inspiration: hum creative

There's a lot of talented design studios in Seattle, and one of my larger inspirations of late is Hum Creative. Kate Harmer has a style that is bright and clean and full of character, which translates well in both print and web. She has a serious flair for typography, and I think her work is showcased especially well when letterpress printed. Being a sucker for good typography and letterpress myself, it's no wonder she's a favorite.


Logo & business cards for Seattle photographer/creative manager Sarah Jurado


Wedding invitations for Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel

Some of my favorite projects of Kate's are her interactive ones. What Comes To Mind? "in­structs view­ers to make con­nec­tions be­tween the image and the let­ter print­ed over it" via a series of photos removed from context. Each photo is juxtaposed with a letter of the alphabet and a lined card for viewers to write down their associations.



Another favorite interactive project is Methods Employed, a collaborative list of methods people have suggested for creative endeavors. It's full of (as the name would suggest) methods, advice, ideas, and general thoughts on the creative process. I enjoyed reading through the list and even added a few myself!

Kate's a talented illustrator too, and I fully recommend checking out her full portfolio.

inspiration: EF language programs

It's not terribly often that my interests in art/design and linguistics/language teaching overlap, but here's a case where they have quite beautifully. EF language programs put together a series of videos advertising their "live the language" approach to language learning. The entire team that worked on these did a stunning job - the photography on its own is gorgeous, but it's the typography here that really won me over. Type done well says more than many other aspects of design can do. Watch their video for French below, and be sure to check out their others for Spanish, English, and Chinese.