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letterpressed invite and rsvp for sarah + nils who tied the knot this past saturday at longview gallery in d.c. both sarah + nils have a nice appreciation for design and typography and requested a text-only invite that was imperfect and brooklyn-esque. we went with a handwritten font and hand drawn lines, including a simple line drawing of the d.c. skyline to create this look.

we had so much fun working on these and obviously love the color combo!

invitation: 5" x 7" 1-sided, 2-color letterpress

rsvp card: 3.5" x 4.875", 1-sided, 2-color letterpress

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I love vintage stuff and I already posted an article like this some months ago. But it seems it didn't stop there. Here is a second round of vintage ads that should have been forbidden. Enjoy

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http://www.davidmedinaphotography.com/wblog/2011/06/23/anna-travis-wedding-day/

Check out the above link to some gorgeous photos of some calligraphy I did for a destination wedding in Mexico.  I did hand lettered envelopes, menu place cards, escort cards and a guest book sign for this sweet bride.

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We are soooo hitting the Happiest Place on Earth in T-Minus 48 hours!! Yipppppeee! A little mid-season siesta is definitely in order for this one happily busy designer.

The studio will be closed from Saturday, June 18th through Sunday, June 26th. I will of course keep a weather-eye out for emails and be checking my voicemail ... but will not be returning messages {both email and phone} unless there is some sort of cataclysmic paper event that needs my immediate attention. All new inquiries, sadly, will have to wait for my return.

Have a terrific week people ... and I will see you real soon!!

PHOTO VIA: DISNEYLAND PARK WEBSITE

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Chris Brett is a fantastic Illustrator from Vancouver. Inspired by Dr Seuss and Tim Burton. His work is quite unique, colorful and fun with a touch of dark humor!. Let's have a chat with him!.

TSD: Tell us where you are from and when you started as an illustrator
I'm from all over the place really, but at the moment I currently
reside in Vancouver BC. I got started in illustration when I was a
kid. Like most other kids I used to draw super heroes and villains,
futuristic cars, and monsters of all sorts. When I was about 15 I
started getting into graffiti, after a few years of that, i went to
collage for psychology and after about a year decided that all I wanted
to do was draw and paint, so I decided to make a run at the
illustration world.

TSD: Guide us through a regular day in your life, when do you get most creative?.
A regular day consists of me getting up in the morning, walking my
puppy Ruby, and heading out to my day job. I'm usually home by 3-4pm,
at which point ill take care of any household errand, chores, etc.. so
I can free up my evenings for some drawing and painting. I am most
creative at night it seems. The outside world is winding down and my
world is just starting to wake up. That being said, on the weekends I
tend to paint all day if I can. So I don't think creativity is resting
on what time of day it is, but more on what responsibilities have to
be taken care of before I can allow myself the mental space to be
creative and produce.



TSD: I see your illustrations are quite unique. Where your inspiration comes from?
Sometime I'm not really sure where my inspirations come from for an idea.
I have a lot of influences from Dr. Seuss to Tim Burton to 1930's Surrealist
painters to Cartoons. I think in the mish mash of everyday life where I
unconsciously take things in, it goes through the creative blender and spits
itself out as a new wacky idea or character for a painting. Other artists I've grown
up on also inspire me to tap into that child-like wackiness and freedom of
expressing myself in whatever way
feels good to me.

TSD: Tell us the evolution of your work over the years? do you think you have improved as an artist?
I have for sure improved as an artist over the years. Back when I was
painting graffiti I had never drawn from life, used acrylic or
brushes, or even explored different techniques. I was 21 the first
time I picked up a paint brush, and the stuff i did back then was
TERRIBLE... Over the years though, I just kept at it and experimented
alot with mediums and techniques. Things evolve naturally when your
pushing yourself to make a better painting each time you sit down with
a new idea, and I hope that never changes. If I ever reach a point
where I stop improving my skills and ideas, I will be really bored,
and then what's the point of painting.



