One of my favorite designer blogs, Media Militia, just got a facelift.

The new user interface has the main navigation right at the top of a huge image area that highlights recent tutorials and freebies.
For those of you  who haven't visited the site recently, it's gorgeous.

It's finally spring, and time for the 2nd installment of my awesome clothing swap, Binge and Purge!  I asked everybody that I know to design the logo.  AND they were all too busy--except for my fabulous boyfriend who drew me an interesting logo in HB on a piece of card; needless to say, I ended up doing it my self.

I've been seeing a lot of times New Roman of late and decided to use that for my incidental text, plus the elegant and fun Avant Garde (I love you, Herb Lubalin!). Binge is a big, fat, dated typeface whose name escapes me--my little nod to the ironic. I hope you all like it!

In keeping with the theme, I also chose an incredibly thin chick to grace the FB event.  Here's what I came up with: and here's the autumn version.

This go round, we'll have the donations go to families in Nigeria.  I can only imagine that Jess' red and black french maid outfit went over really well when the packages were opened :)

That's all I've got for now, the new job keeps me pretty busy.

I just recently got back in touch with a designer friend, Chris Undi, and was inspired when I saw his CMYK ink

Haven't we all heard make my logo bigger, or there's too much white space or I need this to pop more from the client--or whoever you're designing for.

Make My Logo Bigger Cream

I emailed this link around back in my pre-blogging days and just came across it again.  This is dedicated to the frustrated designing masses.  Have a good laugh before you get back to using up some of that "real estate" that's going to waste.

Communications Station is in the middle of a newsletter redesign. My advice is always 'work smarter, not harder'. There are templates that can be modified by--or at least--give inspiration to, the harried graphic designer. Now, if I can follow that advice, myself, I'm golden.

A few years back, around the height of CS3 or so, I went searching for a newsletter template for a writing class with Arthur Magida. I stumbled upon the Adobe Exchange. From time to time I still flip through the pages there. I'v e found tutorials, templates, graphics and outlines that have proved helpful in the past.

Check out "Browse  by Category" in the sidebar.

In my Gmail box this morning is the latest monthly Envato Newsletter.



While in Grad School, I visited the ThemeForest site to browse through their templates for inspiration. Eventually, I bought one of their excellent, professional templates, and continued paging through their site. The following month I got their newsletter. It was okay, they hyped themselves and offered items for sale--you know, the usual stuff. When I got to the bottom of the page, I saw it. This Month's Freebies. I clicked the link and my eyes goggled. Their monthly freebies aren't throw away items either, they're high quality digital art: professional game graphics, in-depth design tutorials, multi-page Websites, studio quality audio productions, and sexy-futuristic motion graphics!

I've gotten used to high quality products from Envato. However, the February downloads have far surpassed my expectations.

 The Web template, Xero Portfolio, is sexy, Java-y, Lightbox-y, and full of options. I'm so Happy!

I just spent the last 20 minutes finishing up a blog for my latest design barter.  It was part of a 2-blog redesign deal. For my efforts I will be getting a dope, handmade Tom Baker-esque Dr. Who scarf!!! DOPE!

1. My awesome, collaborative communications team
2. Telecommuting
3. Designing lotsa Websites
4. "treats in the lounge" emails
5. Having coffee every Monday
6. "We really love your work" emails
7. Working with printers and learning their special jargon - I can fold a piece of paper in at least 12 different ways AND name them!
8. Numerous opportunities to create logos
9. Always being busy
10. Redesigning or updating popular publications
11. I designed the cool new Website. Booyeah!!
12. Their 1-man IT team is incredible and deservers all props that staff and consultants give him!!

1. Kathy's love of using bold/red to create a feeling of urgency, and her die-hard commitment to Comic Sans as  "a great informal font," remind me why I studied so hard to become a designer
2. In nearly two years, I've had 5 lunch breaks (my bad)
3. The feeling of too-many-cooks.
4. 2-hour meetings
5. Updating powerpoint presentations (I actually learned a ton about how to create visually interesting decks by searching the Help menu, so I suppose this isn't really that negative)

This, I love! The apothecary look is gone; replaced with fresh greens, clean type, and modern lines.

I'll let you examine all the changes for yourself, but I do want to address the product description typography. "Peppermint" on the original label is rendered in a  hand-tooled script (it also says 'peppermint oil'). The new white label renders the word in a large, lower-case sans serif. This word now vertically balances with the newly redesigned logo ("now"). I think the typeface is Euphemia UCAS with lost of comfy, spacious kerning.

Overall, the new label design brings now into the 21st century. I will also mention that the label is now made of that slick plastic material where the original was coated paper.

This afternoon, we decided to catch the BSO performance entitled Robustly Russian. Maestro Marin A. led the orchestra in 3 hours of decidedly beautiful and at times haunting soviet classical music. We got to hear several pieces from Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich.

Okay! I've been telling more folks about my non-paid graphic design work. The more I mention it, the more quizzical looks I get.

So, this post is a short explanation - by no means will it answer all the questions.

I began designing, in undergrad, after I had successfully changed my major for the 5th time; I found that I had an aptitude for the business side of creativity. Conversely, I also found that I had little aptitude for pursuing the American dream (as defined: acquisition of bigger and better status symbols, up to 2.5 kids, a shiny car, an ulcer, a nine-to-five, and an addiction to talking constantly about all of the above--I really should've started with a disclaimer about my opinion before I got into this, too late).

To feed my growing love for graphic arts, I offered my services for cheap or free to anyone in need. This practice earned me a few bucks, but also a lot of practice. I began to appreciate different styles/types of design work. I also learned more about myself. The easier projects to complete always involved my creating identities/collateral for individuals or small groups who had passion, drive, ingenuity, and an undefeatable entrepreneurial spirit; you know, the little guy.

So, why pro bono? Because my passion lies with the little guy; the one with more ambition than cash, the one with a dream of a brighter future for us all, the one who takes that great blindfolded leap into uncertainty, the one led by her/his heart.

I've got the busiest weekend I've seen in months (and the busiest to come in 2011, I reckon). There are four Web projects to complete and only one more day off from the regular job. So in my hurry to create bg images for one blog project I stumbled upon the coolest tiling background image site ever...
...ava7 patterns!

I'm in love! Users choose the primary color, pattern direction, or orientation, then scroll around the page to see how the swatches fit together on the Web page. Hit 'preview' and a cool bit of PHP tiles the image across the entire page so that you can see if it's not enough, too much, or just right!

Stick it in your bag of resources, I swear--for patterned backgrounds--it's a keeper!