Inspiration: Graphic Design, Part 3

Today is the last post in my graphic design category, and the last regular post in my entire inspiration series! Tomorrow, there will be a related weekend links post, and then the series will be done. Thank you all for sticking with me all this time.

I thought I'd end with graphic design, since this blog is mostly about that after all. I have some design items to show you that I hope you will like. Instead of specific pieces, I have two websites of design to talk to you about, and then some freebies from other sites to share.

First up is Hum Creative, which is Kate Harmer's design company. She does some really stellar work. I'll share a couple things with you, then comment on them all in general, and if you like what you see, check out the work section of her site.

I love these wedding invitations. They're letterpress, which scores big points in my book, and the design is simple and elegant but at the same time, fun and charming.

I love the colors - just white, brown, and turquoise. It's a pretty combination of colors. The use of white space on the folding part as well as the blue envelope (? - I'm guessing it's an envelope) is nice as well, and keeps the design from being too busy. The silhouettes of the bride and groom is a creative idea, as well. I love the way silhouettes look in general, and these are certainly good ones. See more pictures of this project here.

This business card, as part of an identity system for someone involved in music and photography, is excellent, too. (And more letterpress - yay!)

The combination of sans serif and serif typefaces actually works quite well - I think the consistent colors help a lot. The image part of the logo (heart in outline) is also good. It's not too busy, but at the same time, it's complex enough to look cozy and inviting.

One more thing from Hum Creative before I move on... this CD packaging for a band called She & Him. I know nothing about their music so I'm not recommending them - I just like the packaging!

I didn't notice at first that there's both a full size record album and a CD to this design. That in itself is pretty cool - I didn't know anyone was actually still making records. There's something endearingly vintage about that. As for the design, I like it. The freehand, almost cartoon look to it makes it seem cheerful, but at the same time, thoughtful and serious. Here's a closer look at the CD packaging:

The notebook paper looking insert is cool, as well as the envelope. I like the creativity and outside-the-box style of this whole music project.

So what inspires me about the work of Hum Creative? A couple things:

• The balance between clean & simple and friendly & warm.
• The customization of everything. The client wanted letterpress? So be it. A record as well as a CD? Sure! I'd love to get to the place where I can design like that, find a printer who will work with me, and just go for it. That really inspires me.

Now I'd like to let you know about the second website I wanted to share today, Louise Fili, Ltd. It's a design firm in New York City and boy would I love to intern there sometime. Their work is great. It was started (and named) for Louise Fili, a designer who has made it into the Art Director's Hall of Fame. I didn't even know there was such a thing until I read about it on the about page. How neat! I'll show you three things I like from Louise Fili, Ltd., but please check out their website - they've done such a large volume of work!

First up, some bottled water packaging, perhaps the most unique I've seen (Ethos would take second place.) Take a look:

This packaging design is actually more minimalistic than most of what I see on Louise Fili, but it still has a charming, funky air to it. The big droplet of water is eye-catching and I really like the typography of "Aqua Forte." Perhaps the best thing about this design is the empty space where there isn't any design. That gives it a really distinctive look. Also, the fact that the design isn't printed on one of those wrap-around water bottle labels makes it more unique and sets it apart from just a normal bottle of water.

The second thing I want to show you from Louise Fili is a logo and menu combo for a restaurant called Marseille. Here's the logo:

It's certainly well-designed - classy and elegant, but not stuffy or stuck up looking. It's interesting how the logo translates so well to a neon sign (see here), and the typography itself seems to be quietly reminiscent of neon. But what I really like about this logo is how it's applied to menus...

You'd expect to see a lot more decoration in going from the logo on its own to a menu design, but it's not there. The only decoration on the outside of the menu is the logo, and I think that's absolutely brilliant. It takes different forms, all the way from one letter out to a whole word, but each thing really coordinates well. I love that the logo is flexible enough to be translated so literally into the menus. That's some good design.

Finally, I want to show you the cover design for a book by Louise Fili and Stephen Heller (a writer on graphic design). This cover is excellent.

