Crafty gift ideas

This afternoon is devoted to making Justin's birthday present. Its super top-secret, but I'll share images after he gets it on Saturday. For now though, in the spirit of crafty gifts for men, I found this on etsy and it made me laugh out loud. Made by Spamberly, who describes herself in these words: Pixilation fascinates me. Easy algebra problems get me hot. Needles and thread send me over the edge.

Books on Design

I'm pretty excited about the release of the book Women of Design co-authored by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit (also co-founders of underconsideration.com) that's been in the works for about a year.

Take a look at the mini-website they made for the book and you'll find this at the top:
The immense body of work produced by graphic designers around the world is astoundingly varied, rich and widely celebrated. Yet in publications, conferences and other public realms, women designers tend to be outnumbered by their male counterparts whose appearances, work and achievements are constantly in the spotlight. Luckily, it’s a reversing trend. While this book does not attempt to relieve the imbalance, it does bring full attention to the wonderful work, careers and contributions of women designers, writers, teachers and entrepreneurs around the world.

Another nerd-tastic item on my Christmas list (thanks for the suggestion, Amazon!): 79 Essays on Design, by Michael Bierut

On Community

These are a few random pictures from flickr that popped up when I searched "community".


I'm feeling an intense desire for community right now and I think it stemmed from one of my daily trips to Crooked Tree and a couple of articles I read in the latest issue of Paste magazine...which is sort of a strange way for that to happen. Apparently Paste named Denton, TX the best music scene of the year. The article talked about the hard work of artists and music enthusiasts who work together to make this fertile music community. Justin and I were part of the community for a brief summer in 2005 when we were the lowly interns of the Art Prostitute gallery. So I think that planted the seed. Then I read the article about The Welcome Wagon, a husband-wife/pastor-mom duo who love Jesus and the community that makes up their Presbyterian church in Brooklyn and who also happen to be on the Asthmatic Kitty record label with Sufjan Stevens as their producer. In the interview they talk about their community and its clear that the music is born from a love for Christ rather than a desire for recognition.

I want for us to find a church. I'm excited about one we visited a couple of weeks ago and I hope it works out. Church visiting is kind of like dating, don't you think? I guess we'll just know it when we find it. Seems like everyone we've met lately is Presbyterian though. Maybe its a sign....

Family photos

Heather's business cards

Its always nice to see your work printed out and all professional-like.

TOMS shoes

Typographic social justice videos sure are in this year. But hey, its for a good cause. I love my TOMS shoes and I'm sure the child who got a pair for the ones I bought loves his too. There are a lot of new styles on the site, so if you haven't looked in awhile go check 'em out. They even have vegan options now!

Air Lines

I was pretty excited to find this today via the Elle Decoration blog. Artist Mario Freese explains his work: Air Lines is an art project showing worldwide airliner routes. Every single scheduled flight on any given day is reresented by a fine line from it's point of origin to it's port of destination. Thereby forming a net of thousands of lines. Hubs like JFK, FRA or DXB turn into dark knots where lines meet, lesser served local services are only are a subtle hint.

My dad has worked for the FAA for a million years and has a hobby-like interest in informationalesque graphics, so I thought it was the perfect Christmas present for him. I'm pretty excited to see it in person. I'll have to force myself to wrap it up and give it to him instead of hanging it on my own wall.

Questionable Characters

www.questionablecharacters.com
Our very own local Ben Barry (UNT alum) and Frank Chimero have teamed up to answer questions about design! How nice of them! Both of them have portfolios bursting at the seams with fantastic ideas. Take a look, but not at a time when you're worried about how you'll ever get a job after graduation. Its just not healthy.

"Imitation We Can Believe In"

What happens when politicians start realizing that the branding of their campaigns makes a difference in public perception?




Pretty interesting to see sans-serif Hebrew.

via Brand New
witty title via this guy's comment on the original post

BarfootWorldwide

My old boss Jeff of BarfootWorldwide just updated his site. Its full of great concepts and intriguing and clever imagery with a little hint of smart ass. You should definitely take a look..if you like that kind of thing.

Not getting much done today

except for typographic designer jokes.

