Buttonhead

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Welcome to Buttonhead.org! My name is Ali, and I make custom pinback buttons (badges), magnets, mirrors, and temporary tattoos for artists, small businesses, parties, and events. On this website you will find behind-the-scenes Buttonhead secrets, news, updates, press, promotions and customer resources. I have also created a library of how-to’s for indie business owners and self-employed artists. I hope you find the information inspiring and the extras entertaining.

Please be sure to leave a comment, subscribe to the RSS updates, and feel free to add me to your favorite social networks, so we can stay in touch. I look forward to connecting with you!

Ali (Buttonhead)

Are you curious to see what types of goodies I’m making for other people? Check out my photo blog and find out what’s hot off the presses at Buttonhead!

On January 1st 2007, I accepted a challenge: Take a self-portrait picture every day for an entire year. Rain or shine, good days and bad, the goal was to compile photo diary. By July, I had bought my very first button machine and started casually making pins for my friends who were also participating in the ‘Photo 365’ project on Flickr. Little by little, my button-making expanded. I adopted the name ‘Buttonhead’ and began to develop a shop on Etsy. On day 316 of 365, I took the photo that would become synonymous with my business for the next 3 years… and it was completely unrelated to buttons! Inspired by Elvis Costello singing, ‘Tear off your own head. It’s a Doll Revolution!’, the picture was supposed to look like a life-like doll. At the time, I didn’t think it quite accomplished what I intended, so I quickly disregarded it. A few months later, I made a deal with talented illustrator and fellow Flickr friend, Ben Rollman. I traded a few of my buttons for a custom-drawn robot portrait of me based on a photo of his choosing. Guess what? He chose the Doll Revolution photo! The robot portrait was so unique that it made me begin looking at the original photo in a whole new way. So, with branding on my mind, I turned to poptoon dreamer genius, Jelene Morris, to help me create a set of graphics and banners based around the photo. Within days, the Buttonhead girl was born! 

Today, Buttonhead has sold and shipped over 50,000 button-based items worldwide. In 3 years, I’ve grown from offering just 1” pinback buttons to making 3 sizes of buttons, magnets, mirrors, and more! Now, as my studio has grown, so have my graphic design skills. I’m able to accomplish so much more with digital and web media than the girl who just wanted to dress up as a doll and take photos. For 2011, I decided to create an illustration of the Buttonhead logo and give all of my graphics a much-needed facelift. Enter Buttonhead version 2.0! I think the new artwork is fun, fresh, colorful, and most importantly, it’s representative of who I am… and how I started. 

See the new Buttonhead artwork in action:
The Etsy shop
Buttonhead.org
All New Packaging

Have feedback about the Buttonhead makeover? Leave a comment!

Hi everyone!  Today, I am excited to announce a brand new line of Buttonhead apparel, including limited editing tees, totes, and extra-long scarves!  I’ve wanted to create wearable goodies for quite some time now, so this is a wonderful new experience for me.  Each item is 100% American handmade with love.  With manufacturing in downtown LA, American Apparel is my exclusive textile supplier.  I am also hand-dyeing these garments in California procion pigments and heat pressing original decals onto each one using Minnesota-made vinyl.  Each one feels to me like a thoughtful personal expression — and oh yeah, they look really cool, too!

Cloud Coverage Tee by Buttonhead

Ali takes a moment to reflect on 3 years as an indepdendent business owner.