Reader Participation Contributions

Several of you submitted great things to my reader participation challenge on triangle day of my shapes series, and I wanted to make sure and include those things on my blog. So here's a post about that. :)

But first, I just wanted to tell you all how much I appreciate all my blog readers. The shapes series was great - lots of thoughtful comments from you all, new followers, and reader participation submissions. You all are part of why blogging is so fun for me! So thank you!

And I also wanted to show you some neat things my readers found and did for the reader participation challenge.

First, Sarah found this cool wall decal on Etsy. I love the different sizes and colors of squares. This is so modern and fun!

Find this right here.

Anna sent me several links, one of which led me to this neat arrow origami made out of a dollar bill. I love how you can see the shapes it's composed of: a rectangle and a triangle.

Find this right here.

 Also check out some neat clocks and bracelets that Anna found.

Elisabeth wrote her name out of triangles and sent me a picture. What a cool idea. You know I love typography, I really like how Elisabeth combined letters and shapes with her entry.

Elisabeth's shape + letters art.

Mariah sent me this cool photo she took of a purse that has a square pattern on it. It seems like a cool purse, and I like Mariah's creative perspective in the picture.

Mariah's purse picture.

Another creative find came to me from Chichi, who saw this neat greeting card online. I love the colors and the use of triangles in a pattern.

Find this right here.

And the final entry was from Mary who took this picture of her Rubik's cube. I love the use of little squares in a Rubik's cube... and I'm quite amazed that this puzzle is actually solved. My little Rubik's cube is still all jumbled up.

Mary's Rubik's cube.

I hope you all enjoyed these fun finds from my readers! It was great seeing what you all found, and I love having some reader participation in my blog.

Winners

Jeannie!

Congratulations! Your Amazon gift certificate will be on its way before long.

But for everyone else, fear not! You still have chances. I did two other prize activities this week. The first one was on circle day. The first three people to comment on the post get a poster I made with their own favorite quote and word in it (details here). The first three commenters were:

• Ellie
• Lucy
• and Sarah!

Congratulations! Please email me: carrie[at]carrieannedesign[dot]com with your favorite verse or quote and the word you want me to put in the middle of the poster. If you're confused about all this, the post is here and the details and visuals there should clear it up.

And for yesterday's word illustration contest, we have three winners as well...

• A Thousand Words
• Aimee
• and Mary H.!

Congratulations to you too! Please email me at carrie[at]carrieannedesign[dot]com with your favorite word, and I'll send you your word art soon. (Post is here if you need more details.)

Thank you all for participating in this series!

Keep Commenting!

You can still comment on all the posts from my series for a chance to win a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate! You can find all the posts in the series here under this label.

I will draw the winner through Random.org and announce it here on the blog soon, once the giveaway is closed.

Shapes Series: The Honorable Mentions

I've already talked about basic shapes: triangles, circles, and rectangles & squares. But there are tons more shapes to be found, and this final post in my series will focus on those shapes: all the extras, the "other shapes"...the honorable mentions who didn't make the cut to have their very own post. This post will be organized differently than my other ones; instead of going through different information and examples about the shape, I'm going to take a few honorable mention shapes and have a short section on each one.

First up...

So what are hexagons? They're six-sided polygons, related to octagons and pentagons and decagons and the like - and actually, they're related to triangles, too. They're an interesting shape by themselves, but I really like the way you can arrange them to make neat patterns. Here are two examples of neat hexagon patterns from Etsy.

Holiday cards from desTroy.

Pillow cover from Be Still.

I love both of these patterns! The overlapping, thin lined pattern on the card is really creative. It looks a little chaotic, but in a fun way that is still orderly. The pillow pattern is great, too! I love the "nested" octagons and how it looks like a modern interpretation of a honeycomb pattern. The white on navy is a great color combination, too.

Let's move on to another shape, now. How about...

I honestly don't know much about how the shape of a heart came to be. The heart (as in the organ) doesn't look much like a typical heart shape to me, but I guess that's where it came from anyway. Regardless, this shape is probably one with the biggest plethora of feelings and cultural traditions behind it. You don't give people squares for a holiday, but you give hearts for Valentines' day. See what I mean?

