What I Blog

I've been thinking for awhile that it would be neat to post a graph of the topics that I blog...and I finally figured out how to do it, thanks to an online algebra equation solver and the pie graph tool in Adobe Illustrator. I still don't think my percentages add up, but at least I have a graph now. For those of who you like math and statistics, enjoy. And if you don't, well enjoy it anyway if you so desire. :) I calculated it based on the labels I use for my posts (each post usually has several labels). Here's the graph I made:

If you can't see the graph, click on the picture to make it bigger. I've done over 400 posts, and of that, here are the number of posts per topic (this is approximate since I did it ahead of time). It's a copy of the "label cloud" I have on my left sidebar. If you click on a label, you an see all the posts I've made with that label.

blogging tips (3) books (19) brushes (3) business (46) collaboration (4) craft projects (9) design opinions (92) design projects (43) free advertising (31) freebies (26) friday finds (54) giveaways (19) God's character (18) holidays (7) inspiration (94) one dozen (6) personal (70) photography (30) quotes (42) rainbow week (9) scrapbooking (13) scripture (21) shapes series (9) typography talk (5)

Hope you all liked this different kind of post. I thought it was interesting to see a visual image of my blog topics. :)

Don't Forget!

Enter the giveaway HERE.

Please note that the business card sale does continue until August 15. This is the last chance for the giveaway though! We already have enough entries to proceed with the giveaway, but the more entries the better... so if you haven't entered yet, please do! I'll pick and announce the winner tomorrow.

P.S. Since today and tomorrow are occupied with giveaway related posts, I thought I'd put another post up tonight for you all. :) Keep your eyes out.

Be Still Poster

Sarah had asked awhile back if I had ever thought of making a photo poster with one of my own posters like I did with some stock photos. So I thought I'd try that! I took one of my beach photos and made a poster out of it. The poster is below, and you can download it here.

Information that you might like to know...
Text: from "Be Still My Soul"
Typefaces: Regency Script FLF and Theano Old Style (in small caps)
Photo editing techniques: Photoshop curves tool, Soft & Faded and Lovely & Ethereal actions by The Pioneer Woman, and a black and white conversion using a gradient map.

I'd love to know what you all think of the poster!

Friday Finds: Fun Shoes

I saw these on Etsy's homepage and had to click on them. They are so cute and fun. See some more here. And this dress would be fun to go with them...

Apinol Logo

I thought I'd do another identity project just for fun and portfolio building... so I took on Apinol. What in the world is Apinol, you might ask? Well, it's an all-natural pine oil product used for all kinds of things, i.e. insect repellant, anti-itch ointment for bug bites, and as an antiseptic. It's a really useful product that I've used for awhile. It does sooth itchy mosquito bites like hardly anything else. And I think this product has a great opportunity today because it's natural, and our culture right now is really into "green" products.

But Apinol's graphic design leaves a little to be desired. Take a look at one of the bottles of Apinol, or check out their homepage to see what I mean.

It's not absolutely hideous, and in fact, I do like the colors... sort of. But a think a less cluttered look for the bottles and the whole company's identity, as well as a more modern style would be really effective. So that's what I tried to do. Here's the logo I have, in three different versions.

The main typeface is Existence Light, and the supporting one, that is used for "the healing power of pine" is Hero Light. (Click the font names to find download links.) I love Existence Light for this project. It has just the right feeling, I think, and the thin lines seem to mimic pine needles.

The colors are the same basic ones as on the current Apinol bottle, but I used a green that's a little lighter and more sage-y.

The icon is something I made in Adobe Illustrator - it is supposed to be a clump of pine needles, but it could also be seen as a simple pine tree. The thin lines are similar to those of the typeface.

As for the tag line I chose, "the healing power of pine," it seemed to be the most natural and "green" sounding of all the phrases I saw on the Apinol bottle and website. So I chose it.

I'd love to know what you think of my design! I'm not sure if I will design more things for this brand... we'll see.