I'd actually be interested to thumb through the pages of Design Connoisseur, but for now, I'll focus on what I can see from the picture: the design. This book contains type from the 20's, 30's, and 40's, and I think the cover has an appropriately vintage feel to it. I like the ornate yet not overwhelming style of the cover. It's very detailed and swirly looking, but there is some nice white space as well to balance out the busyness. I also like the way the lines of the green pattern point towards the title.

Louise Fili, Ltd. inspires me because of...

• The interesting work they do with typography.
• Louise Fili's own accomplishments, i.e. the fact that she designed 2000 book jackets while she was the art director at Pantheon Books. Is that impressive or what?
• The mix of things that are fresh and modern and more timeless looking. The style isn't always exactly the same, but everything is good, solid design. It reminds me that different styles are okay.

Now that I've let you glimpse two neat design websites, I want to share some links to design freebies that you might enjoy.

First, there are some neat freebies to be found on Veer's freebie page.

They have a weekly photo and illustration and a monthly font for download, as well as some desktop backgrounds and screensavers. The typography movie posters are neat. (Saw them originally on How About Orange.)

Also, Fossil has some new desktop backgrounds to enjoy. This one is really cute:

I recently saw something on How About Orange that I thought was really cool. It's called Silk, and it's an interactive website where you can drag your mouse to create pretty abstract silk patterns. Here's a screenshot of the website with one of my silks on it. Try it here!

It's fun to play with, and if you go scroll down on the homepage, you can also download some neat Silk computer wallpapers.

I hope you all liked today's post... please let me know what you think of the design you've seen! I love your comments.

Inspiration: Words, Part 3

Today I have another words-related inspiration post for you all. And I like to share another quote from Augustine, like I did last time. I hadn't planned to share two quotes from the same person, but this one came to mind and I really like it. So I wanted to share it. This quote doesn't so much inspire me per se, but it encourages me and reminds me of truth. It's quite short.

Contentment can be really hard some times, because there are things that I want that I don't currently have. There are ways I want life to be that it's not right now. But this quote reminds me that I can be content with what I have now, because I have all. As I understand it "Haver of all" in this quote means God. And it says that the one who has God has all. Because of the cross, I am God's and He is mine. So I really have all I need.

Lots of times, my view of God is too small. I can act like He isn't enough. But He truly is. He has given me forgiveness, redemption, freedom from sin, and new life in Him. He's provided everything I need and He is indeed the source of true satisfaction. Quotes like this help me remember these things and start to realize that I do, in fact, have all I need in God.

Inspiration: Color

I've mentioned color several times before in this inspiration series, but I wanted to dedicate a whole post to color as well. Color schemes will make up a large portion of the post, but I have some other things to share, too.

One source that I love for color inspiration is Adobe Kuler. I've mentioned it quite a few times before on my blog, and I continue to use it. I especially love the way it integrates into the Adobe programs I have. I can just select to show the Kuler window and browse neat color schemes right from Adobe. I use this feature for most of the design I make. I actually used a Kuler theme to pick the colors for the headers I made for the inspiration series, but I can't seem to find it again. So I'll show you some other neat Kuler themes! This first one is called Laboratory.

I really like the way the more subdued grays and blues contrast with the bright neon green/yellow. Contrast is such a good element in this theme, and sometimes it can be really effective in some combinations of color.

I want to show you another Kuler theme that I like... this one is Pioneer.

I like the vintage looking style of this theme. It kind of reminds me of the orange + gray + woodgrain office from yesterday. These themes, and Kuler in general, inspire me to pick colors that really look good together. I haven't got the hang of doing it myself, which is why I use Kuler a lot. What a helpful tool it is!

Another neat source of color inspiration is the blog Design Seeds, which I mentioned on my blog awhile ago. It's similar to Kuler in that it chronicles color schemes, but all the schemes come from photographs. The photography alone on this site is pretty impressive. I'd love to know if the blogger actually takes all those photos, and if so, how she has so very many great ones. I usually get about 4 posts from this blog every day in my reader - impressive. It's neat to see the relationship between colors and photos. Here are three schemes that I like, with links to the posts underneath.

autumn wishes | design seeds

color streak | design seeds

worn hues | design seeds

This is a different way of looking at color schemes that I really enjoy. I love the soothing green one, the bold blue and red one, and the calm, vintage looking one with reds and light blue. I think it's interesting that such good color schemes can come from a photo - these weren't just picked out of the air, but selected because they already occurred in a photograph. Neat idea.

