Monday, October 10, 2011

Art Works



So this is super neat. I think all artisit need to participate!

It's a poster contest to illustrate how you support Obama's plan for bringing jobs to America. I'm definitely doing one. Get cracking! The deadline is November 4, 2011.

Here's the link for all the deets (thats details people) : http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/artworks-submission

And if you need a little inspiration, check out this book I read a while back. Design for Obama .

Happy creating!

KT

Friday, September 16, 2011

Font Friday

GOTA














I use to occasionally do this because I would see so many people just posting free fonts everywhere. I mean, you can never have enough fonts right? I'll try to post every Friday....don't hold me to it. Enjoy! I'm itching to use this Gota font on something.....


KT

Monday, July 18, 2011

Local Inspiration - Design For Good

Great morning inspiration. And it's local for once, which was even more inspiring. People using their design and creativity powers for good. So here's to you Mr. Hawkins. You rock:

On my way back from my usual trek to the kitchen every morning for a double fisted cup of coffee and a cup of water, I saw on the table a copy for the new RSVP Magazine. The cover caught my eye because it was so clean and...fresh. Yeah, fresh.

Anyway, I stopped and started flipping through it and came across The List, a list of about 10 young professionals they feature each issue, and of course I saw the word Graphic Designer. Hooked from then on.

Featured was Winfred Hawkins, a Junior Graphic Designer at my old stomping grounds Auburn University Montgomery. Point one scored.

He uses his art for the power of good. Outside of the Rosa Parks Musuem are 10 drawings that he did starting in high school. 2 more points to you.

Plays bass for the local Montgomery band Hellakoptka of Love. 3 more points.

And finally, he is a contributor to Helicity, a local non-profit organization that is dedicated to creating postive change in Montgomery. 10 points to Gryffindor.

Read the write up in RSVP magazine here.

Anyway, it's always nice to see something about how Graphic Designers are making their impact. Are you using your powers for good? I know I'm going to strive to. =)

Virginia is for Lovers...or Perverted Minds



So I've been a very poor blogger as of late! So I will redeem myself now.

I finally took a much needed/deserved vacation. I kept saying I was ready to vacay but I was over the beach. I love the look and the atmosphere of it, but I'm a look and go see-er type of vacationer.

So one of my "Things to Accomplish in the Year of 25" was to take a long road trip. I had been debating for a while to visit a friend in Virginia and her baby shower was coming up, so finally I said what the hell, why not? So off we went trekking the 10 hour journey to Virginia.

Note to self: Make sure you stop more than once between Georgia and Virginia. It's killer on your legs.

The next day, Katie had to work and the original plan was to spend the day in Richmond. But by little persuasion, we ended up going to Washington DC. SO COOL! I'd never been there and it was so neat seeing all these famous monuments in person. My only dissappointment was there was no water in the reflection pool. No MLK I have a dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial happening. But that was ok.

I wish we had more than one day so I could visit the Smithsonian Museums but nevertheless, still one of the greatest experiences ever!  << Vacation Pics Here! >>

And then I got a good laugh by giving Katie Go The Fuck To Sleep at her baby shower. LOL. Couldn't think of a more perfect gift. << Listen to Samuel L. Jackson reading the audio version! >>

I'm already thinking about when I can get away again. A girl needs her vacation to survive.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Word Yo

I really need to own this mug. We're going to file this under the GD Bible. (Graphic Design Bible. You dirty minded people.)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Typography in Movie Posters

So anybody who knows me, knows I have a deep obsession with movies. Like I LOVE them. Like the ultimate job for me would include being a designer for some movie and sitting in the theatre watching my name scroll on the credits under the list of graphic designers. Hell, I even have framed movie posters at home. So today's perfect inspiration is typography in movie posters. Enjoy!

