Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Inspiration Notebook: Victoria Macey



Jalynn told me about Victoria Macey's cool Bodoni Bedlam book project, and I love it. A little bit typography and a little bit scrapbooking sounds like just my speed.


I like the watercolor pages and all the fun colors and soft textures. It's also cool how the whole book is centered around a typeface: Bodoni. And the way the book is bound so professionally is impressive!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Inspiration Notebook: Interior Spaces



I'm not an interior designer, but I do love looking at home decor inspiration on blogs like Design*Sponge. I found this sneak peak of Tara Mangini and Percy Bright's house so inspiring. I love the old-fashioned, repurposed style of everything.


While this isn't directly related to graphic design, this vintage, recycled style can be used in graphic design. Think kraft paper wedding invitations or an album cover using old photographs. Please look at all the pictures because there are some really cool ideas to be found.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Inspiration Notebook: New Year Package


This new year package designed by the design firm Matter for their clients is definitely one of the happiest pieces of design I've seen in the past few months. Wouldn't it be nice to get this pretty set of two notebooks in the mail?
 
 


The color scheme automatically makes it a winner. And then there's the design itself. A gorgeous pattern, cool perforated package, amazing binding, nice simple typography, and all the paper. Oh how I want one of these.

HT: Design Work Life

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Inspiration Notebook: Leica Logo



I've been really busy lately and I've had a couple design-related projects to work on, so blogging is going to need to take a bit of back burner this week. But I still wanted to keep up with posting, so I decided that this week is going to be a series called "inspiration notebook"—little snippets of design inspiration that I like. The posts will be shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the design that inspires me. And hopefully soon I'll be able to show you something I've been working on!

Let's start off this little series with a logo. In contrast to the JCPenney logo, which I don't care for, I love the Leica camera logo.



It's a strong color with amazing typography, and it's the right combination of simplicity and detail. Definitely a successful brand mark. And I also like the circle shape; I'm a big fan of circles these days.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Weekend Links 2/24


From Contexture via Bloesem.
This glider is so well designed, and it looks like it would be a lot of fun too!


Via Identity Designed.
This is a cool logo design. I also really like the way it's used as a pattern in this image.


From Doe Eyed via Design Work Life.
Doe Eyed's style is pretty out there, but I really like this print! Such fun colors, and I like the way the distressed style combines with the flower image.


From MoMA Store via Swiss Miss.
This toy looks right up my alley. Oh to be a kid again!


From The Vitrine.
So expensive, but also so cool. I like this lamp!


By Victoria Caswell via Lovely Package.
This is so neat! I love how vintage it looks.


From Deja Vu.
I love all the pretty scarves in the Deja Vu scarf store! This one is lovely.


Via Poppytalk.
This is a happy, cheerful print!


Do you have a favorite link from today?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Shoes Galore

I love shoes a lot, so much that it's almost dangerous for me to go into a shoe store because I see so many things that I like. Coming up on a year ago, I did a post all about shoes. It was nothing major, just pictures of shoes, but I loved that post. So I want to do it again, just for fun. But this time there will be even more shoes!

01 // delicate & vintage. // h&m
02 // love the yellow! // ruche
03 // these are so fun. i'd love to wear them. // modcloth
04 // funky vintage boots. // coldfish
05 // love the color & style. // h&m
06 // these are great and retro! // modcloth
07 // classic & cute. // h&m
08 // very elegant. // ruche
09 // so fun and sparkly! // modcloth
10 // never knew there were fancy timberlands. // timberland


11 // such cute little girl style shoes. // modcloth
12 // love these cowboy boots! // ruche
13 // yellow & wood...very cool. // anthropologie
14 // delicate & pretty. // fossil
15 // so very tall! // modcloth
16 // fun and elegant.// h&m
17 // gray! // ruche
18 // love the plaid & work boots. // timberland
19 // very funky boots. // anthropologie
20 // plaid is my friend. // forever21

21 // love the polka dots. // fossil
22 // clunky & fun. // ginger root vintage
23 // yellow, tall, and very unusual! // anthropologie
24 // great mustard color. // target
25 // i like the fabric. // fossil
26 // retro colors. // modcloth
 27 // silver platforms. i like. // fossil
28 // fancy but funky. // payless
29 // these are rain boots i might really wear. // target
30 // more great cowboy boots! // reinvintage

I love the vintage looks in the first collage, the platforms and plaids in the second one, and the variety and bright colors in the third one. There are all kinds of shoes mixed in there, from high heels to yellow rain boots. I love it all.

