eva nouveau

You Work For Them

You Work For Them is a great source for designers, offering everything from stock illustrations and fonts to Japanese design books and limited edition posters. I always find some thing to inspire me... take some time to poke around the shop... lots to love.

You Work For Them

You Work For Them- ON SALE NOW

You Work For Them is having a sale until July 19th to clear inventory to make room for new goodies. Good prices on great stuff. Check it out!

You Work For Them

I love Freebies!

Well, maybe I should be more specific. I love free stuff I can use, like sample sizes of my favorite hand cream (great for your purse!), loads of free paper samples and other paper related goodies (thank you HOW Conference!), and of course free fonts and typography resources. Which brings me to Font Shop's typography magazine, Font. Editor and type god (how many times can I read Stop Stealing Sheep???) Erik Spiekermann describes the magazine as filling a "basic need for more typographic knowledge amongst designers regardless of the medium in which they work." Word up. oh yeah, its free. :)

This Spiekermann chap is a generous fellow... on the Font Shop site there is plenty of stuff to lose yourself in like, free fonts , Type Tips and stock photos  taken by designers for designers.

Font Magazine

HOW Design Conference Wrap Up Part 2

More Inspiration from HOW speakers, some of which have written the above books

Ideaspotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea, Sam Harrison

Sam Harrison is a professor at Portfolio Center and has written two books on creativity, zing! and Ideaspotting Here is what I took from Sam:

Creativity is about exploring. Embrace life. Look at your work. Is your work your life OR is there life in your work? Explore in 360 degree exploring. Approach your work with these tenants: explore > freedom > pause > embrace > life

Listen=Silent. This is one of my favorites. Listen and silent both share the same letters... ask yourself, how many times am I "listening" while formulating my rebuttal? Imagine what you might hear if you allowed yourself to be silent when you listen.

Learn new habits. Look at other industries.... find new places for inspiration.... stop using statements that halt progression (like we don't do it that way, we tried that and it didn't work or nobody does it better than us.).... ask how come questions.... get out of ruts, especially comfortable ones....

Make Mistakes. Happy accidents are great, but sometimes you have to make a mistake to learn and move forward. This doesn't excuse sloppy work or lousy efforts... making good mistakes you can learn from come from putting in strong effort and hard work with outcomes that  are as great as you expected.

Selling your Ideas to Naysayers, Sam Harrison

Dispel Myths of Selling. 1. Selling Sucks. When you approach your client with something they can't use, don't want, don't need, or can't afford you've created a high pressure selling environment. That sucks. Make sure you've listened to your client and have developed work that meets their needs. 2. Good Ideas Sell Themselves. Wrongo. Good ideas are usually revolutionary in some way. They are different than what your client maybe used to, and first you'll have to get them to see ideas they've become comfortable need change. Good ideas need more selling to replace old ideas. 3. Just wing it.  Rehearse your presentation. With a group come up with as many objections you can think of that your client may have. Prepare for how you will respond to those objections.

Creativity 2.0, Ze Frank

Ze (rhymes with "say") is a performance artist that has won a 2002 Webby for best personal site and was included in Time's 50 Coolest Websites in 2005. He also created Rob's favorite thing on the web, this frog. More about Ze

Your audience is learning your language. And, they want to have a conversation. As designers facilitate that conversation by creating work that encourages participation thus building value for the audience. Remember that a small amount of people define a culture while a large amount of people define its power. We are in the midst of a social revolution that is based on technology but not defined by it.

Expertise is a verb. Don't be afraid to just do it. Make mistakes, try new things, collect experiences. You are the proposition.

Radical Careering, Sally Hogshead

Sally Hogshead...talk about inspirational, Sally won 4 golden pencils her 2nd year in advertising, opened her own agency by 27 and opened the Los Angeles office of CP+B. She's a pistol...

Ask yourself, "Do I want to be outstanding?" Refuse to waste your career by playing it safe. Be audacious... look for clients willing to be audacious. That is how you break through the clutter and become memorable.

What are you worth? Your worth is based on three factors. 1. Results. What do you bring to the party? What have you done that you can measure. 2. Reputation. What do people think about you and your work? What do people say about you? 3. Network. Who do you know? Who do they know? Remember that having a network is also about being part of a network, and being there for when people need you.

Build up your Portable Equity. Put extra time into experiences that will help you get to your next career move. These add up to become your "Fuck You" money. These experiences add up to make you more marketable and allow you to have the freedom to move when you come to a impasse in your current position. Then you can cash in your F-U money and move on.

Focus on your Special Sauce? What is your competitive edge? That little sumptin' sumptin' that only you bring to table? That magic is what will make you irreplaceable.

Recommended Speaker  books:

Radical Careering by Sally Hogshead
Toothpaste for Dinner by Drew
Ballsy by Karen Salmansohn
Zing by Sam Harrison
 Ideaspotting by Sam Harrison
Slang Flashcards by Knock Knock (Jen Bilik)

See Kate, Andy and Bobbi

Oh Man! Wish I could be in NYC June 27th to see Katie and Andy Spade along with Bobbi Brown talk about making a name for yourself in business. If you happen to be an American Express Business Card member don't miss out on this free opportunity to network and meet some of today's hottest business owners.

