Crafty Wonderland Today and Tomorrow!

Hi Portland, 

See you there. I'm running around like crazy getting ready for this one. Should be a blast. 

Currently Stitching

I'm making a lovely scarf for myself. This pattern was inspired by some brand identity work for a client. While I was playing with different shapes for the logo I found this cool hexagon rotating shape. I took the idea and ran with it.

2012 Tea Towel Sneak Peak

Here are some snap shot of my progress on the design for the 2012 calendar tea towel. This year it will be an embroidery kit.

This is me sketching in my local coffee shop. I'm using helvetica as a guide for my lettering. The little circle blooms ended up not working out as well for embroidery so I changed the blooms to look like this.

I'm also testing which colors look best with the design in this shot.
Stay tuned for more progress shots.

Please Vote: Connecting Threads Fabric Design Contest

Vote here on your favorite fabric. Be a dear and vote for mine design too (pictured above). Follow this link. Its on the 3rd row all the way to the left.

It's been a dream of mine for a long time to have a collection of fabric so I'm very excited about this opportunity. Thanks in advance for your support.

Fun Design Touches in Hong Kong

I just love the graphic nature of these patterns I found around Hong Kong. Beautiful and functional, the way it should be.

Movie Cover Artwork: Everyone Copying Everyone

Nothing looks very original anymore.

I was searching through netflix and noticed how many of the covers look almost identical!! It's disappointing to me that the film indsutry is going through the motions cranking out these movies with little thought going into branding and visual identity. Now that I think about it, not a lot of thought went into the plots either.

None of these covers are very memorable because of their cookie cutter composition, type treatments, and photography direction. Perhaps this is an untapped niche for designers to make an impact. It would be awesome if Hollywood would hire designers that are willing to explore out of the normal safe zone.

It is unfair for me to say that the entire industry is like this because there are some cool things going on. I just wish they would be willing to push the art a bit more. Try something fresh. Thats all.

Fresh Book Design

These books grabbed my attention. The color, pattern, exposed binding, and human aesthetic make these books successful and different than anything i've seen in a while. 

Designed by the very talented Allison Wilton. 

Check out more of her work here. 

Photoshop fo Real!

You've probably already seen this floating around the internet, but if you haven't here is the REAL photoshop. I absolutely love it. They included alot of really nice details that make any designer feel warm and fuzzy inside.

See behind the scenes action here.  

Typography scarf!

I finally found the perfect typography scarf over at Little Factory. It is a dream come true for me, and for only $58. They also have lowercase and number scarfs as well. Sigh....

Scrap Wood Furniture

I'm totally loving the raw aesthetic of these pieces by Piet Hein Eek. The collaged wood reminds me alot of my fused plastic pieces.