1. 300



2. 2012




3. American Beauty




4. Big Fish




5. The Dark Knight



6. The Departed





7. Gangs of New York



8. Inception



9. Max Payne




10. Ocean's 11





11. Ocean's 12





12. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World




13. Sex and the City





14. The Spirit




15. Taken




16. West Side Story




17. Zombieland




                          


































18. The Social Network


                                                  


















 

















19. 27 Dresses




                                     

































20. As Good As It Gets


Tuesday, April 26, 2011

50 Reasons Not To Date A Graphic Designer


So I found the funniest post the other day and had to share.
(The bolded ones are ones that I am guilty of. o_O)


1. They are very weird people.
2. There are billions of them in the world, like colors on the screen of your computer.
3. They will analyse conversations in layers.
4. You will spend the day assembling furniture from IKEA.
5. They drink and eat all kinds of weird shit just because they like the packaging.
6. They hate each other.
7. You’ll come out the last out of the movies because you have to see the full list of credits.
8. They cant change a light bulb or without making a sketch.
9. They fuck up all the tables with their cutters.
10. They rather study the paisley pattern on your outfit than listen to what you have to say.
11. They will fill your house with magazines and whatever is out there that has drawings.
12. You never know if it is really an original or a copy.
13. They make collages with your photos.
14. They do not know how to add and subtract, they just understand letters.
15. They idolize people who nobody knows and speak of them as if they were his colleagues.
16. They take pictures almost daily and all are cut in weird shapes.
17. They ask your opinion about everything but  they do whatever they want.
18. Everything is left justified, right or center unless they arrive late.
19. They hate Comic Sans with the same passion they love Helvetica.
20. They use iPhone for everything, because everyone has one.
21. You can not decorate the house without consulting them.
22. They steal street signs.
23. Always carry their hands painted with something.
24. They buy dolls unfinished for them to paint.
25. Everything becomes something other than what it really is: cards as tickets, cards as …26. When arguing, you will be nicknamed like the OSX spinning wheel (not affectionately)
27. Do not know how to dress without consulting the Pantone book.
28. They hate Excel.
29. They read comics.
30. They want to save the world only with a poster
.
31. You will spend the day brainstorming.
32. On vacation they will take you to countries that you do not know exist and have no beach.33. Museums are their second home.
34. They know more positions than the Kamasutra.
35. They can’t go to a restaurant without secretly critiquing the menu design.
36. They listen to music you have never heard of.
37. They can´t cook a normal dish, they always have to experiment with new ingredients.38. They read rare books: stories of children, Semiotics …
39. When you are going to tell you something, everyone has read it in their facebook and twitter.
40. They have own iPods before you knew they existed.
41. The orgasm they remember is when they heard that Adobe was acquiring Macromedia.
42. They have their own shops just for them and there are the most expensive in the city.
43. They want to spend all the money in the Apple Store.
44. You will never understand their gifts.
45. They see ordinary objects and laugh.
46. You wake up in the middle of the night hearim them screaming “When is the deadline?”

47. They see CMYK and RGB like Neo sees the Matrix.
48. They dream of the day nobody will make a single change to their designs.

49. They rather pay for a font than for a special birthday gift.
50. They are always sleepy because they work 24/7.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Keeping up the appearance of having all your marbles is hard work, but important

Water For Elephants
by Sara Gruen

Again, I shamelessly read this book after finding out it was a Reese Witherspoon/Robert Pattinson soon to be flick. And it's been in the back of my mind to read anyway because it was another one of those books that were on the bestsellers for months.

I love that it's one of those flashback novels that cross between the past and the present. In the present, you get Jacob Jankowski, who can't remember if he's 90 or 93 (But at the age, does it even really matter?) that's living in a nursing home trying to hold on to the bit of sanity he has left.

The heart of the story is that the circus comes to town and one of the new people at the nursing home claims he carried water for elephants, which all the old ladies go ga ga for, and  pisses Jacob off.

1. Jacob knows its impossible to carry water for elephants. 2. You find out why throughout the book with his series of flashbacks to his life working for a circus.

And this is where the past Jacob comes in. After the tragedy of losing his parents and being left with nothing, he irrationally jumps a train (a traveling circus of all things) and he ends up getting a job as the circus vet. And he ends up falling in love with not only the animals and Rosie the elephant, but the boss' wife, Marlena.

And so the story begins.

Without giving out too much detail, the book from this point on is literally a circus. The shows were entertaining to watch, but Jacob quickly finds out that the circus is a cruel and cold world to be working in. You almost have to be able to have no conscience working for The Benzini Brothers Greatest Show On Earth. And for a little background color, you also get a little history of life during The Depression and Prohibition Era too.

By the end of the book, 2 things have happened that I thought was a nice little bow ending. In the beginning, he escaped his uncertainty about life by joining the circus. In the end, he escapes his uncertainty about life back to the only thing he knows, the circus. Fitting, I think.