I'd love to know what you think of shoes galore! Do you have a favorite style of shoe?

Font credit: Kristi

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

No Thanks, JCPenney

JCPenney has been kind of indecisive about their logo lately. About a year ago, they updated their logo using a design that a student made and submitted to their competition. Below is the original logo and the logo designed in 2011.

They're not too much different, are they? They're pretty similar and they both have that classic JCPenney look I grew up with. I don't have that much of a preference between these two. I really like them both: the Helvetica, the color, and the familiarity of the brand.

And then, just recently, JCPenney announced another logo change. This one is much more drastic:


I really don't like it. I don't usually post negative logo reviews (or any logo reviews these days), but this is one logo that I actually have an opinion about, so I thought I'd post about it. Brand New's review is quite positive, and their points are definitely well thought out and valid. I just disagree.

This logo just isn't doing it for me, and here's why:
+ The typography doesn't seem to fit. Not that Helvetica is the only good font, but in this case, I think JCPenney should've stuck to it. It was working fine and it was what they had built their brand around. This almost surprises me because the new logo uses Gotham, another of my favorite fonts.  But in this context, Gotham just doesn't cut it.
+ I'm not a huge fan of the boxes. A blue box on top of a red one? What's special about that? It does look like the American flag, which I think was the goal, but that doesn't outweigh the fact that I think the composition looks awkward.
+ Why bring in blue? The red was working just fine, in my opinion, and I don't think another color was necessary.

The logo does look somewhat better in application, I'll admit:


The Gotham is definitely better in sentences, and the design looks more cohesive on this brochure. But the main thing that still gets me about this logo is that it's so un-JCPenney. Re-branding is a dangerous thing, and I personally don't see a need to do it so drastically to a large, well-known company who had a logo that was just fine. I'm sure they had their reasons for redesigning the logo, and maybe it will work well for them, but it's not my favorite logo ever.

So that's what I think of JCPenney's new logo. What do you all think? I'd love to hear your opinions on it, whether or not they agree with mine!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Artist Spotlight: Jiin Kim


How are you enjoying my artist spotlight project so far? I love having the work of so many artists highlighted on my blog. I think it's worth it if for no other reason than having great design all chronicled in a place where it's easy for me to find: my blog. And I hope you're enjoying looking as I record my favorites!

Today I'm featuring Jiin Kim, who I came across through Design Work Life. She has some great projects, and my favorites all express an interesting combination of fun, bold creativity with simple designs. I really like these posters she made for the Holland Flower Festival.


They use photos in a bold and creative way. I love how the flower photos go with the theme of the event, but are creative and not too obvious or predictable.


I also like the way the white text provides a good deal of contrast against the colored background. The lines with small text (at the top in the above image) are a great feature, too. I love that style of text layout—it's subtle but interesting.


The text is also good—it's very pleasant in tone, which goes well with the event: "We invite you to come and see a historic park full of blooming tulips, hyacinths, and other spring bulbs." "We invite you to come and experience the most beautiful spring garden in the world."

Her posters for New York Fashion Week are wonderful, too.


Again, Jiin used a design that reflects the theme of the event, but in a creative, slightly subtle way. I really love this style. The label looks so cool:


It's really cool to see images of what the posters would look like in action. It's nice imagining how big design can be. I usually think of it as logos or small print items, but it can cover a whole building, too!


This process image is great. It must have taken a lot of patience to do this!