TSD: Are you very critical when it comes to your own art?and how you deal with criticism yourself?
I am super critical of my artwork. I hate most of my paintings up
until the last hour of working on them. I'll be really happy with the
new piece, sit back and admire what I created, but that soon fades
into "how could this be better?", "What should i do better next time?"

"What did I learn during this painting?"
Its obviously easier dealing with my own criticism versus that of
someone else, depending on their intentions. If they are there to
generally help, offer advice and want you to succeed, then I am all
ears and will take whatever they have to say into consideration if it
strikes a cord with me. If people offer criticism that is trying to
bring me down or insult me, then I just brush those sad little people
off as these little blips of negative energy. If they have nothing to
contribute to better me or themselves as artists then I don't really
care.

TSD: Do you always listen to and take into consideration what the audience say about your work?
Yes and No, I create work that i want to see, and in return i hope
people have similar sensibilities and tastes as I do. Its perhaps
selfish in a sense, but I'm just a regular dude for the most part and I
feel that my work is able to reach my peers in a way that they can
appreciate.



TSD: What have you been working on recently? any up and coming exhibition / event we should keep our eyes on?
Lately I've been working on a new series of paintings that is a bit of
a different approach then most of my work to date. Its a new twist on
things and i hope to have a good body of work in this new style by
summers end. I've taken some time off from doing gallery shows lately
to focus more on private sales and expanding my body of work. I have a
couple group shows at the end of the summer, but at the moment its all
about creating.



TSD: Did you go to school for arts or are you self taught?
Yes, I went to Sheridan College in Ontario for an Applied Arts degree
in Interpretive Illustration.

TSD: Would you have any piece of advice for other illustrators out there?
Draw & Paint alot, then do it some more, then when you think you've
done enough, do alot more.



TSD: Where can we also find you online?
http://www.ChrisBrett.ca
http://www.facebook.com/artofchrisbrett
http://www.twitter.com/chrisbrett

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A few months ago, the sweet and talented, Amy of Sincerely Yours Paper reached out to me to have some calligraphy goodies for her shop.  We got each others vision and enjoyed working together so much we will be and have been working with each other a lot lately.  One of the more recent things Amy had me do was hand letter a couple's name and some other cute sayings that I then scanned and then sent over to her.  Then she worked her paper magic!!!  The results were SO breathtaking that SMP featured them on their blog!!

Here is the link to Amy's write up:
http://sincerelyyoursonline.blogspot.com/2011/06/featured-style-me-pretty-magnolia-hill.html

Here is Style Me Pretty's (it's a GORGEOUS mock wedding style shoot!)

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/06/17/aldas-magnolia-hill-wedding-inspiration-from-finishing-touch/

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I was googling around the other day to see if my shop popped up anywhere unexpectedly and I found myself on Style Me Pretty!! I had the pleasure of lettering the escort cards for this sweet bride.  http://www.stylemepretty.com/gallery/gallery/maryland-mansion-wedding+3279

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Creative Director: Silas H. Rhodes, Designer: Milton Glaser, Photographer: Matthew Klein, Visual Arts ©2007

Milton Glaser is...well, words nearly don't do him justice...one of the most important, prolific and profound leaders in visual and graphic arts in your lifetime and his. He is personally responsible for the design and illustration of more than 300 posters for clients in the areas of publishing, music, theater, film, institutional and civic enterprise, as well as those for commercial products and services. The image above and the essay below are reproduced here with permission. Read on to discover his sage advice with words that ring as true today as when written in 2001. Peruse his bio and work on his Milton Glaser Web site for more essays and insights into this man's creative force, remarkable accomplishments and matchless oeuvre.

Ten Things I Have Learned
Part of AIGA Talk in London
November 22, 2001

1
YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.

2
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the radio and heard an interviewer ask ‘Now that you have reached 75 have you any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?’ An irritated voice said ‘Why is everyone asking me about old age these days?’ I recognised the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he was – the composer and philosopher who influenced people like Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him slightly and admired his contribution to our times. ‘You know, I do know how to prepare for old age’ he said. ‘Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceedingly well prepared for my old age’ he said.

