#scoutbook

“Our Passion is Your Passion.” That’s the motto of Film Box, a full-service film photography lab in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded by photographers Ryan Bernal and Austin Gros, Film Box is dedicated to the unique beauty of film photography in an era of ubiquitous digital snapshots.  They elaborate on their website:

Film has been a tried & true photographic medium. Advances in technology are great, but often times remove the human, tangible element. While some may think film photography is a dying art form in this digital world, we beg to differ. As photographers in search of beautiful images & a simple workflow return to this classic medium, we have – and are currently – witnessing a renaissance of film. This return to film photography is happening at a time when there are fewer labs offering film development & scanning services. We are simply trying to do our part.

Film Box processes and scans photos for clients around the world, delivering both high-quality digital files and negatives for maximum flexibility. Negatives are shipped in a handsome wooden box, or can be picked up at Film Box’s beautiful space in the heart of Nashville.

When Film Box decided to make a custom journal to include in their clients’ orders as a little bonus, they turned to Atlanta, Georgia-based designer and illustrator Russell Shaw.  Russell created this charming Scout Book. Featuring drawings of over a dozen film cameras, from the famed Polaroid SX-70 (Side note: If you haven’t watched this amazing film by Charles & Ray Eames about Polaroid’s ground-breaking camera, do yourself a favor and check it out!) to modern SLR cameras, the journal is the perfect companion for the on-the-go photographer. Says Shaw of the illustrations:

From an aesthetic perspective, I think the Hassleblads are just really cool looking, and enjoyed creating and including the illustrations of those. But from a more personal perspective, I intentionally included the Pentax P30 because it was actually my first film camera that I learned to shoot and develop myself. I thrifted an old P30 in high school and would take it out to shoot around my hometown and then develop at the school’s lab; even into college, I’d stay up late at the university art center working in the dark room. I’m not a photographer in any way, but I always had a lot of fun with that, and so I wanted to pay a little homage to my first camera in the illustrations.

Adding a simple, two-color band to the design is the perfect finishing touch, elevating the design, connecting the book to the overall packaging design, and making the client feel extra special!

Alison Rose is truly a mom and pop screen print shop located in Columbus, Ohio. Made up of husband and wife team, Alison and Nicholas Nocera, their shop specializes in high quality hand-screen printed apparel, wallets, posters and other goods. We were so thrilled when we came across their Etsy page and saw the DIY Scout Books that they screenprint!

Nick and Alison were kind enough to answer a few of our questions:

What do you love about screenprinting?

It's a little bit of the unknown, when you are finally printing your design, and being able to see how all the prep work and setup you've done comes together. There is also a DIY quality to screen printing, the fact that there are 101 ways to get to the same result, you don't have to have a giant shop filled with automatic presses to create something. Even in the wake of Digital printing, there is a long tradition to the art of printmaking, like comparing vinyl records to MP3's. It's satisfying as an artist to be able to design artwork, burn a screen, and print the image, all in the span of a few hours.

What inspired you to start offering live screenprinting at events? We started first doing the live printing at local Craft Shows, and got a really great response. People really loved being able to see the process of screen printing. We put a lot of work into building a traveling press, that fit the ascetic of our shop, so we could still be recognized while out doing events. Last year also brought the need for a second traveling press, a smaller, tabletop version, so now we are able to do a huge variety of events big and small.

Describe a typical day in the studio. That's a hard one, our typical day ranges day to day because we have many facets to our business. Somedays we are creating new designs, while getting inspired by our VHS collection. Other days we are printing all day, filling custom orders, wholesale orders, or pumping up our own stock. Usually everyday we are at the computer working on correspondence, helping customers in our store, and printing something, be it shirts, fabric for our handmade goods, or paper goods.

What are you excited about for 2015? We are excited to move our business forward by gaining exposure through new wholesale accounts, as well as putting a stronger focus on our handmade goods and paper goods. We hope to hold classes and workshops in our space as well.

What's been in heavy rotation on the stereo lately? Music plays a giant role in our studio. Jenny Lewis/ The Voyager, The Kyle Sowashes/ Yeah Buddy, Beck/ Morning Phase, Connections/ Into Sixes, Weakerthans/ Left and Leaving, (and if the moment strikes Beyonce/ Beyonce)

Thanks to Alison and Nick for taking the time to answer our questions, and for sharing their photos with us!

Started by Google employees in 2013, XX+UX is a series of events that connect women working in User Experience (UX) over drinks, snacks and activities. The founders state that even as the demand for UX design has increased over the past few years – among large companies and small start-ups alike – women are still underrepresented. XX+UX aims to foster greater diversity in the field.

These meet-ups are now international and are hosted by key players in the UX world such as LinkedIn, Etsy, Airbnb, Pinterest, Salesforce, and Google. Says one of the founders Brynn Evans: “We’re proud to be a part of this burgeoning, international community of women in design, research, and technology who can connect, share stories, and mentor each other online and offline.” XX+UX recently produced custom notebooks to hand out at events.

Thank you to Brynn Evans for sharing these photos!

Project Specs:

Scout Books Original

3.5 x 5 in

32 Pages

Cover Printing: Black