Hello.
I’m Chaz DeSimone & it’s a pleasure meeting you. But why are you sitting sideways?
If you were expecting to read about National Ampersand Day, you’ll have to go here. Being the egomanic that I am, this page is all about me & me & me.
Good enough isn’t
I don’t recall which major brand used that slogan several decades ago, but I live by it. Passionate about design & excellence, I do not not subscribe to the statement “perfection does not exist.” It does. Great designers prove it all the time.
Scribbling “logos” since I was a tantrum-throwing toddler & adding serifs to letters since I could hold a Crayola* I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a career of creativity. I’ve always been a progressive thinker (in grade school I was considered retarded), which led to pioneering styles & concepts in many areas of advertising & graphic design. My first loves will always be lettering, typography, layout & logos. I get deliriously happy when a client asks me to design a logo with an ampersand in it.
How AmperArt got started
In 2011, as a marketing campaign for my graphic design business, I created a series of “ampersand art” posters. After positive feedback, I turned it into an ongoing series & named it AmperArt, planning to release one piece per month as long as I can push a pencil & a pixel. So far I’ve created over 100. Those first several campaign pieces & all the others are in the AmperArt gallery.
My “real” work
I design brand identity, from a singular logo to a comprehensive branding system; book cover art & interior typography; posters, collateral,+99999999999999****- (the cat did that), packaging & all that sort of stuff.
Within the scope of brand identity (also called corporate identity or visual branding — whatever it’s called, that and expert typography are my favorite design practices), I create the nucleus which is the logo, customize the fonts for the identity program & assemble palettes of color & visual elements to visually support the brand in every aspect: stationery, signage, collateral & beyond…way beyond. I stop at nothing to refine an image that will best serve my client.
You may admire — I mean inspect — my work at desimonedesign.com.
More about me & me & me
On the personal side, I paint vibrant abstracts, create custom greeting cards (featuring the ampersand of course), listen to straight-ahead jazz, attempt to dance swing & ballroom & practically live at Disneyland. Unless it’s hot & sunny — then I’m at the beach with a bottle of suntan oil & nothing else. After all, as my favorite bumper sticker goes, “If we were meant to go naked we would have been born that way.”
*My favorite Crayola has always been blue-green, but I’ll admit I can’t draw much more than a stick figure.
Okay, enough about me. Let’s hear about you. Leave a comment below, or contact me direct. Or go ahead and read why I created National Ampersand Day.
Thank you Chaz for allowing us to freely use your logo artwork (with acknowledgement). I have a facebook page that posts about daily holidays and fun trivia facts, thru pups. So tomorrow we will celebrate “Ampersand Day” and our friends (furiends to us), will love it. I am quite sure they do not know what an ampersand is anyway, fun knowledge for all. Thank yoooooooooo (as a pup would say).
Hey, popped in after talking with you on Susie’s blog! Love the ampersands! And my last Netflix was RENT… Yeah, trying not to be ashamed.
I’m wondering-what are your thoughts on etpersands?
I just saw your comment now…thanks for visiting. (You did subscribe, didn’t you?)
Hmmm…etpersands? That would have been spoken “et per se and” — I assume you know that over time, “and per se and” meaning “and this symbol, by itself, means ‘and’ ” was slurred together into the word we use today: ampersand. (When a word comes about from a mistaken pronunciation, it’s called a mondegreen.) So your mondegreen is a combination of Latin and Anglicized spelling. Let’s make it all Latin just for an experiment: “et per se et” of which the mondegreen would be “etperset.” Quite interesting, and I like it. It’s actually more accurate, being all in the same language. I’m going to work that clever idea into one of my articles, sending people your way, of course.
I’m not going to change the name AmperArt to EtperArt, though – or, as it would appear in Latin, EtperArs.
I’ve always wanted to see RENT — thanks for the reminder. (I watch a lot of old movies on YouTube, especially from the 30s & 40s.)
Popped in from Susie’s party. A pleasure to discover your site. I envy your talent. One of my hobbies is making soap and selling at little local craft shows. Without question, the most time consuming and brain consuming part of my micro biz is the packaging, logo, overall presentation. When the whole thing started, once I had the name, I needed a logo, something that people would see and immediately know it was me. And with the variety of soap scents, I use a standard label but vary the color that encircles my logo photo. And it took days to figure out the perfect font, then the size, and the layout. Exquisite agony!!
Wow! Chaz I really like this one, you do amazing work but this one touched my heart. I will share Amperart with my contacts, keep up the good work.
Pati
What a unique idea to incorporate the ampersand in so many different ways. I think those would be great as a framed set, or in a set of three (how would you be able to choose only three?) Here’s wishing you great success with these and all of your other uniquely creative endeavors. Good show.
Hi Chaz, you streaked through my mind today, so I thought I’d stop over and say hi. I also wanted to invite you to my bad girl blog http://nothobblingnow.wordpress.com/ it’s a little more fun than the hobbling side, although that one is still around too. Anyway, I hope you are doing well.
This is a GRoovy website!
Hello Chaz! After I got your note, I decided to take a gander at your website. Oh YEAH! I love it. I’m an artist/writer/publicity person who loves lettering. I do calligraphy and make handmade Coptic and Japanese-bound books. Now that I know where you like on the Internet, I’ll be stopping by for tea and an Ampersand!
So glad Carolyn Howard-Johnson introduced us by accident in her newsletter!
Mindy
That should be LIVE and not LIKE on the Internet. Zounds! I need an editor!
Mindy, since you love lettering, I will keep you informed as to when I fill the lettering and typography section of my website (the graphic design site: http://desimonedesign.com) with examples of my past work which spans over 40 years worth of romans, scripts, serifs and ligatures – both typography and professional hand lettering (BC – before computers).
My latest lettering project has been designing and restoring silent film titles that are lost or damaged, for the Library of Congress as well as film collectors and historians. I’ll post some of those as well.
Please send me some examples of your lettering.
Hi Chaz, thank you for subscribing to our blog and for the nice comments & compliments! Thanks for deciding to share your love of the Ampersand with the rest of us. The posters are stunning and I just have to compliment you on the Logo and signatures. I’ve always favoured the white block frame around posters and your design completes & compliments the whole very well indeed. It adds that WOW factor.
What can I say, I see very fine detail?! I guess if you love typography, you can help but notice?
It is truly a pleasure meeting you, Irma. This is a rather new project, and to know I’ve reached someone on the oher side of the globe is gratifying. Maybe it will spread like I hoped it would. We’ll cover the earth with ampersands! I look very forward to staying in touch with you and will share brilliant typography as I come across it.
Thank you. What specifically can I elaborate on for you? Are you interested in the ampersand, or art and design in general? I can answer pretty much all your questions about typography.
Simply BRILLIANT!!! I laughed out loud when I read the line “But why are you sitting sideways?”
Love the posters. Can’t wait to see them in retail stores all over the country. Your own gallery showing is also on the horizon!