inspiration to begin the year

Two thousand and twelve. It is here! I am partial to numbers that I think look balanced and beautiful, and I think 2012 is one of those beautiful numbers. Sets a nice tone for the year, don't you think?

Illustration by Katie Daisy

I wanted to share a few things that are inspiring me right now.

• Yukon and Alaska: Some of my favourite memories from 2011 are from a quick road trip I took with two friends to Yukon and Alaska last summer. (You know you must live too far north when you can use the words "quick" and "road trip to Alaska" in one sentence!) But seriously, we saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. At work I'm using a huge Mac, I don't even know the size of the screen, but lately I keep Yukon scenes as my wall paper: both are vast and beautiful!
• Time off over this holiday season has been wonderfully rejuvenating. I've been reading some books about modern-day and past heroes who embody true sacrifice and love. Sleeping in, spending time with family and friends, cutting and gluing, handlettering...doing things that help me relax. My sister also served us a tremendous turkey dinner + two rounds of turkey sandwiches...yum!
• Birthmas (my birthday and Christmas, which fall near each other) is a joyful time of giving and receiving sweet notes, handmade gifts and kindness. One of my favourite gifts was a bright and beautiful necklace by Yeonhee, a local Korean jewelry designer who shows her craft at some of our local farmer's markets. I sort of wish it matched my outfit every day.
•  My talented brother's website design was featured in Applied Arts' December '11 magazine. So proud of that guy (not just for his talent, but for the man he is becoming, too). Did I mention that he's only recently graduated from design school? This was a project he completed while interning at Pylon in Toronto.
• A recent winter handlettering and illustration project of mine got great feedback both from clients and friends. My handlettering work feels even more personal than other, more digital work, and when I get so much kind feedback it is really encouraging.
• I finally upgraded my camera and am sort of wondering why it took me so long to do so. But, I was able to buy a camera from a friend, a win-win for both of us.
• We've had tremendously mild weather this fall and winter. All fall I was thinking "I better make the most of this nice weather, it will be over soon!" But our beautiful fall was has been followed by a lovely winter, too.
• Through Smile Train, I was able to give a needy child the gift of a cleft lip and palate surgery. Growing up in Brazil, I knew of several needy people who had this type of surgery done and it makes me so happy to be able to help a child in need. As my hero says, it is better to give than to receive.
• Just the fact that I even have time to post this is inspiring to me, I am learning about time management and reading a book called Margin.
• As usual, I'm a bit slow to get on board with some new fads, but I've finally created a Pinterest (just as addicting as expected) and Twitter accounts. Sometimes I find the internet a bit overwhelming, and I may use Twitter more just to follow others, but Pinterest, well, it is sheer genius.

Here's to 2012. I'm excited for this new year, and what it may hold!

Image source: http://slidingdownthestairs.blogspot.com/

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

This is another excellent short video on the importance of creativity in education. Ken reminds us that our current school system was built to supply workers for the industrial revolution, but kills creativity by valuing other areas of learning, like math or science as more valuable than the creative arts. I like his definition of creativity: "the process of having original ideas that have value." Ken is hilarious and highly intelligent, and this video is well worth your time: Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

originality is born of risk.

Paulo Coelho was asked to speak on "the fear of failure". Below is a short video of the Brazilian wordsmith's advice.
I quote:
"After sending a new book, or a new article...to the publisher or the newspaper, I sit down, I breathe, and I say, 'I did my best. I put all my love [into this], I did it with all my heart. So whether they are going to like it or not...is irrelevant. Because I liked it. I'm committed to the thing that I did.' And so far, nobody ever refused it or criticized it. ....when you put love and enthusiasm into your work, even if people don't see it, they realize it is there; that you did this with all your body and soul. So I encourage you to do this, and don't worry about the fear of failure. The important thing is to move beyond this fear and to do what you think you should do."


Paulo Coelho – on the fear of failure. from Berghs' Exhibition '11 on Vimeo.

In the world of so-called graphic design, we see a lot of so-so work which, while it might be trendy, looks like everyone else's work. A few exemplary graphic artists push the boundaries; the rest of us stay within them and imitate things we've already seen. Yes, there are time restrictions and client briefs. But I wonder at the huge spectrum of work we'd produce if each person put his own heart and soul into his work, developing a style as unique as his fingerprint or personality. Instead, we just do whatever keeps the money rolling in as quickly as possible.

I often design in an environment with rigid deadlines and clientele who haven't worked with a graphic designer before. I love to try something that seems a little crazy for the world in which I work. What will the conservative client think of the hot pink circle, or the oversized bracket? Some of my best projects have happened when I took a totally different and new direction. When I ditched the corporate colour, scrapped the original copy, because I didn't feel it.