Also, I wanted to let you know that a Design Seeds book is for sale on Blurb! It's pretty pricey to order it, but you can preview part one here and part two here. I browsed through part one and it was lovely.


Now I want to take some time to highlight a favorite color of mine these days: yellow. I like it because it's bright and sunshiney, and because it looks so nice with gray, my #1 favorite color. So I thought I'd show you some neat yellow items. Here's a collage of them. You can link to them by clicking the corresponding number below.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

What I love...
1. It's yellow and it's a peacoat. Two things I love. The cute, retro style is great.
2. Again, cute and retro. This reminds me of I Love Lucy (see those memories again, like what I talked about concerning The Sound of Music).
3. I like the combination of yellow and shiny.
4. This mustard tone is different from usual, and it gives yellow a more subdued, sophisticated look. I like that shade of yellow, too.
5. Such a cute little bow! And I like the handmade look.
6. I like this modern take on a cuckoo clock - it's original and unique.
7. Here's the mustard yellow tone again, and I like it a lot. I like the creativity of using it for a belt... belts like this seem to commonly be brown or black, but this one's not!
8. So bright and fun and vintage! I love this tray. Cool household things like this almost make me want to learn to like the kitchen. :)

Okay, I've definitely talked enough about yellow for one post. And this is a post about color, not just yellow. So before I end today's post, I want to show you something with all the colors of the rainbow.

I recently heard about Felissimo, a Japanese website that sells pencils and crayons in monthly subscriptions. Sounds like a cool idea, right? If you subscribe for 20 months, you'll end up with 500 pencils. The only catch is that it's quite expensive. But look how beautiful and colorful the pencils look:

So pretty, aren't they? Here's a closer up picture:

The thing about these pencils is that they're not so much meant to be used as to be looked at. They're art! The display above is called "Aurora" - you can read about it here. I also really like the Color Wave display. Here are some pictures of that:

I think the idea of displaying art supplies is neat, but more generally, I'm inspired by the idea of displaying color. Color in and of itself is such a wonderful design element and such a gift from God (imagine seeing all in black and white!). Wouldn't it be neat to look at all these colors every day?

Well, that's all for today... I'd love to know what you all think of my color inspiration. Let me know!

Inspiration: Home Decor, Part 2

Happy Monday, all! I'm back today with another installment in my inspiration series. Today starts the final week of the series. Today's post is another one on home decor. I'm focusing on pictures of rooms today. Some are just pictures of rooms; others are a re-design of a room. But I will present each room and then talk briefly about why I like it and why it inspires me. Let's get started!

First off, an image I saw on Ellie's Tumblr. I really like the colors in this room.

Seen on Hello Grey Rainbow

I love how grays and neutrals are the base for this room. I think that gives it a very bright, happy feeling. And then, I love the addition of yellow, turquoise, and magenta (yellow being the most used). The hierarchy of colors is really nice in this room. That inspires me. And also the combination of modern and simple with very elegant and homey. It's modern but not stark.

I also like this somewhat similar living room I saw on Design*Sponge...

It has gray and yellow in it (yay! - probably my current favorites). It looks even more minimalistic than the first one, but it still looks pretty inviting. I think the curvy, almost vintage looking frames on the walls help take away any starkness. I love the simplicity in the design of this room - it's so wonderfully uncluttered, which is inspiring both for home decor and for graphic design. Sometimes less is more.

Oh, and you should really check out images of the rest of this home. All of it is pretty neat.

Another room I just love is this one, a re-design of a dining room that ended up as a library! How cool!

What catches my attention most about this design is all the black. You'd thinking having so much black on the walls would make a room look really dark, but because of the window, all the natural light seems to balance it out and the room actually looks very bright. This is another room that does a good job of balancing clean and simple with warm and inviting. While sometimes extremes of either sparseness or clutter can be interesting in art and design, most things fall somewhere in between, and I think a balance is important and useful. That's a concept I can easily apply in my design! As a side note, I love the ladder by the bookshelf. What a fun way to get to books! (And the pug is a nice touch, too of course.) You can read about the project and see a before picture here at Design*Sponge.

