DesignForObama

This website, designforobama.org, has hundreds of posters and prints by designers from a pretty big variety of backgrounds, all showing their (nicely creative) support for Obama. I have a few favorites shown above, but this, seriously, isn't even a small fraction of those on the site. Check it out.

ps: "graphic designers for obama > you had me at the logo." -- LOVE.

Shiny Red Shoes

image from an open [sketch]book

I'm so in love with this design, I can barely put it into words. Suzanne (amazing) posted on her blog a design that she did for (the former) Megan Tremblay (now re-married) for a company she's started - a concierge service called Shiny Red Shoes. Having been in studio with Megan for 4(?) years straight, I know that she sported identical red shoes all the time - and pulled them off like no one else. The idea of the company is really cute - I especially like the assistance with gift-buying - so fun!

I'm so in love with the red + robin's egg blue combination these days, plus the white background of the site, the clean font used = a totally modern, simple, 'jcrew meets real simple' feel that works beautifully.

Love it!

GOOP... yes please

I have a feeling this one is going to be good. GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow's life guide.

quirky..check, clean pretty graphics...check, taste...check.

We'll see.

make mine...

I have become ADDICTED to this presidential campaign. I have listened to both sides... for research of course, and the more and more I hear from each side the more I know that Barack Obama is the right choice for this nation. So.... I was very excited to see this on The Scoop.

From The Scoop and Sidedown for Obama:

Whether you've already decided that Barack Obama is definitely your candidate, or maybe you're still undecided - here's a way to contribute to the campaign & receive a piece of art that (beautifully) gets your point across to others.

For us, this election is about our right as American citizens to choice. We want to live in a country that accepts its people... ALL of them. A country that believes in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence as they pertain to the freedom of all who reside here, and that does not discriminate against its citizens on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious creed, social status, or station.

We do not believe this is a matter of Democrat vs. Republican. When Abraham Lincoln became our first Republican president, he redefined the way our nation saw itself, and reshaped what it meant to be "an American". If one lawyer, Illinois statesman, and member of Congress can do as much for the country as he did, we'd like to see what a second one can do.
Both candidates will tell you that in November, you have a choice to make. Only one of them would allow you to make choices after the election is over. That's why you should tell them to "Make Mine Barack".
- Sidedown for Obama

visit http://www.makeminebarack.com/ for more...
images c/o Sidedown for Obama.

Vegas Boneyard

A week ago I was in Vegas for a little pre-pre set up and we had some very rare downtime one day. Oh the luxury! Gregg had wanted to go to the Morelli house for sometime and I had wanted to check out the Vegas neon boneyard. We were going to attempt to do both before we had to head to the airport.

We almost didn't get to do either because of the strict appointment policy that both of them have. WE did get to go to the Boneyard because we begged and pleaded and used out god given patience and waited it out to see if there were any no-shows so we could go in. as luck would have it we did.

I took some really rad photos and am really excited about them so I made a lil coffee table book at blurb. You can get one too if you are so inclined. Just follow the link in the column to the right labeled from erin.

goal...

I have always been intrigued by screen printing... its a skill I would like to learn in my lifetime. I saw this book via Sia Grafica, Print Liberation:the screen printing primer. Other than a good place to start to learn more about screen printing, Print Liberation looks pretty rad from what they have on their website.

Stamps

Even more reason to send a handwritten letter. The USPS has come out with an Eames tribute book of stamps to be realeased this summer.

stencil

image via orange lola

Because of Kelley and my shared love of graffitti I thought it was only appropriate that I post a product of someone else who loves graffitti too. At the Orange Lola online shop, owner Rose Kaufman has a vendor, Stencil 1 in the home section. For the low price of $10.50 you can stencil up a t-shirt, wall, throw pillow or government building with these groovy graphics. I like the airplane best.

made by girl

I found this really awesome card website, made by girl. Jennifer Ramos has created this paper goods site to raise awareness for the environment and is taking a stand by making all her goods 100% recyclable materials. The cards are funky, quirky and fun and even better funny. Here are a few of my favorite picks:

nervous system

I found these jewelry pieces from nervous system via cube me. Each piece is derived from biological and or a mathematical process. The two creators of this very cool jewelry, Jesse and Jessica, met at the Massachusetts institute of technology. Combining their skills they have come up with some very unique and beautiful laser cut steel pieces. love it.