Routine design feels half-hearted. Enthusiastic design brims with new ideas born of a mind that is always learning, growing and creating. The difference is tangible.

I love to see artists whose work is fresh, unique. Over the past few years, I've watched whimsical North American artists (I have a soft spot for whimsy!) like Katie Daisy, Rifle Design, Woodward Design and Colour Me Katie do work that is fun—and gets the job done. A memorable, recognizable look. A style people can't outsource in China. An aesthetic that draws clients like bees to honey. There's power in what Paulo Coelho speaks of—"when you put love and enthusiasm in your work, even if people don't see it, they realize it is there." They like it, because it's oozing originality and creativity. They value it, because they can't find it anywhere else. And they want more.

flower power

This week I was working on a 2012 calendar for St. Albert Botanic Park. Which involved staring at this dahlia. I didn't mind at all.

goodbye, summer. i'll miss you.

[a view of what summer looked like in my kitchen this year]

reception photos

It has already been over one year since my friends Julian and Pascale were married. You may remember that I designed their peacock-inspired stationery.

I was asked to shoot photos at their reception, since their professional photographer would not be in attendance.

Yes, there were a few adults in attendance...I just get distracted by the non-adults.

I had fun shooting with my brother's new lens and just wanted to share some of the fun with you...albeit late!

nova scotia - spring 2011

I'm sitting in my living room and in front of me is a tray displaying driftwood and seashells.This is only one of various reminders around my house of my first-ever trip to the Maritimes. In May, I spent 9 days in Nova Scotia. My friend and I collected seashells and driftwood, spent time on the Halifax waterfront and at Fisherman's Cove, visited the Halifax Citadel fort and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and mowed tall grass at a local Bible camp.The people I met were so friendly and kind. If you've never seen Canada's east coast, I highly recommend it.

Nova Scotia is etched in my memory by way of:

• driftwood, rocks, choppy water 
• deep blue, earthtones, grey
• fog, cold, rain
• history, old stone, brick 
• bright paint 
• authenticity, friendship, peace [Psalm 29:11]

Enjoy a few photos to illustrate the memories...

new projects now featured on my website

I updated my website last week...with new wedding stationery (for the oh-so-happy Jared and Laura; stationery above, happy couple below) as well as some more recent book and calendar projects. Check it out!

drawing cute maps

I probably get way too much enjoyment out of drawing maps for event stationery.
If that is even possible.

This is for Jared & Laura's big day.

puddle jumping

i got my yellow rubber boots out of the shed today. spring is here!

baby announcement for gracie jade

This week I designed and printed a custom wall art baby announcement for my friends' new little one, Gracie Jade. Fun, fun, fun! Plus, I tried out a local digital print shop my brother raves about, and the service and product were both great.

[red] snapshots

For Christmas I gave some of my friends homemade chokecherry syrup. Back in the fall my uncle picked the berries and I prepared the syrup. In December I got the jars and labels ready and made homemade pancake mix to accompany some of the syrups.

Some cheery outdoor Christmas decorations in my neighbourhood:

The font I used on the syrup and pancake labels was the hand-lettered Antrokas which you can find here. Creating custom labels and packaging was probably one of my favourite parts of this project. (Watching syrup boil over my biggest pot multiple times was not :) ). To me, food is about community and relationships. Hence, the label says "Enjoy with a friend."

In January a few young artists took charge in my kitchen. The lino still has a pinkish tinge.

Happy February!

jules and pascale - wedding stationery

When Jules and Pascale came to me wanting a peacock-themed wedding invitation, I had no idea how trendy peacocks were. Now, I'm seeing them everywhere. Leave it to these two to be on top of the trends. :) I was so happy the vibrant colours in the feathers. I'm excited for this sweet and beautiful (inside and out!) couple. Thanks for the privilege of designing for you! Looking forward to celebrating with you this Saturday!

roll call book

This past winter I had the privilege of designing a book cover and layout for a self-published piece by a retired school teacher. Etty's book details the stories of teachers who came from the Caribbean to teach in Alberta schools--a fun project! Etty was a sweet lady to work with. Her visits were full of laughs and her mark-ups on our drafts were very teacher-esque. :)

For the cover, I wanted to use a colour scheme that shouted "Caribbean!" The first yellow I chose was too bright for Etty's taste, but we agreed on the paler yellow you see here. I based the final colour scheme on this handpainted sign. I enjoyed the opportunity to play with some fun type for chapter titles, etc. throughout the book, keeping the entire piece cohesive.

schleich animal replicas

Recently I went to Sexsmith, Alberta to visit family. While taking a wander around the little town's main street area, we found a shop selling all kinds of little animals. My sister was quite embarrassed by how long I spent lingering near the toy animal replicas. These German Schleich animal replicas are very realistic, the website I linked to doesn't do them justice. This little giraffe found her way home as my souvenier from Sexsmith. She replaced the reindeer that was my book topper on my shelf during the Christmas season. :) A little bit of Africa in my living room!

insights from robert bringhurst

In January I had the opportunity to hear Robert Bringhurst speak in Edmonton. His classic book on the topic of typography is The Elements of Typographic Style. I enjoyed the insights of this man who is an author and a typographer...and a lot of other things too, by the sound of it. Going through my day planner tonight, I noticed a few interesting points from his presentation at Grant Macewan University.

