November got very experimental. I plowed my way through my inspiration folder and expanded on many of these ideas. The Quarterly identity project is complete nonsense, but it provided a space to elaborate on the ideas I had brewing. Having a direction and style established, allowed me to spend more time executing and testing out new things. The painted money, sewn packaging, printed balloons etc., all grew out of screen shoes that were living in this inspiration folder on my desktop.
November 1: I wanted to somewhat change gears today and start working on something totally new. As I looked through my ideas folder and notebook, I searched for a new path to travel and eventually landed here.
November 2: Working on a concept for a magazine identity. I wanted to draw these scissors myself, but mine just didn’t look as nice as these.
November 3: Today I created another version of the magazine cover using a photograph of scissors rather than an illustration. I specifically choose this size so that I could wrap it around an existing magazine and bring the design to life.
November 4: I saw some packaging design a while back that used a similar stitched method and I have been wanting to employ it myself for some time. It seemed to go along with the idea, so I seized opportunity. I tried a few different papers, and would have liked to try a thicker thread, but this was all I had.
November 5: Thinking about how the visual identity elements can be carried throughout a web presence.
November 6: Adjusting the design for mobile; thinking about how the components of the page would respond and how the user would interact with the site.
November 7: Testing out some stitched type to go along with the mock magazine I have been working on. I don’t think it goes very well with the clean look and feel I have already established, but it was a fun experiment. It was difficult to make each letter the same height and adjusting the kerning drove me nuts.
November 8: Quarterly quarters: nail polish painted quarters to accompany the identity I have been working on.
November 9: I wanted to find a way to incorporate my favorite ‘Q’ and yesterday’s painted quarter into a design and this emerged.
November 10: A sneak peek of what I am working on. Using a laser-print transfer method, I am attempting to transfer prints onto balloons.
November 11: My goal was to laser transfer onto balloons, but the method I typically use was not reacting well to the rubber. In order to get the toner to release from the paper, I apply a natural solvent to the opposite side of the paper and press it onto the desired surface. I tried transferring the design before it was blown up, also after, but more often then not, I popped the balloon. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to get a few to come out somewhat well.
November 12: Wrapping up the Quarterly project, but wanted to take a photo of some of the final pieces together. When I have a direction and design identity already in the works, it allows me to and spend more time executing the idea and testing out new things. These ideas: the painted quarters, sewn packaging, balloon etc., all grew out of screen shots that were living in an ‘ideas’ folder on my desktop. I dump all my inspiration into this folder and it screams until I let it out.
November 13: Sneak peak of what’s in the works.
November 14: I follow the blog of Anatol Knotek which is where I saw a piece he made using matches. I was intrigued by the process and the smoke residue left behind, so I tried it myself to see what would happen.
November 15: Some early morning snap shots of yesterday’s experiment sans matches. Though the process was very fun, I was more intrigued by the pieces after they had been snuffed out and how the smoke crept up the canvas board and left a gestural mark.
November 16: Added in a little watercolor and ink. Not sure if it really adds anything, I think I liked them more before.
November 17: I went to SEEK Conference yesterday where I heard Aaron Draplin and Stefan Sagmeister talk. Inspired by both designer’s work, Sagmeister’s experimental approach and Draplin’s Americana roots, I decided to draw a puzzle map of sorts, which I plan to expand on tomorrow.
November 18: I manipulated a line drawing, which I created about month ago for a previous project, over my photocopier and then printed yesterday’s map in reverse on the back. I cut out each state from various prints and then pieced together the puzzle.
November 19: Glued the states down, scanned, and removed the background. I tried a few different colors, but kept coming back to this hot pink.
November 20: Spent some time today thinking about what I wanted to do with this map and began to envision it as an app. As I made a very rough wireframe, I began to think about informational features and plug-ins that might be useful.
November 21: Starting to think about how the app will look.
November 22: Thinking about the features of the app and how the user would interact with it. You could either tap or pinch to zoom and would get more details as you got deeper into the state. If you click on a city you would get buttons that would give you information about that specific city. Though I don’t know if this is possible, I thought it would be cool if it had a Yelp plugin that would show top rated restaurants and such in that area.
November 23: A little birthday card for my pal Jessika to celebrate her 30th year of life!
November 24: Somehow I convinced my roommate to venture over to the park at 9am in 20 degree weather and blow bubbles for me.
November 25: I envisioned hand lettering and doodling over the bubbles, but realized I forgot to bring my tablet back to Massachusetts with me. Guess I will be revisiting this idea when I get back to Chicago.
November 26: Found some sweet vintage designs while antiquing in Plymouth, MA. They just don’t make'em like they used to.
November 27: A couple of cool typographic finds I spotted while antiquing; I particularity like the toboggan crafted out of an old sign.
November 28: Had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends; explored Plymouth, snuggled with the dogs and ate a delicious meal. Feeling very full and very thankful.
November 29: Sitting at my mom’s sunny desk in their new house, doodling and enjoying a relaxing morning.
November 30: Another line drawing in the works.