Pumpkin Party!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from last night's pumpkin party!

full set here.

The Family Name

It's not too often you get to see great packaging with your family's name on it. Too bad I'm not related to these Watkins's.

I'm thinking a basket of prodcuts will make a good Christmas present for my folks.

Bicycles Are People Too!

Justin made this sweet design that's up for voting at threadless right now. $5!

Hey its a post about Obama

Yes this blog is mostly for design, but my friend Anton posted a link to this set of pictures from Obama's campaign trail (taken by TIME photographer Callie Shell) from the last two years and I am very moved by them. This one most of all:

These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, "Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King's words can be true for them." Jan. 21, 2008.

I also felt an emotional connection with these images. Looking through the full set, it felt like if Obama is president, that we will have a real president again. Someone we can respect and admire.
I loved that he cleaned up after himself before leaving an ice cream shop in Wapello, Iowa. He didn't have to. The event was over and the press had left. He is used to taking care of things himself and I think this is one of the qualities that makes Obama different from so many other political candidates I've encountered. Nov. 7, 2007.

It was primary morning in New Hampshire. Barack and Michelle Obama had been campaigning separately all week. In the first few months of 2008 their private time seemed to consist of a few crossover moments in back hallways before rallies. This moment was rare and you could tell they just loved being able to sit together. Jan. 8, 2008.

Every week I feel like I move either closer or further away from feeling good about voting for Obama. (Just to clarify, I have never considered voting for McCain, especially not after Palin entered the picture. ESPECIALLY.)

There are some issues that I disagree with Obama on, but I think that most of my wariness to come out and say "Yes, I'm voting for Obama" has more to do with a general distrust of government. We have so little assurance that what any political figure tells us is true that I find it hard to trust anyone, even Obama, who I would like to trust.

Without going too much into issues, I am going to post a link to a couple of pdfs that you can download from his official site that outlines some of his plans for education in America. Of anything that I've heard the candidates promise, this makes the most sense to me and gives me a lot of hope.

College Affordability Plan
Pre-K thru 12 Plan
Education Reform Plan

There isn't much time left before the election. I think my mind is almost made up. And just to keep with the general content of my blog, here's some design-related Obama stuff.

SpellingChange


poster by cody hudson


And even if Obama isn't elected, he will go down in history as the candidate with the BEST designed campaign ever. That, no matter which side you're on, cannot be argued.




Oh,and here's a little bit of non-partisan, patriotic (because we ALL are) design. I just bought this limited edition USA pin designed by Michael Bierut.

Justin Thinks. Justin Makes.

I'm married to a great man and a great designer. I win!

MINE Studio

Our good friend N8 has recently started a position at MINE Studio in San Francisco just in time to get his mug plastered all over the internet. Click here to check out the write up on grain edit and view photos of their work space. Go N8!

p.s. Nathan, I'm glad to see you don't wear your headband to work.

Work Conversations pt 2

sara asked if we were going to come to zombie prom
and i told her about how much you hate dressing up
uh oh
and being around dressed up people
now i'm in trouble.
and the guy that was standing next to her was like
"i don't know who this guy is....but i don't like him"
you're going to get me in trouble!
nooo
that guy was dumb
i told him you were my husband and that you would go america all over his ace
that scared him good
haha.
i hope you actually did that.
sure did
i also gave him your phone number
GOOD.
i have my american flag do-rag on so i'm good to go.
perfect.

Reminder of a conversation with a friend

I saw these environmental graphics from a Scottish designer on graphic-exchange today and this quote reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend a little while ago about life. Its funny how things come around...

In case you missed it...

the splash page that I designed for the 5th Annual National Student Show and Conference is live and I'm excited about it, so please take a look :)

Work Conversations pt 1

Justin and I keep up with each other throughout the day on ichat, one of the many perks of working in the design field. Most of the time we say nothing of interest, but every once in awhile something funny happens.

Work Conversations part 1:
In which we learn why design studios should always use Macs


how did your website ideas end up?
i wanna see
we sent that off a week ago and haven't heard any feedback yet.
i'll bring it hooooome! if i try to mess with it now my computer will fart and die.
haha
ok
(laaame)
for reals.
you don't have just a pdf or anything?
not one that just shows the designs.
i'll dig around later this afternoon. photoshop is actually working for me right now and if i try and open something else it will become a prima donna.
and become all distant and uncooperative.
i have learned when not to mess with Windoze.

Day Trips

Came across this really cool interactive map today that allows you to take 'day trips' to several cities in North America and Europe. Pretty sweet idea and nicely done. Each city was designed by a different person, so it's unique to the city.

Camille's Birth Announcement

Remember my baby crazy posts from last month? Well, I finally sat down yesterday and churned out a birth announcement for the little one responsible for my obsession with all things baby on etsy.

The new parents of baby Camille are a writer and an English professor, so my mom actually came up with the idea to make the announcement look like a book. Perfect!



I took some inspiration from some classic Penguin covers I saw on this flickr set. This one is my favorite:

Uncanny

I don't know if you watch Project Runway, but if you've seen this season, you may be one of the dozens of people who have thought about the similarity between this year's winner and myself. I've decided to put our faces side by side, mostly to entertain myself, but maybe it will entertain you, too.