Type Wish List

Just thought I'd post a list of great fonts I don't own...a little wish list just for fun. I'm hoping that when I get a Macbook and new Adobe software sometime down the road, some of these typefaces will come with those things. We'll see.

Avant Garde Gothic | Helvetica Neue | Futura

From MyFonts:
Helvetica Neue
Avant Garde Gothic
Futura
Parfumerie Script Pro
Avenir
Gill Sans

From Hoefler & Frere-Jones:
Gotham
Didot
Hoefler Text

Check them out and see what your favorite is if you'd like!

Book Recommendation

So awhile ago I posted about what books I wanted to read this summer. I haven't read all of them, but I have been reading, and today I wanted to share a book recommendation for one I just finished. I know this has nothing to do with graphic design, but I still wanted to post it. :)

I just finished Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. I really enjoyed it, and some of his thoughts were so helpful to me. Kevin DeYoung is a great writer - I love the way he says things clearly and boldly, but also graciously.

The main gist of what I got out of the book is that God has my life all planned out, but it's not my job to figure out His plan beforehand. It's not a secret or a riddle I have to solve. GOD is the one who is in control and reigning and promises to work all things for my good (Rom. 8:28). This is such a helpful, and as the title says, liberating approach to God's will.

I thought I'd share a few quotes that I liked from the book. I hope they make you want to read the whole thing. :)

We must live our lives believing that all of our plans and strategies are subject to the immutable will of God. Therefore, we should be humble in looking to the future because we don’t control it; God does.

Anxiety is simply living out the future before it gets here.

God wants us to stop obsessing about the future and trust that He holds the future.

God never assures us of health, success, or ease. But He promises us something even better: He promises to make us loving, pure, and humble like Christ. In short, God's will is that you and I get happy and holy in Jesus.

Worry and anxiety are not merely bad habits or idiosyncrasies. They are sinful fruits that blossom from the root of unbelief....Worry and anxiety reflect our hearts' distrust in the goodness and sovereignty of God.

...we can stop pleading with God to show us the future, and start living and obeying like we are confident He holds the future.

If you've read this book, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. And if you haven't, I'd recommend that you read it or if you're younger, talk to your parents and see if they think you should read it. :)

Also, please check out this book at Barnes and Noble, and Kevin DeYoung's blog. You can also download chapter one for free right here.

Vintage Type Book

My mom found this vintage type book at a book sale recently and I love it. It's so cool. Any book full of typography would excite me, but the fact that it's both vintage and has some of the typefaces I'm familiar with makes it even better.

Even the cover is neat. Love the emphasis on typography and the vintage look.

And the inside is just full of excellent type, and a lot of pretty famous typefaces. Take a look:

Garamond [serif]

Futura [sans serif]

Caslon [serif]

Cooper Black [serif]

Such pretty type. I love it...Cooper Black and Futura especially. They are excellent typefaces. But one of my favorite parts of the book is how there are pages with pretty big letters for different fonts that look like posters. When you look at the whole page, this is what they look like.

Those three pages are so neat. I would like to find some way to hang them up on a wall, but I don't want to tear the pages out, photos seem to be tricky with angles and blurriness, and scanning sometimes leaves an unpleasant texture on top of images. I'm a bit stuck. I guess I'll have to keep experimenting with photos until I get ones good enough to print. :) Someday maybe I'll have typography prints on my wall.

I'd love to know what you think of my cool vintage find! Do you have a favorite font from the pictures?

Beach Photos

Visited the ocean recently for a couple days, and loved being there. It's always great to be at the beach, and it was a great trip aside from the fact that I came home with about a dozen fly bites on my ankles. But I hope you enjoy these pictures from my seaside travels...

I took that last one mostly in honor of the Helvetica. ;) I'd love to know what you think of my photos!

UPrinting Giveaway Winner

Today is the big day for announcing one of the winners of the giveaways that were going on right now. The UPrinting sponsor giveaway is done, and one person has won 250 die cut business cards free!

And the winner is....

Christa!

Congratulations! I will send your contact info. to UPrinting, and they will contact you about how to claim your prize within 30 days. If you don't hear from them after that time, please let me know. Enjoy your prize!

