Art History Journal

Michael Osborne Design (mod) _ NWAADC Featured Artist

Michael Osborne is a designer who has experienced a lot. He has done a lot of package design. For example, wine labels, Stuff for Willy Nelson, and Archer Farms food packaging. He designed the label for Willy Nelson’s whiskey bottle.

I thought it was funny when he started talking about how there is a big market for “no dog shit signs…” pardon my grammar. He always carries a camera with him in order to take pictures of signs that are graphically pleasing. He showed a bunch of different signs that showed graphics of dogs pooping. One even showed how to pick up the poop after the dead was done. Tee hee : )

Michael Osborne lives in San Francisco and started his business in 1981. I was born in 1981. He went looking for a printing press and when he found one he ended up just buying the whole shop. It was a CMP Platinum Press. He was in that same space for fourteen years and now he is in his current space. The current space has been occupied for about a year and a half.

He had some good advice that I think I will be holding on to. He says that promotional pieces are awesome. If a designer has an idea on a promotional piece he or she should just do it. He showed some of his promotional pieces and he says they were some of his best work. “Just do it what ever the idea,” he said.

Osborne is a Vietnam Vet. One piece that he did in order to honor his fellow vets was that he did rubbings of the names into shapes and made designs out of them. There were a lot of rubbings and it was therapeutic for him to have done these rubbing designs.

He also enjoyed creating yellow warning signs that were comical just to see if anyone would notice around town. One of his most accomplished works was the love stamp. He designed a few of the love stamps for the USPS. Joey’s Corner is his non-profit organization. Osborne strongly suggested that we start a non-profit or do design work for a non-profit organization. It can be the best feeling and the most rewarding design work a person will ever experience.

I always enjoy going to listen to the featured or show cased artist/designer with the NWAADC. It is inspiring and gives me confidence in my self and in my designing abilities. Being a successful designer is about being able to channel your talent in a direction that is most effective. The most effective way is not the same for most all designers. That in my opinion is one of the hardest challenges for designers. To find his or her niche when it comes to designing. Osborne has inspired me to look for a non-profit organization that I would like to create for.

Misty Slavens