"The Chicken" with Jaco Pastorius on electric bass

My next jazz caricature drawing: Bassist, Jaco Pastorius (the guy on the right with the colorful striped sweater). Can you play sixteenth note triplets on a Fender electric bass? Jaco was a prodigy. He suffered a tragic death at age 35, bounced from a bar in Florida.

A logo redesign for a local pet store, Animal Ark, preparatory to designing a new web homepage and hopefully a 3 to 4-page website. It's great to do something fun every now and then!

Mount Timpanogos, First Light, 11-18-10

The southern sun greets Mount Timpanogos at 7:45 a.m. this morning.
(70-200 mm Canon telephoto lens)
© 2010 Taylor Graphics, LLC

If you are interested in ordering prints of my outdoor photography,
just give me a call, or email me:

John Taylor, Taylor Graphics: (801) 636-5158
Email: taygraphics@hotmail.com

Color or monochrome print sizes include: 5 x 7, 8 x 10, 11 x 14, and 16 x 20

“Triste” by Carlos Jobim (video by Nicole Taylor, my daughter)
Performed by BRIJJ Jazz - The Bayou, Salt Lake City, UT June 3, 2010
Bob Taylor, trumpet; Rich Dixon, guitar; Jim Stout, bass; John Taylor, drums

One way in which to refresh and stimulate your creativity and to receive more joy out of life, is to learn to appreciate music, all kinds of music. My passion is jazz. I learned how to play the drums at an early age and, nearly 50 years later, am still playing and performing.

This music video features “Triste”, a beautiful melody composed by Brazilian composer, Carlos Jobim. I love Latin music and especially sambas, because of their flowing nature and the multiple rhythmic challenges and interactions posed for the drumset. I hope you enjoy this selection!

Our jazz quartet, BRIJJ, performs on the first Thursday of every month at The Bayou, 645 S. State St. in Salt Lake City, Utah, from 8 p.m. until midnight. If you're in the area, stop by and listen to us. The place has great food and the jazz is, well, simply happenin'!

For more information on BRIJJ, visit: www.brijj-jazz.com

The creative challenges associated with
designing a brochure for a funeral home.

Usually I am at ease designing any printed product, given it’s not too complex a job like a complicated package design. This project, however, took a bit more concentration and careful thought. Trying to catch the vision of honoring the deceased while promoting the fact that this facility has the county's only crematorium was, I found out, a balancing act that required a gentle blend of vivid softness and promotional candor.

Undergoing a number of drafts, the client, Walker Sanderson Funeral Home in Provo, Utah, was ultimately pleased with the final 4-page brochure design and ordered a 2,000 print run.

What I discover each time I venture into a new industry to create designs is first, that I am inadequte to the task. The more I persist, however, in my research and communication with my client, the more my confidence grows and the more comfortable I become in accomplishing the task. Thank goodness for a college education which allows my mind to be an exercised and flexible thinking instrument to overcome design and content obstacles while achieving an end product that is creative, articulate, and professional.

What projects have tested your mental mettle?

Yes, blogging has been around for years, but having just discovered the incredible potential of the blog medium, I am excited because it represents a forum through which I can share some "how to's", techniques, and design samples which I employ in my creative enterprise, Taylor Graphics, LLC.

For example: How do I come up with ideas for any given project?

Usually the best ideas begin to germinate when I am away from my office, when my brain is not in crunch mode. I always have a pen and some post-it notes handy to write down my inspirations which I further develop at the office. The fresh air of nature photography and regular exercise assist me in clearing my brain so that new ideas can take root. If the body is weak and atrophied, the brain usually is, too.

I subscribe to what Charles Schulz, the late cartoonist, said about creativity, and I paraphrase: "Every bit of knowledge and education you acquire in life will aid you in your quest for ideas in the work you do."

Putting myself in my client's shoes, I do a lot of free association, combining seemingly unrelated subjects or motifs to weave a design or a piece of art which is totally unique. The trick is to keep the development of ideas simple, because when they start to transform themselves into logos, websites, brochures or illustrations it is very tempting to add elements rather than to say more with less.

Years of summoning ideas for editorial cartoons - with accompanying brain cramps - has helped to hone the process of idea construction.

I fled the office last Saturday and headed up to Utah’s American Fork Canyon to photograph fall colors and the intimate beauty of craggy topography. Photography offers 3 areas of personal engagement: artistic, scientific, and cardio. Creating art through nature, while hiking about, is tremendously fulfilling.

Welcome to Taylor Graphics’ Blog! Feel free to interact with a most creative design business!