Artist Spotlight: Mark Gowing

I ran across Australian graphic gesigner Mark Gowing's work through Grain Edit, and while I can't necessarily recommend all his topics, I really love his work and his creative, modern style. His work is just so good (which means this post could be a little long).

Mark's Eddie typeface is very cool. Lots of typefaces have circular look to them, but this is probably the most circle-centric typeface I've seen. It may not be the most readable for long portions of text, but it's wonderfully artistic and well-designed.

The way the type is used on this poster is quite good. The type really creates its own pattern.

A similar typographic style is seen on the Their Land poster from an Australian poster anthology. I like the way the circular type looks in such a bold variation.

I'm also loving Mark's CD packaging for various projects. Each one is simple, modern, and striking. This set of packaging for Preservation Music is very cool. I love the minimal style mixed with the artistic photographs.

I like the way the packaging for the Circa 2011 albums have an intriguing style even though they're remarkably simple in color scheme.

I think that's a big part of what good design is: not quantity of elements but quality. It's not about how much image you can pack onto a page, but what significance and power the image has.

This Post Music packaging is so fun. I love the bright colors and the way the poster folds out. I like the simple yellow triangle on the CD face.

The poster has really great overlapping colors. And the gray band above makes great use of minimal typography and really makes the colorful poster-cover the central feature.

I also really like the identity for 38 South. It's a company that works with vinyl records, so the image of a vinyl record is appropriate. I think it's cool that not the whole record is showing. Again, the circle typography is excellent.

I love the contrast between black and white in the print materials. Lots of dark gray and black in the photos mixed with white space on the stationery is really cool.

Mark Gowing also has some excellent posters. This one for Revolver is so fun and yellow! I love the sans serif type and the creative way it's spaced out.

The extra white yellow space in the poster is really good, too, and I like the varying sizes in type.

These posters for Digital Press are very good, too. This one reminds me of Piet Mondrian in the color scheme and style (although Mondrian did not use gray or any shapes besides squares and rectangles). I'm not sure if that was an intentional art history reference or not, but it sure looks cool.

This one is also very striking, I think mostly because of the strong, bold colors. I also think the way the Digital Press logo is subtle in both posters, but in this one especially. I think that's an interesting advertising technique: someone thinks, "oh that's a cool image. What's this ad for?"

So that's a snapshot of Mark Gowing's work for you. His design is a recent favorite of mine, and I'd love to hear what you think of his work!

link: mark gowing

Celtic Cross Website

I mentioned working on a couple design projects recently, and today I want to share one with you! Celtic Cross is an amazing band, and they also happen to good friends of mine. So it was such an honor to get to design their album cover, and now their website! I usually don't do web design, but it's something I'm interested in learning more about, so I loved the opportunity to design a band website for practice.

I designed the website using similar colors and styles to the ones I used on their album packaging, but at the same time, I wanted the website to have its own feel.

There's a sneak peek above, but please visit www.wearecelticcross.com to read about the band, learn about their music, watch videos, keep up with the latest news, or contact them.

P.S. I am very indebted to this tutorial by Pugly Pixel for showing me how to start a website, and to oh so handy Google searches for those HTML quandaries.

Artist Spotlight: Lotta Jansdotter

It's been awhile since I've done an artist spotlight post, so today I thought I'd show you the work of Lotta Jansdotter. I had heard her name before, but I stumbled across her website and shop through Design for Mankind. Lotta's work is mainly patterns applied to different things: fabrics and textiles, stationery, and all kinds of other things.

Let's start with some fabric. I love Lotta's Aneta pattern in ironwood. It's so simple, pretty, and soothing. And it also comes in Catelina.

I love the warm gray and the white pattern on top of it. The pattern has a nice contrast, but it's also subtle and not too bold. Her Florine pattern is lovely, too. It's kind of similar to the fabrics I used in my bedroom. The dandelions are such a fun, cheerful motif. This image is in brass mesh, but it also comes in sarsaparilla and dusted plum.

And as a side note, don't you love her color names? Ironwood, dusted plum—so creative. I love the way Lotta's patterns look applied to objects, too. Her Moira double strap tote is so fun!

