Heads Of State by Melissa Walters
Heads of State is a design studio lead by two designers, Jason Kernevich and Dustin Summers, who have been working together for about 7 years now. They both graduated from Tyler School of Art’s design program. They have a very simplistic and graphic style that sets them apart from others. They have collaborativly won awards from Communication Arts, American Illustration, Print Magazine, Graphis and the Society of Illustrators. They have recentely opened office in New York City headed by Jason, along with their original office in Seattle headed by Dustin.
Some of their major clients include The New York Times, United Airlines, Starbucks, Esquire, American Express, Nickelodeon, Capital Records, Virgin Mobile and the list goes on and on.
They design posters that have bold colors, strong unique typography and bright colors. The poster below fits into a series of three that was designed for a magazine article on living a modern philosophical life. The main focus of the poster is the typography in my opinion. Blocking out the negatives in the type gives it new look, its bold, strong and makes a statement.
One project that really stuck out on their page was a packaging project that was a completely hypothetical assignment from Print magazine…what would legalized marijuana packaging look like? They created simple logos and design for the joints, with splashes of color to represent the different kinds offered. 
Each different ‘flavor’ that was invented refers to common illegal weed-buying experiences and qualities that one might experience. “Possibly Oregano” “Uptown Schwag” “Vermont Ski Trip” “Stems and Seeds” “Downtown Skunk” “Sayonara Glaucoma”
I really like the simplicity of their techniques and how they handled the mediums they work in. Its very real and has great texture to it. They found the most simplistic way to say what they wanted, using the smallest amount of information they could, very clever. These guys are very up and coming and have a lot to offer the world of design.
