creative inspiration

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branding

your city is a public orchard
your city is a public orchard, image: underconsideration.com

looking at green things for the week of earth day, this letterpress fold-out urban guide by textbook studios is right up my alley. i’ve been a supporter public fruit mapping for awhile now, and i think this piece is a lovely tribute to the cause.

green gifts

greenhouse
greenhouse, image: thedieline.com

if you’re in a giving state of mind, this simply-packaged plant carrier is a really cute gift / promo idea. die-cut out of a single sheet of cardboard, wrap the plant gift of your choice and hand them out.

speaking of plants, it’s time to get out into the garden and try out some springtime projects. this run-down of back-yard projects can get you started.

eco-living

eco perch
eco perch, image: apartmenttherapy.com

i’ve been looking at this post a lot this week. eco-perch: a luxury treehouse prefabricated concept home you can assemble on land or in the trees. i’m not so sure i’d live in one full-time just yet, but as far as the concept of a vacation home, i think it’s a dream! if you’re fascinated with tiny houses, i found the tiny house blog while looking at a few of these.

parlato hypnotherapy identity system

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parlato hypnotherapy

it’s an identity system for my very own dad, who started his hypnotherapy practice last year in santa fe, new mexico. to convey the journey faced by most patients seeking hypnotherapy, we chose a bird in flight paired with a few different horizons over a cool color palette. we also worked out a business card that does double duty as an appointment card with a list of credentials. to keep things easy for my dad’s user level as far as web site updates, we gave him a straightforward wordpress template and he’s taken to it very well for basic updates.

see more recent work here.

happy monday

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happy monday

what a lovely post-rain weekend for cicLAvia! i squeaked under the door last week, finishing off my taxes so i could enjoy the day, which was my favorite so far. other than mailing them off tomorrow, my only event for this week is to take the train down to oceanside to see my sister in the oceanside jazz festival this friday.

friday fun

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Michael Pollan’s Food Rules from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo.

a great find from awhile back: stop-motion animation of michael pollan explaining some of the negative spins on organic farming–in food of course. aside from being innovative, this video is incredibly cute. take a look! & thanks to thekitchn.com for the link.

pea shoot, radish & apple salad

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pea shoot salad
pea shoot, radish & apple salad

i’ve been trying to work pea shoots into my life ever since i tried this kohlrabi slivers and pea shoots with sesame dressing. though you can cook them, i’m not all that into the wilty texture in comparison to the fresh crunch of the raw shoots. i thought i’d whip up another shredded salad today and i like this one just the same. i guess it’s time to plant a container of them outside to eat every day!

pea shoot, radish & apple salad

1 large handful of pea shoots
4 large radishes, julienned
1 granny smith apple, julienned
1 tb sesame oil
1 tb rice or white wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame seeds [i used black and toasted]
1 tb toasted pepitas

use a mandoline/julienne slicer or your expert chef knife skills to cut the apple and radishes into matchstick slices. roughly chop the handful of pea shoots into 1″ pieces. toss everything in a salad bowl, adding the oil, vinegar, sesame seeds and pepitas. toss to mix and coat through.

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

branding

palomino branding
palomino branding, image: designworklife.com

a stunning brand & identity for palomino restaurant & bar in seattle by superbig creative, complete with these letterpressed gift cards. see the set at designworklife.com

printing

cool people printing
cool people printing, image: coolpeopleprinting.tumblr.com

underconsideration.com has started a new tumblr: cool people printing, full of nothing but cool people keeping the art of printing alive!

letterpress

menus for chez panisse
menus for chez panisse, image: feltandwire.com

speaking of food and cooking and printing and letterpress, patricia curtan, who loves and does all of these things has released a book of nearly 4 decades of work for chez panisse in menus for chez panisse. it looks like pages of beautiful typography, illustration and printing, i’m very curious to take a look at this book.

how’s creativity issue for 2012

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how's creativity issue, may 2012
how's creativity issue, may 2012

it’s that time of year again, and i’m honored to say i’m back in HOW‘s creativity issue, compliments of ilise benun’s freelancing piece, fighting the crowd. it was humorous to come home from a morning meeting where i’m discussing picking up the pieces of a failed crowdsourcing experiment, to see myself quoted on the pitfalls of this practice.

fighting the crowd, by ilise benun
fighting the crowd, by ilise benun

awhile back, i wrote about why crowdsourcing not only isn’t the best choice for most businesses, it’s not the answer when you don’t have a budget. if price is the main thing on your mind, look further into what you can offer in trade. sometimes cross-promotion is an opportunity worth more than money to a well-paired team. read get design on a budget without a crowdsourcing contest here, or pick up the latest issue of HOW on newsstands this month!

ro and cordials

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RoAndCordials from RoAndCo Studio on Vimeo.

HOW CUTE is this promo video for design studio Ro and Co’s holiday party, with their beautifully-designed cordial packaging? thanks to <a href="http://www.designworklife.comdesignworklife.com for the link.