"Hear Bobbi Brown, Kate & Andy Spade, and other brand builders share their stories and insights into their remarkable success. You'll also get the rare opportunity to ask our guests questions while interacting and exchanging ideas with fellow business owners."

Open Forum

HOW Design Conference Wrap Up Part 1

I'm back. I am catching up on my sleep and emails and lovin' on my doggies... I getting ready to put all the inspiration I got at the HOW Conference into action...

Innovation and Creativity as Drivers for Design, Andy Stefanovich, play

Get this. Andy Stefanovich title literally is "in Charge of What's Next" at play, a company based around helping companies find innovation either within their teams or with their products. He is infectious and a great speaker. Here's what I took away from Andy...

What are you thinking about? Really thinking about? Use what you are thinking about to guide you to what you are supposed to be doing and who you truly are.

Experience stuff to empathize. How can you get inside someone else's mindset if you have never experienced some of the things they have? Selling beer, but don't drink beer? Collecting experiences will not only make your life richer it will also broaden your ability to appeal to different people.

Big change can come from one degree. When we set out to make a change, any change from personal or in business, we often think that the changes we make have to be sweeping to be worth anything. All or nothing. But, as Andy points out, a change of one degree can be just enough to make a difference. What degree can you change today?

Remember the 5 M's of Innovation:
1. Mood: There has to be a taste of innovation present to create innovation. It has to be organizational.
2. Mindset: Individuals have to be open for change and innovation.
3. Mechanisms: How do you go about finding innovation? Do we make it an important part of who we are?
4. Measurement: How do you measure innovation? Are you open to measuring abstract quantities like thinking and creativity?
5. Momentum: What are you doing to create innovation both personally and professionally?

Be interested and interesting. Think about the people you feel most comfortable with and who you want to be with more professionally. Those people are truly interested in you and  you find them truly interesting.

Be a creative catalyst. Be slightly disruptive. Create change. Remember that designers give context, inspire people and create vision. Use that to shake things up a bit.

More from Andy Stefanovich

The image above sums up what I got from HOW... funny it is from a promotional piece for Gilbert Paper's Clearfold transparent papers. Inspiration is everywhere...

 

so much inspiration...from just one piece!

Sometimes I like to document my path across the web as I explore... tonight I have been spending a lot of time inspired by this piece that was at the Crane's display... it is a promotional piece for Lettra... I began researching it and here is what I discovered along the way...

I started searching on Lettra and that led me to the Philadelphia AIGA where they describe the above piece as having been designed by Michael Osborne Design in San Fransisco... as I was looking over MOD's work I began to remember that I saw Michael speak years ago at an OTIS lecture series... I remember how inspiring he was and how is discussed his process of sketching as a way to think through designs...

MOD has done some really inspiring work for Target, William Sonoma, Janie and Jack and Gymboree not to mention designed one of my favorite stamps ever, the 2002 Love Stamp for the USPS... take a minute to look over his portfolio when you get a chance.

From MOD I traveled to One Heart Press, which is owned by Michael Osborne, so I bet it was the printer for the Alphabet 26 piece from Crane. I remember Michael showing some One Heart Press pieces during his lecture (could that lecture been the beginning of my love for letterpress?)... There is some lovely work done there, and next time you are in SF you can drop by for a tour...

Then I was off to find out more about Alphabet 26, the typeface featured in the Crane's piece. Designed in 1950 by Bradley Thompson, Alphabet 26 was an attempt to unify upper and lower case letterforms as a way to simplify the alphabet. More about Alphabet 26

Lettra Letterpress paper from Crane

Crane has developed a paper especially for letterpress called Lettra. This stuff is soft and yuuuuuummmmy.... I can't wait to get my samples to try on the press. 100% cotton, thick, and lovely. I gave my info to the Crane rep at the HOW resource center, so when I get my swatch book I'll let you know what colors it comes in. So far, you can get it at these online retailers:

Crane
paper.com

Typography Intensive

I got a pretty comprehensive look at the mechanics of letterpress from an awesome resource called TypeCulture. You can watch movies of everything from how a Ludlow and a Monotype work to a silent film from the 1930s of Frederic Goudy, yes the Goudy, hand-lettering and then casting type for Saks Fifth Avenue. My favorite is the TypoMania piece from the 1980s that features typographer Erik Spiekermann's take on how type moves us.... his insights are still true today.

In addition to the movies, TypeCulture offers up what could be a typography intensive course through its compilation of educational resources, articles and essays. I am going to have to block off a couple of hours to dig through all the goodies...

TypeCulture  A Digital Type Foundry and Educational Resource

great design resources

I love this Thinking with Type book by Ellen Lupton... it is a great resource for understanding how to use typography, and it is a quick easy read with lots of insight. I remember when I bought it I was flipping through a bunch of books on typography, and this one was the only one that went into the Golden Section, so this is the one I bought. The other day at Sw pe in Toronto I saw that Ellen Lupton edited a new book, D.I.Y Design It Yourself and I had to get it. It is also a quick read and has tons of great ideas and project starters... everything from how to design a press kit to t-shirts. If you get a chance, check these babies out.

D.I.Y and Thinking with Type

If you are looking for something to do, visit Ellen Lupton's site. She has a ton of great links and even offers free advice!