June 5, 2013Comments are off for this post.

QUOTE POSTER

TYPE-POSTER

Remember how I posted about the work of Ed Ruscha oh so long ago?

Nearly three months later, I can finally reveal that Ruscha was my inspiration for a poster project in Typographic Design earlier this semester. The time-intensive project involved taking a quote or song lyrics and designing a type-driven, 22 x 35-inch poster. I chose one of author Jack Kerouac's passages from his book, On the Road, that I happen to love for its message and vivid imagery, "Burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."

Once I started sketching designs for the poster, I found these amazing microscopic pictures of cells. If you read the book, you'll know the novel centers heavily on two young men who travel across the U.S. in search of self-knowledge and real meaningful life experiences. I loved the explosive nature of the cell photographs and thought that, as the building blocks of the body ("the self"), they were the perfect symbolic representation of this personal quest for happiness.

Deep stuff, I know.

Using bright, analogous shades of orange, yellow + brown and a solid, sans serif font, OSP-DIN by OSP Foundry, the poster came together nearly exactly as I had imagined it from my initial sketches. And now, it's proudly hanging in my apartment in all its gigantic 22 x 35-inch glory.

theproject

class  Typographic Design
what  Song Lyric / Quote Poster

objectives

01  Choose one serif and one sans serif font to hand render with your lyric or quote of choice.
02  Analyze both fonts and choose which style works best for your poster design.
03  Use any Adobe Creative suite software you wish to design the poster.
04  Final file must be 22 x 35 inches and include a four page paper outlining design inspiration (Ed Ruscha + abstract expressionism), history of the fonts chosen, examples of design inspiration and final copy of poster.

mythoughts

Loved the project but did not love the new, recently released movie remake of "On the Road" with Kristen Stewart. It physically hurt to watch, it was so bad.

May 18, 2013Comments are off for this post.

WEDDING SEASON

Final-Summer-Dresses

Now that I'm done with finals, reality has hit me: I have eight weddings to attend this year.

A normal person might gasp at this number in astonishment. So much fun! So many weddings presents! So many bachelorette parties! So much love! But two years ago, I had 11 weddings in one summer. In comparison, eight seems rather easy and dare I say, totally amateur-ish?

As a seasoned invitee, I happen to know weddings are the best excuse to go shopping. Chances are, this summer I am going to run into ex-boyfriends, old high school friends + family I haven't seen in years. That means I need to look good. You know, like I haven't hit my peak yet or developed crow's feet or spent 15 minutes one morning last week pulling out gray hairs and belting Gypsies, Tramps + Thieves in my best Cher voice. You can't see me, but I'm raising my Friday night can of PBR in hopes that I haven't, in fact, peaked in life yet. Sadly, it's too late on the crow's feet and gray hairs.

The good news for us is that this is all solved by wearing colorful, patterned dresses. All it takes to deflect any notice of life's general wear and tear on our young (yet still aging) bodies is bright colors + blinding patterns. It screams look at my dress and not at my wrinkly grandma hands.

Plus, most of these items are on the less expensive side. That leaves me more money to spend on heavy duty hand lotion, retinol night cream and hair dye. My roots have already thanked me.

1 | dress ($58) :  shoes ($79.90) : pom ($35)
2 | dress ($79.90) : sandals ($69.95) : clutch ($180)
3 | dress ($275) : shoes ($49.90) : ring ($38.50)

May 16, 2013Comments are off for this post.

SUMMERTIME

SummertimeGatsbyQuote

As of 3pm today, I am officially done with spring semester and appropriately celebrated by going out for margaritas, chips +  guac with my two bestest school friends. Bring on SUMMATIME. Even though my summer will be anything but leisurely (I'll be working full-time + taking an intensive three-week summer illustration course), I am excited for sundresses, bike rides around the lake, outdoor patio happy hours and most importantly, a week-long vacation to Door County in July.

Plus, I really want to see The Great Gatsby movie this weekend (hence the classic Gatsby quote), despite its rampant bad reviews and my strong disdain for Beyonce's remixed version of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black on the movie soundtrack. Don't mess with Amy, even you Queen B.

Yes, summer, I am so glad you have finally arrived.

[photo]