For the third year in a row, the Portland Lindy Society asked me to design the materials for the Portland Lindy Exchange. The exchange is a huge swing dance event including about 35 hours of dancing, live bands, great venues and dancers from all over the world.

This year I designed the materials with a vaudeville flair. I searched all over the Internet looking for the perfect font and finally discovered Boston Truckstyle. I wanted a font with some flourish, but nothing too extreme. Boston Truckstyle has great options and beautifully simple finishing touches.

Evrim Icoz Photography took the photo in the flyer above at the 2008 Portland Lindy Exchange. I removed a bunch of people from the background for a cleaner look.

The whole job uses black and Pantone 877 metallic silver ink. I have been debating about whether or not I should create a fake metallic effect for the web banners and the header for their website. What do you think?

I’ve also designed materials for the event itself. I’m still working on a poster and the program. I will finalize both once bands and venues are locked down, probably sometime in December. However, I have already designed tickets to the late night dances and the shirts for the event.

The tickets will be hole-punched at the door so attendees can keep them as a souvenir if they choose. Both the promotional and event shirts will be printed on several different shirt styles to appeal to different tastes.

What do you think of my designs? Would you change anything?

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