Drool-worthy. (And I am talking about the design.

This pattern and these colors. Ahhh. I love it. I also love the texture created by the paper and watercolor.

Hello Beautiful Design.

Kind of want to make a piece of artwork like this and frame it. Today.

Great Icons. Consistent colors, use of transparency. & simple.

I LOVE these colors. They feel very vintage. And I love that font!

Letterpress invitations. I mean, how pretty & unique is this? If I ever get married again, I may have to go this route. I hope my future fiancé will like hot pink!

Scrumptious. I want this.

And another letterpress invitation. Just wow.

Pantone is the expert on color. They are always on top of the newest, up and coming trendiest colors. So, let’s see what’s up over at Pantone.

“Consumers look to spring for renewed energy, optimism and the promise of a brighter day,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute^®.

These new “springy” up and coming colors include mixtures of hot neon colors with soft pastels, reminiscent of nature at its extremes (for example, a powerful sunset, the ocean sparkling at dusk with flashes of lightning in the distance), Bright and Sun Bleached Yellow paired with Dusty Oceanic Blue, Cairo Yellow, Crescent Moon, Mountain Stream, Prism Lilac, Terra Cotta,  Harem Orange, and Neon Tangerine.

I am definitely a fan of these colors!!

Pantone even defines the manly colors for spring 2012:

If these fresh palettes, aren’t inspiring, I don’t know what is. 

Jk. Well, kind of.

I get a lot of questions about what exactly “graphic design” is. One essential piece of graphic design is a thing called “typography”. Some sort of typography (whether good or bad) is evident in every piece of graphic design.

• Typography can be beautiful, and typography can be ugly.

• TYPE IS IMPORTANT. The right typeface can encourage people to read your message. The wrong typeface or bad typography can make your message go unread.

• Type is your personality on paper.

About.com’s definition is this:

Typography is the design and use of typefaces as a means of communication. It is considered to have begun with Gutenberg and the development of moveable type. But typography has its roots in handwritten letterforms. Typography encompasses everything from calligraphy through digital type and type on Web pages. It also includes type designers who create new letterforms as well as designers and calligraphers who use the letters as part of their designs.

Typography uses typefaces and the whitespace around and through them to create a whole design.

Let me show you some examples.

(This is one of my pieces that was collaboratively created while I was studying typography at UT. The cursive type was stitched (by a sweet, sweet class guest) onto a sewn piece that I had previously made.) This is a very “artsy” and ethereal use of typography, as it does not have any direct meaning. You can think of it as an abstract painting with text.

The same goes for these examples:

Now, this is an example of a piece where the typography is meant to be read, and needs to be read, for some purpose.

See the difference?

They are all examples of typography, but sometimes text is used as artwork, and just to look pretty, and in most cases, it’s used for informational purposes.

In all cases, typography needs to fit the intended “feeling” of the piece and the objective.

Is your message light and airy?

or is it sophisticated and serious?

Make sure your typeface fits the feel you are trying to achieve. And please don’t use papyrus or comic sans, for the love of my sanity.

P.S. This is another great resource on this topic.

Each week, hopefully on Saturdays, I’ll post a few ideas for staying “creative”. I have collected lists and lists of these things, and have some of my own tips as well.

1. Reboot yourself. Take a few minutes alone to soak in a bath (or if you’re a guy, maybe sit on the porch & drink a beer or something else manly), not think about anything in particular, take a few deep breaths, and relax. I don’t do this one often enough, but sometimes I have, and it makes me feel so much better that I can then sit down and create something pretty good.

2. Make lists. I am finding this to help me a LOT. I’ve been using this daily “to-do” list and wow, the difference it makes it amazing. Since I work from home, it’s been keeping me in check pretty well. I use this website for to-dos, as welI. I use this form for my daily cleaning, so I don’t get behind on it. Lists may seem tedious or like such a simple thing, but they really help me, personally, to keep my mind, as well as the closet, free of clutter.

3. Go for a bike ride. I’ve been making use of the bike rack someone at work gave me a long time ago, and taking my 5-year old to the nearby church “greenway” on nice days. We’ve had a LOT of them this winter and we haven’t taken them for granted. The feeling you get from riding a bike is just “freeing”. The fresh air hitting you in the face, getting your heartbeat going… I hadn’t really gotten on a real bicycle since around high school, and I forgot how nice it feels.

4. Take breaks. One thing creative people forget is to take breaks. It seems so simple, but sometimes I spend hours at the computer without getting up from it, and wonder why I can’t come up with anything. Breaks.are.needed.

5. Listen to new music. Or to old music. Just listen to some music. This one speaks for itself.

If you have any to add, please do!

Enjoy!

Giant Cross-Stitch artwork. How cool is this?

I pretty much love anything and everything that’s made from felt. It just looks and feels so warm & cozy. And these colors are great.

These little chicken eggs are so cute! What a cute Easter idea.

This towel is designed by a company called HAM. Launched last summer, the entire line follows “unexpected moments” from the lives of a pig, horse and rabbit. So cute!

I really want this leash for my dog.

And all of these….

This image is from Trendy Traveler’s blog.  “This blog is dedicated to anyone who wants to explore, but lacks the resources to.”

This photo really makes me want to run away to the beach, like today.

And I’m off to have a picnic with my little boy! He told me this morning that “Momma, I have a good idea. We need to have more picnics!” Our weather today is sunny and in the 60′s, so I can’t say no to that! (and we aren’t able to run off to the beach today, so we will settle for a nice picnic at the park.) Have a great weekend!

These are my {inspirational} Pinterest finds for the week.

These are so well done. Nicely “western” enough, but still simple and clean.

I want this for my home office.

I mean, this just so effectively shows how such a simple product label can really be designed well. (drooling.)

Fabulously sweet packaging.

Cute and fun!

Creative Packaging

Last but not least:

Amazing, amazing collection of logos for inspiration!

That’s it for this week.

I want to blog… I really do. I think everyone does, but people have a hard time finding the time to sit down and thoughtfully write out a blog that people will find meaningful.

I have a new tool: Blog Planner and this will be my Blogging World saving grace.

My new topics are these:

Mondays: Typography in Our World

Tuesdays: Color Palettes

Wednesdays: Design-Related Pinterest Finds

Thurdays: Free Printables (like the one I linked to above)

Fridays: Fun Finds from the Internet

Saturdays: Ways to Stay Creative

Sooooo, Lord and Diet Coke willing, this will happen. And I’m super-excited!

Thanks for reading!

A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. For example, Coca Cola is the name of a brand make by a particular company. The word branding started simply as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity — it affects the personality of a product, company or service. It is defined by a perception, good or bad, that your customers or prospects have about you.

When I’m branding, I start out with the logo, or mark. Everything else grows from there.

These are some examples of the branding work I have done:

Company: campaignsync Medium: Twitter

Company: Power Systems Medium: Twitter

Company: Yours Truly Medium: Twitter

After multiple requests, and some brainstorming on mine and Tasha Mahurin’s part, we decided to start a custom invitation company. Soo, if you are have an event coming up, please keep us in mind! We can do invitations and announcements for any event you can think of, and you can be sure that your design is unlike anyone else’s. Find us here! http://theinkboutique.biz/