umbrellas.

since it is so incredible gross outside today, i thought that i would use it as inspiration. these are some pictures that i found on flickr that i enjoyed (and obviously fit with the subject).

umbrellas are kind of unusually beautiful and something that normally wouldn't be thought of that way. i always enjoy trying to look at things differently, and i feel that some of these photos really do that and it is interesting to look at.

1. it's raining here without you 2. red 3. hiroshima 4. hbw 5. under the umbrella 6. beach 7. street 8. rain drops 9. pink 10. umbrella in the rain? 11. lightnings 12. friday market 13. ella and her umbrella 14. blue umbrella 15. my beautiful umbrella 16. red umbrellas

*this coming week will be a super busy one for me, so the posts might be quite limited, but i will try to get some up for you*

legos.

it has been a longgggggg week, so i thought i would end it with something entertaining. i have seen this many times before, but we watched it in class again today and i thought it would be fun to show. the music video is completely made out of legos which is pretty sick. i can't image how long this would have taken - though watching it again and now knowing what i know about animating, i am sure the majority of it was done on a computer - but the idea of it is great.

i remember when my bro and i used to play with legos...that was always so much fun! i especially liked the little police station that we built...hahaha oh man...that was a long time ago.

anyway - back to the subject. i like how simple the colors are and how they aren't showing too much detail (which would be difficult anyway), though if you know the white stripes (thats who this music video is for) this looks exactly like them.

"fell in love with girl" by the white stripes - unfortunately i forget who the director is and sorry the video isn't the best quality...but its still fun...enjoy!

fabrics.

i found these pictures when i was looking through flickr for some yellow inspiration (a previous post) and i thought they were amazing. i really like the simplicity of the white background and bold colors of the fabric. i wish there were more with the girl dancing around because it makes the fabric and color so lively.

the red one kind of messes with my mind a little, because it doesn't look like she is standing on anything and the fabric continues down below her feet. one of the comments on this photo was that it looks like paint from a brush dispersing in water and i completely agree. especially at the bottom where you can start to see through the fabric. i personally don't like the last image here as much - mainly because it isn't as simple and there isn't a clear bold color to focus on. but overall these are a nice little collection of photos. enjoy!

here is a link to their flickr website. unfortunately, there aren't any more photos like this, though i wish there were because these are beautiful.

papergraphics.

yulia brodskaya makes these amazing pieces and they are some of the most creative things that i have seen recently. they are all made entirely out of paper, mostly out of those strips that you can buy at the craft stores (i think this is called quilling). i would love to learn how to do this. i sometimes like working on things that are real tedious like this, i just feel i would have a hard time getting each letter as perfect as she does! but it is definitely something to look into.

i think the reason i enjoy them so much is because it is something that you rarely see. i have seen images like this making flowers and such, but not really any that make up words. my favorite is celebrate mainly because of the intricate work inside each letter, but also because of the beautiful colors (i wish i could find a better, closer picture - but this is the best that i got)! i also really enjoy the bon appetite, because the colors are so simple that it makes the image so beautiful! but all of these are really amazing.

you would have to have serious patience to make these! here is a link to more of her work. there are lots of other good ones on her website as well - i really like the one for london.

yellow.

just some color inspiration for the day!

in terms of flowers, this is what yellow means: it simply makes people smile. it is the color of friendship, joy, and lightheartedness. new beginnings like the start of spring are associated with the beauty of yellow flowers. warm and bright, this color also is a perfect way to add brilliance to any bouquet.