DSVC National Student Show & Conference Site

The main site is still very much in the works, but the temporary splash page (with video!) is finally up and running! Check it out: www.dsvcstudentshow.com

Go here:

Have fun.

Scandinavian Product Design & Innovation

Some really cool product design from Ugandan born Scandinavian designer, Lincoln Kayiwa. (via Dirty Mouse)

The Things We See

Justin came up with this great name and we decided it was perfect for our upcoming and ongoing collaborative photo project. BUT, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we need to come up with a general theme or topic for our first group of photos.

Does anyone have any ideas?

We've been trying to brainstorm all weekend and haven't come up with much of anything. I think the less specific the better, so we get a good range of interpretations, but please please start throwing ideas out there so we can get this thing going!

We're really excited that you're interested in contributing. You rock, rock!

Here are a few of the ideas we've kicked around. If anyone likes them, perhaps let us know so we can choose something that everyone will be excited about.

Progress
Hibernation
Things that look like other things
Horror (yes, a bit of a dark theme, but 'tis the month of Halloween)

And a little inspiration that might get the ideas flowing – from the home page of Quinta Feira.

(via The Serif)

Alright...that's all we got. Now it's time for us to stop blogging and finally write some thank you notes that are a couple months overdue.

*p.s. totally did not write any thank you notes this weekend. dang.

Themed photo projects

Here's an internet web for ya: I came across this site after seeing this 15 year old girl's amazing flickr photostream after seeing one of her images on this site.

two of eleanor hardwick's contributions to the home project.



I found this other site a few months ago and fell in love with it and by the grace of God I just remembered the name and found it again for this very blog post! It's called TheOnesWeLove.org and is a beautiful beautiful idea that I'm not above stealing. Looking through these photos gives me that listless wanderlust that I feel when I listen to a really good rambling folk song or walk outside on a cool sunny day. I love the idea of seeing someone through the eyes of the person who loves them the most.






All that to say, I think it would be really great to do a few collective themed photo projects of my own. Would anyone be interested in contributing? I'd love to actually build a site and maybe make it a regular thing...once a month, maybe. Who's down?

Ugandan American Partnership Organization

One of the many wonderful things about my new job is a dedication to supporting organizations and businesses who are working for the greater good of our city, country, and world. My co-worker and friend (and fellow TCU alum), Jamie, is lucky enough to have worked on the pro-bono design project that our firm did for the UAPO. I'm really looking forward to being involved in these types of projects as a professional designer and I'm so thankful to be working with people who feel the same way.

The UAPO currently has four main projects underway that benefit Ugandan communities in several ways--economically, socially, educationally, etc. The Akola Project is 'a craft program designed for economic development and relief for widows in rural villages'. The women who are part of the Akola project make these beautiful necklaces that are actually for sale in two locations in Dallas


Akola is actually a beautiful word, too. I love Africa.

The UAPO website says,"The name "Akola" literally translates as 'with God's ability," or "the ability of God" in Luganda. With God's ability, through Him, we will provide this relief and support to the struggling, courageous, and faithful widows and orphans of this region."

The UAPO also keeps up a blog which I've linked to on my sidebar, so take a look every once in awhile to see what they're up to!

New Penguin Horror Book Series

I want them I want them I want them I want them! Our living room is yellow and gray so how cool would it be to have these on display? AWESOME, THAT'S HOW COOL IT WOULD BE.
View the full set and a video interview with the designer here.

Addendum dum dum

After reading my last post Justin showed me these posters he saw with similar look to the Beck covers on a great design blog called iso50. If you've never been there or seen Scott Hansen's work, go go now. These posters were created for the newest version of Adobe's Creative Suite (CS4) by a Spanish design firm called Vasava. I checked to see if that was a conjugation of a spanish verb, but couldn't find anything online. If any of you spanish speakers have any ideas I'd be curious to know.



Any reactions to the logo for CS4? I feel one way and Justin feels another, lets see how YOU feel!

The Design of Science

For anyone who works in the creative industry its easy to become removed and isolated from disciplines that fall into that other side of the brain. We are often given a handicap of being "artsy" or "creative" which excuses us from the need to pursue or understand information outside of our realm of expertise. But to me, some of the most interesting and relevant ways we can use our creativity comes with a marriage of the left and right sides of the brain. Yesterday I came across this really cool collective blog (which in itself is a very interesting idea) called SpaceCollective.


The design of the site is incredibly beautiful visually and functionally and it got me thinking about how often I am intrigued by the design of scientific information. I never enjoyed my science classes in high school--I always made sure to partner up with someone who did to make sure I got A's--but of the two required science classes I took in college (Principles of Behavior and a really really good Astronomy class) I began to develop an interest in scientific issues that are relevant to our lives in a real way. Still, outside of the classroom, reading an article about any of these issues was pretty far over my head. Then I found Seed Magazine. While the articles are still way over my head, I at least have an ambassador to understanding in the information graphics that accompany the articles.
A Place for Science


All that to say, I decided to share a few examples of really interesting design for scientific information that I hope you enjoy as much as I do. Go Science!

Ffffound.com led me to this guy's flickr photostream.

from the blog TodayandTomorrow



A series of album cover concepts for Beck's latest, by designer Mario Hugo. Not quite design for science, but obviously influenced by science conceptually and visually. And can you believe these weren't used?!

from an article on SpaceCollective about the future of Nationalism