Ally Spotlight: Tupelo Honey Cafe Winner Johnny Woodie

Johnny Woodie recently submitted the winning T-shirt design for Tupelo Honey Cafe. Here Woodie discusses his approach to design and how his connection to Asheville, NC – the city where Tupelo Honey Cafe is located – affected his design.

Creative Allies: Where do you live?

Johnny Woody: I currently live in Salisbury, NC with my wife, daughter and dog. We’re about two hours east of Asheville, NC.

CA: Who or what inspires your creative point of view?

JW: It may sound cliché these days, but I’ve been into vintage type/signage since I was a kid. I grew up going to Auto Fairs with my grandfather and my father worked in steel mills since I was born, so all the old simple industrial logos and hand painted garage / oil company signs really impact my design.

I was born in Salisbury, NC and I remember as a kid being intrigued by the huge hand painted Cheerwine logo on the side of their first factory. I still go to Auto Fairs and shoot photos of everything design related. I always laugh because you have people there looking for that hard-to-find part for their old car and here I am looking through old parts catalogues from the 50′s and mounds of stickers and patches. Those little things get me excited about design.

CA: Do you have any favorite artists, musicians, magazines, websites, etc. to share with us?

JW: I have a few favorite (graphic) artists: Chris Bomely, Gil Shuler  and Josh Vanover. I like all music, from Carl Perkins to Ladytron (with whom I survived a crazy storm in Asheville in 2006).

CA: What is your first step when coming up with a design concept?

JW: My first step is usually to try and get some history from the client. Then it’s usually to the pencil and paper, just initially sketching ideas out, then to Illustrator to vectorize everything, etc, etc.

CA: Do you work from home?

JW: Yes, I work from home. My “office” is a desk in a spare room in my house. I keep inspirational materials around that I’ve collected through the years — some photos of family, keys, buttons, pamphlets, etc. Just things that get the rainbows pumping through my brain.

See more of Johnny’s work at http://www.johnnywoodie.com