Here's an office that I really like, also found on Design*Sponge. Check out the post to see pictures of the whole house - it's gorgeous!

Again, I like the minimalism + warmth in this room (seems to be a theme, huh?). The colors I see (gray, woodgrain, orange) are really nice together, and I like how they more or less carry through the rest of the house. And the light is so pretty in this room. I see why the owner of this house says she likes the light best.

Next room...

What I love best about this room is without a doubt the bookshelf. Isn't it so cool? It looks like the books are in a stack up against the wall. It's such a decorative way to display books and it's so creative. That idea - displaying things creatively - is something that inspires me. I'm not an interior designer, but when I rearrange my bedroom, I can keep that in mind. The clean look of the room is nice, and I think it's impressive how it doesn't look boring even though the walls are right. See the rest of the house, which has a similar look right here at Design*Sponge.

The owners of the previous two rooms, Hilary Petrie and Crystal Ellis, respectively, are part of Egg Collective, a neat design company that makes some cool stuff.

I have one more room to show you before I go, and it's actually not a room from a house. It's a sewing shop in Spain that I saw on Bloesem Kids. Isn't it cute?

This is a shop you can rent sewing machines at, and they also have sewing classes. It sure looks like a pleasant place to learn. I like the simple, clean look mixed with cute, vintage items that look very childlike and fun. That's a neat design mix. See more pictures of this shop on Bloesem Kids.

That's it for today... what do you all think of these rooms? Do you have a favorite, or something from one that you like in particular?

Inspiration: Art & Crafts, Part 2

Today is the second installment in my art & crafts category! I hope you all like the artistic things I have to show you today.

Since the first post in this category was all about art, I thought I'd start off today with a more crafty source of inspiration. Lisa Occhipinti makes neat art out of books, and she just recently released a craft book, Repurposed Library, about how to make some of the things she has come up with. Her stuff is pretty cool. You can find here book on Amazon HERE. But I'd like to show you some of Lisa Occhipinti's art, so I thought I'd post this neat video. It's a trailer for the book and it shows her working.






The video is short, so if you'd like, hit play and enjoy some neat art! Also, here's a picture (sorry for the poor quality) of a project Lisa Occhipinti did for a cafe in South Africa. Isn't it cool?

She is a really creative artist and I've enjoyed seeing her work. I think what inspires me about her repurposed book art is, well, first of all, the creativity of her ideas. But also, I'm inspired by the idea to repurpose things. It's really fun and it's always interesting to give something old a new look.

That can't be applied all that much in graphic design, but I can apply it in other ways. I actually tried to repurpose a book into one of those bookmobile things in the picture. It's in my living room hanging up, and while it's not as professional looking as Lisa Occhipinti's, it was fun. :)

Next up are some prints by Sasha Prood. I heard about her work here on Bloesem. And she does some really neat stuff! Here are two pieces I like in particular:

self promotion | by sasha prood

This was all done in pencil. Whoa. I've been starting to learn how to draw, and it's very difficult. This type of detail with a pencil is quote impressive. I also think that making the letters of her name out of other objects was a creative idea.

typography in watercolor | by sasha prood

Again, the detail of the typography is phoenamenal, especially considering this is watercolor. Using watercolor this precisely has got to take a lot of patience! It looks really beautiful though. I love typography that is hand-drawn or somehow created without the computer...it's so neat! I think what inspires me most about Sasha Prood's work is the detail. It inspires me by reminding me that patience and attention to detail actually does pay off. You can look at more of her great work at her website here.

Next, I want to show you some neat patterned wallpaper by Kirath Ghundoo called the Mix-n-Match 11 Collection. I first saw her work here on Design*Sponge. This could have gone in a number of categories: graphic design or home decor could've been good fits, too. But I had planned it for this post, and it is in fact art! Here are a couple pretty pictures from her website.

Ah, these patterns are so much fun! What inspires me most about them is probably the color choices. They are so joyful and happy looking colors, and even though there are a lot of them, the simplicity of the design elements still gives these papers a modern, minimal look. I love it. These papers show how important color choice is. I also like the creative use of shapes in all the different designs.

