creative inspiration

cicLAvia 10-10-10

| heather parlato

this past sunday a lot of my friends came out for cicLAvia, a day where the city blocked off several streets in a 7-mile route for bikes, pedestrians, skateboards, rollerblades, and anyone wanting to create alternative uses for streets. we joined in around noon, breaking in at city hall and heading east. there was a lot going on at city hall, eric garcetti was just taking the stage to speak when we arrived.

city hall during cicLAvia

it was a beautiful, clear day, but also a santa ana day of dry hot wind. the difference between sun and shade was pretty outstanding. as we headed back into downtown though, you couldn’t help but notice and enjoy the quiet. no motors, no horns, no background echoing of urban harmonics through the buildings. just some clicking of bike wheels, an occasional bell, and the chatter of people enjoying the ride and encouraging each other.

downtown during cicLAvia

it was a great day to be on a bike. i heard all kinds of praise for the event and hopes that we’ll be doing it again and more frequently. los angeles desperately needs more bike awareness, and this is just one way for people to get involved, but it’s the most fun in my opinion!

here’s another time-lapsed video if you want to see the route east-to-west.

a coastal drive and a change of season

| heather parlato

cloudy drive on the 101

as we transitioned out of record heat last week, jason and i took a drive up to san francisco, where he was scheduled for a talk at arse elektronika. rather than rush the drive in a day, we took our time and stopped overnight in paso robles. the paso robles inn is a lovely historic hotel, and so so quiet.

nojoqui farms

one of our favorite stops is nojoqui farms in buellton. we originally found them for their clearly marked sign off the highway, but we keep coming back because their produce is delicious and always reliably stocked in their barn store. this time, the goats were out eating pumpkins and the barn cat was having a nice nap in the hay.

nojoqui farm cat

one thing i have wanted to do for awhile is stop in at the municipal winemakers tasting room. i’ve been a fan of their approach to promotion in the wine industry, and curious to taste the wines they make, so we took the opportunity and stopped in.

municipal winemakers

overall, their wines were really tasty, smooth mouthfeel, robust and highly drinkable. some favorites were the bright red and the sweetness riesling. we decided to get in on the reusable bottle action and had it filled with syrah. hopefully we’ll make stopping in a regular thing when we head up to santa barbara.

municipal winemakers refillable bottle
[image: municipal winemakers]

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=15335684&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0

Genghis Kern – A Letterpress And Design Shop from Jesse R. Borrell on Vimeo.

identity

dig for fire identity
[image: kelli anderson]
since the pixies are near & dear to my heart, i’m doubly endeared to this identity system by kelli anderson for dig for fire. thanks to designworklife.com for the link.

packaging

yunyeen yong juice box packaging
[image: likecool.com]
check out this awesome juice box packaging by yunyeen yong. seems like an obvious choice, but i’ve mostly seen only square boxes and bottles in the past. thanks alltop for the link.

design industry

another strike against the print is dead choir: a new design magazine 8 faces is out, a new print magazine for devotees of typography. profiled at underconsideration.com.

beyond design

sea scallops a la caprese
[image: serious eats]
add some delicious scallops to your heirloom tomatoes with sea scallops a la caprese from serious eats. or try a couple fun fall cocktails for the gin drinkers out there: an orange rosemary concoction sorbo serpico, or proserpina if you’re feeling more pomegranate / limoncello, both from lacucinaitalianamagazine.com.

for a fascinating take on creative ways to deal with invasive plants by finding uses for them, turn to one for the herbivores, from utne reader. want to rid your landscape of kudzu? eat it!

