inspiration: books and pdx

This summer has been surprisingly full of travel, and I'm only just getting around to projects that have been on the to-do list. In the meantime, I've been totally in awe of two new projects by Portland-based illustrators/authors.

My friend Amy Martin recently relocated to Portland from Los Angeles. This coincided with the release of her new children's book, Symphony City, by McSweeney's.

Amy's illustration is hugely inspiring for me - her work is saturated with color and her graphic style is appealing and very well-suited for everything from music posters to (you guessed it) children's books. What impresses me the most about her latest project is that she also wrote the book herself, and great children's literature is deceptively difficult. If you get a chance, pick up a copy from your local bookstore (it's also available on amazon.com).


Another huge inspiration at the moment is the new project of Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy and Decemberists illustrator (and wife of Colin) Carson Ellis. I have long loved Carson's work, and so it's been incredible to see what she's come up with for their new book Wildwood, the first in a series of books known as the Wildwood Chronicles. Colin is authoring the texts, and Carson is illustrating. You can preview the first four chapters via the Wildwood website now. I think I'm most excited to see all of the illustrations Carson has come up with.

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.

beautiful angle

I'm a longtime fan of anything letterpressed, and while I've been making posters and doing other design for years, there are a few tangible design mediums I haven't yet had a lot of experience with. Letterpress is one of those, and the other week I finally got a chance to see the process in person (and even help out a little bit!).



Beautiful Angle is a letterpress studio in Tacoma, WA run by Lance Kagey that's constantly turning out really wonderful stuff. Once a month, Lance and writer Tom Llewellyn (along with friends and collaborators) make a run of posters to put up around Tacoma. On top of the monthly Beautiful Angle posters, Lance often does posters for events in the area. I got a chance to look through the huge backlog of posters they've built up while we worked on pressing some posters for upcoming Wintergrass. I couldn't help grabbing a few photos while down there...


Some custom letters Lance designed himself.


The portion of the Wintergrass posters we were pressing that night.


Lance's gorgeous vintage letterpress.



Letterpress is an art that's tangible in a way that many things in our lives aren't anymore. In such a digital age I find it refreshing to work with my hands and it helps me really appreciate the physical result of such a time-tested craft. I'm looking forward to spending more time with this medium in the future.


Posters drying.

And here are just a few examples of the work Beautiful Angle has done:

inspiration: christian sorensen hansen

Seattle is so alive with creativity that sometimes my heart feels fit to burst. I am beyond impressed with the musicians and artists here, and these two videos by Christian Sorensen Hansen are a perfect representation of why. Be sure to check out both of these bands as well as Christian's other work -

International Filing Systems / Christian Sorensen Hansen
Bryan John Appleby
Campfire OK

Cliffs Along The Sea from Christian Sorensen Hansen on Vimeo.

Dreidel, Dreidel from Christian Sorensen Hansen on Vimeo.

inspiration: chris mcveigh

I haven't had a proper "inspiration" post for awhile, but I came across Chris McVeigh's work yesterday and had to share. He's a graphic designer and a photographer and shoots a lot of different things (there's a lot of Legos and action figures on his photostream), but my favorites of his have to be the little Lego worlds he creates as well as the shots of chipmunks with Star Wars action figures. If I had to describe his work, I'd probably say it's ridiculous in a good way.

"A Balanced Breakfast"


"I've Got a Bad Feeling About This"


"Business is Slow"

urban craft uprising, day 2

Day two of UCU was just as fun as the first - and today I had my wallet with me. I went with my friend Jess and James at 11am this time, when the fair opens, and much to my surprise, we were close enough to the front of the line to get swag bags! The goodies inside were totally rad, too. The combined contents of mine and James' bags:

1. Handmade vegan soaps, Estrella Soaps
2. Bottlecap pin from Tami Potts
3. Handmade glass bead, Hammer and Torch
4. Selected buttons, Creation Station
5. Gorgeous forest green ribbon from Midori Ribbon
6. Little sheep (!) pouch, Maluhia Designs
7. Needlework scissors from Pacific Fabrics & Crafts
8. Fabric buttons from Laura Bucci
9. Mega-super-adorable blue gingham buttons from Midori Ribbon
There was also a headband from Texture but I forgot to throw it in the photo (whoops!).

Pretty incredible freebies, to be honest. UCU does it right. And as for my purchased goods...

I'd say I did okay! In the back is a gorgeous print from favorite Jill Bliss. Also pictured: an adorable card from Sycamore Street Press ("Great job on that thing you did, really super!"), some iron-on patches and a wooden button from R and L, and a DAVID BOWIE NECKLACE! from Fable & Fury.