Before I close this post for the day, I want to show you some illustration by Paul Thurlby. He does some neat work, and I love how retro some of it looks. Again, this probably could just as easily have gone in graphic design, but illustration is different from graphic design, even though they do work together sometimes. I'm honestly not sure I could explain the definitions of each, but illustration seems to lean more towards the traditional art side in my mind.

Anyway, back to Paul Thurlby. Not all of his work is exactly my preference, but it's clear that he has a lot of skill, and I love his Alphabet Book, which is what I want to show you today. Here's the cover and a couple inside pages:

This really looks like it could be a reprint of a book from the 1960's, which is why I love it. It really has that genuine retro feel to it. But at the same time, the sans serif typeface on the left of each page shown is pretty modern, so in some ways, it combines 20th century retro with 21st century style. The fact that this is a book that is all consistent and matching is really fun...and that inspires me to want to someday design the layout a book, even if it's not a book with all my own work in it.

So that's all for today! Please let me know what you all think of the things I've mentioned. I love hearing what you all have to say.

Inspiration: Words, Part 2

Today I have another words-related inspiration post for you all. I have a longer quote to share, but it's one that I found really helpful and encouraging. I'm pretty sure I'd heard it before, but I read it recently in Mark Dever's book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism and it immediately became a favorite. It's worded a little confusingly, so you may want to read a tad slower than usual. It has such a wonderful truth behind it.

I think this is such a wonderful way to explain the command to "love your neighbor as yourself." The greatest thing we can be pursuing ourselves, or want for ourselves, is to love God. And so loving our neighbor means causing them to love God. This has implications for evangelism (we love people when we tell them about the life-changing message of Jesus), but it has implications for everyday life, too.

Loving my neighbor doesn't just mean talking with them or asking them questions or being kind. Those things are all good things that we should do and that honor God. But it's possible to be nice to someone without making them love God any more as a result, and if we do that, we've been nice, but we haven't loved someone else as much as we could've. On the one hand, this inspires me to want to care for people and seek to help them pursue and love God. But on the other hand, this quote overwhelms me a little. Encouraging people to love God more seems really hard to do, doesn't it? It does to me. I mean sometimes, it's hard enough for me to just get my eyes off myself and consider others, not to mention actually going beyond saying something nice and seeking to encourage them to love God. And this is a hard thing to do, but the good news is that we don't have to do it alone! We have God's power to help us do this, and we can seek to truly love others, by making them love God more, in His strength.

Inspiration: Graphic Design, Part 2

Today is part two of my graphic design inspiration category. I've got lots of neat design that I'll be featuring today. There isn't a specific theme for today besides graphic design - but all the things that I'll show you are things that inspire me.

I have three brand identity designs to show you, and then three print design items. So I'll start with the brand identities. But I thought it might be helpful to define what a brand identity is. I throw that term around a lot, and I'm not sure I've ever explained exactly how I use it. It's closely tied to the term "logo" but they don't mean the same thing, at least not in the sense I use them. A logo is the actual image that defines a company or "brand." The Apple logo is an apple. The McDonald's logo is the golden arches. But a brand identity is the whole scope of how that logo is applied. A logo is part of a brand identity, but a brand identity includes the logo itself as well as the other things a company needs (such as Macbooks, the Apple website, even the little information guides that come with iPods... or a McDonald's hamburger wrapper or french fries box). Actually, this whole concept of brand identity inspires me, because I think it's so important for companies (especially larger ones) to have a whole brand identity. Logos are SO essential, but unless they're applied to all the things people actually see, they don't do much good.

Now that that's out of the way, I have some brand identities to show you!

First up is an identity I saw on Identity Designed, for a company called Fruita Blanch, which produces organic juices, jam, and canned goods. I love this identity. Here are two pictures, but please go to the post on Identity Designed for more.

I really love everything about this design. It's so great. I think what's most brilliant and inspiring about it is the way it combines minimalism with earthiness. That combination is a unique and very striking one. It's not cluttered, but at the same time, it's cozy and inviting, not stark or sterile looking. The typography is fun, too. I like the typeface (which I think is custom designed for this identity), and I love the fact that there is just one basic typeface across the whole identity. I like the way the whole design does play off the "organic" concept, but it looks cool in modern instead of looking cutesy like some organic food packaging does. I like the use of texture on the blue poster thing, too. I think it can be difficult to use texture in a more minimalist design, but this designer sure pulled it off.