Dallas Composite [ben's skillz]

Ben made this composite for one of his classes... the process that he did I thought was pretty cool.
First taking the photos, then creating the line art in illustrator then mashing it together collage style with some design elements. Read more about it here.

Camper Store

Designer and Artist Jaime Hayon has used his illustrative style to create this 3d space (known as the Camper Store Milan.) Definitely check out his studio site... awesome!

The Camper stores all over the world are supposedly very different for a shoe store concept and each interior is supposedly a different adventure. I have only been to 2, one in NYC and one in Europe somewhere both were very different from this one.

Any way I really love the cartoon quality of it and although there arn't any huge incorparative architectual elements, I think the giant lamp shades are really awesome. I love them all clustered like that. Something about the white and the gold are pretty awesome. You can read more about it at DeZeen.

factory under the stars

This image was taken from a portfolio website, Factory Under the Stars. It is a pretty simple website but the images of bright, pop culture-esque are very cool to look at.

creator, Karl Escritt also has a blog to track his graphic design and illustrating skills. one to check out!

Graphically awesome

Spray Glue had an entry today with a tip off to check out Soia & Kyo. And I am so glad I followed that link! the website is so fun to navigate through. The coats are incredible and the graphics are awesome... too bad it's warmer in Dallas, or I would snatch up the Gemma coat real quick! Maybe one of the shorter cropped ones would be more practical. I love all the big collars and huge buttons on these coats... so fun.

Wonderful Graffiti

Okay, on a lighter note...

I found this company this morning that does wall graphics- Wonderful Graffiti. After looking through their photo gallery I decided to make my own (I didn't know what to write so I ended up playing with some Eagles' lyrics) and found out that my taste highly exceeds my budget there.

However, looking at their shop of the pre-designed (eek!) graphics and those semi-customizable, the price is a little bit more feasible and still not bad. I want something in a deep red text for my bedroom... someday.

Thank goodness it's friday, right??

font friday

I checked out poppytalk this morning and saw that they have a wonderful post up called "font friday," showcasing some new fonts to download for FREE! I was specifically interested in a few of them and thought you might be too, erin. Ya never know when one of these could be the perfect accent to something you're working on!

vintage- kind of cheesy but could really help get the point across.

old typewriter- this kind of look has been done and done again, but rarely do you find one that carries that letter-pressed quality. some graphic designers might argue that these are a dime a dozen, but this is one of the better that I'VE seen.

Favor for Meagen

Katie got married 5 months ago today- it was probably one of the biggest days in our lives... or more realistically, THE biggest day in hers. None the less, as her maid of honor (and an over-achiever in all the wrong areas) I made it my goal to do everything ever considered a responsibility, gesture, or duty to the M.O.H. I spent a lot of time (and whatnot) on crafts and plans for showers, bachelorette parties, and gifts for the wedding. We made these tshirts for everyone to wear at the bach. party- huge hit, HUGE- which was on St. Patrick's Day in Greensboro, and overall, it was a really good chance for me to play around with graphics- even if I used istockphoto for A LOT of it (at least I bought whatever I used instead of stealing it..). Yes, that IS katie's face as the dancing leprechaun- we couldn't resist.



Well, Meagen's friend, Ashley, is getting married soon and she's helping to plan showers and bachelorette parties, as well... so she asked for some help on the invitation & a tshirt, as well. Really, she just needs someone with Photoshop to compile some ideas she had, but I was the lucky girl that got to do it! Now, this design was thrown together in about 30 minutes- I didn't slave over the computer all week coming up with something- but it's still cool (as a young "designer" recently out of school) to have ANYONE appreciate your work, and likewise, put it to use.