3
SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.

4
PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
Early in my career I wanted to be professional, that was my complete aspiration in my early life because professionals seemed to know everything - not to mention they got paid for it. Later I discovered after working for a while that professionalism itself was a limitation. After all, what professionalism means in most cases is diminishing risks. So if you want to get your car fixed you go to a mechanic who knows how to deal with transmission problems in the same way each time. I suppose if you needed brain surgery you wouldn’t want the doctor to fool around and invent a new way of connecting your nerve endings. Please do it in the way that has worked in the past.
Unfortunately in our field, in the so-called creative – I hate that word because it is misused so often. I also hate the fact that it is used as a noun. Can you imagine calling someone a creative? Anyhow, when you are doing something in a recurring way to diminish risk or doing it in the same way as you have done it before, it is clear why professionalism is not enough. After all, what is required in our field, more than anything else, is the continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.

5
LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realised that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you cannot say that less is more because you realise that every part of that rug, every change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’

6
STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
I think this idea first occurred to me when I was looking at a marvellous etching of a bull by Picasso. It was an illustration for a story by Balzac called The Hidden Masterpiece. I am sure that you all know it. It is a bull that is expressed in 12 different styles going from very naturalistic version of a bull to an absolutely reductive single line abstraction and everything else along the way. What is clear just from looking at this single print is that style is irrelevant. In every one of these cases, from extreme abstraction to acute naturalism they are extraordinary regardless of the style. It’s absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve your loyalty. I must say that for old design professionals it is a problem because the field is driven by economic consideration more than anything else. Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much of the same thing too often. So every ten years or so there is a stylistic shift and things are made to look different. Typefaces go in and out of style and the visual system shifts a little bit. If you are around for a long time as a designer, you have an essential problem of what to do. I mean, after all, you have developed a vocabulary, a form that is your own. It is one of the ways that you distinguish yourself from your peers, and establish your identity in the field. How you maintain your own belief system and preferences becomes a real balancing act. The question of whether you pursue change or whether you maintain your own distinct form becomes difficult. We have all seen the work of illustrious practitioners that suddenly look old-fashioned or, more precisely, belonging to another moment in time. And there are sad stories such as the one about Cassandre, arguably the greatest graphic designer of the twentieth century, who couldn’t make a living at the end of his life and committed suicide.
But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn’t want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn’t change your sense of integrity and purpose.

7
HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
The brain is the most responsive organ of the body. Actually it is the organ that is most susceptible to change and regeneration of all the organs in the body. I have a friend named Gerald Edelman who was a great scholar of brain studies and he says that the analogy of the brain to a computer is pathetic. The brain is actually more like an overgrown garden that is constantly growing and throwing off seeds, regenerating and so on. And he believes that the brain is susceptible, in a way that we are not fully conscious of, to almost every experience of our life and every encounter we have. I was fascinated by a story in a newspaper a few years ago about the search for perfect pitch. A group of scientists decided that they were going to find out why certain people have perfect pitch. You know certain people hear a note precisely and are able to replicate it at exactly the right pitch. Some people have relevant pitch; perfect pitch is rare even among musicians. The scientists discovered – I don’t know how - that among people with perfect pitch the brain was different. Certain lobes of the brain had undergone some change or deformation that was always present with those who had perfect pitch. This was interesting enough in itself. But then they discovered something even more fascinating. If you took a bunch of kids and taught them to play the violin at the age of 4 or 5 after a couple of years some of them developed perfect pitch, and in all of those cases their brain structure had changed. Well what could that mean for the rest of us? We tend to believe that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, although we do not generally believe that everything we do affects the brain. I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, ‘Don’t hang out with those bad kids.’ Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behaviour. I also believe that drawing works in the same way. I am a great advocate of drawing, not in order to become an illustrator, but because I believe drawing changes the brain in the same way as the search to create the right note changes the brain of a violinist. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy.