1. cupcakes 2. lights 3. plates and bowls 4. honeycomb 5. fabrics 6. socks 7. bricks 8. ducky 9. lemon 10. sketch 11. umbrella 12. dress 13. pencils 14. couch 15. hay 16. flower

book covers.

a little while ago i said that i would look more into some book cover designs - mainly because i had never really thought about that in the design world. i did some looking and i found some really good book covers (well at least ones that i thought were good).

there are so many out there - its crazy! i found a bunch done by old school designers, like paul rand - and i must say that a lot of the older book covers are getting credited as the best book designs ever. but i also found a bunch of modern book designs as well - there are just so many! i think it would be fun to design book covers, but i think it would be harder than it looks. with book cover design you have to have something to catch a person's attention or they might not even look at it, especially if they know nothing about the book. but at the same time you have to make sure that it properly relates or represents the book that you are trying to sell.

i found a website that listed some of the top book cover designs of 2007, and i am pretty sure that the majority of these are from that - but these are just some that i found fun/interesting. oh and i am sure i will be adding more book covers to my blog as i find them...they can be really neat!

one perfect day; designed by evan gaffney:

a general theory of love; designed by john gall:

small crimes in an age of abundance; designed by david drummond:

one red paperclip; designed by kyle kolker:

special orders; designed by jason booher

here is the website where i found the list - there are some other good ones on here too (and also some that i don't like), but take a look! there is also a large variety of book covers at the aiga design archives, located here.

marzipan creatures.

marzipan has never ever sounded or looked appealing to me. especially when they make those little fruits and vegetables that are glossy and they look like wax - thats not really what i look for when i want a treat. but these little creatures are adorable! (though it still doesn't really make me want to eat it - so i guess i will never really like marzipan...but anyway)

i found these little creatures on this fake bakery's website - i still don't know how i got there - and i thought they were really cute! i read on the website that these three people decided to create a "fake" bakery for an art show and also to bring their illustrations to life. i really like the colors that they use and how they used them for each character. and i just love the expression on each characters face because they are all so different.

i think my favorites are the first and second pictures - i love the lady and her little skirt and the man is cute too with his little tie!

here is a link to the "bakery's" website. besides these treats looking absolutely adorable, their designs for the bakery are really nice as well! I love their style!

3d invites.

i saw these and i thought they were pretty fun. these are a couple 3d wedding invitations for destination weddings. i think the idea is really great, much better than getting a plain sheet of paper with fancy writing, especially for a special destination wedding. i love the adirondack chair. and of course i like the flip-flops, but with them i feel like it could be taken further, plus i don't think the type layout is anything special. but the idea is cute! and i love the little response and reception cards shaped like a fish and shell! its just always nice to see something different!

this is the website where i found these.

leprechauns.

so i was trying to find something irish to post for st. patty's day...but when when i looked around for something special, i really wasn't inspired by much. so i just thought that for fun i would post some different leprechauns that i found on the internet. a couple are famous ones, others are just random drawings that i found! so enjoy!

and the best leprechaun out there....lucky! the lucky charms leprechaun!

HAPPY SAINT PATTY'S DAY!

on the road.

i found this the other day when i found the alphabet images from my previous entry. i have never really thought about book cover design, mainly because there are a lot of bad book covers out there and so i usually don't pay attention to them. but i thought that this one was great. it is designed by jez burrows. i like the combination of the type and image and the images used make perfect sense with the subject of the book. its a pretty simple idea, but executed very well.

i will have to look for more good book covers - this one has sparked my interest.

here is the link to the webpage where i found this. the website shows the work of 4 different designers and there is some pretty neat stuff on there. there is also more work by this designer and i like some of it and i don't like some of it - but if you want to see for yourself this is the link to the overall website.

alphabet.

i thought this was pretty neat. as i have said before, i love playing around with type so this would be fun to do sometime.

students at a school were each given a specific letter and had to find/use something to create that letter. and then they combined them together to create images for a book. i really like the 'm' - it is very clever.

these images were posted by the person who created the letter 'e' and he said that the reason he chose to create just the outline was so that the letter would take on the color it was placed on. i think this idea is best displayed in the 'enjoy' one because while the background is white...you can see the confetti through it as well and that just adds to the idea of the picture.

here is a link to the website...i wish i could see more versions with more of the letters!