One of my favorite things about Chicago is the history. Everywhere you look there are beautifully designed buildings and vintage signage. Like many graphic designers I am attracted to these things and draw a lot of inspiration from them. At the beginning of June I took an impromptu walk home. I had long-since noted the amazing typography dotting North Avenue, and though the sky was overcast and I only had my iPhone, I took the walk. I have only included a small selection of the images I took that day, but have compiled quite the collection from various Chicago adventures and plan to someday share those as well.
By the end of June I had reached the half way point of this project and it was a very satisfying feeling to have made it that far. One of my favorite things I worked on this month was the Flat Iron branding project. It is interesting to look back over the course of the month and see how the project evolved. It was nice to have design elements in play and a common theme to revisit, it helped the day’s work move more quickly and I think it also helped make each day's post more robust.
June 2: Took an impromptu walk home and only had my iPhone but finally photographed some of the amazing old signs, typography, buildings etc. along North Avenue. (June 1 was included in May's group as it went along with the project I was working on at the end of the month.)
June 3: I wanted to take the time to point out some of my favorite finds from yesterdays impromptu walk home. These photos certainly are not of the best quality due to the overcast sky and lack of camera, however I am glad that I finally took this walk and captured these images. I love the above shots because you can see that someone has painted over the original sign and it is now fighting to emerge again.
June 3: This building is just plain awesome! The neon signs, doors, advertisements, typography and design of the building itself all rule.
June 3: Look at that $ sign! $25.00 Prize Contest! Even the ‘For Rent’ sign is great.
June 4: A little logo side project I’ve been working on for a friend.
June 5: Playing around with my most recently purchased font, Nexa Slab.
June 6: Some funky ampersands & et.
June 7: Painted these in my living room as the sun went down. Most were done in the dark; it was an interesting experience.
June 8: I planned to draw on these watercolors last night, but they took too long to dry so I played around with them a bit this morning.
June 9: Messing around with some fonts and made this random flyer/poster sketch.
June 10: Saw Glen Hansard and Lisa Hannigan at the free Millennium Park concert series, Downtown Sound; it was awesome. I did these little doodles while singing and basking in the sun.
June 11: Random idea for an identity system that involves scaling, symmetry and shapes; more tomorrow.
June 12: This is what I had in mind yesterday, but just didn’t have the time to flesh it out. I decreased the size of each new layer and varied the line weight. I then took this same formula and applied it to a variety of shapes.
June 13: Not what I originally envisioned, but now I find myself drawn to the ‘the’ area. Simplicity wins.
June 14: Bad lettering, but dad won’t mind. Happy almost Father’s Day!
June 15: Deviated from the original idea, but I enjoy the simplicity of this composition best.
June 16: Several birthdays and celebrations coming up this week, so I thought I should get started on the cards.
June 17: A little card for my boss to congratulate her on her graduation.
June 18: Another little card.
June 19: July calendar for my notebook. Not sure how well this layout will translate, but wanted to try something new.
June 20: Stared at a blank screen for a while tonight before this nonsense emerged. I guess it is a poster idea of sorts; doesn’t have a real purpose, but I’m diggin’ the composition.
June 21: Messing around with words on the photocopier.
June 22: I turned one of yesterdays photocopied words into a logo/letterhead.
June 23: Another produce poster sketch. I used elements from the one I made Thursday, thinking about them as a series.
June 24: Today I was looking at Guest Check slips, receipts, tags, etc. and it got me thinking about some other components for this mock dry cleaners.
June 25: A slightly more thought out version of what I was working on yesterday.
June 26: Didn’t have much time to work on this today, but I think it's finally coming together.
June 27: A few random design elements that I have been thinking about incorporating into the mix.
June 28: Tweaking some of the elements and test driving a color palette.
June 29: Bringing the design to life!
June 30: Today marks the half way point of this project; it has been an amazing experience thus far. It pushes me to create something solely for myself each day. I have learned quite a lot along this journey and am excited to see what the next 6 months will bring.