And as I mentioned, I collect a big stack of business cards as I go along, and you can see a few of the favorite vendors I've written about tucked in there:

And speaking of favorite vendors, here's a few more additions to the list I started yesterday:





Locket 2 You
locket2you.com
These lockets were both adorable and amazing, and the folks are super nice. They're based in Portland and they rotate their designs seasonally, so there's always rad new designs on the way.





MuchoDesign
muchodesign.etsy.com
These guys had some stellar embroidered artwork and really, really gorgeous jewelry. If I remember correctly, much of the embroidered work was made with reclaimed textiles, which is really awesome. Also: embroidered Spock?! What's not to love?





Princess of Patterns
princessofpatterns.com
Sarah's got a huge selection of gorgeous vintage knitting patterns available. Being a fan of both knitting and vintage clothing, I was swooning over her patterns just a wee bit...




Bison Bookbinding & Letterpress
bisonbookbinding.com
These guys had some gorgeous cards but my favorite were the ones pictured above - letterpress notecards with recipes on the front!


And for good measure, here's a few more photos...

Brad slings Estrella Soap



Jess peruses Attic Journals


Gorgeous yarns from Yarnia


Adorable laser-cut wooden plant labels from RandL


Pretty little notebooks at the Jill Bliss booth

urban craft uprising, day 1

One of the largest craft fairs that happens here in Seattle, Urban Craft Uprising, is going on this weekend at Seattle Center. I got to go for the first time last December (they do a winter show and a summer show), and for anyone who has an affinity for the cute and the handmade, it is the ultimate collection of Stuff You Want to Buy. There are some mega-talented people selling stuff this weekend, and it feels great to be able to meet all the wonderful folks making rad stuff in the northwest.

I swung by today for a quick peek at who was selling, and I'm headed back tomorrow to make a few purchases. One of the great things about having all these amazing artists in one place is that you can start a collection of business cards as you make your rounds, stash them in a box, and then pull them back out when a friend has a birthday coming up or the holidays are coming or you just want to buy something nice for someone (or for yourself). As a designer, it's always really fun to see what folks do with their cards, too. I thought I'd share a few of my vendors this time around, starting with...



Jill Bliss!
jillbliss.com
I've actually been a huge fan of Jill's stuff for years now, so it was pretty thrilling to see a whole booth full of gorgeous Jill Bliss artwork, and to get to meet her too! She tends to illustrate plants and animals and natural things in some not-so-natural pastel shades which makes for a combination that is both striking and delicately pretty.




Sycamore Street Press
sycamorestreetpress.com
I discovered these guys at the last UCU in December and I am such a huge fan of their letterpress notecards and prints. I was really happy to see them selling again this time around. Eva's business card is totally gorgeous, too - letterpress (of course) on a nice thick cardstock. It's a great card in that it totally represents what these guys are all about (which a good business card should do, truly). Somehow these guys are both chic and cheeky and it totally works.




Blue Diamond Stamp Company
bluediamonstamps.com
I love stamps, but somehow I'd never come across these guys. The coolest thing about Blue Diamond is that they sell acrylic stamps - the actual stamp is a clear polymer that sticks to an acrylic block. You only need one block for all your polymer stamps, so you save a ton of space on storage. Plus, the acrylic block is totally clear, so you can see exactly where your image is going!


I'll write about a few more vendors tomorrow, as well as share a few images from the event. If you're in Seattle, it's going on from 11-5 at Seattle Center!

inspiration: julianna swaney

Majorly swooning over these illustrations from Julianna Swaney:

inspiration: not moving to portland

I love this video by Branson Veal for Give Seattle - the song is "Not moving to Portland" by my favorite toothless Seattleite, John Roderick of The Long Winters.

jacques dutronc

Jacques Dutronc was the most awkward dancer ever. And it's really, really amazing. I love it.

inspiration: erika long

I am currently loving this little yoyo flower hair pin made by Erika Long of Heartfelt Seattle. Simple and sweet, it works well by itself or you can pin it to a hat for a cute embellishment!

As soon as she gets her etsy shop up-and-running, I'll be sure to post a link!

inspiration: sannah kvist

Inspiration today: a really lovely photograph by one of my favorite photographers, Sannah Kvist.

inspiration: jane mount

Inspiration today: Jane Mount's newest "Ideal Bookshelf" print, from 20x200. More info here. This one's her favorite children's books.

inspiration: vincent moon & amiina

Inspiration today: the super-dreamy and painfully beautiful Icelandic quartet Amiina shot by Vincent Moon for his concerts à emporter series.

amiina play Hilli, video by Vincent Moon from amiina on Vimeo.

inspiration: faber & faber

I'm feeling totally inspired by these divine illustrated book covers for the Faber 80th Poetry Series.


via Design*Sponge

inspiration: melanie linder

This morning I came across Melanie Linder's beautiful illustrations: