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On Saturday, April 16th, the day finally came: International Record Store Day. This was no ordinary IRSD, as this year I co-developed an event with East Lansing’s The Record Lounge for live music and tsunami relief for Japanese victims called Jamming for Japan. I created the graphic design elements for the event including posters, flyers, and t-shirts. It ate up all of my spare time since early March, when Joel Heckamen (the Creative Director at the Record Lounge, and fellow MSU PW undergraduate) asked me to get involved. It all culminated down to one day of music and donations.

We worked hard to get access to three different locations in East Lansing. Everything seemed to be falling in to place, when the one uncontrollable element decided it did not wish to cooperate. The weather was atrocious, and we were forced to relocate to just one of the original locations and The Record Lounge. However, rain could not keep down the spirits of the musicians or the generous people of East Lansing. We raised over $300 for the American Red Cross’s fund.

It was an incredible experience to work with Joel Heckamen and another PW student, Dan Nufer, in order to make such a major event happen. We received publicity in the Lansing State Journal, Lansing NOISE, and other local publications, as well as time on the student radio, The Impact. It seemed everyone really wanted to help the cause. We greatly appreciate all of the support and sponsorship from the community.

I hope that this only sheds good light on my next graphic design project with The Record Lounge, the 4th annual Middle of the Mitten in January of 2012.