Quandry

I'm a graphic designer, a lover and connoisseur of all pretty, colroful things. However, if you walk into my house, you would never know. My walls are bare, only a few decorative items up anywhere. I am a minimalist, but I don't WANT my house to appear minimal. I am always torn between what I want and how I want it to look. If I do something that's trendy, I'm afraid of it going out of style too soon. I love one paint color one day, and hate it the next. And I never act on making these things happen anyway, so I just don't even start. Oh, and money to start home projects... don't even go there! I have a TON of photos from our wedding, Liam as an infant, and other happy family moments, but they are all in a box somewhere, waiting for frames to be purchased... I need to sign up for one of those home makeover shows.

Infographics Love

Infographics!! 

What's not to love about them? 

They are easy to read, nice to look at, and you learn something from them - whether useful or not!

My Infographics Collection on Pinterest

I totally want to add this to my Graphic Design "Bucket List" of things I want to design! 

But what should my infographic be about?

Spreading myself too thin

So there's a sketch of Liam I did last week while on vacay. My first sketch of him in, like, ever... and it only took me 2 years and almost 8 months. His dad found an awesome new racing game app on the iPhone and of course Liam was all over that. It was the perfect time to do it because he was actually still for more than 2 minutes! But that is a topic for another blog...

Anyway, so in the past few weeks, no - months, I've been busy as ever with freelance projects. I'm working on one this week and it's draining the energy out of me. Little sleep from late nights of working and early morning waking so I can run when it's not blazing hot. I'm sure if I keep this up, I will burn out. My freelance is already suffering as I haven't even gotten a chance to work on ideas for another client. I feel terrible. And then when I get little sleep, my creative juices stop flowing... so it's not a very ideal situation to be in. Why do I do this to myself!? My body has not shut down yet... but I am afraid it might if I keep this up. I just want to sleep.

Bad Example #1

I'm going to try something new here and try to incorporate some graphic design-isms on this blog, since I hardly update it with any new work (I actually have a few things to post soon). I want to keep it active and maybe just post some random sign photos which I think are either pretty awesome or just pretty bad.

This first sign is a pretty bad example of graphic design:

Is it "Acts III Thrift Store" or "Tacts III Thrift Store"??
I'm sure it is the former, but the way the cross is placed makes it seem like it could be part of the name.

A few other no-no's include use of multiple fonts (general rule is that 2 contrasting fonts are great! but no more than that) and use of all caps (makes it harder to read).

This was actually not the WORST sign in that shopping center... there were some with tiny hard-to-read script fonts where you couldn't even read it even if you were up close. Others had hardly any contrast between background color and color of the words on the sign - so those were nearly impossible to read.

If you have a business with a storefront, It's important that you make sure your sign words/logo are large enough to easily read from the road, not use skinny script lettering for your logo, and use contrasting colors for legibility.

Business Card, Logo Designs and Tattoo Ideas

 

I've done a few freelance projects since the last time I posted. A couple logos and a business card for a good friend's candle business (check her out here: https://sweetmamas.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Home). She has the most awesome curly hair! :) I painted her and her husband that one year I gifted paintings to my friends and family for Christmas!

The logos were for friends/coworkers. I also did a couple other small projects that aren't really fun to look at - booklet layout, coupon design.

On my plate currently are 2 more logo designs, one menu design (for my sister-in-law's new restaurant)... and I am sure there is something else that I just can't think of right now.

I recently received a late Christmas/bday present from a friend - a new sketchbook! I've been dying to get back to sketching/drawing... or trying to anyway. I have never tried to draw Liam, which is sad, so I'd like to make that one of my first drawings in that book. And I told my friend (who gifted me the book) that he'd be one of the first sketches int he book as well... now... all I have to do is find the time to do it!

