A Hawaiian Aesthetic?

I've been told a couple of times that my design has a certain Hawaiian aesthetic. (At least by mainlander standards.) It usually takes me by surprise and then I look closer at the piece in question and I think, "Huh, you're right!" I realized this again today as I was coming up with some ideas for mini-cards for church. An idea I'm exploring looks like this:

Something about the colors I choose, the abstractions I make, and the general shape of my lines calls to mind a certain collection of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

A more obvious Hawaii reference is today's "Happy Friday" right below this post. See? The mainlanders might be right afterall.

Happy Friday!

Books + Decorating

I secretly love reading decorating blogs and newspaper articles. (Not such a secret now, I guess...) I read a story today in the New York Times about renovating/decorating an apartment and came across this photo of the living room. Look at those bookshelves! Sign me up for a home with lots of bookshelves!

Design Police

I've been reading the Advertising Annual of Communication Arts today and keep stumbling upon fantastic things. I just love design. I love the field that I'm in. I came across a blurb on the "Design Police" - a designer out of the UK who designed some printable stickers that can be used to identify design typos. Here are two images of the (free!) downloadable PDFs. Check out Design Police for the downloads or more design-nerd giggles. (Click on the images to see them bigger.)

The Civic Musical Road

As an integrated advertising campaign, Honda built "The Civic Musical Road" in Lancaster, California. They designed a series of rumble strips over a stretch of road that when driven over at 50 MPH in a Civic, would play the William Tell Overture. Pretty remarkable, right? You can watch the Honda video here. Or search Youtube for "civic musical road" to see individual recordings of the music. Gosh, some people are just so good at math to come up with something like this. (And some people are also pretty good at marketing/advertising to come up with a brilliant campaign like this!)

Fruit or Veggie?

"I'm sorry but he's a vegetable" by Phil Jones. I am very amused. Also, I love tomatoes. Here's a perk for living on the mainland... the tomatoes are delicious!

P.S. Happy Thursday! And you KNOW it's my favorite day of the week. :)

[via daily design discoveries]

Argyle Socks

It's no secret that I love argyle socks. They are always the first to go when I have a clean batch of laundry. So how about these argyle guys for chairs?? So cute.

By Charles & Marie [via The Donut Project]

Nerd love

I've seen these cards a couple places recently and they just make me smile. Such nerd-dom! The control-z, i'm sorry card is my favorite. The iPhone is cute, too - even if I don't have an iPhone. I'm really impressed by all the of cards at PaperWheel Press, so check them out if you're looking for a few more cute (and often nerdy) cards.

Happy Friday!

Thursday

Have I mentioned that today is my favorite day of the week? Ok yes, I have. Just a reminder then. Woo Thursday!

Lent

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, a forty day period of prayer and fasting before Easter. It's my first time experiencing Lent in a liturgical church that commemorates this season. Last night we had a special Ash Wednesday service at church and it was really a very beautiful experience. As a reminder of our frailty and humanity, we were marked with ashes in the shape of the cross on our foreheads (hence Ash Wednesday). It was very powerful to hear "You come from dust and to dust you will return." It puts life into perspective a little. Our time here is fleeting and there is much more than the day-to-day routine and grind. It was very powerful.

I've decided to give up shopping to mark a "fast" for this season. It's not that I'm a shopaholic or anything, I just often find myself consumed by consumerism. I aimlessly peruse online stores when I'm bored, looking for things that I might want. I can sometimes be overwhelmed by what I need to purchase to stay in season and up to the trend. So for the next forty days, I've decided to set that aside and focus on other things. So here's to Lent.

Reason #351 Hawaii is Awesome

So, Hawaii was rated as having the highest well-being of any state in the U.S. That's right. The fiftieth state beat out everybody. Nine of the top ten states are in the West and Midwest. (I like to call the West the "BestWest.") Gallup, who conducted the poll, describes the index this way, "The Well-Being Index score for the nation and for each state is an average of six sub-indexes, which individually examine life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and access to basic necessities." Hawaii topped the nation in three sub-indexes: life evaluation, emotional health, and physical health.

The question is this: is anyone surprised that the paradise state is great for living in? And another question... why do I live in Illinois? Oh right, so I can establish my career and move back to Hawaii.

You can see the full list and read Gallup's article here.

Live Trace

My new favorite feature of the Adobe Creative Suite is the 'Live Trace' button in Illustrator. Take a low-res image from the internet and BAM you have a nice vector. Love it. (I'm a dork.)

For example:

low-res image...


vs. the vector image...


What? They look the same? Trust me, there's a difference. And it makes me happppppy.

(P.S. This image is from some friends' wedding programs I'm working on... Exciting!)

Some fantastic book cover design...

A senior illustration student at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Jim Tierney has an amazing senior thesis. He redesigned four Jules Verne book jackets and I'm amazed by them. Each is slightly different, including removable half jackets, transparent jackets, pin wheels, and tabs. You can see them all (and some of his other work) here. You should also watch the video on his homepage that shows how all four covers work.

February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! Dave made a delicious round of french toast for brunch. It was a lovely day full of love + sweets + Olympics.

Happy Friday!

Lucienne Day fabric

I really like these fabrics designed by Brit Lucienne Day. I especially like the pairing of the yellow and blue. Wouldn't those look nice framed on the wall? Read more about Day here. [via daily design discoveries]

Snow!

We had our biggest snowstorm yet this winter (I know, it was nothing compared to D.C...) So here are some pictures of my commuting adventures through the snow. Good thing I have my lovely yellow rainboots! Also, the sun was shining when I left work today!!!!

More bookshelf love!

Omigosh, and I just found this one. I love it, too!!

Typography + a bookshelf = I couldn't be happier

I just saw this bookshelf on BROOKLYNrehab.... I love it!

Wood + Rehab

I had several windows open yesterday of pictures/things that I like but our internet experienced a few difficulties... So I am going to share them today. (And yes, the internet says thank you for your regards, she's doing much better today.) (I'm a nerd.)

I stumbled upon the blog BROOKLYNrehab and found a whole treasure trove of cool things. (Kind of makes me wish my job was to search for things like this... Oh well.)

I really like these little paper cuts hanging from clothespins. I think that I would like to decorate my... kitchen? laundry room? hallway? with this sort of thing (someday).


I also found this funky frame from paperdoll woodshop on etsy. I also like the 'M' magazine holder.



Happy Thursday! It's my favorite day of the week! (Which obviously doesn't include weekend days like Friday, Saturday, or Sunday!)

The Nubrella

Heeeheehee, this umbrella makes me laugh. [via Incredible Things]

Nautical bathtub

I love this. Especially the portholes! [via Incredible Things]

Look! An ampersand!

Just ran across this and thought it was cute. Apparently so did lots of others, because it's sold out. The longer I look at it, the more it stops looking like an ampersand and more like an intricate ornament.

Happy Friday!

After posting a Friday themed design both last week and right now, I had an idea. I'm going to start a "Happy Friday" collection where each Friday I'll post a Friday-themed design. So, be excited about Fridays in the future!

I want these shoes!

I want these shoes but can't find them online or they are sold out! Oh no!

Shout Out Loud: Posters II

Here are the final posters... All 11 of them are slightly different. 6 are printed on chipboard and 5 on glossy white paper.

Superbowl Invite

I designed this little bugger for a Superbowl party we're hosting Sunday. (Address and directions changed for wishful thinking...)

Coverspy

So, I just came across this site that posts all the books they see people reading on their commutes in NYC. Not only do I love this because I love books (and I work in publishing... on book covers!) but when I went to the site, there was one of our books that I've worked on recently! I love it! Check out Coverspy. [via swissmiss]

A bench, some rainboots, and Ashley's 365 project

So, my lovely fellow Ashley is doing the Project 365 this year and on Monday I posed for her in my favorites... yellow rainboots! She even had an umbrella to match. And now her photo is causing a flutter on flickr. I'm so proud! You can follow her progress here or on flickr.

Boggle-My-Mind Miniatures

Michael Paul Smith sets up some amazing, mind-blowing miniature scenes to recreate his hometown. Shot in perspective you can hardly tell it's not real. Oh wow. Double wow. See all his photos on his flickr page. [via HOW]

TOO CUTE

Omigosh, how cute is this ring?? Available here.
[via swissmiss]

Letterpress & Wood Type

On Saturday I had some time in the studio to work with wood type. We're working on posters at the moment and I chose lyrics from one of my favorite Amos Lee songs as my text. These are some of my pictures so far... I'm thinking of adding another color tomorrow night during class. We shall see.

Let them eat cake...

We made some delicious carrot cake with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. mmmmm.


And another night... some delicious (albeit somewhat strange) Texas Toast Hamburgers. Gourmet no?