Another hand writing sample from this afternoon.

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danielle's cupcake themed invitation and paper banner from her 30th birthday last week! cupcakes from philly cupcake (her fave indulgence).

invite 5" x 7" digital printing. double-sided. rounded corners.

banner 36" x 36" digital printing.

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Do not miss this event! This is like no other bridal showcase in the greater Sacramento area. It is a carefully crafted display of true event artistry by the best and the brightest of the area's wedding professionals. It is all about eye candy for the wedding decor & services obsessed.

Come taste some delicious food, sip on some cocktails, dance to a great band, and view amazing wedding gowns while strolling through some glamorous decor vignettes.

Guys you are not left out on this one! There's ... a grooms lounge! Complete with a cigar lounge, whisky & rum tasting and fire pit.

Lavish and Fabulous takes place on Thursday, November 11th at 6PM, until 9:30PM. Tickets are on sale for $15 online {$20 at the door} at www.lavishandfabulous.com. The party is located at Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa - 1220 Arden Hills Lane, Sacramento, California. Must be 21 to attend and Cocktail Attire is requested.

Yours truly is one of the sponsors and participating in three vignettes. Hush, hush on the vignette themes! Wish I could share. :)

Guests will receive SWAG bags with goodies from participating vendors, too!

Don’t miss out on the last bridal show of 2010!

AND ... I have a few tickets left to give away! If you are interested in going email me at stephanie@stephaniejdesigns.com with the subject "Tickets to Lavish and Fabulous".

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Congratulations to Lori & Tony on their wedding yesterday at Grand Island Mansion!! Such a great theme for their end of October nuptials - A Haunted Mansion Wedding. Love. Trick was not to make the invites look too cartoony and Trick-or-Treatish while keeping a spirit of whimsy. After all, this is still a wedding People! :)

Lori chose a stone gray, burnt orange and dash of wine for her color palette. Since she didn't have too many additional enclosures she went with our 5x7 panel with band-wrapped back enclosures invite. There were little extra touches, too, like hand-glittering on the lamp posts that made them seem to glow.

Love, love, love Halloween and this was a super-fun invitation to work on with the creative couple! They added little spooky touches to the wedding decor too - like table names based on famous haunts.

Perfect for a Halloween Eve post - Congrats again you two!!

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I wanted to write something beautiful with a pen last night. I had thought about this compostion for a couple weeks prior to lettering the words.

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word has spread in philly this week that they are (finally!) opening a paper source store in the city!!! the 2,600 square foot store will be located at 1628 walnut street. opening in early february!

photo from brownstoner philadelphia.

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This logo was created for my brother Rick who requested the R and A initials of his name interlock and connect to a dragon icon. This is the first phase of the project. The logo will eventually be embroidered on a jacket, printed on a music CD and as a web site element. The next phase will be color development.



This is the sketch sheet of RA letterforms The version in the lower left corner was chosen and developed into a tighter sketch while drawing the dragon icons.

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If you are a designer who is looking to transition from a hobby to a career, choosing the right design school may be an important decision. Today, we have gathered a list of some excellent design schools from around the world. Each school listed has some amazing programs in several design disciplines. If you have been toying with the idea of going to a design school, than this article is definitely for you.

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North America

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA

The Art Center College of Design is located in sunny California and has been cranking out amazing designers for over 80 years. In the schools statistics report it notes that 88% of the students who graduated from the basic undergrad program have landed jobs, so that is definitely a positive. This College specializes in Advertising, Graphic Design, and Illustration programs. Some notable alumni that have graduated from the college are Dustin Edward Arnold & Sandeep Menon.

Parsons School of Design, New York NY

Next we will travel to New York and show you the Parsons School of Design. Their curriculum trains students to be able to solve complex problems as well as creating new innovative approaches. This school pretty much covers every facet of design from Fashion to Art history. Parsons has produced big names such as Marc Jacobs & Norman Rockwell, this is definitely the art school to attend if you can get into the prestigious institution.

Pacific Design Academy, British Columbia Victoria Canada

Only about 19 years old, this Canadian institution has made a name for itself by providing some of the best design education in Canada. This school focuses on Graphic design as well as architecture and fashion, and its classes are lead by some of the best designers in the area. So if you live in Canada and are thinking about attending a design school then you might want to consider this one.

International Academy of Design and Technology, Toronto Canada

This is another Canadian institution providing some of the best art education out there. This school focuses how to prepare students to apply their design skills in real life situations. The curriculum focuses on all the basic types of design as well as video game creation and fashion marketing. This is another solid school to consider if you are living in the area.

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY

Pratt Institute located in New York has a huge selection of design associated programs. From the common Graphic Design to Digital Arts, and Interior design, it is all covered at Pratt. The institute has a long list of distinguished alumni that you can view here.

Rhode Island School Of Design, Providence RI

The Rhode Island School of Design is another well-known college that focuses on Graphic Designing. If you choose to enroll you will be engulfed in the fine arts learning about everything from Typography, to Design Theory. You can earn your Bachelors of Graphic Design in 5 years at the school, which will mean you are proficient in the arts. This school also has a very long list of noteworthy alumni which you can check out here.

