bought a shirt from me, I hope you like it!

Some shirts/sizes are now sold out so I thought I'd update you on that and remind you if you want something, get it NOW!

I Beer Beer—sold out
Scream 10th Anniversary—SM and MD sold out
Never Grow Up (Gals)—LG sold out
Flock of Birds (Guys)—SM sold out

Starting today you can buy my shirts at the MassArt Spring Sale! It goes on all week and there's a new design that was seen at the Punk Rock Flea Market, but I haven't had time yet to post in my online store.

In all honesty, I'm not sure if I will be reprinting any of the current designs as I have larger plans for the future, so if you like a design you may want to get it while you can!

Thank you to people that came out last night to Portfolio Night. It was a lot of people checking out some really good work. (My classmates better put up websites so I can blog about them!)

One of the things that I “unveiled” last night was putting my degree project online. Now anyone can check it out!

In a very short summary of my 4 months of research into film advertising and movie marketing, the biggest thing I found is that people want to see something different, something unique or innovative, when it comes to ad campaigns. This not only catches their attention because it's not the same thing they see all the time, it can also create word-of-mouth publicity (a large tool for advertising movies), and it's good for design in general. If ads all look the same for every movie, they aren't being designed very well. They should be tailored to each project and each movie.

I would think this realization would be fairly obvious, but I don't think film companies are taking this into consideration because so many ads look the same! I decided to focus on the film poster as a basis to show just how formulaic film advertising has become by creating a toolbox of cliché advertising parts. Now anyone can be a professional poster designer!

Check it out for yourself at http://www.moviepostertoolbox.com.

Thanks for everyone who came out to the Punk Rock Flea Market! Got to meet cool people, see good stuff, and it was nice to see independent people coming together to share unique items. Thanks for making it a good first time for me!

I've been real busy with lots of events going on, and I have another! If you're around this Thursday stop by the Bakalar Gallery in South Building at MassArt (621 Huntington Ave, Green Line E, Longwood stop) to check out finished portfolios (including mine) from all of the graduating Communication Design majors.

Come talk to people, see good work, make connections, and whatever else you want.

( pictures from the PRFM, mostly of my friends because i had the camera )

This Sunday I will be selling my shirts at Punk Rock Flea Market 10. It's being billed as the last one so check it out! It's only $1 to get in and you have access to tables upon tables of unique items.

It takes place at MassArt's Pozen Center in Boston—621 Huntington Ave. Come say hi to me!

http://www.myspace.com/prfm
http://www.yelp.com/topic/WcGvNzVeSQWDkY281PIi4g
http://theedge.bostonherald.com/musicNews/view.bg?articleid=197015
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bensisto/collections/72157600000574137/

Thank you to everyone that came out to my final All School Show! This was definitely the best one I've been a part of, and I'm sure one of the best GD shows in recent years. Big thanks for Johnny Mags and Shane Patton for putting a lot of work into it.

Ironically, us GD kids were talking about how we never hear about any of us winning the All School Show awards. Then a bunch of us actually received them this year, and I was one of them!

Second irony, I won them for my t-shirts! Just, seriously. I do these things outside of school, on the side, to get AWAY from my schoolwork. These are the things I tried to do an independent study for and got shot down. I make posters, design books, create interfaces, and THIS is what I get recognized for.

I'm still happy, I just find it funny. I suppose it's another good sign that maybe these could go somewhere.

Because I won an award, my work will be on display again with all the other people who won them! The opening/award ceremony will be in the Doran Gallery (600 Rear Huntington Ave, Boston) on Wednesday, April 11th from 6-9 PM. Come say Hi!

( pictures from the show )

Come to 621 Huntington Ave in Boston this Thursday for MassArt's Graphic Design All School Show! There will be free food and drinks, and the other majors are showing their work all around the school.

I will have t-shirts, logos, ads, and a book in the show!