Over the years my design style has melded so well with one of my client’s design needs that when she asked me to illustrate an image for a single she was putting out, I jumped at the chance. Even though my illustrations had long remained dormant, it seemed like my style was waiting just for her.

We have done a few illustrations together and I always have so much fun working on them. We are wrapping up a job now, and I just had to introduce “Rudy” the alpaca to everyone.

So, everyone, this is Rudy. Rudy say hi to everyone!

Stay tuned to hear all about the book that this, and quite a few other illustrations, are being featured in.

And here is my final entry into the #nuttierthanafruitcakeproject

What a fun, creative and relaxing way to prepare for the holidays. I had such a great time participating!!!

Day 4 of the #nuttierthanafruitakeproject proved to be just as silly and full of memories as Day 3! While I was working on finishing the original sketch I started on Day 3, I started to reminisce about the school plays we would put on during the holidays.

One year, when my brother was in 8th grade, he somehow convinced the teacher to let him narrate, direct and write the script for his class’ play. True to form, it was hysterical. Everyone loved it and to this day I still laugh at how he somehow convinced the teachers that when the 8th grade and 7th grade did their rendition of Jingle Bells he could replace the words.

So this sketch is in honor of that night. May I never forget it:)

So I stopped what I was doing to quickly sketch this out. It’s still making me laugh.

This is my second entry into the Holiday Creativity Project. I’m not thrilled with the way it turned out, but I really enjoyed working on it, and it gave me a great idea for tonight’s drawing.

#nuttyasafruitcakeproject

What better way to describe the creative challenge my friend and fellow designer posed to me one day.

The challenge – to take a few moments out of our day to do something creative for ourselves.
The duration – starting one week before Christmas and lasting till the holiday itself
The rules – well, other than taking a few moments to be creative for creativity sake, there are none:) Its just all in good fruit-cakey fun!

The result – getting to return to a style I started practicing as a child. Lately I’ve been dabbling in it again and found that this was the perfect time to revisit and refresh. Black pens were the only medium I ever used in this style and I never tried to represent any idea or shape. This time its different and I’m having a blast.

So, enjoy and stay tuned for the next installment as we count down the days till Christmas!

Check out this great promo idea from the Titanic Exhibit currently making its way across the US. Each visitor to the exhibit receives one of these boarding passes as they enter. The pass, based on an actual passenger of the ship, contains such information as name, age, where they are sailing from, where they are sailing too and why they are on the ship.

It made the exhibit that much more engaging and gave each visitor a vested interest in the overall story. As you made your way through the exhibit you unconsciously thought of things like, did my traveler use those dishes? What did their state room look like? Were any of their personal items recovered?

Everyone around you kept looking at their passes and talking about “their” passenger. At the end of the exhibit, a list of all who survived and those that did not were posted so that visitors could find the fate of the person on their pass.

All in all, a hugely popular part of the overall exhibit. The best part? Not only were the passes nicely designed and themed perfectly, not only was the overall concept well thought out, but a 2 color print job lends itself to this being a very affordable way to engage your visitors more fully.

Plus, for us design geeks, it makes a great little memento:)

Recently Facebook  announced that on average, only about 15% of your users see your posts. Using an algorithm called Edgerank, they now decide for you which users will see your posts in their news feed. Now, in order to reach more of your fans, Facebook is asking you to pay to promote your posts. Currently, prices are fluctuating as they test out this new feature, but expect a tier level based on how many people you want to reach and how many fans your page has.

If you haven’t noticed the pop-up for it as you are crafting your updates, just wait. It is slowly being rolled out across the platform.

To read more about the latest offering from Facebook, check out the following articles:
Facebook Promoted Posts
Facebook Paid Status Promotion Platform is Official
Is Facebook Really Charging for Status Updates?

Client: My best friend and fiance to my husband’s best friend
Job: Wedding Shower Invite
Parameters: To stay within the theme of the wedding in terms of design, color and concept

Oh, and did I mention that my friend is herself not only a graphic designer, but a designer that I highly admire and respect? Her work is stunning and enviable…not to mention that she and her business are appearing in a book that will be published this fall.

Eeek.

So, how do you accomplish this task? How do you create an invite that impresses people, attests to your experience as a designer, but yet doesn’t overshadow the WOW factor that is typically reserved for the wedding invite?

Just like any other job – dive in, do your research and know when to pull back or to push the envelope in deciding what will and won’t work.

And even though some might look at this and think, well that’s awful simple looking, I would like to point out just how much research went into this. There are countless hours involved behind this design (Trust me, designers don’t just work when they are in their office. We think about design when we are relaxing, watching TV, taking a shower. Countless hours of thinking about a particular design is not uncommon) To list just a few thoughts I considered when starting on this job:

• what layout will work best to fit with the theme of the shower yet will also reflect theme of the wedding?
• will this layout work in a conventional envelope or will I need something special? And will that special envelope cost more to buy and to mail?
• will the paper choices and final assembled piece be within certain mailing weights for cost effectiveness?

And once all that is decided, that you have to start researching and considering all the components for the actual design. Some of the requirements I set for myself were:

• font choices were to be based on fonts used during a specific time period
• the art chosen needed to reflect the style fo what would have been used during this time period as well
• and because printing was being done in-house and I needed to follow a certain color scheme, the paper chosen need to work with the available printer, the layout and the overall theme of the piece. I need to make sure the paper houses would be able to supply the quanitites I was looking for and the weights I needed

So, please, when you look at something and think that it looks “simple”, take a moment and stop to think about all the separate parts that went into making it and you’ll realize that “simple” design doesn’t equal easy design.

Overall, I am really happy with how the piece came together. Plus, there was a BONUS! Since I was assembling these by hand and printing in-house, I got to have some fun and delve into a few really interesting add-ons: belly band, grommets, and what turned out to be my fav – envelope liners! In the end, all the hard work paid off.

The bride herself called and gave me probably one of the best compliments I have ever received in my whole career. I was beyond relived to know that I nailed this job on the head and that she, a designer herself, loved them.

A great design and a happy client. Challenge met and accomplished!