I need to work on my design-work though... I tend to have a problem with the subtleties and NOT making things so high-contrast and intense. I'll get there someday- I love other work in that style, I just struggle with when to stop.

Plate

I actually bought this plate and a blue one about a month ago when Ben and I went to the Modern in Fort Worth. It was designed by a student at SCAD. I love that. Anyway I found it on Elsewhere for about half the price of what I bought mine for. Figures huh? well anyway just thought it was fun.

packaging & print design

I think if I could go back to it, I probably wouldn't have majored in Interior Architecture. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do right now, and I loved getting here, but...maybe it's just a phase.

I would LOVE to get myself involved in print and packaging design. I'd of course have to work on my level of craft- even with models in i.arc, I was always struggling to put DOWN the hot-glue gun and try my patience with the real stuff... always dripping it everywhere... I was looking around and came across Tip Top Creative- specifically some of their packaging design. They have some really cool work in logos and print, but check out those boxes! So cool... reminds me of the same kind of designs that probably went into the Rice to Riches stuff... which makes me really want some of that rice pudding- especially the banana. Because we both know it was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life to order that flavor.

Graphica, the firm I interned with while I was in school, did some work with packaging and print. Unfortunately, they didn't get a chance to do too much with this stuff while I was with them (a short semester), but looking at their website I was just as impressed with those pieces of their portfolio as I was with anything else. There was a designer there that was EXTREMELY talented while I was there- so great to bounce ideas off of, however, I heard he took a position in VA and left Graphica. I'm sure they're still doing great, though- tons of talent there.

None the less, while I loved the i.arc department, and more so the people I met there, I'm not satisfied. I love the environmental graphics side of it (for now), but I want more- I want more graphics, more web design, more packaging and print, more identity work, etc... Only problem with that: it's going to cost to go back to school, and it's going to take patience to learn it all and work my way into it professionally. Maybe in my next life?

PS: I just saw this and had to add it in: have you looked at Suzanne Buchanan's web-blog an open [sketch]book? She puts up sketches and drawings (almost daily) of whatever she sees- I've got to get better about carrying a sketchbook with me or at least improving those skills more. She drew this image of a box of soap she got from her mother-in-law (I think). These are the kinds of drawings she does in five minutes... I'm so jealous.

gray & red? am I crazy?

In response to this "blue and green" argument you seem to be fighting with yourself- I'm nowhere near convinced that you've kicked the habit, I started thinking about what my new scheme is. I might need some help on this- my old fave's were...lime green with black / white? I can't figure it out. Either way, that seemed a bit out-dated and a little too vibrant to be able to take myself seriously... so I've revised the scheme. I wish I had pictures of my room, or I wish it was clean enough to TAKE pictures to show you right now, but I'm in need of some help for this huge, massive, empty wall I've got in there.
I've still got the light wood- maple?- bed frame from IKEA - the MALM - and those two vintage / retro pieces- the desk & the antique sewing table (which holds my TV for now). I painted the wall behind the desk a really nice gray & have a collection of black frames with white matts, holding black and white photos, all varied sizes.
Basically, I'm going with the gray / black - white / and RED scheme to go with my varied shades of wood- call me crazy, but its starting to take shape. I bought this bedding from EQ3 and I REALLY like the white / gray simplicity of it- the gray almost matches my wall- a little darker, but same family.
Here's the challenge: I have the opposite wall from the gray one- nothing sits against it, nothing hanging on it.. it needs some lovin. I've got a lot of the gray paint leftover- I was thinking some kind of retro flower graphic painted on the wall? Maybe some mirror design instead? I really like this bamboo situation from BLIK, but I feel like the bamboo craze is a little asian / played-out for my taste... make sense? Help!