8
DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
Everyone always talks about confidence in believing what you do. I remember once going to a class in yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being sceptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between scepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is. They are sort of twins. And then in a very real way, solving any problem is more important than being right. There is a significant sense of self-righteousness in both the art and design world. Perhaps it begins at school. Art school often begins with the Ayn Rand model of the single personality resisting the ideas of the surrounding culture. The theory of the avant garde is that as an individual you can transform the world, which is true up to a point. One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty.
Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you.
Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable. But self-righteousness is often the enemy. Self-righteousness and narcissism generally come out of some sort of childhood trauma, which we do not have to go into. It is a consistently difficult thing in human affairs. Some years ago I read a most remarkable thing about love, that also applies to the nature of co-existing with others. It was a quotation from Iris Murdoch in her obituary. It read ‘ Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.’ Isn’t that fantastic! The best insight on the subject of love that one can imagine.

9
ON AGING.
Last year someone gave me a charming book by Roger Rosenblatt called ‘Ageing Gracefully’ I got it on my birthday. I did not appreciate the title at the time but it contains a series of rules for ageing gracefully. The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ‘It doesn’t matter that what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do – it doesn’t matter.’ Wisdom at last. Then I heard a marvellous joke that seemed related to rule number 10. A butcher was opening his market one morning and as he did a rabbit popped his head through the door. The butcher was surprised when the rabbit inquired ‘Got any cabbage?’ The butcher said ‘This is a meat market – we sell meat, not vegetables.’ The rabbit hopped off. The next day the butcher is opening the shop and sure enough the rabbit pops his head round and says ‘You got any cabbage?’ The butcher now irritated says ‘Listen you little rodent I told you yesterday we sell meat, we do not sell vegetables and the next time you come here I am going to grab you by the throat and nail those floppy ears to the floor.’ The rabbit disappeared hastily and nothing happened for a week. Then one morning the rabbit popped his head around the corner and said ‘Got any nails?’ The butcher said ‘No.’ The rabbit said ‘Ok. Got any cabbage?’

10
TELL THE TRUTH.
The rabbit joke is relevant because it occurred to me that looking for a cabbage in a butcher’s shop might be like looking for ethics in the design field. It may not be the most obvious place to find either. It’s interesting to observe that in the new AIGA’s code of ethics there is a significant amount of useful information about appropriate behaviour towards clients and other designers, but not a word about a designer’s relationship to the public. We expect a butcher to sell us eatable meat and that he doesn’t misrepresent his wares. I remember reading that during the Stalin years in Russia that everything labelled veal was actually chicken. I can’t imagine what everything labelled chicken was. We can accept certain kinds of misrepresentation, such as fudging about the amount of fat in his hamburger but once a butcher knowingly sells us spoiled meat we go elsewhere. As a designer, do we have less responsibility to our public than a butcher? Everyone interested in licensing our field might note that the reason licensing has been invented is to protect the public not designers or clients. ‘Do no harm’ is an admonition to doctors concerning their relationship to their patients, not to their fellow practitioners or the drug companies. If we were licensed, telling the truth might become more central to what we do.

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Our papery from Sarah & Josh's pretty, pretty barn wedding is featured on Style Me Pretty today!! You can check out our previous papery posts on this wedding here, here and here.

Happy Monday!

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: ALEXANDRA FRANKEL

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amy and matt were married this past saturday at the ocean place resort and spa in long branch, nj. vintage seaside celebration was the theme of the day! we designed their kite save the date where we established their fun color palette or coral, aqua, and sunshine yellow along with whimsical fonts and imagery. we carried those elements over to the invite, reply postcard, and folded directional card. each card proportionately gets smaller than the next which creates a nice stacked effect once tied with the bakers twine and tag. we obviously had to shoot these metallic invites on the beach to make them truly shine!

we wish amy, matt and their cute little son, christopher, happy days filled with cotton candy and ferris wheel rides!!

invite: 5.75 x 8.75, digital ink, ivory metallic paper

reply postcard: 5 x 7, digital ink, ivory metallic paper

folded directional card: 4 x 6, digital ink, ivory metallic paper

envelopes: metallic aqua, sealed with happy tape

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Whenever you try to get a job, you will always prepare a resume. Of course, everyone wants to get the job they want. And graphic design resumes are more challenging but these useful tips will help you get your design job you always wanted. - Enjoy


1. The Paper Quality.

Image: EvelynGiggles

Sometimes, you would overlook the type of paper you are using for your resume. Of course, you would focus more on the design and contents of your resume but do not forget the type of paper you will use. Some employers are actually particular with your paper choices. Grab a good paper and it will give you more points to get the job.

