creative inspiration


levi’s shares a video behind the scenes of letterpress, screen printing and block printing.

speaking of print design, how magazine reprinted part of a study by appleton coated on how print design is still a very valuable selling tool because clients and consumers love interacting with stunning print design pieces. but hey, you already knew that, right? the new ROI.

if you’ve done some of this outstanding print design, check out some upcoming design award deadlines: call for entries: HOW design awards

need one last print design fix? these central park wedding invites featured on design sponge are a great use of a 2-color palette. bonus points for creating a map—who doesn’t love a good, personalized map!?

branding

YMCA rebranding
[image: underconsideration.com / YMCA]
underconsideration.com reviews YMCA rebranding: my name is Y… the Y. the main mark in red & purple is nice, but i love that they are using multiple color iterations of the logo! i also like the sporty new look.

people for bikes
[image: fastcodesign.com
finally, bike branding moves beyond hipster-ghetto takes a look at the people for bikes campaign by colle+mcvoy. simply put, it’s an organization to improve the future of biking through various actions on local & national levels. the branding for these efforts is friendly, accessible and engaging. check out some of the print ads, i love the one of the woman with a gear print on her leg.

posters

know your rights
[image: fastcodesign.com]
if you’ve been looking for ways to use your design skills for positive propaganda, fastcodesign.com offers promoting social justice one poster at a time, showcasing the center for urban pedagogy. their mission statement has all kinds of inspiring language, and is worth reading in its entirety, but if you’re pressed for time, here’s a snip: Our work grows from a belief that the power of imagination is central to the practice of democracy, and that the work of governing must engage the dreams and visions of citizens. CUP believes in the legibility of the world around us.

design industry

brand new announces its first 1-day conference! if you’re a fan of underconsideration.com and you can swing by new york city at the beginning of november, they’ve got a jam-packed 11 hours for you. they’ve also got a bunch of different ways to attend, so if you’d rather watch a live webcast, you can!

what is the last thing you do before you launch a website? from smashing magazine is a really cute, informal quiz you can give yourself about your reactions to presenting final work and a brief analysis about what this says about your personality.

another from smashing magazine, renegotiating the final contract (and other tales of horror). here’s some great advice for how to handle things when you find yourself doing work that’s outgrown its governing agreement.

creative inspiration

retro styles

fourth of july postcards
[image: from the collection of richard sheaff]
this fantastic collection of fourth of july postcards from designobserver.com includes illustrations of doll-faced children, hand-drawn type, and loads of fireworks!

power styling
[image: US steel, grainedit.com]
i have to say, i liked the look of the future as imagined in the mid-60s. thanks to dave from grainedit.com for sharing spreads from power styling, which seems to be a collection of illustrations proposing re-imagined looks for the infrastructure of electric utility. be sure to look through all the pieces he scanned, they suggest a majesty that is glaringly absent in the power lines i see outside my window today.

logo evolution

evolution of the logo
[image: smashingmagazine.com]
we’ve come to know logos as modern signifiers in the marketplace, but the concept of a brand mark has existed a long time through history. smashing magazine offers the evolution of the logo that traces how graphic marks have been used to denote ownership, authorship and associations with different groups, only leading them to corporate identity as a result of evolution.

identity

girl scouts of america get an identity makeover
[image: fastcodesign.com]
subtle, yet classic & modernized, check out the identity makeover on fastcodesign.com: a fresh identity for the girl scouts of america. i think these new profiles look more contemporary and youthful without losing any recognition of the brand and tradition. great work!

design industry

check out redesigning propublica by mule design. We love good journalism and hate unchecked abuses of power, so we were excited and honored to collaborate with ProPublica on their website redesign. hear, hear!

another from smashing magazine: add music to your workflow to improve results. i’ve always known i liked listening to music while i work, but i didn’t realize why it was helping me work better.

creative inspiration

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11443824&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Oceans from Sol Linero on Vimeo [thanks to designworklife.com for the link].

sports

fifa world cup logos
[image: logoblog.org]
there are some great retrospectives on fifa world cup logos and posters online. fifa world cup logo evolution: 1934-2014, from logoblog.org has some great archives, as does an older post, fifa world cup logo designs, from logodesignlove.com. it’s so cool to see some of the early stuff from the 30s-50s!

typography

open type features
[image: martin plus for ilovetypography.com]
for the type designers out there, an introduction to opentype substitution features will show you how to make all those cool ligatures and custom-set type combos you might want to add to your typeface design.

if you’re in new york [or willing to travel] and want to learn typeface design, H&FJ’s sara soskolne will be teaching turning letters into type july 12-16: learning typeface design.

web design

applying interior design principles to the web from smashingmagazine.com talks about how the same principles of arranging physical objects relates to the placement and use of graphic objects, with a great breakdown of each.

creativity

jazz brain: functional magnetic resonance imaging is a quick report from utne.com about brain behavior during times of innovative creativity. Limb had jazz musicians play memorized music while being monitored by an fMRI machine. He then asked them to start improvising and noticed a shift in neurological activity. Their scans showed less activity in the areas that represent self-censoring and inhibition and more in the area that indicates self-expression. Limb interpreted this shift as a possible sign of “spontaneous creativity.”

creative inspiration

infographic mailer

travel & leisure food issue 2010
[photo: underconsideration.com]
this 2010 food issue mailer from travel & leisure, profiled on underconsideration.com combines a few areas of interests in an awesome piece! i love infographics, i love food, and i love knowing what regions specialize in different foods locally, so this map of the states by food really caught my eye. beyond that, 2-color printing is close to my heart, french paper is a drool-worthy paper source, and hand lettering gives a really fun personality to the piece. follow the link to read more!

snowboarding apparel

smith snow goggles by nubby twiglet
[photo: smith optics]
i’ve been snowboarding for 10 years now, and as much as i love it, i have to say that the fashion options for anyone over 17, especially women, are consistenly sorely lacking. this week, nubby twiglet posted examples of goggles and helmets she designed for smith optics which will be available next year. i have always wanted something classy and stylish to wear instead of opting for solid colors as the only alternative to a decidedly male adolescent fashion demographic. great work!

design industry

principles of minimalist web design with examples is a great showcase of sites that eliminate the clutter and allow visitors to focus on desired information. take a spin and let it help you re-imagine the possibilities for your own site.

ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes in type design? why did i start a type foundry is an interesting look at starting a foundry and getting fonts published and sold. cool!

something i’ve been writing about lately is what goes into a logo development, and it’s really outlined how you can’t really design a logo without a complete brand strategy in place. help your clients talk about their logo as part of a bigger plan with how to convince your clients they need a brand and not just a logo.

when applications crash and we get those report windows, sometimes we report bugs, sometimes we shut them in disgust. possibly, though, we’re missing some awesome opportunities for expressive prose!

creative inspiration

design industry

lentil vegetable stew print
[image: claudia g. pearson]
not only do i love this style of illustration, but you really can’t go wrong when food is the subject. thanks to design sponge, i now know about this outstanding artist, claudia g. pearson and her fantastic etsy shop where you can find prints and tea towels adorned with these lovely illustrations.

if you’re looking for green greeting cards, greenlagirl.com has a profile on 100% junk mail greeting cards, printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper using vegetable-based biodegradable inks.

meetings! we’ve all been in them enough to know that some are well-organized, while most tend to stray off topic and waste time. todd henry’s accidental creative blog addresses meeting creep and how to avoid it, so if it’s happening to you, read the article.

color

colors in cultures
[image: informationisbeautiful.net]
in a global design culture, it’s important to choose colors that cross cultural lines in a friendly way. this infographic is an awesome color wheel cross-referencing world cultures with their emotional associations & meanings of colors. aside from being immensely useful, it’s quite a nice thing to look at. next time you have a project, or even dress for a meeting, consider some of the messages you can create and avoid with color.

logos

it’s that time again, logo lounge has released their 2010 logo trends article. i’ve heard a lot of buzz from my design community about getting their work into the annual book. congratulations to all those included! this annual trend report is a really interesting look at new trends in logo design.

typography

type soap
[image: how design blog]
thanks to the how design blog, i’m just happy to know this typography soap exists. i don’t think i could bring myself to use it if i bought it, though.

i’m a huge fan of hoefler & frere-jones knockout typeface, and i’m really enjoying the humor with which grip limited chose to use it, as shown on the h&fj blog.

help save the hamilton wood type museum! Dear friends of wood type: Hamilton has an unprecedented opportunity to qualify for a dollar-for-dollar matching grant from the “Save America’s Treasures” program which has a deadline of May 20th, 2010. This gives Hamilton 30 days to raise enough money to apply for a $25,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. We’re excited to have already raised over $5000 for this vital program that will help us archive, preserve and digitally document our collection of over 2000 vintage advertising plates and our 1.5 million-piece type collection. <a href="interested parties click here for 3 ways to help.

curiosities

clui: through the grapevine
[image: clui.org]
the center for land use interpretation is at it again with a new exhibit through the grapevine currently on display. i have driven this road many times, but the center has a great way of showing us things we’ve never seen in our travels. from clui.org: The mountainous passage that separates the great population of Southern California from the rest of the state is a zone of transit, from one epic region to another. Located at the collision of the San Gabriel and Tehachapi Mountain Ranges, this steep and convoluted terrain lies between Castaic, the northern edge of the Los Angeles megalopolis, and the depopulated place known as Grapevine, at the southern end of the Central Valley. Layers of traffic, water, and energy move like a braided stream through the mountainous terrain, connecting here to there.

make your own 100 year pinhole camera, from good.is. it will take a long time, and you may not get to see the end result yourself, but you can construct your own pinhole camera using inkjet ink as the emulsion, allowing it to expose a photo-quality image from 100 years of sun exposure. curious, indeed!

identity system for the shammas group

the shammas group identity system

this identity system for the shammas group asserts them as an idea-forward umbrella company over several successful family businesses. they bought the historical petroleum building in 1959 and use it as the home base for their headquarters, so this identity is a recognizable replica of the top floors of the building, putting them in the penthouse offices with the lights always on.

anne e. gimbel identity system

anne gimbel, mfti

i just launched this identity system for therapist anne e. gimbel, m.a., mfti, designed to announce and promote her new practice under mary k. cocharo, lmft. the business card efficiently doubles as an appointment card. the site has a complete profile of gimbel’s practice along with location & services information as well as a contact form. wordpress strikes again as a great format for this type of site, enabling a clean, seo-friendly format, while allowing the client to perform updates on the fly with a simple graphic user interface.

jason lee bruns: jlb jazz collective and the egrem session cd releases

jlb jazz collective jlb egrem session

2 recently produced cd releases by percussion artist jason lee bruns. the jlb jazz collective is a los angeles-based ensemble that plays around town and records with various guest musicians, and the egrem session is a recording he made while on a research & cultural immersion visa in cuba.

contentnext: econCeleb 2008 conference

part of contentnext’s expanded offerings include half-day conferences, such as econCeleb on the subject of digital celebrity media, set for summer of 2008. this conference collateral included a full-color program book, event signage, wall projections and an event badge.