I can't really give you an awesome review like I want, because I would tell the whole story. So read the book, or wait until the movie comes out. I'm excited to see what it's going to look like on screen. =)

Water For Elephants: Approved

Thursday, March 31, 2011

How To Steal Like An Artist

Don't you love when you create something and the NDP (otherwise known as the
Non-Designer Person) asks you that all important question in their mind: "How did
you come up with that?"
or one of my favorites "How do you do what you....do???"
Seriously, I have no proven or practiced madness to my method. It usually sparks
from one tiny thing or idea and goes from there.

I came across this awesome post today from How Magazine from an artist/writer
Austin Kleon. It's from a presentation he gave at a college on "How To Steal Like
An Artist and 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me." I think these are all are relevant to
not just ATP's (or Artist Type People) but NDP's too. Anyway, it gave me a little
inspirational life juice just the same. Read the actual post on his explanations of these.
I admit, I'm still working on #8!












The Terrible Awful Thing

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett

So I've seen this book on bestsellers forever. I hate to say it, but I do judge a book by its cover. LOL. Attribute it to being a design snob. Anyway, earlier this month I read a review about this book in Entertainment Weekly (you will quickly learn, this is my holy bible of pop culture) and I couldn't believe I didn't know what this book is about and I haven't read it. And as annoying as it is, I am also one of those people who likes to read a book before a movie comes out.

The Help is about the lives of black maids in the 1960's right during the heart of Civil Rights. MLK is still alive, Rosa Parks has already happened, and they are on the brink of getting the March On Washington to happen. It centers primarily around 3 people: Aibileen, a maid; Minny, her smart mouth best friend and also a maid; and Skeeter Phelan, a fresh out of college journalism major.

It's hard to really describe what the book is about without being too wordy.  It's a book about writing a book from 3 perspectives. So let me do a short break down of each.

Aibileen:
She's the nurturing, grandmotherly type. Tries to just do what she's told and just accepts things the way they are. All her life she's been a maid/nanny. She has worked for dozens of white families raising their kids. And when the kids get old enough, or as she puts it, starts to loose their color-blindness she moves on to another family. She's suffered a great loss with her son and tries to bounce back by working for Skeeter's good friend Elizabeth and raising her child. But after the death of her son, accepting things "the way they are" just gets harder and harder.

Minny:
She is the exact opposite of Aibileen. The only thing that makes her a great maid is that she is the best cook in Jackson. But she loves to talk back and tell it like it is, no matter if they're white or black. Which has resulted her in having many jobs after getting fired for her smart comments. She did work for the mother of Skeeter's other good friend Hilly (The leader and complete bitch of the white community), but Hilly can't stand that mouth of hers and gets her fired by spreading rumors that she's a thief. Which results in her doing "The Terrible Awful Thing" that you read the whole book to find out. SO FUNNY.

Skeeter:
Just returned home from Ole Miss and eager to write. Most of her friends went to school for their MRS degree but she actually wanted to be a writer. And why she's so different than most white people of the time. The things that are happening with race bothers her just as much as black people, though she would never tell any of her friends about these thoughts. A publisher from New York urges her to write something real and groundbreaking if she ever expects to make it as a writer and female at that. So she comes up with the idea to write a book about the good and the bad about being a maid as told from interviews with actual maids. The problem: writing this book without people finding out AND getting actual maids to tell their story in secret without losing their jobs or worse, being killed.

So with that being said, I thought it was a great book. Something everybody should read. I'm not much of a history lover, but I do admit to loving anything to do with black history and civil rights because it is apart of my history and deep in Alabama culture. And I'm even more impressed that Kathryn Stockett, a white female, could easily write the perspective of a black person and make it believable. I never once while reading it thought "no, she's got it all wrong."

Now go read it before the movie comes out! I checked out IMDB and am satisfied with the cast. Especially Emma Stone as Skeeter.

The Help: Approved

Friday, March 25, 2011

I Got Through That Sentence Like a Subject and a Predicate

So I finally decided to do it...by "it," I mean start a blog. I'm not particularly a writer of sorts, but I thought why not put my random ramblings of the mind on a blog for everybody to read?

As a graphic designer, I'm always looking for ways to be inspired. I'm constantly searching the web, life, whatever for anything that will spark a brainstorm and to validate if other designers are experiencing the same symptoms of being a "creative." Anyway, I see so many things, that I want to share what I find with everyone who is searching for that same inspiration through design, books, music, movies, etc.
 
Who knows, this might be just the creative juice you need to start your day.
 
~Kristina