design

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

a beautifully simple design and execution of a promo video for a very important cause. excellent work!

branding

yeah! burger branding
yeah! burger branding, image: tadcarpenter.com

this brand & identity for yeah! burger by tad carpenter is really fun! bold type and tantalizing colors in a strong, simple format, paired with really fun illustrations. see the full profile at designworklife.com

pattern design

cat habits pattern
cat habits pattern, image: paper bicycle creative

while it goes without saying that i’m a huge fan of cats, i’m seeing a pattern in that i seem to be drawn to daily projects as well. paper bicycle creative is showcasing a different pattern design every day, and they’re really outstanding!

echo park

what’s new in the neighborhood? well, we’re on our way to becoming a beer mecca [yeah!] after mohawk bend‘s opening last month, now we’ve got sunset beer company for even more of your beer tasting & shopping needs! and even though they’re in atwater, golden road brewing just mohawk customers in echo park their first taste of point the way ipa and golden road hefeweizen. it’s a good time to love craft beer!

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

Just My Type from Pentagram on Vimeo.

take a high-speed spin through the new book just my type, video by pentagram! see more of a profile on fastcodesign.com.

branding

many point lake
many point lake, image: branding10000lakes.com

i already think undertaking a logo a day is a pretty big deal, but branding 10,000 lakes is going to brand one minnesota lake every day for longer than most of your parents’ marriages … or try to at least! take a spin, they’re really sweet.

design industry

so, look, it’s not like i’m trying to tell you what to do or anything, but there’s a reason i spend so much time getting to know you and doing research before whipping out your next logo or web site. embrace design strategy is written from one designer to another, but it’s also a great look for clients into why we do research, why we interview you with lots of questions, and why we might sometimes seem like we’re spending too much time getting to know you. it’s all in the strategy!

echo park

awesome innovations in echo park include a very recently-unveiled solar-powered trash & recycling can at sunset & echo park avenue. get the full story from echoparknow.com.

food

some fun summer foods have been profiled for Seasonal Eats on LAist lately, here are the most recent:
Seasonal Eats: Capture the Spice of Summer with Jalapeños!
Seasonal Eats: She’s a Peach
Seasonal Eats: Crunch into Sweet Corn!
Seasonal Eats: Melon-Tastic!
Seasonal Eats: Summer Plums!

make it mod!

| heather parlato
make it mod! cover & interior spreads
make it mod! cover & interior spreads

another fun cover & layout for quayside publishing, make it mod! is 224 pages of full-color retro recreations you can do yourself with found, upcycled or everyday hardware store items. this book was super-fun to create, full of color pops and mid-century details.

see more recent work here.

how to paint flames by bruce caldwell

| heather parlato
how to paint flames
interior spreads from how to paint flames by bruce caldwell

another fun project from motorbooks international, how to paint flames by bruce caldwell, a book all about the techniques of painting several styles of flames on any car or truck. the projects are detailed, showing all different types of stencil and mask creation, or how to use air brushes and layer transparent paints and glosses, and the photos are super-fun for any car buffs out there.

see more of our recent work here.

making meaning from wandering for a good cause

| heather parlato
desktop wallpaper
desktop wallpaper for colleen wainwright's awesome 50-for-50 project!

i have been away. i’ve been more than away, i’ve been busy, and it’s taken time away from writing here. it’s been quite a summer of helping to get exciting projects wrapped and launched, and once that was all done, i went to help out with the stanford jazz camp’s music marketing panel, and finally off to big sur to decompress. funny about decompression, it sometimes helps you focus on what to do next, even when you think you’re not thinking about it.

i had one assignment, which was to get my contribution for colleen wainwright’s outstanding birthday countdown: the 50-for-50 project [raising $50k in 50 days for her 50th birthday gift donation to writegirl.org]. i made a desktop wallpaper illustrating a quote, one of the many fine things you can get in one of colleen’s cleverly tailored donation packages. lucky for me, i happened to be taking a lot of walks on a trip specifically designed for stopping to smell the flowers, and found this lovely scene in andrew molera state park on the creamery meadow trail. colleen is halfway to her goal and has about 30 days to go. check her list of fantastic perks, pick one and donate to a great cause!

