Woot!

AIGA holds its' annual Design Show in which very talented designers and firms submit very beautiful printed pieces such as posters. packaging, books, among branding and website design. I decided to give it a go and submit by Gothic Novel book covers. To my happy surprise I was one of the winners!

My very talented classmate and friend, Jackie, also won for her awesome Burly Bread packaging!

Big Shooter Brewery

 

The label for BSB beer. Influenced by vintage railroad posters, broadsides, and most importantly beer.

Honey Jar Labels

Love how these images turned out!!!

Project: Non-Profit Revamped

The Non-Profit campaign was a major undertaking and I'm sure far from over. I wanted the pieces to have an urban edge, but a little grit and earthiness to them as well. I choose brown and green as the main colors for their obvious relation to nature and added the orange and blue for contrast and for that edge. The advertisements were for an event that our garden was a part of (yes, this is a real community garden). The pieces were a postcard, poster, a promotional seed packet and a member newsletter.

 Postcard Front

 Poster

Newsletter

Seed Packet

Swatch Books

We just did a project where we were to design a series of three related paper swatch book covers. The theme was plants and the typography was to work with any supporting images.

I have to first show some gorgeous swatch books that French Paper has put together...

My three covers:

In a paper store I saw a stamp that looked like a very intricate flower. Upon closer inspection I saw it was actually a doily.  I thought this was a brilliant way to create an abstract image of a flower and then play around with size and placement. I scanned three different doilys and then did a live trace in Illustrator. There is no transparency on these, but you still get an illusion of this with the optical blending of colors. 

Project: Non-Profit

Our assignment is to create at least three printed pieces for a non-profit of our choice. The exception is that it needs to be small (so not the Red Cross or YMCA). I choose our neighborhood community garden (urban farm) Oxford Urban Farm.  First piece - a poster advertising our participation in the Parade of Gardens:

Macbeth

The assignment was to create a postcard and poster for The Guthrie's Macbeth. The focus was to be on the typography and any graphic elements were to be abstract. The font used for Macbeth itself was part of another assignment. That was created from scratch.

Postcard Front

 Postcard Back

The Poster

Project: Farmer's Market (The End)

Several weeks and many alterations later I have a completed packaging for the honey jars as well as a pamphlet. I wanted to give them an identity that was elegant but also clean and a bit old fashion. The colors needed to pop but not overwhelm.

Past Project: Farmers Market Ads

This project was from my Photoshop class a couple of semesters ago. The objective was to create two ads for the Minneapolis Farmer's Market that would be posted on the side of the city bus and at the bus stop.

Judge a Book by its Cover

 All images from Penguin Books

I started thinking more about the book jacket asignment. Reading the forward to Pemguin 75..., it made me think of what the book cover actually is. Chris Ware put it rather well:

"Concomitantly, the book cover has evolved from a simple protective wrapper into something of a contemporary striptease between author and reader, both as a means of drawing attention to and selling the book, or amplifying and even extending the book itself into the reader's mind and fingertips."

How much do we rely on a book's cover when we are deciding to buy? I would say it depends and yes I know that's so vague. If this is an established class - say Pride and Prejudice - then cover art is less important in terms of selling. If this is a new work, then I would agree that a really cover cover design can be so enticing and pull the buyer right in.

Project: Farmer's Market

So this is what I have so far: thoughts?

Project: Book Jacket Design

The Project:

Design a series of three related (genre, style) dust jackets. We have an option of varying hardcover novel sizes.

I'm very excited for this project. I've always been drawn to book jackets, namely vintage ones.

From Design Related

From Found in Mom's Basement

I was at a used bookstore yesterday and fate was smiling at me because I found a used copy of Penguin 75 Designers, Authors, Commentary (the good, the bad...). Paging through it I think I may have found a calling. 

 

 

Past Project: Coffee House Ads

This was a 3 part series of ads we created for a coffee house of our choosing. I choose Nina's in St. Paul which is in walking distance from home.

Two things were standing out to me when I did research for these ads. The first was that Nina's had this great eclectic mix of old furniture that made it unlike any chain coffee house you ever visited. The second thing that stood out was that a healthy two thirds of the customers stayed for long periods of time and worked or read while they sipped their beverages. This wasn't an in and out sort of coffee house. I wanted to capture both of those feelings in these ads.

Project: Farmer's Market Campaign

The Project:

Create a series of marketing, promotional and packaging pieces for a business at a local farmer's market. Interview the owner to learn more about their business philosophy, the product, the customers and the competition.

I instantly think of honey producers and soap. Your standard veggie stand (here in Minnesota) doesn't have much in terms of an identity let alone a need for product packaging. I have visions of beautiful honey jars with elegant fonts and maybe a nod to rural simplicity. Or there is cheese. I like cheese.

Apparently she likes cheese too....Or she's plotting someone's death...

Some honey inspiration:

From Designer Liz Cox


From Designer Chad Landenberger



From Savannah Bee Company