Project 365

A few days ago I was challenged with the daily task of finishing the statement "I am..." with a short, but creative, response (as if my responses would be anything but). I've been doing it on Facebook and Twitter, but now I think I have loftier goals. I was given no real time frame on this task. It was simply a "Hey, I did this and TAG, you're it." sort of thing. Yesterday (or the day before...who knows as all my days run together right now), I contemplated taking the responses and creating a typographic poster out of it. Today, I've decided to go one further...enter Project 365.

I've seen challenges where people are tasked with taking a photo per day for a year. I like this...a lot. It will likely be the next Project 365 unless something fancier steals my affections. I say "next" because every 365 days I will start a new Project lasting, you guessed it, 365 days. Check out the link on my website to follow my progress.

I am...inspired. What are you?

Things Are Bloomin'

Things are really taking off around here lately. Around every corner is something new to work on and I couldn't be happier or more appreciative. It's so fulfilling to be doing the work you love. I thought I should start getting back in the habit of blogging and putting up shots of what I'm working on...

I've been working with Bloomin' Delights to finally give them a web presence. They have a farm and nursery in Woodburn and sell flower baskets, live wreaths, fresh cut flowers, herb pots and other bits of eye candy at farmer's markets and places like New Seasons. They had a logo they wanted to stick with, but had me recreate it so that we could actually do something with it. The tiny little .gif was a mess to use at anything bigger than a half-inch. While doing so I changed up their typeface and gave them something more reminiscent of what you'd find on the chalkboards of the very farmer's markets they sell at.

I took all of the photos used on the site. On the right is a slideshow of various things they grow from year to year and on the left are smaller shots that simply show a few bits of what they currently have available. I'll be going back to take photos often and switch those up for them. In addition there is a link to contact them and check out a list of what they have available (which changes biweekly it seems).

I launched the site a few days ago and am moving on to other projects. I'm nearly done with a logo for Steel Mountain Electric and will post the result soon.

Logos and Websites and Photos, Oh My.

The quick and dirty of what's been happening is that I have been super busy being creative. Above is a painting I did based on some of the virtual photography I had mentioned in my last post. I hadn't painted in about 15 years and broke out the oil paints one day and braved it. I've also been writing again (obviously not in here). I've missed both creative outlets and I'm not entirely sure why I stopped other than life getting in the way. Life must stop that STAT.

I also have projects. Sweet, glorious, money paying projects. I don't mean the dreaded "Urban Legend" projects, either. You fellow designers know what I'm talking about. The ones you keep hearing mention of, but you can't ever find anyone with any solid proof that they actually exist? Nay, I mean contracts signed, deposits being paid, firing up the Adobe software as we speak type projects. The kind that make our swatches panels sing and our Selection Tools weep. The kind that make Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver collide in ways that make clouds part and angels sing. Ok, that might have been a bit over the top, but you get the gist...I'm excited. Even if they are small projects, I heart them!

I was in the habit of posting what I've been reading on my blog because for the longest while it was all design related books and blogs; however, I just finished reading The Power by Rhonda Byrne a few weeks ago. She was responsible for The Secret that I'm sure most people have been unable to avoid hearing about. The Secret, The Power, Law of Attraction...all the same subject matter, but this book sort of just brings it all together in a much more comprehensible manner. I'm by no means a new age kind of girl (so much so that I couldn't find the book in the bookstore because it was in the New Age section and I've never set foot in it) so some of the reading is a little out there for me, but I have always believed that people who are chronically negative bring even more negativity to their lives. I'm not talking about someone going through a bad stretch and not dealing with it especially well. I'm talking about the people that spend 95% of their lives all woes me and bringing everyone down with them. The Debbie Downers of every situation. So, conversely, people that are consistently positive bring more positivity to their lives. When my accountant suggests these books and tells me stories about how they've worked for her (she may or may not have also given me discounts on getting my taxes done if I promised to read them)...I read them. What I know is that my sister and I have put some of these principles to work in the past and had crazy things happen (call them coincidence, I don't care). What I know is that I have started to get legit projects. What I know is that the absolute worst thing that could happen if you were to read it (and subsequently practice it) is that you throw a few less pity parties and are far less "Woes me." about everything. That's Win/Win right there.