I recently ordered a book called 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter) by Susan Weinschenk, who has a Ph.D. in Psychology, and a 30-year career in applying psychology to the design of technology. I am excited to get it (should come today -- thank you Amazon Prime!) and read it, as I think it will help me with my design process and also refresh my graphic design foundations. Amazon link: here

Source: http://linhchile.tumblr.com/

Speaking of graphic design, I have been toying around with the possibility of getting another tattoo.This time a tattoo that represents me, as a graphic designer. I want it to be something small, yet meaningful and something specific to my area of expertise. I came up with the idea of getting something along the lines of "CMYK", which is the acronym for the 4 standard colors of offest printing - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (K = key color). As much as print design is becoming more obsolete (so sad...) with the digital age, my roots are in print/paper design and I don't want to ever forget that. I was thinking to get it on the inside of my wrist, small enough to be hidden under a watch band (even though I hate wearing watches). Something along the lines of the image above, but my own design. I have to think about it more...

Source: http://blog.arbol.com.au/

Or another graphic designy tat idea would be a Pantone color chip. Pantone is the most popular universal color matching system for designers (graphic, interior, etc). Pantone colors are not made using the CMYK color model, but are actually their own mixed pigment. Companies use these colors to ensure color consistency throughout their logo placements. If I were to get a tattoo of this it would be something like what is shown above, but I'd have to find the Pantone color that matches my skintone and make it label it as such. (I'm sure the person in the photo changed the word "Pantone" due to copyright issues!) I think it's awesome!

Hope by my next post I will have some drawings to post! See you then!

Quickie

Been busy with a few logo and business card projects, along with the day job, and dealing with a toddler... life gets hectic. I am doing a few more things for myself (see my fitness blog for details), which I am very happy with, but in doing so, other areas of my life are lacking... mainly in the personal creative department.

I finally broke out the letterpress and it's awesome. But it's kind of cumbersome to do just one piece at a time because it's not economical for the ink usage and well, it's kind of a task to clean everything up. Other than that, I love it and want to make my own plates soon.

There are a few other things that I want to start doing again, such as sketching and drawing (very important to me) and getting back into guitar playing/learning. Ahh... so many things, so little time.

In other news I finally upgraded to a smartphone... an iPhone! I love it, BUT it is just one other thing to distract me from the things I want to do. Oh, technology!

We have a friend's wedding coming up and I didn't know what to get them for their shower gift. Both have already been married once before, so what do they need? I decided to go with a framed invitation - easy and sentimental. I bought an inexpensive frame from Wally World and basically made a new, decorative mat for the frame. I think it looks cool. If I didn't add the pattern to the mat, it would have looked pretty boring. What do you think? Not bad for an $8 gift!

Happy new year!

What a way to start off the new year... with nothing to post!

It's been a busy few weeks of the start of the year. I'm sick to boot. But I have had a couple freelance projects (logos) to work on, which I will post soon.

So, I have not even opened my letterpress. I had great big things planned for that baby. I am so disappointed in myself! Really, though, I have no room for crafting or projects that are not done on the computer. :( I need some space. My office is awesome now - which is our old guest bedroom (I have a window again!), but there is still a full size mattress and boxspring leaning against the wall and pretty much taking up a lot of the room. It needs to go (into the garage). But in order for that to happen, we need to clean out the garage. But in order for that to happen, we need to build a shed for our backyard to store some of the crap in the garage. But in order for that to happen, we need to purchase and buy the materials for the shed (probably a $900 investment - I hope no more than that). But in order for that to happen... I really could go on and on... you see how this works?

Anyway, I plan to break it out soon. I need to make thank you cards for Liam and my birthdays from LAST MONTH. They will happen by the end of the month. Mark my words!!!

I also just printed my most favorite photo of all time that I took - a gorgeous shot of the Pacific Coast Highway when we drove it back in 2008:

I printed it 20"x30" (I had a code for $20 credit for Shutterfly and only paid $9 for the print and shipping!) and want to frame it somehow. I was thinking of mounting it on a canvas (modpodge?) and painting the edges gold... but unfortunately they do not make a pre-stretched canvas that size. Now I have to think of another alternative. I don't want a matt. Not sure...maybe a thin frame if anything. Just not cheap-o looking.