My friend Rachel sews

My amazing friend Rachel gropper, who just relocated to Chicago after we graduated this past may, has been working on this incredible series based off the 50 states and slogans. Here's what she had to say about her work:

"I am working on the "state slogan series" which will be all 50 states and only one edition of each state. I hand draw all the typography and then transfer it to the fabric and embroider away. they are the actual slogans, or at least were at some point in time. Im selling them framed and ready to hang for $30, just via email right now!"

"oh deer"...another piece that kills me!

Check out more of rachels amazing work at her website, rachelleighgropper.com

blogs to blog

design and design

spray graphics

a community for creative minds

spray graphics

design sponge

design spounge. another great design blog. 

so many "wish i thought of that" moments.

design you trust

design you trust is worth checking out. a lot of nice design in all areas of the field. also somewhere you can contribute to.

Waldspirale

Waldspirale by Friedensreich Hundertwasser

i heart hundertwasser.

The Waldspirale, designed by Viennese architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Incredible combinations of whimsical shapes, colors and structure. Best of all, its green. No window is the same. Every inch is utilized to be environmentally friendly.

I first fell witness to Hundertwasser's works while studying abroad in Vienna, Austria two summers ago. Our professor, Dr. Dvorak, took us to see the Hunderwasser House. I quickly realized the organic beauty of his work is impossible to resist. 

To read more on the Waldspirale, visit the article at Environmental Graffiti.

Marc O'Brien links

i meant to do this a while ago, but these are some helpful links for graphic designers and job searching provided by Marc O'Brien.

Why Young Designers Should Avoid 'Design Capitals'
Dissecting the Logo Design Creation Process
AgencyTool Web Design Dashboard
Notes to a Generation - anthony dines's blog
Coroflot's Creative Seeds Blog
25 Graphic Design Career Preparation Tips
Shifting Careers - Making Artistic Careers Lucrative
10 Great Places to Find Graphic Design Jobs
How Designers Fail
Not Hired

handmade

i love etsy.

patience

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

how amazing. i cant imagine how much time this took. after ben gaydos sequential i never again wanna touch stop-animation...but its just such a cool look. beautiful.

found on formfourtyfive design blog.

logo process

airside presented a post showing the development of a logo the designed for Dream Ranch. they explain each step of the process along with illustrations. 

frustratingly fun to see how much goes into a logo.

update : airsides blog is just interesting in general.

book trade labels

Libreria Mexico, Los Angeles, Ca

found an amazing collection of some vintage book trade labels at seven roads gallery. 

some really beautiful ones in there. gotta love vintage. 

heres my card...

i just made some new business cards and here they are. 

comments welcome

poster overload

this is a HUGE collection of some amazing typo/graphic posters from all over the world. 

typo/graphic posters is definitely worth checking out. 

warning : may occupy the next couple hours of your life, but the journey will lead you to some pretty incredible work.

whistle while you work

here at outlaw design blog i found a blog post where he asked a number of his designer friends what they listened to while they worked.

i always think about this because it is almost impossible for me to sit in silence while i am working.

lilian, who is the last on the post, chose explosion in the sky who i love. they are definitely top 5 for getting those creative juices flowing on my list.

leave a comment with your choices!!

Xavier Encines

this guy xavier encinces makes some beautiful, clean print pieces. 

huge fan.

the grid

“ The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee.

It permits a number of possible uses and each
designer can look for a solution appropriate to his
personal style. But one must learn how to use the
grid; it is an art that requires practice. ”
Josef Müller-Brockmann

I found this quote today on the grid system website and found it worthy of reideration. it does a great job of encompassing the grid system and its baggage.

the site is definitely worth checking out. it has a ton of inDesign, Illustrator and photoshop templates you can check out for inspiration or download. 

and what. the slammer is a Mac OS X application that allows you to superimpose a grid over any selected window. you can edit, combine, and save all grids. just downloaded it. tested it. freaking out a little bit.

black and white logos

this article, is it time to retire the black and white logo?, i found on Ben Terrett's blog, Noisy Decent Graphics. he is a graphic designer from london, and in the article he makes a solid argument as to why we do and why we do not need black and white versions of logos today. it argues for both sides so read the article and you make your decision.

im gonna go ahead and support the "for b+w" argument for sake of his first point, "it's good discipline." i have created an identity system before and i know that thinking about a logos strength at the simple b+w stage is beneficial later on in the game.

colors...or colours

just something every designer should know about.

colourlovers is an amazing resource for finding that perfect color or a pallette of colors that work well together. its like a search engine for colors with ratings, a way to save your personal favorites or make your own if you wanted to. 

enjoy!

book covers

book covers have always been a favorite of mine in graphic design and here i can look at thousands on one site. a large collection of beautiful book covers on bookcoversrchive.com 

the cover above is designed by Heads of State. all the information a designer would want to know about the cover including the typeface, designer and publication information is found on the site. go crazy.

illustrator

Geoff Mcfetridge makes beautiful illustrations / animations for some big names. 

this illustration he made for brushfire records, the record label of my favorite artist, jack johnson.