Letterpress Process

Remember when I was talking about Letterpresses and all of the awesomeness they encompass?? Well, I just stumbled upon this video that explains the entire letterpress process in a much better way then my semi lucid rambling. So here you go, a beautiful video that will completely explain the process from start to end...

Want It: Wooden Letterpress Alphabet

Vintage Wooden Letterpress Letters

I don't know if you have noticed but I have been posting a lot of design related stuff lately. I promise it is not on purpose. I still love florals, owls, and lace dresses. I guess I have subconsciously been exploring another facet of my interests. Which brings me to a major want of mine lately... A vintage wooden letterpress alphabet set! Being a graphic designer I have a great appreciation and love for where our trade has come from. Wooden type, for those of you who don't know was used in early printing (as well as today) to create posters, pamphlets, and pretty much anything that needed type printed on it. Not only are these type letters historical, but they are just so pretty!! Right now I own only three pieces of wooden type. All letter "N" and I love them to pieces but I would truly love a whole set! Too bad most alphabet sets are around $100. I guess I will just have to keep up the yard sale hunt till I find a deal on my very own wooden alphabet.

P.S. Here is an awesome video about type you may want to check out, I guess this could have almost been a "Design It" post, oh well...

Design It: Pantone

Another "Design It" post! I just couldn't help myself I am in love with everything Pantone! For those of you who are not giant nerds; Pantone books are the universal color books used by designers everywhere. Say I wanted to print a giant poster for a new super cool band and I found just the perfect shade of yellow for the sunrise vector I created for the background. Well imagine my excitement when the poster arrives, I unroll it and ECK! it is not the beautiful burnt yellow I picked but more like a neon yellow that belongs only on 80's related memorabilia. The problem was I saw a much different color on my computer screen (because of the light being projected behind it/ my personal brightness settings/ the light in the room I was working on it in ect.) then the actual color being printed. In order to avoid this color catastrophe Pantone books were created so that no matter where you are in the world the color you want will be the color you get. Each color is assigned a number which can be plugged into the design you are working on to ensure color perfection. Not only are Pantone books a great way to keep designers and printers from going insane, but the books themselves are designed pretty darn well. They are simple, sleek and straight to the point. My kind of design! I am honestly in love with all of the Pantone items below but I have been super duper wanting the iPhone case!! If only I could find a place in the US that doesn't charge $30 shipping...

1. Pantone Postcards

2. Pantone iPhone Cover (i want soooo bad!)

3. Pantone Mug

4. Pantone Tote

5. Pantone Colored Pencils

Design It: Penguin Classics

I don't know about you, but when I see an orange Penguin Classic book I can not help but get excited. Their design is so simple yet beautiful! I am a strong believer in simplicity. A good design does not need ten million things going on at once to grab your attention. In fact, busy designs tend to hurt my brain because it does not know where to focus it's attention. When I am designing I like to use the common fashion rule: "Look in the mirror and take off one accessory before leaving the house." Except I change it to "Take one excessive part of the design out before sending it to the printer." Clean, simple designs have so much more of an impact on the viewer and are usually the most memorable. For instance, I bet you could see the binding of a Penguin Classic cover from across the room and know exactly who the publisher is. That orange and cream cover will forever represent Penguin books in your mind. I actually have been seeing less and less of these beautiful covers around lately. I believe they are pretty rare in the US, but thankfully they are available in other countries. Well, lucky for those of you in England and Australia (I am so jealous!). Below are some of the great products Penguin sells with their iconic orange and cream cover. I am in LOVE with the Jane Eyre mug!!

1. Box of Postcards
2. Sherlock Holmes Book
3. Cover Art Book
4. Cover Bag
5. Jane Eyre Mug

Typography

Oh my goodness this is bad I have not blogged in more then a week! We'll let me show you one of the things I have been working on... For Typography class I had to create a poster portraying a historically important figure in Typographic history. I choose John Baskerville because I really love his font (also called Baskerville). It is a super classic, beautiful type face, and I love it! For my poster I wanted to create images that were similar to the metal type used in old printing presses. Inside I put his name (in his own font) and and the bottom I put the name of his type face. Which is ironically the same thing (or not so ironically...), but I still like how it looks together. I actually enjoyed this project and really hope I get a good grade, fingers crossed!! Anyway, here is the final product...

P.S. How cute is the new design Anthropologie has done to their website, the bookstore is my favorite, check it out...

Cath Kidston: Free Wallpaper

Does anyone else love Cath Kidston as much as I do?! I am completely obsessed with her floral patterns!! Cath Kidston is the founder and owner of this amazing shop based out of the UK. She has amazing floral everything and I seriously could buy every single thing she creates! (I would love to get one of her messenger bags one of these days). Thanks to the internet us US residents can order some of her great stuff, only catch is the extra cost to get our orders across the pond (and the exchange rate kills me too). One day I will bite the bullet and just order something. But until then at least my desktop can sport some of Cath's adorable prints. You can actually grab some free desktop backgrounds right from her site! Just click HERE.

Dream Big

Everyone and their dog has a blog these days so I thought why not see what all the fuss is about. I have recently started creating some little craft type things which I thought I might share on here. I also love clothes, vintage in particular and do quite a bit of thrifting so I thought I might share some of those finds as well.

I must say photography and design are my first love. My ultimate dream is to work for Elle Magazine. I believe it is one of the most artistic fashion magazines from the photographers down to the fonts. I am currently in school majoring in graphic design and know that Elle is quite a long shot but hey, why not dream BIG...