He's Such A Card

I designed this card for my dad for Father's Day. If anyone would like to order one, please leave a comment and I will send one to you! I'm charging $4 (which includes the paper, printing, and labor of hand cutting) as well as whatever postage would cost to send it to you. The limited color, fonts, and imagery are all retro-inspired. Printed on white linen paper. Will fit perfectly into a regular letter envelope.

Sydney's Vintage Clothing

If you're into vintage clothing and have the internet, I'm sure you have heard of them. Sydney's Vintage Clothing has one of the largest selections of vintage clothes I've seen. I was fortunate enough to get to meet Sydney and her husband at their real-life shop in Auburn, where I went to college. In addition to selling vintage clothing, it was really nice to see a old-fashioned mom-and-pop shop run with friendly shopkeepers. I feel like I've gotten to know them, and they are a really nice couple. Recently Sydney asked to feature me on her blog as a graphic designer! I am really excited! You can click here to view the post. If you have a minute, please leave a comment or question! :)

Retro-spect

Once again I have completely redone my blog...and I apologize for any confusion. I am constantly being inspired by new things and, as a designer, I seem to have this insatiable urge to continuously redesign.

The inspiration came from the BHG Cookbook that I bought yesterday. I loved the fonts, colors, and illustrations. Everything is so simple but playful at the same time. I used a typeface called Bodoni, which was a popular font in the 50s and 60s. Believe it or not but it has actually been around since about 1800! It was a favorite of graphic design legend Paul Rand, and is in fact much more accurate than a lot of those exaggerated retro fonts out there. They often would take something clean and simple like Bodoni and just ever-so-slightly rotate each letter to give it that classic 50s look. I followed that same technique and then added some hand-drawn flourishes based on one of the recipe titles. Finally, I created a sunburst pattern in the background and gave it a vintage look by adding the texture and vignette.

Anyway, just thought it might be worthwhile to share some of the knowledge I have about vintage graphic design for anyone interested...and to document my current/former design, since it's sure to change again at some point 0:)

Wooden Spice Rack Upcycle

In case you don't remember, here is the spice rack I bought recently, and this is what it originally looked like:

These are the materials that I used: craft paint ('bright red', 'ocean breeze', and a white for the base coat), a paint brush, a brown fine tipped pen, and some stick-on labels from the wedding section of Michael's. I started by covering everything in white. Then I painted the outside red, and added blue to the inside of the drawers. I hand-drew the names on the labels, based on a font called Archer. I'm debating whether or not to paint the bottom of the shelves blue to tie it together, and I have yet to put on a sealer, to keep the paint from chipping (I'll probably go with Mod Podge—it's great to use as long as you don't mind brush strokes. Otherwise, use a spray on like Shellac.)

Adding Some Flavor

I really haven't been able to post as much the past few days because I've been working a lot, so I thought I would share this really cute spice rack that I found at an estate sale not too long ago. I am excited about touching it up with a little paint and designing my own labels to go around the bottles (and when I finally do get around to it, I will definitely post!). I love the old bottles though; they're my favorite part. With a little elbow grease and graphic designing, I'm sure they will be beautiful again in no time! :)

Everyone's A Critic

Hello again everyone! I know I've posted a lot today, but being a graphic designer, I do spend a lot of my time on the computer 0:) I have been improving on the website I created for my fiance, who is venturing into the field of film. I would love it if anyone reading this post could visit the site and tell me if they run into any problems. I only have a mac, and am unsure how it will appear on different browsers and systems, so I would really appreciate the help. Any comments about the overall design are welcome too! Thank you!

Stumbled Upon

Back when I was in web design class, I stumbled upon (and no, I don't mean that random search engine) this one particular website that really stood out to me. Long afterward, I went to find that website and realized that I hadn't saved it anywhere and had nothing more to type into Google than "retro TV website." Still, I searched insatiably.

Amazingly, yesterday I was reading an article about how graphic designers have been incorporating 'vintage' into their designs and...there it was!

I recommend visiting this website because it is the most amazing site I've ever seen. The company was established by the collaboration of a graphic and product designer, which from what I can see, must be a match made in heaven.

Also, I thought I would share my outfit today. I was so excited this morning when I took out my curls because yesterday I went and got a hair cut! Well, all of them actually. (lol) The dress and shoes are from The Attic Door (a consignment store in Tinley Park) and the sweater is from Forever21.