2. The Layout.

Image: thatunknownartist

Since you are a graphic designer, make use of your lay-outing skills but do not make it look too crowded, complicated and over designed. Give it a graphic designer’s touch but do not over do it. Use plenty of white space so that it wouldn’t strain your prospect employer’s eye.

3. The Typography.

Image: Amita-Gandhi

The font and the font size are very important. Choose a good font. Be sure that you have chosen a font that is readable. Do not make it too small. Remember that the contents of your resume are very important for it is the key for you to get the job.

4. The Structure and Presentation.

Image: shayluh

Your resume should look good in one glance. It needs to be concise, clean and informative. It also needs to be easy to read with the right usage of grammar and spelling.

5. The Needed Contents.

a. Your Name and Contact Information.

Image: rkaponm

Of course, this is important. This is placed in an area where it can easily be noticed-at the upper topmost part of the paper. It now depends on you on how you will make it look good and noticeable.

b.Your Personal Statement.

Image: ryan-gfx

A brief statement about your goals and your desired position. There will be a better impact if you will make a statement that is suited for the job. Avoid generic objectives; use a personal statement that will interest the employer.

c. Your Experience.

Image: miyucita

This is the part where you place your work experience which includes the job title, employment dates, brief job description and location.

d.Your Education.

Image: Kseniabrainer

In this section, include your academic background like what degree you finished, the date of graduation, the college you attended, and the location of your college.

e.Your Capabilities.

Image: pyrotensive

This doesn’t need to be too long but just state your special skills like good interpersonal skills, experience in managing projects, multitasking and others. This will help your employer to get to know you better.

f. Your Software Skills.

Image: srtcynthia

Since you are applying for a graphic design job, this section is needed. List the software you use and other design related skills.

g. Your Awards and Recognition Received.

Image: TheGallant

Enumerate your awards and recognitions here. Also include publications or websites where you had been featured.

h. Your Affiliations.

Image: rkaponm

Part of improving yourself as a designer is by joining different design organizations. So, write those organizations in this part.

i. Your References.

Image: PsychoPink

Some people wouldn’t include this but merely state that “References available upon request.” Just be ready with your references when they ask for it.

6. The Not Needed Contents.

a. Personal Information.

Image: khaosxcaos

It is not necessary to include information like your age, religion, hobbies, family status and others. Remember that your employer is interested on your professional life and not your personal life. So, there is no need to mention those things.

b. A Generic Objective.

Image: arianedenise

Do not make a generic objective. Make a personal statement instead. The employer will not be impressed to read that what you have written is prepared for wherever company and whatever positions you will apply for.

c. Things Not Related To Design.

Image: ShawnBaybo

Make sure that what you will include in your resume will only focus on you being a graphic designer. Do not include other things which are not really necessary.

7. The Cover Letter.

Image: Numbmonkey

Make a cover letter. Although, some employers do not require seeing this, there are still others who prefer to see resumes with cover letters. Make your cover letter look good too and be sure it is specially written for a certain company. Follow the right letter format and contents.

8. Have a Consistent Theme.

Image: faysalim

Do not use a variation of concepts in your resume. That will look like a scrap book and not a resume at all! So use a consistent theme or concept from your cover letter to your resume.

9. Limit Number of Pages.

Image: Norsehound

It doesn’t have to be long. A one page resume is more effective for employers don’t have time to scan a bunch of papers when there are so many applicants. But you can use two pages if that is really necessary, especially if you had been in the field for a couple of years already.

10. Organize Entries Chronologically.

Image: aash

It is recommended to arrange every entry in chronological order from the most recent job or award you receive moving backward. This is the manner employers usually want.

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