I really love the way these posters reflect outside of the box (or, perhaps more appropriately, outside of the computer) design techniques. Graphic design can be so technology-bound, and while I'm sure technology helped accomplish this project, I like that part of the process was done by hand, as you see above.

I like the various layouts she used in the Interlaken e-magazine she designed. Print layout is such an interesting facet of design!
I'm into circles now, so I love the way they create a design that's simple and clean, but all the photos keep it interesting.
I also really like the typography—it's a good sans serif font, but it's a little more creative and unusual than Helvetica (although I do love Helvetica of course).
I also like the idea of overlaying an image or outline over a photo (above). Very cool!
And giant text over a photo is a great idea, too. I love it! This whole design includes some pretty different layouts, but they all have that simple yet interesting look which ties it together.

So that's a little spotlight of Jiin Kim's work. What do you think?

link: jiin kim

Monday, February 20, 2012

This & That

I come across a lot of good design on the internet, but not everything fits into nice, neat categories. So this is a catch-all post for those post-worthy things that are a little bit miscellaneous.

This lunch sack wedding program is so cool. I love the idea of printing things on paper bags, and the white ink on kraft colored paper is such a fun look. The typography is also really nice—it's simple, which is really good since there's a good bit of text (especially on the back of the program). It would be cool to do something like this sometime.

 HT: Oh So Beautiful Paper

The identity for Vetter is very interesting because every element is a stamp. This is quite unusual and I love the creativity of the idea, although I'm not sure how practical it is. How would this kind of design transfer to the web if Vetter has a website?

HT: Lovely Stationery

This Keykolour paper promotion is excellent. This was designed and created to promote a line of paper, and if I'm not mistaken, it was just sent out to people free. How do I get on those mailing lists? I totally want one of these! See more pictures.

HT: Design Work Life

I love the Hermes holiday card. It's so simple and clean, but it has a handmade look with the embroidered 2012. The colors are great—I love how the orange pops against the cardboard. I also like the look of the thick cardboard with white dots printed on it.

HT: FPO

Here's some really nice branding done for a bakery. I love the colors! Please look at more images to see what all the brand applications look like.

HT: Design Work Life

These handmade books by Serena Olivieri are very pretty and fun. I like the pop-up flower in this image. The shapes are so perfect! Maybe this is a strange thing to notice, but I also really like the sewn binding. It's very neat and tidy. See more handmade books over at Design*Sponge.

HT: Design*Sponge

Do you all have a favorite artistic item from among these? I always love to know what you think!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Love vs Design

I came across the blog and design company Love vs Design recently, and I actually featured a few of their freebies on my blog before. They put out free printable templates pretty frequently (you can see them all here), and they're genuinely good design. Some freebies really aren't worth the time it takes to download, but these definitely are. Keep your eye on their blog for new releases!

Here are a few of their freebies with links. Aren't they cool?

ribbon congratulations set: download
owl library card: download

Friday, February 17, 2012

Weekend Links 2/17


Via Bloesem Kids.
I love these cute little girl dresses (here and here). It's always fun to see little girls' fashion that is cute and actually modest.


From Fishbone Deco on Etsy.
I've got a thing for vintage fans, and this one is yellow! I like it.


From These Are Things via Bloesem.
I love these fun, retro looking landmark maps. They are so fun!


By Christopher Bettig via FormFiftyFive.
This wall art for a J. Crew store is really cool!


+ gf smith paper samples
Via David Airey.
These paper samples are so cool looking. I wish I got stuff like this in the mail!


From SweetHome via Poppytalk.
What a great DIY idea. I love how it looks!


By Danielle Kroll via Ampersand Design Studio.
What I Wore is an ongoing series by Danielle Kroll (who I blogged about before). I love her fun illustration style!


From Room&Board via Design for Mankind.
This fun, modern magazine stand is great. I like it a lot!


By Carlotta from Fernweh Magazine.
This is a really cute idea! And check out Fernweh for more neat posts—I've been enjoying their online magazine lately.


What do you all think of these links? Do you have a favorite?