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

branding

michelle obama garden branding
[image: fastcodesign.com]
lovely packaging for specialty items from michelle obama’s vegetable garden, designed by cronan give home grown handmade items a classy look.

typography

hanging wall letters for home decor
[image: iron accents]
if you’ve been looking for more ways to bring the signage you see on the street into your home, re-nest.com has a great profile on a company that can bring them to you: hanging wall letters from iron accents. cute!

packaging

the tentacle wine packaging
[image: thedielinewine.com]
here’s my favorite for wine packaging this week from thedielinewine.com, the tentacle designed by john schall.

design industry

check out part 2 of my creative co-working adventures on the creative freelancer blog!

a really informative piece from rochelle fainstein of sterling brands on how wine packaging can become more sustainable in both materials and manufacturing: message in the bottle: repackaging wine, from thedielinewine.com

beyond design

you’ve probably noticed i write about food and diy projects, and i put up a fair amount of preservation projects. an interesting piece on this growing movement is home canners wield pickles against food giants, from utne reader. my interest is first to buy fresh food with as little interference in the farmer’s profit margin as possible, and second to replace commodified convenience foods with my own preservations from scratch. i find the assertion by rachel lauden that preservation projects are “…making too many women slaves to their stovepots and canning jars…” completely absurd and sexist. it’s a lifestyle choice and an activity that is hugely rewarding. i love my stovepots and canning jars!

speaking of food, i got myself 2 bunches of dandelion greens from the market this week and went looking some delicious things you can do with them at epicurious.com. i typically stay away from salads with added sugar or bacon [though there are some good ones out there], so here are my picks: dandelion greens with hot olive oil dressing which is a way to wilt the greens without cooking them, greek country salad which you can do with any combination of the listed greens in the recipe, and the standout for me, wilted greens with garlic and anchovies. i love anchovies, this is just what i’m looking for!

2nd annual LA printers fair

| heather parlato

lead letterpress characters

this past weekend was the 2nd annual printer’s fair at the international printing museum in torrance. the LA chapter of AIGA teamed up with the OC chapter and took a table to meet the attendees and let any designers, printers, and creatives know about what we do. the international printing museum has a great collection of print machinery for letterpress and linotype, bringing the history of printing to life for all audiences.

letterpress cards by fugu press

the vendors who sell at this fair are split between those with equipment and supplies to sell to people who would like to do their own printing or supplement their collections, and those who do printing and design, selling products or services. much of the work was so nice to experience, the combination of great design and the elegance of letterpress makes most print designers want to buy everything in sight.

handmade books

some of the vendors combined personal crafts with print matter, such as michelle moode, who created many handmade books with some application of printed material, sewn stitching, and typographic ornaments. these books were designed as journals with blank paper, but i know i’d have trouble making the move to write in it.

i have always been interested in the letterpress process, so it’s great to know i’d have an option to shop for a press one day. for now, i’m still just a customer.

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

A Letterpress Legacy with Lucky Duck Press from Etsy on Vimeo.

identity

botanical bakery identity design
[image: david brier]
i am loving this fun identity and packaging for botanical bakery by dbd international. so colorful with a homemade twist. see more at identity designed.

packaging

killibinbin wine packaging
[image: thedielinewine.com]
this wine packaging for killibinbin wines is an amazing combination of wine and noir horror flicks done in a nostalgically tasteful way. see more at thedielinewine.com

for more from the dieline in wine packaging, check out: the dieline wine’s latest top 10 wine designs, or for a great selection of packaging of all types: the dieline’s latest top 10 packaging designs.

design industry

oh, hey, look who’s writing for the creative freelancer blog these days. more on creative co-working from yours truly!

beyond design

LACMA The Linda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion
[image: fastcodesign.com]
LA welcomes one of the world’s largest naturally-lit spaces, The Linda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, profiled on fastcodesign.com.

i just got my fall garden planted, but in other places, cool-weather items like swiss chard are already ripe for picking. serious eats profiles some great recipes here: in season: swiss chard, and cucina italiana offers some delicious stuffed pasta: swiss chard and ricotta tortelli.

there’s all kinds of exciting wine news. this winery isn’t exactly new, but it’s new to me, we have a local winery right here in echo park: d’augustine vinyard! serious eats brings us what are your wine discoveries which includes a list of 100 wines to drink now. and if you’ve ever wondered what the definition of meritage is, goosecross is happy to explain it for you: what is a meritage wine?

