A year in the life of.....

Annual reports can be beige. Very beige.

My final semester at uni was spent creating a fictional annual report for our local Botanic Gardens. I took photos of my Mum emerging from a waterfall of pink boganvillea for the CEO's letter, made column graphs with blades of grass and pie charts with different coloured leaves. It was lovely to look at, but not particularly corporate and I doubt it maintained any kind of brand guide lines.

My work in the 'real world' has been a little less pretty. I have designed numerous corporate profiles and annual reports, but never with as much excitement as my very first attempt.

I keep my eye out on my daily trawl of the world wide web for designers who have a different approach. Designers who make this kind of work interesting.

Nichlas Feltron definitely ticks this box. http://feltron.com/

Nicholas creates what he calls 'personal annual reports'. According to his 2006 annual report, he visited 8 airports, took 11 flights, played 49 DJ sets, snapped 2721 photos and read 42 issues of The New Yorker magazine. Clear and conscise, each report presents interesting morsels of his daily life.

Nicholas loves data and design. His reports smoosh the two together, making data interesting and design appreciated. No wonder Fast Company recognised him as one of the 50 most influential designers in America.

Daytum displays Nicholas' almost obsessive interest in data. You have to check out this site! http://daytum.com/ WARNING: YOU WILL LOSE HOURS OF TIME. Enjoy.

Slow days

A particularly slow day at work today. After laying out two stories that will most likely meet the glossy pages of our mag; inhaling a giant slab of carrot cake; staring out the window at the seedy coffee shop; and photoshopping a photo of Conor's head into a rose bud, it's time to be productive.

Like most designers, i am constantly on the hunt for inspiration. I have a very stock standard set of designey sites that I like to check daily. The more time I have, the more links I click, the more I discover. Today has been a great day for discovery!

First up in my tangled web clicking, I stumbled upon Jessica Hische. 

The gorgeous (and quite Cat Power-ish - must be the fringe) Jessica is a Brooklyn based typographer, illustrator and designer. Her typographic design is a fine balance between loud+fun and beautiful+restrained.

"Type is a skill that you can only improve on with a lot of practice. Drawing it day in and day out for three years has had a massive impact on my type work." No doubt Jessica's skill would have been honed during her years working with Louise Fil.  Jessica makes that annoying old saying 'practice makes perfect' really ring true.

BONDS FESTIVE WRAPPING PAPER

 I would love to receive chrissy presents wrapped in this! It's the kind of paper that steals the attention from whatever it conceals.

Jessica has worked on a collection of books, each of them showing off her keen typographic eye. There is a great collection of book covers on her website. Have a look here.

 

Italianissimo

Italianissimo 

Italianissimo

When you're done checking out Jessica's website, check out her blog. She has a nerdy little side project for all you procrastinators out there....carrot cake, conors face on a rose bud....

enjoy xx

Put on your dancing shoes!

I've never been able to dance. My Mum and Brother are awesome dancers, my Dad and I - not so much.... These pics are great! It's a project called "Dancers Among Us" by Jordan Matters. Pretty ssshhweeet!

Vintage Packaging

Vintage cheese packaging found on the dieline (http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2011/2/7/vintage-packaging-cheese-labels.html).
Very cute.

      

Pierre Cardin

The other night, I was flipping through my house mate's copy of Marie Claire and was fairly excited to come across an article about Jean-Pascal Hesse’s book on Pierre Cardin. I am yet to lay eyes on a hard copy of this puppy, but “Pierre Cardin: 60 years of Innovation” looks particularly lovely. 

I grew up with a Bird of Paradise bush right outside my bedroom window. This is a Pierre Cardin LAMP! I love. I love lamp.

I remember my brother’s best friend Ross gave him a Pierre Cardin dressing gown for his 21st birthday. I’ve never seen two 21 year old boys so excited over a piece of terry towelling. Mind you, it was a particularly stylish piece of towelling. My brother wore it for the entire week of his 21st celebrations. In the middle of a Sydney summer...

 
The book has been launched to celebrate his fashion house’s 60th anniversary - and what an action packed 60 years it has been! A blurb for this book points out that we can now “wear, eat, drink or live in Cardin: cigarettes, champagne, cosmetics, perfume, chocolate, wallpaper, automobiles, planes—his name is on everything.”

coming to a music festival near you...

  So today, I’ve had a browse around and found some lovely little images of his work.

DOG JUDO

This is one of my all time favourite time wasting web sites.

When I was at uni, my friend Will and I used to watch this during our design studio sessions (straight after watching 'people getting scared' on youtube). When we first got onto it, back in '07, there weren't too many episodes. We'd watch the same ones over and over again...and laugh every time. Enjoy this Friday morning giggle.

http://www.dogjudo.com/

IMOK

My friend Jen and her friend Sandra have created the most enchanting world and named it IMOK. Anchored in Sydney (Jen) and Melbourne (Sandra), Jen and Sandra amass ludicrous phone bills discussing ideas and spend hours hunched over their sketch pads. Both are self taught artists who are following their dream and making a difference.

The philosophy behind their work is simple; their world says "I'm Ok if you are". I love this idea. Jen & Sandra explain it further...

“It is on our canvases where it all makes sense. That’s where our characters get to hang out, embracing and celebrating their uniqueness – where it’s ok to be different. It’s about positive thinking, not denying your dark side, speaking your mind and believing in yourself and your dreams. Our creative goal is to express those ideas and aspirations in our work, and to have them reflected out in the world.”

IMOK 2005

Jen & Sandra have incredible imaginations and are lucky enough to also be stunningly talented illustrators. You can almost see their little creatures dancing about in their dreams.

Check out their website & their BRAND NEW BLOG to learn more about the beautiful world of IMOK.

http://imokland.blogspot.com/
http://www.imok.com.au http://www.redbubble.com/people/imok/
www.myspace.com/imokdesigns