I, too, am Portland

See that sassy chick in the upper left box? That's me. I am a Portland, uh...PRTLND, designer.

Spring (no) Break!

My workload looks a bit different the last few days. I took about a day and a half off for all things vegetative and then, despite not having any looming deadlines, started to feel guilty. I'm still trying to relax, but it looks more like someone cramming for a business class these days. I've been reading. A lot. I had planned to read books during this hiatus, but not business/design related books. You know...novels? The kind that don't involve learning anything? I started Eat, Pray, Love and Pride and Prejudice about a year ago and have only managed a few chapters before more "important" projects took over. Though I did manage to knock out about 9 magazines from the neglected stack, the other things I'm reading are shown here. I've also been catching up on design related blogs. I am, officially, a design nerd (and I kind of like it).

Rome was not built in a day

and neither was my website. I've been working on it as my final project for my XHTML class. I just posted it on the class ftp site. It's not quite what I want for Pixel Dust, but it's close so I launched it anyway. The portfolio will be reworked when I have more time so that my pieces open up on the same page and the connect page will be changed. I haven't entirely decided what will be featured on the et cetera page. I had to make a form for the sake of the class, but removed it for my site. I'm just glad to have something up.

Featured on the home page is a library check out card that I used in the design of my promo piece. As a bit of a "shout out" to some of the design instructors I had at PCC, I put them as people who have already checked me out. The last listing is "YOU" with a date stamp of "Long Over Due." Dare I say...it's about time!

Typographical mix and match

For those that are never quite sure which font goes with which. Here are four techniques from H&FJ's Newsletter.

Memoirs of a cut paper geisha

I never quite got around to showing my cut paper illustration. Voila. Cut paper involves a bunch of stacked elements. You raise them up with foam mounting squares or similar things that scrapbookers use. The geisha is stacked on the bamboo fence, which is stacked higher than that tree, which is stacked higher than the rest of the background...I think you see where I'm going here. Yes, I cut out the cherry blossoms and folded the petals to make them 3D.

Mind your business...system

Lexi's business system is complete. The photo doesn't quite capture the essence in its entirety, but I could just lick the business card it's so delicious. I knew my simple design wouldn't become luxurious until I found just the right paper.

The letterhead is printed on 80 lb. text, Ice Gold, Curious Metallics paper. This gives it a nice sheen that isn't too overwhelming. The logo rests in a light purple box that bleeds off the top (seen more clearly on the business card) and creates a nice alignment for the body of a letter. The business card (slurp), has the same paper for the front, but I mounted it onto a silver cardstock from the same line of paper creating a nice thick duplexed business card. I opted for a nice, subdued, dull grey envelope to tone down all the glitterati waiting inside. This makes opening the letter more like an experience; a nice discovery inside.

Yappy Hour just got a little sassier

As you can see, Yappy Hour took a turn once I got some sleep. I just couldn't handle all that purple and it was so...somber. I was keeping everything the color of the logo and I didn't like it. Yappy Hour is fun and frolic. Anything involving alcohol and dogs requires a little more spunk.

Yappy Hour

Lexi puts on a monthly event at Jupiter Hotel to raise money for the Oregon Humane Society. As one of my three collateral pieces for my fictional project, I'm doing a poster for the event (rough draft).

Collateral Damage

Good news! As long as I do absolutely nothing music related on my laptop...I might be able to get my projects done. I will cast out that demon when the term is over. In other news: I've still been plugging away on the business system and collateral pieces for Lexi. Above is the business card as it stands now (the paper will make the final statement of luxury...white on front and silver on the back).

For collateral I am redesigning Lexi's website. This is the potential home page (rough draft). I will likely also feature the layout of the Events page to show the similarity between site pages. I have to design 2 more collateral pieces and will probably do a poster for an event and...we shall see. Did I mention that I have a week do do all of these pieces as well as things for other classes? Should be fun.

Turning up the heat.

I have been working hard on projects and my laptop is having a fit. I'm feeling stabby and trying to back things up before something serious happens and I lose all my work. Only a week(ish) left to this term. Not good. While trying not to panic as it slowly transferred over the music I bought last week (priorities and such) I stumbled upon this interesting addition to your next home decor project on Baekdal. Heat sensitive Wallpaper. Love. Going to go throw my less than a year old laptop from a window now.