Hearts are also shapes that can take many different forms. The basic shape stays the same and stays recognizable, but the level of curving, the height vs. width, etc. all change.

And yet, hearts are a really fun shape. They have a traditionally more personal, homey time of feeling than most other shapes. But they can still be applied in numerous different ways to achieve different styles. This hand-printed poster from Summersville on Etsy has a more homespun, comfortable feeling to it. I really like it and I can tell how much work went into it...

find here.

And I also like this heart cup and saucer from Three Potato Four. It's sold already - too bad! It actually goes really well with the print - similar colors and feeling.

find here.

But hearts can also take a more modern, simple look to them. I'm sure that there are many things that demonstrate a more minimalistic approach to the shape of a heart in design, but the one that comes to my mind is the famous I Heart NY motif.

This design has been on t-shirts for a very long time, and it's a piece of design that seems truly enduring. And it's centered around a heart!

Next up...

Diamonds are kind of like squares and rectangles, but flipped around and adjusted a little bit. Diamonds are also a precious gem, as I'm sure you knew. But as a shape, they are really nice - simple but a little more detailed than more basic shapes, and great for patterns.

I noticed several fun diamond patterned items on Anthropologie, so I thought I would share them. Take a look at these diamond Anthropologie finds!

1. Precious Feast Placemat | 2. Sage Advice Tote | 3. Dutch Wax Ottoman | 4. Beaded Geometry Bag

I love the fun, interesting patterns that the Anthropologie designers made with a simple shape like a diamond!

One more shape before I go...and this time I'll include a logo review! Let's talk about...

Stars. Like hearts, they have social associations. Stars are what we see in the sky. Kids get star stickers on their homework when they do a good job. And we call someone a "star" when they're famous or talented.

In design, stars are usually used just like they are. I guess it's possible to make a pattern out of stars, but I don't recall seeing that very much if at all - certainly not as much as a diamond or circle pattern. One star-shaped thing that I like is starfish. I think I have a dried up one somewhere that I bought at a seashell shop. But anyway, back to the point. I found these starfish earrings that I think are a great example of a simple application of the star shape in design:

Find this on Etsy right here.

Aren't those pretty? They're very simply elegant. And they make me really excited to go the beach...

But stars have other applications, too, and they can be used in logos. The logo I'm going to show you is for Coinstar, a division of a company that owns both Coinstar and Redbox. Coinstar is a machine that turns your loose change into cash. You might've seen one at a grocery store before. Coinstar's main logo, for the company that owns both Coinstar and Redbox, has not been redesigned, but they recently came up with a new logo for the Coinstar end of things. You can read more on Brand New, but here's what the logo looks like:

The old logo (see it on Brand New) had a very obvious star shape incorporated into it, but this logo has a less obvious star that is made out of circles (coins). I think this logo is much more modern and updated, and the typography is somewhat similar to the font on the Redbox logo, which is good because it brings continuity between the two sub-companies' logos.

But as for the star icon, I actually really like it. It's creative and not ordinary by any means. It still vaguely resembles a star, but it's also an example of a designer tweaking a basic shape to better fit the needs of the company. What do you all think of the Coinstar logo?

That's all the shapes I have for today, but I haven't forgotten about today's special thing!

Keep in mind that this has nothing exactly to do with shapes - I just thought it would be fun. Three people chosen at random from the comments on this post will receive...

Their favorite word hand-drawn by me using my Wacom tablet! 

It could be your name, a word that you like, anything. I got the idea from a neat blog, Gitz. And you only have to make one comment - your comment will count for both this special thing and the overall Amazon giveaway. If you are chosen, you will have to email me and tell me your favorite word, and I'll send you a PNG file with your word hand drawn by me. I will announce the winners of this giveaway, and Tuesday's circle poster contest thing along with the results of the Amazon.com contest.

It's been great writing these posts for you all, and I surely hope you enjoyed shapes week! Don't forget to comment today to be entered in the Amazon.com giveaway.

Have a fabulous day and come back tomorrow after noon for the results!

Shapes Series: Rectangles & Squares

Today's post concerns four sided shapes... rectangles and squares. If circles and triangles are an important part of design (which they are), I'd say rectangles and squares are ubiquitous parts of life. If you think about it, you see rectangles and squares everywhere, not just in design. Of course, you see other shapes around you, too, but in my limited observation, rectangles and squares are the most common. Think of all the things that are made up of these shapes...