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

branding


one of a few commercials in the effort to rebrand baby carrots.

while carrots try to appeal to kids by looking more unhealthy, high fructose corn syrup attempts to win its way back onto the table with a simplified name change and ad campaign: the sticky, tricky rebranding of corn syrup as corn sugar, from good.

found objects

B&B diaries
[image: brian mcmullen, imprint]
i knew i wasn’t the only one who reads B&B diaries and museum exhibit & nature center guest books! loving this post i love bed and breakfast diaries, from imprint

design industry


is there even a category for this curiosity? a drawing machine that parses the language of stories into a string of words, cross references them with the archive of patent illustrations as provided by the US patent & trademark office, and draws them into a string of visual narrative. you might call it a perpetual storytelling apparatus: drawing machine tells the story of innovation via patent drawings, from good

another point against the print is dead battle cry: a new design publication anthology magazine.

what’s a dream come true for a designer who loves wine & wine packaging? this new blog from the dieline: the dieline wine, a blog dedicated to wine packaging design. thanks how design for the link.

beyond design

spaghetti carbonara
[image: lacucinaitlaianamagazine.com]

spaghetti carbonara is the perfect comfort food for any season. if you want to learn to make it “the right way,” look no further than my favorite italian food resource spaghetti carbonara, from la cucina italiana.

delicious, simple, healthy, and another seasonally-independent dish white bean salad (salatet fassoulia), from saveur.

i’m a fan of rick bayless’ recipes, so i was happy to see this nice round up: authentic mexican: five recipes from rick bayless, from thekitchn, all of which are seasonal for the summer-fall changeover.

looking for some natural, preventative allergy treatments? design sponge has these answers for you: small measures: diy seasonal allergy treatments.

a humorous look at language: when is it okay to use the F word, from penelope trunk, another person who often-says but seldom-writes this glorious expletive.

aia/la awards exhibition at a+d museum

| heather parlato

aia awards exhibition at a+d museum

i stopped in at the a+d museum on friday to catch some of the aia/la awards and view the exhibition during the opening. the show is absolutely stunning, grids of artful photography of truly outstanding work in architecture by los angeles-based firms as well as renderings of future project plans. much of the work resides in los angeles as well, which is always fun to see.

the aia/la awards exhibition runs september 10 – october 27, 2010 at the a+d museum. if you love amazing architecture, stop in and enjoy!

aia awards exhibition at a+d museum

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

identity

landfit logo
[image: designedbygoodpeople.com]
this logo for a gardening matchmaking service is really appealing to those of us who love gardening. and i love the concept, a service that pairs people who want to garden but have no land with those who have land & want a garden, but don’t want to do it. brilliant!

publications

ferocious quarterly
[image: ferocious quarterly]
announcements of a new publication, ferocious quarterly, have been posted in a few design communities. from their site: Ferocious is a curated, quarterly publication that collects illustrators, graphic artists, short fiction authors and written text. indeed! thanks how magazine for the link.

parse is a new blog project from how magazine, aiming to make sense of issues and information relevant to design practitioners. check it out!

this just in from the design review of books, a review of jost hochuli, detail in typography.

design industry

take a spin through the annals of design history: graphic design through the decades series: the 70s, from inspiredology.com

if you’re a creative professional in need of some marketing mentoring, ilise benun’s marketing groups are about to kick off for fall. join the track that’s right for you and get one-on-one help from a creative industry marketing pro: marketing mentor’s advanced marketing groups.

another great installment from design*sponge: biz ladies: using a blog to grow your business.

culture

some interesting looks at labor day, what it’s not currently, and what it could be. labor day is almost meaningless now. we can change that, by steve mccallion for fastcodesign.com: With an increasing belief that socioeconomic mobility is now less possible in the US than in other countries, Labor Day has the potential to reclaim some of its initial promise — a celebration of American labor and an inspiration to the American worker.

another look includes what ever happened to labor, by seth godin: In a world where labor does exactly what it’s told to do, it will be devalued. Obedience is easily replaced, and thus one worker is as good as another. And devalued labor will be replaced by machines or cheaper alternatives. We say we want insightful and brilliant teachers, but then we insist they do their labor precisely according to a manual invented by a committee…