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Europe

Central St. Martins College of Art & Design, London UK

Now that we wrapped up North America we can move onto Europe, and Central St. Martins is a great art and design college in the UK. This is one of the more prominent design schools in Europe having ties to many creative industries around the world. This school offers many different design programs that you can choose from if you decide to go. The notable alumni’s that have graduated from this college can be viewed here.

University of Art & Design, Helsinki Finland

The University is over 138 years old and is dedicated to many different forms of design like media art, and motion graphics. You will definitely get a well-rounded education in this school because of its renowned curriculum.

Umea Institute of Design, Sweden

This Swedish institute has a multitude of interesting design orientated classes and is renowned as the best art school in all of Sweden. The institute was even featured as one of the best design schools in the world 2 years running by BusinessWeek. Only about 14 students are accepted annually to their bachelors program so this is definitely a hard school to get into, but you won’t regret it if you do.

Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

With their school mantra being “Mind over Matter” we can already tell this school is dedicated to learning. Although it is not known for its graphic design program, the school is recognized for architecture and industrial design.

Florence Design Academy, Florence Italy

This design academy in Italy is focusing on the future of design, it has amazing international programs accepting many students from other countries to come and study in Italy. The school has some impressive galleries of past students work in fields like Graphic and Industrial design. Classes are equipped with the latest models of all your favorite programs, so look into this school if you are in the area.

Créapôle Ecole de Creation Manqagement, Paris France

This academy located in the heart of Paris trains designers to think ahead and focus on the future of their fields. All the basics are covered in this school and then some other alternative majors as well. This is a great school for those who want to or already do live in France, so make sure to check it out if you are interested.

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Asia

National Institute of Design, India

Our first Institute in Asia was recently rated one of the top 25 Schools on the continent. The NID focuses in providing its students with the very best design programs. They even offer some postgraduate work in 14 different design fields. The school only consists of about 300+ students, so it is a difficult one to get accepted into.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong China

The core values of this institute are centered around what they call Humanistic Designs. The university preps its 1200 students to become strategic thinkers in regards to their art. This school has taught many now prominent designers which you can view here.

Tongji University, Shanghai China

Even though this university is in China it offers a broad range of international programs. While its main art focus is in architecture it still offers classes for advertising, graphic design, and animation.

MIT’s Institute of Design, Maharashtra India

This 25-acre campus features one of the best design schools in India. The university explains what it means to be a designer and then teaches the students how to be a good artist, as well as a thinker. The school features all the major design fields and also focuses on making their students as well rounded as possible.

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Australia

Australian Academy of Design, Melbourne Australia

The Australian Academy of Design will give you a wide selection of majors to choose from in the art field. Each discipline has its own bachelors program and a strong curriculum surrounding it, this school immerses the student in a great environment. The school also supports international students, so it is a plus for anyone who wants to study in Australia.

Curtin University of Technology, Perth Australia

This massive school holds a whopping 44,000 students but it is considered to be one of the best design schools in Australia. This university also offers an international program for overseas students, and its current courses focus on Photography, Graphic Design, and even Jewelry. This is another great choice if you are in the area and want to go to a design school.

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More Information

If you are interested in checking out more design universities in your area please use this great directory created by Core77.

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More loose brush at a very late hour.

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TypeBoy was created with a pencil, a hand carved bamboo reed and a stiff bristle brush. I did this one after a long session of tightly controlled letterforms. I'm going to continue playing with loose writing for a while to get back my rhythm.



This is the sketch prior to brush strokes.

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yay to the phillies!!! tonight was such a fantastic game! in honor of game 2 we thought we would post a pic of one of our phave philly shirts, the cholly, from philavania! can't wait for friday!

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we would like to thank natalie from natty michelle for her post about danielle's letterpressed save the dates. we are so flattered. we love her blog and have added it to our list that we follow daily!

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Jimmy D's is a recent project and a good example to show lettering variations created in the development of a brand mark. The design team on this project sent me a series of roughs to refine and develop for comp presentation. A variety of comp lettering was produced for presentation.





As the project progressed a new comp was sent over with a request that I fine tune the concept.



In order to fine tune the comp I printed a screen shot of the image and used it for a tissue underlay. I drew new letter shapes with consistent hook serifs on the left and right sides, adjusted vertical angles including wieghts and smoothed out the loop of the cap D. The tissue sketch was scanned and pasted on the screen shot image in Photoshop.



The image was saved as a jpg file and imported to Illustrator for use as a drawing template. With new letters drawn a grouped interior tone shape was added to give the lettering some depth.





The final art of the Jimmy D's lettering is now in use on TV commercials, packaging and at a really cool website.

http://jimmydean.com/jimmyds

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Quickie Post! Bridal shower invitations from September ... black, white, red and champagne color palette works perfectly for fall or winter wedding ... switch up the colors to a brighter palette for spring and summer. Two sided invites share the luncheon menu and registry details on the back.

On a little side note ... if you haven't been to La Provence in Roseville ... their Hamburger Provencal is to die for!!

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Quickie post! Table cards from Nicole & Ron's wedding yesterday at Scribner Bend Vineyards. These table cards came out super-cute with a big fat golden Swarovski Rivoli crystal for a touch of sparkle.

Congratulations Nicole & Ron!!

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