Artistic Illusion

I will be posting the giveaway winner shortly, but in the meantime, I wanted to give you something cool to look at. A blog reader emailed this to me in a link and I thought it was so neat.

Look at this grouping of dots, then step away from your computer and look at it from afar. What painting is it? Put your guess in the comments if you like. :) If you need help, go here.

Giveaway Ends Soon

The sponsor giveaway from UPrinting ends at midnight tonight! Please enter here if you haven't already.

Friday Finds: Double Video Edition

I love these cool notebooks from Arwey that I saw here. See the videos for a look at them!


Arwey Notebooks: Baer from ARWEY on Vimeo.


Arwey Notebooks: Lanvin from ARWEY on Vimeo.

HT: David Airey.

Bee Honey

Saw this identity for Bee Honey here and thought it was so cool! I love how the typography mimics the shape of a honeycomb. See?

 

I also think it's interesting and cool how, while the type is readable, it morphs into an image that doesn't necessarily look like type right away. The color is also great. The perfect shade of yellow for honey! And I like the honey packaging - even though the logo is pretty busy, the packaging is still simple and not overwhelming. See more pictures here (but beware there are some slightly odd things on the rest of the website if you look around).

What do you think of this identity?

A Free Poster

With a good verse to remember. Enjoy! Download here.

Font: Bebas Neue | Download it here.

Just a Reminder

Hi everyone! Just wanted to remind you all that I have TWO giveaways going on right now. If you haven't already, please enter...

• My business card design giveaway. (Ends July 31.)
• The sponsor giveaway from UPrinting for 250 business cards. (Ends July 22, so act fast!)

Gotham

Another designer told me about a great typeface called Gotham, so I Googled it and looked...and I found that it truly is a great font. And funny enough, I've been noticing it in many places...a bagel package, signs in a grocery store, and online contest instructions. Like Helvetica, it has many versions, all of which are excellent and useful. Here are some images of Gotham:

I like the different thicknesses in this typeface, as well as the fact that it's unique and very different from Helvetica. A good sans serif font doesn't have to look just like Helvetica, and this one doesn't. It has a verydifferent feeling to it; a little more comfortable and less stark. Even though I love Helvetica for the way it's striking and stark, a typeface like Gotham could be very useful for projects that aren't so bold and modern. Please read more about Gotham right here, and tell me what you think of it in the comments section!

Just Found

A neat collection of printable invitations like this one! Check them out here.

HT: How About Orange

Hillsong Music + Graphics

I've been enjoying some songs by Hillsong recently. Or Hillsong United or Hillsong Live. I'm not really sure why they seem to have such different names - I just know it's all related to this worship group in Australia. :) They do some very excellent and encouraging songs. I posted a playlist of some of my favorites on my Tumblr recently, and I thought I'd post it here too along with some of their album covers. Here's the playlist...pick a song, click play, and listen while you look at the album covers!






Songs playing? Okay, great. :) Here are some neat album covers from Hillsong...

I like the unique juxtaposition in this cover. String art and a vintage globe-map looking thing? Sure wouldn't have thought of that. But it's very creative and eye-catching. I love the unique application of typography. The designer didn't just pick a font and type the title; he/she created the type.

What I like about this one is the collage look, and how the photographs are blended in with doodle style illustration. The doodles/college feeling with the photographs give it a fun feel, but also make it seem "real" because you're looking at pictures of actual musicians.

Again, the collage element of this one is really neat. I love how the details are there, but not focused on. They're slightly obscured and calmed down by the colors and the big X in the middle. The typography is really neat, too. I love how the "United" seems old and distressed, and the smaller typewriter font is cool.

I like the use of shapes in this last one. It's a collage again, but it has a different look than the previous two - it's more graphic and modern. All the pictures are great - they could be quite busy, but because they're in one color, it's not as overwhelming. I also like how the candid photos emphasize that this CD is a live album.

I'd love to know what you all think of the designs, and the songs I shared! Did you have a favorite cover I shared? Or if you listened to one of the songs, which one did you pick?

