Quote Poster Trio

I have a little present for you all today...well, actually three. I made three matching quote posters based on some brief quotes I came across lately on Tim Challies' blog. Each day, he posts links to various articles and other things, and at the end, he puts a short quote. I've found some of them very powerful, so I took three and made posters out of them.

To make each poster, I used a photo edited with Daniel Box's Instagram actions, some simple artwork made in Illustrator, and Photoshop to output the files. The font I used is Tex Gyre Heros (I like to call it "pretend Helvetica"). Beneath each poster is a link to the post where I found the quote. I hope you enjoy these posters and that you like the quotes as much as I do! Download links are at the bottom of the post.

quote found here

quote found here

quote found here

downloads:

Each poster: one, two, three
All posters: .zip file

Graphic Design Likes

Lately I've run across some neat graphic design items, but they don't seem to really fit into a category or theme. So today I'm going to lump them all together and share them. I have three things and two people to feature today.

[three things]

The first thing I want to show you is actually for a specific person who will know who she is when she sees it. :) It's an invitation to a celebratory party for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. It's very fancy and sophisticated in style, but it's printed on wood and has metallic foil, which I think is so unusual and cool. The typography and the layout are also really well done.

See more images on Oh So Beautiful Paper.

Next up are some neat graphic book cover images, via Present&Correct. I love how retro the patterns are, especially the gray one (my favorite color!).

See more images from Book Cover Lover on Flickr.

I found the materials for a conference called Catalyst recently and I like them a lot. It has a pretty simple color scheme which is good, and I like how all the different elements work together.

See more images on FPO.

[two people]

The first person I want to mention is Mary Kate McDevitt. I like her type work on Etsy. Here are two of her products. I love how joyful and whimsical her style is!

source

source

I like some of the work Scott Campbell does, too. (Found via Grain Edit.) His style is cool - it has a bit of a collage feel to it. Here are two pieces I like:

source

source

I hope you enjoyed this little collection! Which items do you like best?

Karli Ingersoll

I recently came across the design and illustration of Karli Ingersoll (via Design Work Life) and she has a really nice, playful, whimsical style with lots of custom type work. She's done some fun posters, mostly for music events, like this one is:

I like the cheerful colors, and the heading font is really fun! I like the chunky, handmade look. Karli Ingersoll also does some nice illustration work. I like this pretty nature piece she did.

The colors, again, are cheerful, and it has that personalized, hand drawn look. Her typography work, including her Type Tuesday series on her blog, is quite excellent as well. I like this happy summer design.

The shadowed, cartoon style of type is very cool. Probably my favorites from among Karli's work are her album cover designs. I love seeing great CD packaging, and some of the ones she has designed are really good. Here's one example:

I love the kraft paper base for this packaging and the way the colors, illustrations, and type all blend together without being boring. Again, Karli's creative custom type skills work well in this design. Here's a second CD package she designed. I really like the old fashioned look to this one.

I love the combination of old photos and vintage textures. It all comes together really well and even looks a bit like an old scrapbook.

What do you think of Karli Ingersoll's work?

Little Surprise

I ordered a dress from ModCloth recently for a formal event in the spring (I like planning ahead!) and was delighted to find these adorable pins enclosed in my package.

They were designed by Susie Gharameni of Boy Girl Party. I love her work and plan to feature it sometime in the future.

The packaging is great, too, and it matches the buttons so well.

My two wintry ModCloth buttons found a happy home on my canvas messenger bag along with my "stand tall" button.

Aren't free gifts just lovely?

Typeverything

Came across a blog called Typeverything via Swiss Miss recently. I can't really recommend looking through the whole archives of Typeverything since I noticed some inappropriate language in some of the entries. However, I love the concept of chronicling great type inspiration, and I wanted to feature a few things I found there that I think are wonderful.

A sculpture using the font Avant Garde:

A way cool bookcase:

An italic poster - literally:

I love all of these, but I think my favorite has to be the italic poster because of its wit. Which one do you like best?

Weekend Links 11/25

I have a fun little collection of links to share with you all today, on my half birthday! Today's theme: paper things.

+ party poms

There's something I love about poms. They're so happy and fun looking! There are great ones available from this Etsy shop, but I'd like to learn how to make them myself too.

+ flash card notebooks

From Felt & Wire Shop.
Such a fun idea. I like the typography, big numbers, and vintage look.

+ christmas cracker

From Present&Correct.
I love basically anything Present&Correct carries in their store, and these Christmas crackers are just so cool. I always loved the concept, but I must admit it was a bit of a letdown when you crack your cracker only to find a flimsy little plastic person inside. But this cracker includes a stamp, a label, a pencil, an eraser - so many lovely things. I want one.

+ handwriting and envelope packs

From Felt & Wire Shop.
A lovely collection of collage supplies. These would be fun to play with!

+ moleskine pocket japanese notebook

From Moleskine.
I like the classic look of Moleskine notebooks and the great quality of the paper, and this accordion fold pocket notebook is really neat.