as for me, i am ready to dig in and recommit to more writing and posting and less feeling overwhelmed or too busy. summer vacation is over and i’m refreshed and ready to tackle the daily grind with renewed energy. thanks for sticking around!

creative inspiration

| heather parlato


for all the LA-lovers out there, a time-lapsed video of 24-hours in downtown LA from blogging.la

letterpress

recycled calendars by cranky pressman
image: fpo / cranky pressman

since calendar days and dates repeat every 2, 6, and 11 years, cranky pressman designed a faux 1966 calendar to be reused this year, 2011, with the encouragement to use it again in 2022. cool concept, and super-cool looking! see the whole profile at under consideration.

design industry

more for the print’s not dead files, felix ng has started up an arts and culture journal, bracket, and the boyle heights neighborhood of LA just got a new bilingual paper—the boyle heights beat / pulso de boyle heights—reported by teens and funded by the california endowment as a joint collaboration between usc annenberg and la opinión.

for more in print on design, the elements of graphic design by alex w. white is out in 2nd edition.

take a spin through the typography of miami with 8 hour day!

los angeles

illustrated map of LA, 1909
Birdseye View Pub. Co.'s birdseye map of Los Angeles, California in 1909.

here’s a lovely little illustration of our burg of echo park, circa 1909. more on the big map blog.

LA observed has a video of the newly-reopened angeles crest highway, which has been closed for the past 18 months following the station fire. looks like the restoration included lots of newly-topped road.

if you’re looking for an out-of-the-way tour of los angeles, 7 days in LA has a great selection of indie tours that go beyond the generic hollywood tour and give different perspectives on our rich history.

blogging hiatus

| heather parlato

i have been so buried with work, i actually had to stop blogging. this is a sad thing, because i like blogging, but just can’t spare the time and energy. perhaps next week i’ll be able to return with the highlights of all the cool stuff waiting for me in google reader over the last 3 weeks, but in the meantime, i’ll leave you with this nice article, good for clients and designers alike:

The goal of any information design task is to communicate a specific message to the end user in a way that is clear, accessible, and easy to understand. Even an elementary review of educational theory, how we learn, can provide the designer with crucial insight into the needs of the end user (and make a big difference in the way aesthetic decisions are made). This overview of learning styles has immediate implications for visual communication.

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

Loose Leaf – Edition One from Manual on Vimeo.

publications

eureka and codex
new publications eureka & codex, images from respective sites.

more good news for the print’s not dead files, two new publications have emerged this spring worthy of note. eureka magazine, profiled on iso50 is a fresh, clean & colorful approach to scientific matter, while codex is dedicated to typography.

design industry

we’re ramping up for the creative freelancer conference in june. i talk about what a good pep talk does for me while longtime HOW magazine editor, bryn mooth, talks about joining us in her transition to freelance. dang, we’re in good company.

i spent the weekend with students at AIGA LA’s student portfolio day, and met some really nice people and promising designers. here’s one for you guys: 50 things every graphic design student should know.

and one for back to basics / back to awesome, if you’re not asking these questions, or questions like them on every design project, it’s time to start: 5 questions every designer should ask their clients.

food

fava fennel saute
garnish your fava fennel saute with lemon zest and finishing salt

this week in food, we’re all about fresh fava beans over at LAist, seasonal eats: get fava beans while they’re fresh! and look at this nasturtium love over at hot knives!

finally, in semi-food & semi-hollywood news, cahuenga alley adjacent to where the hollywood farmer’s market sets up has been approved for a makeover?! that would be incredible!

event calendar: april 25 – may 1, 2011

| heather parlato
happy monday
the music box keeps the marquee positive between shows

after a week of admin mondays, i’m jumping back in with lots to do. if you’re a student and you’re going to student portfolio day, i’d be happy to review your work!

here’s what i’m doing:

saturday, april 30, 10am – 5pm AIGA LA student portfolio day $15 registration fee, includes lunch.

other events for this week:

tuesday, april 26, 7 – 10pm AIGA LA studio tour: level LA $10 AIGA members / $20 non-members.

thursday, april 28, 7 – 9pm command cxv: cut, copy, paste FREE!

thursday, april 28, 7 – 9pm ideo’s fred dust presents: designed to scale FREE with rsvp.