Time for another staff interview!

Tarika (pronounced like Erica with a T) Hammernik is a recent addition to our art team. We're so thrilled to have her at Sonic, and you should be too! She plays a huge role in making sure your materials look sharp!

Meet Tarika:

How long have you been working at Sonic Promos?
I'm pretty new to the team! I started working here mid-February 2013, so a little over two months.

What role(s) do you play here?
I am a graphic designer, production artist and more. I do a wide range of work, but to put it simply: I make our clients' design and product needs a visual reality. I also take care of our personal design projects and make sure we stay on-brand.

Best part of the job?
I get to be creative and practice what I love on a day-to-day basis! That being said, I also enjoy the routine work. A certain amount of repetition is calming in life. We also recently upgraded to Macs in the art department- that's definitely a bonus!

Worst part of the job?
Sometimes a clients' vision, however nice it may be, won't work for a certain product. I have to be the one to spoil their ideas! To remedy this, I can come up with an alternative design or have one of our brand managers find another product that better suits the artwork.

What's your favorite kind of project to work on?
I really enjoy the more creative projects that come our way. I especially enjoy those that need art done completely from scratch. Projects of this kind give me an opportunity to use my illustration skills. Our in-house design projects tend to offer a lot of creativity as well!

What do your coworkers love to tease you about?
Pretty soon they'll figure out how dorky I am, but as of now, I'm in the clear.

Keep reading for more staff interviews in the coming weeks. In case you missed it-
Meet Rahmie
Meet Jen
Meet Mallory
Meet Lindsay
Meet Jamie
Meet Seth
Meet Julianne
Meet Caitlin
Meet Josh
Meet Courtney

This week at Sonic Promos, we're working on...

... tote bags and T-shirts for National Family Planning.

... lots of colorful T-shirts for several Jewish communities participating in J-Serve, the international day of Jewish youth service, this year on April 28th. Every year, Sonic Promos partners with BBYO to organize a national T-shirt design and fulfill orders for communities across the country. We are thrilled to have assisted 14 cities this year.

... and various gift items for Wilmer Hale.

"This Week at Sonic Promos" is a regular feature on our blog.
Read all past posts here.
Check in every week to see some of the work that's going on in our office.

Tuesdays are typically reserved for a weekly roundup of client projects, but we're mixing things up today and giving the spotlight to a very special piece for the JCCGW.

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington celebrates its centennial anniversary this year. To commemorate the occasion, we helped them create a mug with a fun twist.

When empty, the mug displays black with a white logo near the lip. Fill it up with a hot beverage to reveal a charming photo from the Center's early days.

On the backside, you'll find the centennial logo.

Thank you, JCCGW, for the opportunity to collaborate on such a fun piece. Congratulations on 100 years of service! We wish you hundreds more.

Take a look at this image.

Which grey column would you say is darker? The one on the right or left?

Ah, trick question. They're actually the same color. But I'm sure you all saw that coming...

Even when I see it laid out plainly like this, I still have trouble convincing myself of the truth. Our eyes are so tricky!

Here's another example of the same illusion:


(source)

These illusions illustrate just how inaccurately we perceive color. Whether we view something as light or dark really depends on the context; background and surrounding colors greatly influence our perception.

Our eyes struggle with all sorts of colors, not just shades of grey. Take a look at the images below. If you didn't know better, wouldn't you say that the small blocks of light purple were the same color in each scenario? Same with the oranges?



Our imperfect color perception is yet another reason why careful proofing is so important. We might like how a color looks in one context, and hate how it looks in another. In the display of pens above, the grey works nicely on the black, white and blue pens. There is good contrast, and the imprint really pops. On the red and lime green pens, however, the grey imprint almost shakes before your eyes. It's a bit distracting and unpleasant to look at.

Don't ever settle for a black and white proof, and pay careful attention to how your selected imprint color looks against the actual item color.

After we posted about our new logo last month, Seth unearthed a stack of his old business cards. Check out how our logo has evolved over the course of 15 years:

Thanks for the great picture, Rahmie!

What do you think? Which version is your favorite?