Burst of Beaden

Quite possibly my new favorite illustrator, Jon Klassen of Burst of Beaden has created beautiful layered works full of texture and character. Be sure to check out the short films he's animated on his site. They're wonderfully clever and entertaining. My favorite title is "An Eye for Annai" (embedded below) for which Jon also created the soundtrack...on a recorder. Remember those from elementary school? Really great stuff.






If you're the gift-giving kind and want to support an artist, there are some very nicely priced prints of his available here.

The Girl Effect

*I realized after reading N8's and Anton's comments that I probably should've given some context to this video. Here is the website on which the video is found: The Girl Effect.

I don't know if you can read the smaller text in the image, but it says that a woman or girl will reinvest 90% of her income into her family. A man will reinvest 30-40%.

The idea of "the girl effect" is in the context of socially and economically developing countries where women are not typically allowed to have a role in society outside of motherhood. The video is saying that if girls are given opportunities to participate in their societies that many of the social and economic issues that plague these societies will start to improve.




We watched this at work yesterday and it's incredible (visually and informationally). Please watch!

Old Navy Loves Charley Harper

I got super excited when I saw a special Charley Harper display at Old Navy last weekend. So excited that I started trying to talk Justin into having a baby. Slow down, Christina. Charley Harper books will still exist in a few years.



Click here to see the full range of Charley Harper goodies.

HH identity

business card front & back



letterhead



letterhead detail




Some recent freelance work I did for a friend's video production company. Please don't prank call Heather...more than once.

Picky picky

My co-worker Jamie so nicely pointed out to me the blaring kerning error that I overlooked in my current blog header. So, after putting it off, I finally fixed it. There. I hope you're happy. You don't even read my blog.

Before:


After:


Ten points for spotting the BLARING kerning error.

Obama's Design Team

I've been wondering, desperately wanting to know who the design firm is behind Obama's campaign since i first saw his historically iconic logo and brilliant branding strategy. It has been a mystery to me, but I finally know, thanks to this post on GraphicHug.

A collaboration between two Chicago based firms, Sender LLC and mo/de produced the best campaign graphics in the history of America. I love that Obama and his team went with local firms in Chicago. So often companies or individuals will hire design firms nowhere near where they do what they do, and when it comes to a project about a community or group of people, I love it when they remember where they came from and support their own communities.

mo/de also made this spot before the election was over. Nicely done.



I'm still not sure who is responsible for the design of the website, but a company that Justin has done some work for called BlueState Digital developed the backend. So exciting to have really good political design that's going to stay around for awhile! Check out Obama's transition website: www.change.gov

Say Hello to Buckethead

Today we did the most un-Childress thing ever (but a very Christina thing) and got a kitten. His name is Buckethead. This puts us at a pet tally of 4. 1 dog, two cats, and 1 hamster.

illustrator Eleanor Grosch

Tonight's DSVC speaker was illustrator Eleanor Grosch of Philadelphia. A very sincere and talented lady, her talk was very down to earth and practical, especially for those interested in working as a freelance illustrator or designer. Her animal prints remind me a lot of a sort of modern/digital version of Charley Harper's work. Lovely illustration, I'm excited to keep tabs on her portfolio site to see what she does in the next few years. She also has some nice information to check out on how to screenprint and be an eco-friendly artist. She has a blog, too.




She does a lot more than illustrate foxes, I just like those the best. Here's a comparison of her white crane to Charley Harper's:
Eleanor's:



Harper's:

In Response to Living in a Red State

"When Christians react to elections with despair and panic, they [demonstrate] that their faith is in the wrong place...Salvation is not something that Caesar holds in his hand, whether to give or withhold." -Douglas Wilson

p.s. HISTORY! WE MADE HISTORY. YEAH!

Halloween

We're fairly anti-social :) so our friends Cara and Jamie stopped by on Halloween to show us their costumes in the midst of our X-files marathon. It was quite entertaining. Jamie was a lion and Cara was herself. In five years.

Congratulations to Michael & Jana!

So happy to say that our neighbors Michael & Jana are going to Ethiopia over Thanksgiving to pick up their sweet little daughter, Ruthie! Congrats, new Mom and Dad!