• Bringhurst spoke about listening to the text you are arranging on the page--being real, attentive and thoughtful. Instead of laying out body copy in a generally one-size-fits-all manner, he suggested "listening" to the copy. He used illustrations of typeset pages from 500 years ago when some things were done simply because they were beautiful--not necessarily because they were functional.
  
• Originality is the fruit of sincerity. The design world is full of people trying to copy a style that is trendy or that they've seen elsewhere, when often that is neither true to the subject of their design or to themselves as designers. We're each unique and our design choices should reflect that somehow.
  
• Typing without knowing how to form letterforms is like driving without knowing how to walk. Driving is helpful, useful and even necessary sometimes. But can you imagine how limiting it would be if you could only drive, and never walk? We should keep our options open. In the discussion it was brought up that in recent years some schools are teaching children to type directly after they are taught to print, skipping the script or cursive stage entirely. It was also mentioned how there is a movement for some Chinese children to never learn traditional Chinese characters but to write Chinese solely in Roman characters. Whether in English or Chinese, it is a shame to lose that which is a beautiful part of the culture and thus disconnect ourselves from the forms of expression used by generations before us.
  

creating unity by simplifying your copy

This past fall I was presented with a Christmas project for Priority Printing Ltd. The customer service reps wanted to put together a small booklet that would accompany a Christmas gift bag for clients. The purpose of the booklet was many-fold: to give Christmas greetings from the company, to inform the client about the company (describing values, staff, stages and options within the printing process), to encourage the reader to shop locally (highlighting a variety of locally owned businesses whose products would be in the gift bag) and to encourage earth-friendly practices, flaunting some FSC stocks. Did that sentence sound a bit overwhelming? So did the text that was given to me for the booklet. (Below is a little preview of the final gift bag).


The topics for the booklet sounded nice, but they sounded like topics for different occasions, not all for the same booklet. I wondered how they could ever be tied together succinctly...and still sound like a Christmas greeting, too. It was a good challenge. Brainstorming anything and everything I could think of that related to each of the main topics was key to finding their common theme. Below is a list from the beginnings of the copy editing/writing stages. I'm being a bit vulnerable here, as you may see some random things on my list. But such is the case with racking one's brain, sometimes a few random, unrelated things are revealed. That's OK. Try mind mapping a topic, the same thing may happen to you, too.

I wanted to post this mind map because it really was through this tool that found the commonality between on the many themes given to me. Whenever we want to communicate clearly, whether through words or images, it is best to boil things down to the key message(s) we want to communicate. I teach children frequently, and one thing I have learned is that I need to confine the main message to some key points that will stick with them. Otherwise they go home with a bunch of nothing, instead of a little bit of something. I don't think that adults are much different: keep the key topics simple and clear. Through mind mapping, I was excited to find that the ideas of Christmas, local focus and environmental consciousness did overlap in themes such as community, village, growth and kindness.

But then, how to make these themes into a catch phrase that, in a few words, introduces all we want to say? The phrase I came up with (somewhat hijacked, as you will see, from a better Author) was "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Edmonton." The inside headline read "Priority Printing is supporting its community. Earth or Edmonton. Globally or locally." On the first pages Priority would lead the way in introducing its "earth-conscious initiatives" and its "Edmonton-conscious initiatives."

You can see more images of the final project in the advertising section of my website. In the end, the project encompassed a promotional booklet, a Christmas card, an envelope, labels, an informational card and a banner. The design was simple, especially to show off the variety of papers in the booklet. A nice design with bad copy is just a veneer; it is still poor communication, no matter how showy it looks. To me, the great victory of this project was pulling so many topics into (what I hope was) a simple, logical whole that conveyed the message Priority had for its clients last Christmas.

thinking about...

wisps of ice

I see something beautiful every day. Today it was the jagged hoar frost on the trees which forgot to lose their leaves last fall. If I hadn't already been running late, I would have stopped to take more pictures. I knew that by the time I walked home, the hoar frost would be gone.

This morning's sky was thick with a low fog. As I got close to work, I noticed that bits of fog were clinging to my coat and mittens; thin wisps of ice that melted as soon as I hung up my coat. I thought about how much I have in common with the fog, the frost or the ice on my coat! James said, "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."