Both Types of Type

This just so happens to be my 400th post! I'm not doing a giveaway since I already have two going on, but I thought I'd mention it just for fun!

Now for today's post...

I don't usually think of combining a serif font with a sans serif font in a design. Using both types of type in one design is, I think, really hard to pull off without things looking busy and clashing. But, after I saw the identity for Fleischmarkt 1, I've decided that it can be done. I love the uniqueness of this combination... see?

The combination of serif with sans serif is unusual and a bit unnatural... but in this case, those features actually work positively to catch your attention! I think the combination of a modern font (Helvetica if I'm not mistaken) with a more elegant styled font is fascinating.

From what I can tell, the basic logo for the company is this image of a building with "Fleischmarkt 1" beside it.

I like the graphics, but I'm not sure I like the capitals since most of the other Helvetica is in regular sentence capitalization. I also don't feel like the logo is very strong as a stand-alone piece. How versatile could this logo be with such a detailed hotel illustration? But then again, for the purposes of this logo, it might not be necessarily to have a super defined logo.

What do you think of the idea of serif and sans serif together? Or of this identity design? :)

If you want more information or want to see more pictures, please check out the post on Identity Designed.

Sponsor Giveaway: UPrinting

I am SO excited to offer you all a really cool opportunity today: a sponsor giveaway! In conjunction with my business card sale, my favorite business card printing company, UPrinting, is sponsoring a giveaway on my blog! Please read on for the details...
 

One person can win 250 die cut business cards!

Details about the business cards:

• You can choose a size of: 1.75” x 3.5”, 2” x 3.5”, or 2” x 2”; 2.5”.
• You can choose a shape of: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded Single-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle or Plain Rectangle.
• You can choose a paper type of: 14pt Cardstock Gloss / Matte / High Gloss (UV), or 13pt Cardstock Uncoated.

Please note: the giveaway is restricted to U.S. residents ages 18 and older.

Other information:

1. You get free shipping if you win.
2. The turnaround time is 6 business days.
3. You'll be notified of how to order within 30 days of the end of the giveaway.
4. You can download die cut business card templates here.

Disclaimer: This business card printing giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting. No monetary compensation was given for hosting. For more information about online printing services, please visit UPrinting.com.

So, what's so good about UPrinting? Well, they do a great job with business card prints (I ordered my business cards from them!). Their process is user-friendly and very helpful, and their prices are reasonable too. Even if you don't win the giveaway, definitely check out UPrinting if you need a place to print business cards.

Now, I'm guessing you probably want to know how to enter, right? There are a couple ways:

1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. Leave an additional comment if you are hiring me to create your business cards (you get an extra entry for that!)
3. Follow my blog and leave a comment saying you did. (Sorry, existing followers don't get an extra entry.)

The giveaway ends on Friday, July 22 at midnight. Enter away! I'll announce the winner on Saturday the 23rd.

Friday Finds: Pretty Embroidery

Here's a picture of pretty embroidery I found. Isn't it lovely? See a blog post about it here.

HT: Bloesem

P.S. Check the blog tomorrow - I've got something really cool to announce!

(Thursday) Finds: Cool Bed

This hanging bed from Anthropologie is so cool. I love how neat it looks and would totally want it if it weren't a couple grand (and the fact that it could be squeaky). I love this whole picture with the room decor. Oh, and I just thought I'd post a Friday Finds today since I had two I wanted to share. Another coming tomorrow!

I Like the Colors...

Yellow and gray. (And neutrals too, like white and tan.) So I thought I'd collect some items in this color family and post them. I love looking at bunches of things in the same color scheme, so I thought you might too! I'd love to do my room in gray + a color one day. I like the idea of these fun, modern color scheme in a pretty, simple, uncluttered room.

This post isn't going to have tons of words, more images and links. Think of it like a little gallery of some of my favorite colors!

SOURCE

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I'd love to hear what you all think of this color combo & the items. Please check out this post on A Creative Mint for a pretty collection of items in this color scheme.