I'd like to share another brand identity from Identity Designed, this time for a jewelry company called Union Jewellery (nice British spelling there).

The post on Identity Designed said: "The brief was to create something that felt classic, but still contemporary; elegant and sophisticated, but also with a sense of fun. There was also a desire to create a visual language that was distinct from the generic visual language of other jewellery stores."

I think this brand completely accomplished those goals. It's classic yet contemporary, elegant yet fun. And it's pleasantly unique from the classic jewelry store look without being at all ostentatious.

And what's interesting about this design is that it uses so many colors in the application. But somehow they all seem to work. I think maybe the consistency of the basic symbol helps tie it all together.

It's neat how the designer combined the basic symbol four times to make the bigger symbol - and yet that second symbol still works cohesively with the entire design.  I think what inspires me most about this design and also the Fruita Blanch design, is that both of them look different an unique from their competitors. That's a lot of what branding is: showing what makes a company special. And both of these identity designs excel at that.

The final identity design I want to show you all before I move on to some print projects is one I saw on Bloesem that was designed by graphic designer and illustrator Clara von Zweigbergk. It's for a candy company in Stockholm called Parlans.

This logotype was hand-drawn by Clara von Zweigbergk. WOW. I'd love to learn how to hand-draw stuff that looks like this.

I think this logo is so perfect for a candy company. It's sweet and delicate looking, but it's also not stuffy or prissy, which is good because the candy is hand-made. The way it translates to the rest of the identity is neat to see, too.

I love the kraft paper and the wax paper wrappings for the candies. So handmade looking, but at the same time, the fancy logo helps maintain a sweet, very refined look to it. This logo really caters to the needs and nature of the business - it seems like a visual representation of what the company is, at least from knowing that it's a hand-made candy company and seeing the candy itself. That's something that can be inspiring - because of all types of design, brand identity is perhaps the thing that most has to match the feel of the business.

Now for some print design items... first, a student re-design of American Heritage Magazine. This design hasn't been adopted by the magazine, but it's neat and well-designed. It was made by Mitchell Thorson, who I heard about through ThDstrct, a website showing artists in the Washington, DC area.

Here's the cover and one inside page spread. You can see more here.

I like the way this design combines modern and unique with historical. The idea of combining two usually opposed things is one that seems very useful in design. The re-design is very updated, but at the same time seems to acknowledge that this is a history magazine. I also think the combination of a serif font and a sans serif font is interesting. And I especially love that most of the magazine is set in Gotham [insert happy scream here].

Next, I want to show you a menu design. I honestly didn't think all that much about menu design until I heard about Under Consideration's blog, Art of the Menu. It's a whole blog devoted to the design of menus! Isn't that neat? The one I want to show you is for a restaurant called Parc, and you can see more images at this post.

The typography in this menu is so neat, and the whole design really is art. It certainly belongs on a blog called "Art of the Menu." I also like the lines and scrolly things. There are lots of different styles of ornaments going on, but they all work nicely together. I think it's neat that even though the design of this menu is busier, it still looks tied together and it's easy to read.

The last thing I have for you all to see today is an amazingly cool poster from For Print Only, another Under Consideration blog. It's a poster with a map of the known universe, and it looks so cool. And besides, one of the fonts used is Gotham (two things with Gotham in one post? Now that's exciting!). Take a look at two images of it, and then see more here.

I love the retro feel of this and how fun it looks. It's something that would simply be enjoyable to unfold and look at. It has so many different panels on this side (shown above), and the other side is a simple map of the whole universe. The black backgrounds are very eye-catching, but the other, lighter colors give it a more youthful, comfortable feel. What inspires me about this is the continuity of the whole design (even with all those separate panels), as well as simply how cool it looks in print. Seeing things like this make me want to - someday - design cool things like this and then see them actually printed.

Please let me know what you all think of the things I've shared today! I'd love to hear your opinions too!

The end.