My New Year greeting to everyone.

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Toast the Holidays is wine label lettering created for a client I have worked with for many years. This was a rather challenging project due to a rush deadline with very complex lettering.


I drew the rough sketch on the left within a few minutes. No details, just a basic concept to show my client what was possible. After showing the rough concept I was asked to provide to provide a tighter sketch the following afternoon. I spent the next morning creating refined drawing and got the approval to proceed.




All the lettering was hand drawn from scratch and at times I had to change areas of the design on the fly due to contrast and legibility issues. What might look great in a sketch may not work when reduced as clean vector letter forms. One of the problems I ran into was the script for UP. What I originally sketched for UP was off balance with the overall design and did not tie in with the embellishments throughout the wine glass. I spent many hours redrawing thos two script letters till I had a visual solution.


The final labels were printed in two different color schemes for both red and white wine bottles. This was some of the most beautiful lettering I had created in 2011 and a nice project to end the year with.

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the countdown to 2012 is just around the corner! there's nothing better than gold and sparkles on new year's eve. we love gold because it's beautiful and it represents success and good health -- perfect symbolism for embracing a new year. we've gathered a few of our festive favorites to glam up yourself and your home this weekend...

{a} opt for something other than champagne and pop the cork of a bottle of infinium, a delicious limited edition champagne-like beer by sam adams; {b} add some sparkle to your hair with a starlette sparkler, by giant dwarf's etsy shop; {c} glam up a game of poker with this gold card playing set, by horne; {d} have a countdown toast with numbered flutes, idea by martha stewart; {e} let the bubbles overflow onto the walls by adhering some pearlized balloons behind the drink station, inspiration by everything fabulous {f} serve up some bubbly on this gold leafed zig zag tray, by up in the air somewhere; {g} make your guests smile with a quick diy confetti invite, idea by you are my fave.

wishing you all a fun-filled weekend! enjoy the last day of the year -- make it a good one! we have some exciting news that we cannot wait to share with you at the start of the year!!!

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I have decided to post some more cool business card designs. Some of these business card designs have really cool cutout shapes including dieline cuts, cool combinations of papers, embossing, cool use of materials, impressions, metals, and inks. I hope that you enjoy.
You might also enjoy our past Cool Business Card Design Finds:

The perfect business card for a toy company.

A business card shaped like a camera. This might be the coolest business card I have ever seen.

This business card is located in a coffee stained burlap sack. This is a very innovative idea for a coffee company’s business card.

This food company’s business card has a bite taken out of the side.

A Greek restaurant has their business cards on broken pieces of clay pottery.

A piano repairman’s business card folds up into a piano.

A marriage counselor’s business card looks torn and taped back together representing what she want to repair your marriage.

It looks like a drawn playing card - a very nice visual.

This hair and make-up artist’s business card has faux hair.

A business card on a piece of cardboard.

A minimalist technique sometimes works well too.

A business card that folds out into a mini-portfolio.

A business card that looks like a folder.

This business card looks a bit like a car parking ticket with the use of perforation (but on an angle)

An illustrator’s business card.

Business card with use of perforation and natural colors.

A business card on a cd.

A business card with use of a bow and an unusual shaped card.

A dentist’s business card with use of floss.

I like the use of a combination of different types of paper and inks.

Really classy business card with combinations of paper and printing techniques.

The same with this card.

Look at thread sewn into the business card for this clothing company.

A really cool business card inside a plastic bag for a forensic research company.

This Acupuncturist’s business card uses pin holes for the business name.

This manuicurist’s business card has cut outs for fingers.

I like the usage of 2 different types of paper and embossed letters.

This business card looks like an impression from writing on a notepad.

This is an inkless business card.

An innovate usage of the “Hello My Name is” stickers

This fiber artist shows off her talents with the creation of her business card.

This business card uses an innovative shape.

It might not be the most beautiful card but it stands out because it is different.

A great business card for a show because it is on a ticket.

A nice use of color and shape.

I like the use of sketching / drafting for this creative thinking company.

I love the illustration and color usage on these business cards.

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hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! here are the christmas cards my husband and i (chy) sent out to family + friends this year. we don't normally do a photo card, but this year we just had to share a photo from our amazing south african trip. so i kept it casual with a polaroid style shot and made it festive with some colorful confetti!

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I receive many questions from both clients and other designers asking me “What makes a good logo?” Instead of focusing on what makes a logo look good (because we all know we can argue that point for days based on personal taste), I thought it would be best to focus on what makes a logo work well – a better question to ask yourself while designing a logo is “How flexible is the logo?”

Below are 5 tips and attributes your logo should have in order to work well, increase its flexibility and help it work better in more situations.

1. Works well in black, reversed-out and full color

A good logo should be created to work in black, reversed-out (white) and color. Many of times designers start to create their logo by introducing color right away. This often takes away from the concept because your mind is more focused on the “pretty colors.”

2. Works well in various sizes

Logos should be scalable and work well both large and small sizes. Try to avoid logos and marks that are overly complicated. As the old KISS saying goes, “Keep it simple, stupid!” Especially with logos being implemented favicons, on signage and business cards, logos need to be size flexible.

3. Ambidextrous

Logos should be able to work both horizontally and vertically. Typically, in most cases, I provide my clients with two variations to their logos, especially if the logo design was intended to be vertical – horizontal logos seem to work well on websites. It’s always good to make sure you’re logo is a switch hitter :)

4. Flexible logos are vector-ized

When creating a logo, you should be using vector-based software, such as Adobe Illustrator. This will give you the ability to provide various file formats and scalable logos. Typically I like to provide clients with various types of file formats, this way they have different files to implement into various programs they use.

5. Readable

Not only does a logo mark need to work well at various sizes but so does the text. When creating the mark at a smaller size try increasing the character spacing. This will help improve readability, especially when shrunken down and viewed from afar. Are you able to scale your logo without losing clarity?
Is your logo flexible? What other tips would you add to the above to make your logo work well in more instances?

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wishing everyone a very merry little christmas. hope santa was good to you all!

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happy eve of christmas eve! hope everyone is enjoying this last day of work, shopping, or wrapping before their weekend of festivities and family. we hope you all get a few items on your wish list this year. thought we'd share a few of ours! loving how it randomly came together as a montage of metallics and leather...

{chy} riding boots, window pane terrarium (wouldn't this make a great jewelry box?!), gold plated scissors

{dee} marc jacobs leather hobo, sparkling cupcake earrings (of course!), glitter iphone case

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