I'm sure there are many, many more, too - see if you can think of some and post your discoveries in the comments section!

So now we all know that rectangles and squares are all over our world, but what kind of part do they play in the design world? Well, like circles and triangles, rectangles and squares are an important, fundamental design element. We will examine this concept with some interesting examples in an bit, but first, I want to make a point about a second role rectangles and squares have in the design world, and that's the fact that, of all shapes, rectangles and squares (but specifically rectangles) are the shape in which paper comes. This seems rather obvious, but paper is a huge thing in the design business. What's the good of designing a brochure or invitation or magazine if you haven't got paper to print it on? And that's where rectangles and squares come in. They're important. You don't find circle or triangle or octagonal pieces of paper too often.

But rectangles and squares are also shapes in and of themselves...shapes that are important elements in design. There are plenty of great examples of how they can be used in design, so I thought I'd just share a few.

First, two square logos...

As Brand New says, this logo is very simple. It makes use of two simple shapes: a square as the main element and a circle as the accent. It has a clean, minimal design going for it, but honestly, I was a little confused about the purpose of the logo. What does the circle signify? And how in the world does that connect to books? I read this quote in this article and it helped clear things up a bit.

"It combines the enduring, classic shapes of a square and circle, representing the library as a strong community anchor....Yet the new image also has a touch of mystery, reflecting exploration, curiosity and discovery....Just as our new logo means something different to everyone who sees it, the Lawrence Public Library has something different for everyone who uses it."

After reading that, I feel like I better understand the reasoning behind this logo. In fact, the mysterious (or confusing) feeling the logo has was purposeful. I respect that the folks designing and approving this logo really thought about what it says and why it says that. However, in my personal opinion, I don't think that logos should be this ambiguous - to me, the purpose of a logo is to clearly state the brand, not to "mean something different to everyone who sees it." And while I understand the idea of the circle and square representing the library's lasting impact, that aura doesn't seem to quite carry through into the look of the logo. In this design, I see something modern and minimal, not something with a heritage.

But overall, I think the execution part of the logo is quite good. The typography is fine - clean and simple to match the logo - and the choice of color is good, too. :) The proportions of the shapes all match. The main thing I see lacking in this area is that the circle isn't symmetrically aligned with the corner...but maybe that was intentional. And I actually really like the square as the main element. While the overall look and feeling of this logo doesn't seem to match the goal of the library, the square definitely looks like something lasting because it's so stable and secure. Squares have four sides and they're quite sturdy - just like a library should be in a community.

And another square logo...

This logo for Swedish Traveling Exhibitions is really neat. I saw it on Brand new here. It uses a square with another element, just like the first logo I mentioned. But this logo uses a comma as a second element instead of a circle. At first, I thought this was a little weird, especially since I can tend to be somewhat of a grammar word. Commas are for sentences, not logos! But now that I look at the logo more, I thin I like it. It's incredibly creative, and there's a set idea behind it. Here's a quote from the Brand New article:

"Built upon a square and a comma, the graphic profile communicates stability and changeability. The square frames several perspectives: a picture frame, the boxes used to transport the exhibitions, and the rooms where exhibitions are displayed. As a continuation without an end, the comma represents the mission of the travelling exhibition: to remake, rethink, and rebuild."

Similar to with the library logo, the specific mission in the logo as detailed in the quote is rather hidden and ambiguous. However, the mystery of it doesn't bother me in the context of this logo because at least the image of the logo seems to connect with a traveling exhibition. The logo is creative and artistic at first glance. And now that I think about it, the comma is an interesting way to signify and ongoing, in-process type of feeling of "remake, rethink, and rebuild." It's like a book without "the end" on the last page. The typography seems to go well with the boldness of the logo, too. It does seem like the font is narrower than the box and comma, but then again, it'd be weird to have a super bold font as the type for a logo. So I think it's a fine balance of type boldness.