Virtual Design

After graduation I stumbled across something that, for the sake of time and sanity, we'll call a big giant virtual chat room. Instead of only being represented by text on a screen like, say, Yahoo...you are also represented by an avatar that you create. I'm not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination so you will have to make sense of all that on your own. What I know is that people spend a lot of time and money making their avatars look as realistic as possible (not realistically "them" because everyone is flawless, just realistically human).

Here is where I come in...there are businesses that want logos and character/avatars/whatevers that want photos to put in their profiles or whatever they intend to do with them. I have no desire to explain all the silliness that is this new way of designing so I will just show some things I've done in the way of virtual photography and then leave you to wrap your heads around it.

Master of my domain

I've had a lot of web domains in my short time as a web designer. Either because I didn't know what my business name should be or I just thought it would be a funny one to add to the repertoire. Most have long ago expired, but now I've added another one to the mix.

www.designinspiredlife.com

I haven't done much with it and I'm not entirely sure what I will do with it, but the possibilities are endless doncha know. It was the result of a wicked 10th anniversary sale with the host I use and allows me enough bells and whistles to start experimenting with Wordpress.

In other news...

My Pixel Dust site has a slideshow...finally. It still needs some fine tuning, but voila.

A custom + handmade jewelry designer asked me to do a logo for her and requested that I somehow incorporate the cherry blossom illustration I did for the wedding invitation project. Since it was only a school project and not for a client I happily agreed. This is the version she chose. I will be making some simple hang tags for her pieces as well as business cards and doing her website + photography.

Call off the bloodhounds

I know I've been missing, but not without good cause. I have been eyebrow deep in all things portfolio (as well as other school related whatchamacallits). I just finished putting together my portfolio. Tomorrow is the last look critique in class and then I have one more week until the portfolio show on campus. I'm not going to give everything away, but...she's pretty gorgeous. These are two of the photos featured within her pages.

New design terminology

I'm working on a couple t-shirt designs to add to my portfolio and decided to create designs inspired by my love of words and dictionaries. I'm feeling like I need a third, but haven't come up with the word yet.

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!

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.

The identity of a dog boutique

Though there may be a font change on part of the logo, I've moved on to other aspects of their new (albeit fictional) identity. Here is my first crack at the letterhead, envelope and the front and back of the business card.

My first scratchboard illustration

Nine hours, an Xacto knife, and possibly a few expletives later and we have a fairly successful first attempt at a scratchboard illustration. It was such an interesting process and I will definitely be taking a few more stabs (pun recognized) at this technique later. Right now other projects are calling.

Scratching an itch

with an Xacto knife. It's called scratchboard and it's the next illustration technique we are delving into in Illustration for Graphic Designers. I have never done this technique (well, there was that one time, but I was 8 and it didn't involve drawing with sharp blades). It's a little bit intimidating. You have to reverse your way of thinking and focus on pulling out the highlights instead of the shadows that I focused on in the stipple illustration.

The source photo above is by local photographer Alicia Dickerson of Four-Legged Photo. She was kind enough to give me permission to use her work for the project and of the few I picked, this is the one that my instructor favored. Below is about four hours worth of work.

Lexi a logo

This is the latest on the Lexi logo. I'm still playing with the colors and aspects of the L. We are naturally inclined to think of something as being more expensive or high end if it is black so I am using a 90% tint of black. I'm currently sticking with a shade of purple similar to what the logo currently uses for the other text.

Greetings

As mentioned, I had to design two greeting cards with the stipple illustration that I did. This is the front of one of them. We could only use black and one other color.

Circle gets the square

Or dots, rather. Lots and lots of tiny dots. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to be doing a stipple illustration and posted the source photo I'd be using. After 16 hours of work, here is how it turned out. This weekend I will be turning it into two variations of a greeting card.

Logo revamp...take two

I wasn't happy with my first attempt at the logo revamp. It's important for me to incorporate luxury into this logo. I want it to look like spoiled puppies reign supreme at this place because, well, they do. I've managed to keep it playful with the puppy that's tugging on the last letter and the font change for "Lexi" says luxury instead of trendy. I can't say I'm done, but I can say there's progress.