About Big Sky Design | Contact Big Sky Design: 705-872-2136 | rob@bigskydesign.ca
About Big Sky Design
Big Sky Design is a graphic design house in Peterborough, ON. Since 1996, we have specialized in high quality design for the area’s arts and social justice organizations.
My name is Rob Wilkes and I have been the owner of Big Sky since its inception. I am now semi-retired. Although I am open to new work, especially with the type of individuals and organizations we have supported over the years, I no longer use the site to promote our work. If you have a design project you’d like me to have a look at and would like to see examples of recent work, please contact me via phone or email. I have an extensive background in print and web design and am always interested in an interesting project!
While I’m working a bit less, I am still quite busy! As much as I have loved helping local artists and social groups, I am really enjoying having a bit more time to work on some pet projects. Here’s a sampling of what I’m doing these days. Please check them out and get a hold of me if you have any thoughts you’d like to share.
VeloVID
VeloVID is a cycling video website I first started working on in 2015. It began as a labour of love and still is. As I say on the site, it’s “the best waste of time on the internet for anyone who loves bicycles.”
The site reflects my many interests within the various cycling tribes. If you count yourself a member, or even if you’re just cycling-curious, please check out VeloVID.com.
Half Serious
Half Serious is a fun website I developed with an old friend from Trent University. We both went into graphic design after University and decided we were ‘half-serious’ about working together in our semi-retirement. Hence, Half Serious, doing mainly t-shirt design through Redbubble, an Australian online t-shirt shop representing over 700,000 artists and designers from all over the planet. Purchase from our collection directly at Redbubble or go to our website to see all our designs.
Song writing – Dub Trinity
Dub Trinity is a collective of like-minded musicians dedicated to conscious reggae you can’t help but move to. Like Emma Goldman (never actually) said, “If I can’t dance I don’t want to be in your revolution.” I contributed several songs to Dub Trinity’s large repertoire of original reggae tracks and still enjoy a guest gig with these great players now and then.
Song writing – The Conestokers
The Conestokers were an ‘alt_country’ band from the late 90s to the late aughts — when hashtags like that made some sense. We did a mix of old-timey country (Hank Williams, Lefty Frizell), new alternative country (Gram Parsons, Steve Earle) and our own originals. I was the lead singer-songwriter and had the pleasure to play with some amazing musicians in The Conestokers.
Dub Club
Music, and reggae music in particular, has always been a part of my life. I don’t perform much anymore but still get together weekly with another old friend from Trent University as Dub Club to jam some classic reggae. Occasionally I’ll post something to this site but right now it only has a re-mix we did for a Dubmatix project — where I got a rare opportunity to play cuica!
Mule Train
I may not have learned how to make sourdough bread during the covid pandemic but I did learn how to make radio! Mule Train was a weekly radio show on Trent Radio, CFFF 98.7 in 2021. The show’s title is from one of the earliest reggae songs, Count Prince Miller’s Mule Train. There are 17 episodes, all with a different theme, but all start and finish with a few bars of the song. The site no longer exists but I have archived it here on the Big Sky site. Have a listen!
