2011 Calendar Hunting

This year it has been soooo hard for me to choose a new calendar. Being a bit of a design/photography nut I tend to get really excited when picking out my new calendar for the year. What would I like to use to count my days away?

a. Graph Paper Neutra Calendar by Oven-Door-Owl? I seem to like the gray and white neutral one, don't you?

b. Gorgeous letterpress calendar with animal illustrations by INK+WIT?

c. Beautifully designed decorative calendar by Beau Ideal?

d. Orrrr would I like the illustrated in-season vegetable calendar by Sia Design? Swoooon.

There are too many talented artists to choose from!

Which one do you guys like?

-Angela

Ps. Last year I had the 2010 version of This Andrew Zuckerman Calendar. Loved it.

Holiday Postcard!

Happy Monday! I am having a particularly great day at work today so I thought I would share a recent piece I put together for our annual Christmas show. The look of this postcard we send out every year hadn't been drastically changed in a long while so I was thrilled that they loved this vintage inspired woodcut look. :)

Happy Monday everyone!

-Angela

OCU Undergraduate Viewbook.

Hey guys just wanted to share a few of my favorite spreads from a recent job I did for

the university.

These are from a 32 page viewbook I did this summer, one of about 6 pieces I redesigned for Undergraduate Admissions. The idea was to give a colorful update that made sense as an evolution from the gorgeous pieces 3rd Degree Advertising did for us 2 years ago.

3rd Degree was definitely a tough act to follow as they won Gold Addys for the pieces, but as a cost saving measure we had to bring them in-house on this round. I gave many nods to the old design while adding splashes of color and photos as a change or evolution.

Redoing this series of publications was definitely one of the bigger challenges I have had in my career as a designer so far and I am so glad it finished well and that my clients

seem pleased.

-Angela

ps. That handsome fellow in the upper right of the dreamers & doers spread is my beau.

Watercolor

I always thought I hated watercolor until my color theory teacher made me buy a set of gouache and forced me to use it for an entire semester. It was temperamental and difficult to use. I could never quite get the right consistency until after weeks of practice. I painted endless color swatches that were supposed to be as smooth and seamless as the swatches you pick up from the paint section of the hardware store. I hated her for it. But I slowly started loving the medium. After the weeks of paint swatches, when we finally got to use it in still lifes, it actually seemed very forgiving. When class was over I found it kind of zen to watch where the water bled to see what I could vaguely make out of the mess of water-stained chaos soaking into the thick textured sheets of paper. Defining the shapes or buildings or faces that I watched emerge in rapidograph ink.

These artists above make me want to break out my set again.

Moroccan Inspiration.

I haven't posted anything about my trip to Morocco yet. But since the other day I posted some of my design work, I thought this would be all too appropriate.

This picture was snapped toward the end of my trip, we had just finished up a long trip to Erfoud, which is a several hour drive. I snapped hundreds of pictures but I kept being taken back by the creativity and art that was in the form of murals on school walls along the way.

When I saw the murals on this particular school, I made my boyfriend pull over so I could take a picture. I stealthily snapped some pictures and started walking back to the car when a small man walked over and started speaking Arabic to me, when it was clear I was not an Arabic speaker, he tried some French. But being the paranoid person I am, I tried to just hurry back to the car and ignored the man. I was in a hurry after all.

When I got back to the car he knocked on the car window and started speaking Moroccan Arabic to my boyfriend. I soon learned that he was the artist of the murals! All he wanted to do was sell me a drawing. Silly girl.

10 Dirhams (1 dollar) bought me this beautiful drawing. He said it was of a "shy woman" and an "emancipated woman" sharing peace together. I was so inspired by his persistence and the beauty of his work that I promised myself I was going to carry his message over to the states.

So when Islam Day came around at the University and I found out the panel was about women in Islam I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to reinterpret his message in the United States. The word in arabic there is "salam" which means peace.

It isn't hard to figure out why so many European artists spent years in Morocco to find inspiration. I wasn't even looking for it and it persistently managed to find me.

-Angela

Not always clean. Not always girly.

Campaign for the NAIA National Wrestling Championships held at Oklahoma City University

I would say that most of the time my creative work is unapologetically clean, and unapologetically feminine. But this was a project that really forced me to grow in a different direction, so I thought I would share. For this project my concept was a fight club. I wanted it to reflect the blood, sweat and tears it takes to achieve athletic victory, especially in the case of wrestling.

Have you guys ever had any projects, work or otherwise, that really forced you to step outside of your comfort zone?

-Angela

Yes. I design things.

Hello all. I have finally mustered up the nerve to post some of my design work, what I am most shy about. Here is a piece I did last year. I posted the cover on here a few months back but didnt want to post the rest for all to see. But now that I have finally gotten over a little bit of my stage fright about my work, I am happy to share this with you.

3 color foil. Deckle edge. 16 page mini view book for The School of Visual Arts located at Oklahoma City University.

For some reason, I never hesitate to share my photography work. But when it comes to design it has always been this thing that I am so picky and passionate about that it leads me to be shy about my own work. It is strange, most people that have become familiar with my blog just assume that I am a photographer, when it isn't even my full time gig!

Well hopefully there will be many more design posts to follow this one. Taking pictures isn't the only thing I am obsessed with, ya know. ;)

-Angela

Inspiration - Jessica Hische

Wanted to share one of my favorite Graphic Designers with you guys. 

Since I first saw her work, she immediately made me feel validated as a "girly designer".

Her work is imaginative, vintage inspired....

...ornate, detailed, quirky....

...and unapologetically feminine whilst being badass all at the same time. 

She is even disciplined enough to have a blog featuring a beautifully detailed design of a drop cap. Every day. Designed just to beautify the blogosphere. 

Makes me want to buy a beautiful letter pressed one just for my bedroom. 

Find her websites here:

http://jessicahische.com/

http://jessicahische.blogspot.com/

http://dailydropcap.com/

Who inspires you lately?

-Angela