What do you all think of these logos? I'd love to know your takes on them too. :)

But first, I want to mention the pattern that goes along with squares/rectangles. I'm sure there are many, but the one I want to highlight is stripes. Have you noticed that stripes are really just elongated rectangles? I like stripes a lot, so I thought I'd show you a collection of things that are striped. Here are pictures, and there are links below.

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

Aren't those things fun? Stripes are great! Notice that most of the stripes are straight lines, but number three is a chevron stripe pattern - kind of a cross between triangles, rectangles, and stripes.

Today's post is almost done, but before I go, I want to share today's extra special thing. It's a freebie! You know how I love stripes, so I designed some notepaper that is striped! The stripes are at a 45 degree angle so they resemble airmail style writing paper. I used the Phoebe theme from Adobe Kuler - such fun colors.

Here's what the stationery looks like.

You can download it RIGHT HERE - in the ZIP file, you'll get the stationery you see above in JPG and PDF format for printing. There are two pieces of half page stationery on each sheet. Please enjoy this freebie, but it's for personal use only!

I hope you all have a great day! Don't forget to comment for your chance to win the Amazon gift card!

Shapes Series: Circles

Today is circle day! Circles are another great and often-used design element. What I like about circles is that they're symmetrical, and that they never end. You can walk around in a circle on and on and on and just keep going! I like how simple a circle is, too. It's not like a trapezoid or some complicated shape like that (even though those shapes are good, too). It just has such a simple, clean feeling to it. See what I mean?

It's such a simple, minimalistic shape. It can be used for more complicated patterns as well, but I like the simplicity in this basic shape.

I found some circular items that really nail this minimalistic style on an Etsy shop called Chroma Lab. They sell mostly clocks (which are circles!). Here are some of their items.

[find here]

[find here]

[find here]

[find here]

Aren't those fun? I love the circle clocks and how circles are used in different ways on the different ones. The red one is so striking with the splash of color, the off-center circles on the blue one are really fun, and I love the overlapping colors on the RGB clock. The "I love color" print is great, too. Another use of overlapping circles with color. I like how the "love" was replaced with the colored circle graphic.

Another creative way to use circles is to put other things inside them, as in the International Year of Youth logo. 

I don't know much about the organization (just what I read on Brand New), but I like the logo a lot. It's so bright and colorful, and it's a neat way to incorporate a circle into design. At first glance, it kind of resembles the RGB clock from Chroma Lab.

Isn't that circle icon cool? The Brand New article made the point that cutting off the thought bubbles seems a little amateurish (which could be possible), but I personally think that's not such a huge deal compared to the overall effect of the logo. A few thoughts on the logo:

1. I love the colors. They are bright and cheery, but also hip and modern looking. They're not typical colors necessarily.
2. I love the thought bubbles. The shape of them is great, and the varied sizes really make the design interesting.
3. I love this graphic:

Isn't the way the concept is applied so creative and interesting? The half circle type thing is even more unique than the original logo, and putting type in the thought bubbles was a great idea.

This logo reminded me of something, a print I saw on Etsy by Judy Kaufmann. It has a similar look because it's branches incorporated into a circle pattern with birds.

[buy this print here]

I really like the color of that print (surprise, surprise!), and the white pattern is nice. I like white printed on a colored background.

Switching gears here, there is another facet of circles that I want to mention (because I really like it): polka dots. Is anyone else here a polka dot fan? I really like that pattern - it's so fun and it can have lots of different feelings depending on things like size of dots and colors. Here are a few fun polka dot things I found. (Links below.)

1. Vintage Ring from Loley's & Co. | This ring is not technically polka-dotted I guess, but the circle jewels reminded me so much of the polka dot pattern!

2. Grey Dangling Dots iPhone Case from Jack and Bee Designs | Neat pattern - not the usual polka dot look, but a great use of dots all the same.

3. Vintage Polka Dot Pillow from Hindsvik | It's red! I love this pillow and the classic, old-style polka dot pattern.

4. Ditsy Dot Bowls from West Elm | What fun - I like how polka dots were incorporated into dishes here.

That is the end of the program for today, however, I want to let you know what today's special add-on is! In addition to commenting for a chance to win the Amazon.com gift card, there is another prize opportunity today. I made this poster using a circle as the basis. See?

You're probably wondering what this has to do with the prize, right? Well, the first three people to comment on this post get this poster design with their own personalized word and quote/Scripture verse on it!