+ kraft paper lace tape

From Owl and Thistle on Etsy.
I love the kraft color and the cute, dainty lace pattern. This would be fun to use in scrapbooking or other crafts.

+ mslk designer bookmarks

From Felt & Wire Shop.
Love the simple design and happy colors, as well as the words and images that are all about books!

+ landmade cork journal

Via Design Work Life.
I like this earthy looking journal. It's shaped similarly to a moleskine, but the cork cover gives it a different look!

What do you think of these paper things?

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What a wonderful day to celebrate God's goodness to us. Listen to this verse:

Our God truly is good and full of steadfast love. What an encouragement. There is indeed much to be thankful for, and I certainly need to remember that this year since it's easy for me to focus on things I'm worried about instead of recounting all God has given me. Yet he has been so good. He has given me all I need, and for that I am grateful, although I'm aware of my need for his grace to see that he does provide everything I need. Here are a few songs that have been encouraging me lately. I hope you enjoy them too! You can listen to each one simply by clicking the play button.

I'm looking forward to a wonderful day celebrating and catching up with family today and enjoying North Carolina style barbecue, turkey, and sweet potatoes. Yum!

A few quick links to fun Thanksgiving things:
+ A Thanksgiving table setting from Holidash via Design Happens. I love the modern look and the bright yellow branches!
+ This post on Mint has some fun Thanksgiving items.
+ A free simple desktop wallpaper from How About Orange. Very festive for fall!

Do you have any Thanksgiving ideas to share? Or any traditions you usually keep? I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrated God's goodness.

Watercolor Love

Watercolor isn't a technique I usually associate with graphic design, and it doesn't always have to do with graphic design. But it can be used to make great design. It's one way that design can be accomplished in an "outside the box" kind of way. Not every logo, brochure, invitation, etc. must be designed completely on the computer, and sometimes I like seeing examples of more handmade graphic design. Watercolor designs fall into that category. I like the watercolor look so I wanted to share some nice watercolor pieces with you.

I've mentioned Sasha Prood before, and I really like her work. She does excellent watercolors, and also some great digital design (see her portfolio for more). Here are a few of her lovely watercolor projects.

I love the bright colors - they have that soft, quiet watercolor look but they're also bold and colorful. I also like the mix of precision (look at those super straight lines!) and wonderful imperfection. This is done with wonderful technique, but it also has a personal look. Not every orange triangle in the last picture is exactly the same shade or has exactly the same amount of paint. And that's okay. That's what makes it lovely.

This 2012 calendar from Oh My Deer (via Oh So Beautiful Paper) has a wonderful soft watercolor look.

I like the stripes of watercolor wash and my favorite part is the pretty handwritten font. It's so whimsical and lovely. The white type on the blue watercolor looks nice, too. There's enough contrast that it's readable, but it also keeps the soft, calm look.

I love Social Proper's collection of watercolor notecards (also via Oh So Beautiful Paper). Here are a couple of favorites.

These designs aren't only watercolor, as the ones by Sasha Prood are, but even with some digital elements (like the typography), they still have that wonderful imperfect look to them. I like the variety of patterns that watercolor can achieve, from a gradient (first image) to a bold, joyful stripe (last image). View these cards and more here.

One more watercolor wonder I ran across lately is this menu for a vegetarian dessert shop (via Art of the Menu). It's so happy and whimsical looking!

The variety of hand-drawn typography is such fun! I love all the bright colors on this menu. It sure would be fun to order from, don't you think? I'd love for you all to share what you think of these watercolor designs, and of the watercolor style in general. What's on your mind?

Riley Cran

I found Riley Cran's work through Design Work Life and I love it. The way his style mixes simple and graphic with vintage and retro is fun, trendy, and skillful. I like some of his topics more than others, but overall, his design and illustration are both excellent. The way he handles texture is particularly notable. I love how his textures are pronounced enough to look nice while being subtle enough to let the other design elements do their trick. So I thought I'd share a few snapshots of his work today.

This identity he did for Yardsale is neat. I like the earthy feel the logo and icons have mixed with the bright, happy colors on the t-shirt.

The way the t-shirt has a tic-tac-toe style grid is another fun, cheerful addition!

I'm quite impressed with this logo Riley designed for a dentist's office. I don't typically think of dentistry as a profession that usually has great graphic design to go with it (although I'm very grateful for dentists, of course). Yet this logo is very well done. It incorporates the familiar tooth symbolism while being modern and incorporating good (custom drawn) typography and strong composition.

The bright green is fun, too. It's unexpected for a dentist's office, but I think that's part of what makes this logo interesting.

Some of his other illustrations are nice, too. This streetcar/bus image that is part of a "poster in the works" is well executed but not overly complicated.

And one of my favorites of Riley Cran's work is this iPad wallpaper he did to help tsunami relief in Japan. I think it illustrates (no pun intended) the great combination of simplicity, texture, and even a little retro vibe which is achieved through the color scheme.

What do you think of Riley Cran's work and style? Let's talk about it!