I love the way the pattern is only made up of two colors, but the detail and the whimsical style make it seem lively and fun. I bet you could fit a lot in this bag too (always nice). And I just love her Trapp oval bag. The modern, graphic pattern is really striking.

And of course I adore the color. Gray is so great. The pleating and the oval handle also add a lot to this bag. Her Tang series of textiles is also a favorite. These are the napkins, but there's also an apron and a table runner.

I love the simple, high contrast pattern mixed with the natural looking base fabric. It has a minimalist flair, but also an outdoorsy kind of look;  I really like that combination. These three prints Lotta offers in her shop are lovely, too. I like seeing the same style she uses in her patterns carried over into framed art.

The yellow flower print is my favorite. Such a gorgeous shade of gold! Finally, just one more fun thing: Lotta's mini tissue boxes. These are so cute! And I absolutely love the idea of having designer tissue boxes.

Overall, I love Lotta's style. When you look at all these products together, I think you'll be able to notice a theme. I noticed that everything is simple and clean, but also relaxed, cheerful, and whimsical. I love the combination of those qualities in Lotta's work. What do you think of her work?

links:

jansdotter.com
lotta's shop
more of her projects

(All images via Lotta Jansdotter) 

This Is Hope

(I'll be sharing a design project or two next week, but today I wanted to take the time to write. Lately this blog has been full of design inspiration, which is its main purpose. Yet I don't want to forget the importance of words, even on a design blog. So today I wanted to share some words.)

font: mensch bold inline

One thing that I've been mulling over during this time is hope, the truth that regardless of my circumstances, I can place my trust in God.

My hope is in you, Lord
All the day long
I won't be shaken by
Drought or storm
The peace that passes understanding
Is my song
My hope is in you, Lord
(aaron shust)

Those words have needed to be my theme song lately. I'm learning, slowly, gradually, that I can indeed hope in God because of who is he and because of what he has done and promises to do. This hope is unshakable. Not drought, storm, or anything else can move it.

But sometimes I don't feel so unshakable. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed that any little thing could push my emotions over the edge. That's when I need to have a good cry, remember that God is with me, and choose to hope in him. It's not an easy journey and it's not a one time decision. If I'm going to hope in God, I have to keep reminding myself of it every day. Every hour. Probably every minute.

One Scripture that has encouraged me so much is Psalm 57:2. It's only 15 short words, but it encompasses the place I'm in right now so completely:

I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

Yes, there are times when I need to cry out for help. But I can cry to God Most High, to the God who knows all about me and promises to fulfill his purpose for me. I can hope because of that. Because of who God is—the all-wise, loving Father of my life. I don't know how, but he will fulfill his purpose for me.

This is the God who we cry out to. The God who hears every prayer. The God who keeps his promises. The God who sent his only Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for all our sins with his blood on the cross. This is the God who we hope in.

Listening Lately

I've been enjoying two music albums a lot lately, and I thought you might like to listen too. The Grooveshark widgets on the right side play all the songs on the album. Enjoy!

Weekend Links 3/2

I'm back to normal posting with an installment of Weekend Links. Enjoy these fun items!

+ paper weave set

From Present&Correct.
I like this paper weave notecard set. It's adorable and a little retro, as is just about everything from Present&Correct.

+ clothespin carpet

By We Make Carpets via Design*Sponge.
This is so cool! A whole patterned carpet made of clothespins...

+ julia kostreva

Via Design Work Life.
Very cool Etsy store with great, colorful, minimalistic designs.

+ crate furniture

By Naihan Li via Design for Mankind.
What a fun concept. It'd be easy to move and it looks neat as well!

+ textur lamp

From IKEA via How About Orange.
This lamp is so bright and orange! How fun.

+ kelly moore
Via Jonalee Earles Photography.
I love this camera bag. Kelly Moore has some other fun ones, too!

+ jessica decker

Via Design*Sponge.
Very cool oversized cross-stitch art by Jessica Decker. What a fun style!

Do you have a favorite link from today? I always love to know what you all think.

Inspiration Notebook: 3D Posters

I love these 3D posters designed by Amy Rodchester for Newcastle Festival of Dance.

 

The colors and the variety of black and white photos is really fun, and also just the concept of making a 3D poster to begin with. So creative and cool! I also like the simple typography—very good!

HT: Design Work Life