So, just like yesterday, you've got two things you can do in response to this post:

• Do your regular comment for the gift card giveaway.
• And comment fast (!) because the first three people get to pick a verse and word for me to put into my poster design for them!

Have a great day everyone!

Follow Up

Saw this on Etsy today and thought it was so perfect for today's post!

On Etsy here.

Shapes Series: Triangles

Triangles. They are wonderful design elements, but they're also a big part of math. I remember them from my geometry days. There are all different kinds of them, too! Does this look familiar to anyone?

Oh, I remember those days. This looks like a very boring application of triangles, right? I agree. So why did I bring this up? Well, I wanted to highlight something: triangles have different shapes.

And I have a favorite type of triangle. That would be the equilateral triangle. Why is it my favorite? It's 100% symmetrical, and I love symmetry. No matter how you cut an equilateral triangle in half, it's always the same on both sides. I like that.

I think, personally, that equilateral triangles are the best types to use in design. Now I'm sure people throughout history have designed great art using other types of triangles, but equilaterals are my personal favorite.

In fact, there are two logos I ran across on Brand New that incorporate equilateral triangles. I'd like to share them with you.

The VIVA logo is very simple, but really creative. I think I was almost subconsciously inspired by it to create the headers for this post, with the triangles up and down in a row. Here's what it looks like:

You can read the Brand New review of the logo if you so desire, but I'd like to give you a couple of things I personally like about this logo.

• The symmetry. You can't go wrong with equilateral triangles, at least when it comes to symmetry!
• The clean, sharp look. This logo is not stuffy or vague - it's sharp and clear. This is great, and so important for a logo.
• The boldness. While I like thin, fine lines, there's something wonderfully imposing and obvious about the bold, black triangles in this. It catches your attention, doesn't it?

Now for the second triangle logo I want to show you...

The Brand New post is here. This logo is clever too. Here's what the logo looks like.

Here's what I like about it (and you can read more at Brand New):

• The symmetry. Surprise, surprise!
• The equal spacing between triangles. If you look closely at the space between the first and second triangles, you'll notice that another triangle could fit there perfectly.
• The application. I love how the logo is recolored based on art. See that here.

There's a neat font that uses triangles as one of its elements. In the font Dubtronic (download here), the A's and the V's are triangles! In fact, that's how I got the triangle border for the header: by typing AVAVA over and over again. Here's what the font looks like:

 I really like this font - it's quite fun!

But logos and fonts aren't the only thing that incorporates good use of triangles, especially equilateral ones. I've found lots of fun merchandise around the web that is well designed and puts triangles on center stage. I love these items! Take a look and see if you do, too.

Buy this here.

Buy this here.

Buy this here.

Buy this here.

I love the creativity behind each of these ideas. The placement of the triangles is so fun and unique in the first three items, and the use of triangles as "A's" was a great idea, too. Do you all have a favorite item of these four?

Before I go, I've got a couple more things I want to tell you about. The first thing is a concept that some of you might already be familiar with: the visual triangle. It's a design principle that I picked up from Creating Keepsakes magazine, and it's a good tool to employ sometimes in design and crafts - and even photography if you want!

So what is this visual triangle? The way I think of it, it's like this:

Here's a quick illustration to help:

Do you see how the three "accent" circles make a triangle? It's a technique that can really tie a layout together. You can use multiple visual triangles on one layout, too, for added effect.

Okay, last thing: remember how I said yesterday that there would be an extra special something each day? Maybe a challenge, a freebie, or something like that? Well today's special something is a challenge for you.

Today, in addition to making your comment to be entered to win the Amazon.com gift certificate, you can gain extra entries by doing a special reader participation exercise!

If you send me a link or a photo about anything that uses shapes in a creative way, you will be entered an extra time in the contest!

Please email me your ideas: carrie[at]carrieannedesign[dot]com. Go ahead and leave your daily comment, too, but for the reader participation exercise, can you email me instead of comment? I want to keep the links and such under wraps because I hope to incorporate some of your ideas in a future blog post.

So there are two things you can do to enter today:
- Comment as usual.
- Send me a link or photo of something involving shapes. :)

Can't wait to hear from you!