Monday's Inspiration: This

An important question to ask...

I usually reserve "Monday's Inspiration" posts for people, places and art that inspire me and inform my artwork. This week, I'm doing something different because sometimes I serve as my own inspiration.

St. John's Booksellers is one of my clients. More than that, Néna, the owner, is a very good friend. I've designed her window displays and her print material for over a year now and I've gotten to hear a fair amount about the challenges of running a brick and mortar store in today's economy. I have to say, it takes a huge amount of dedication and courage to run a bookstore and go up against the big guys in the business.

One of the thing that's struck me over and over again are Néna's stories about having a customer come in, ask about a book -accessing Néna's many years of experience in the industry and her incredible base of knowledge when it comes to books- and then decide to go buy the book somewhere else. Even telling her that they can get it cheaper on Amazon. It is maddening.

I've wanted for a while now to help her address the issue of people using her store as an Amazon showroom. While I have nothing against Amazon in general, I very much value independently-owned bookstores as vital community resources and neighborhood anchors. And if we don't actively value our neighborhood bookstores, they're going to disappear.

With this window design, from the brown paper to the question and the answer, I think I've pretty much summed up why we should be shopping local and supporting our neighbor's businesses. When I first had the idea, I was worried that it was too confrontational or that Néna wouldn't like it. She liked it and decided that we should run with it. It went up on Saturday night.

The reaction, in just two days, has been phenomenal. It has started many conversations. A picture of the window, posted on Facebook, has been shared over 90 times. It's been described as "scary, provocative, and witty" "right on and badass" "like the Ghost of Christmas Future, pointing at the grave..." and more. Every once in a while, I have a design idea that hits a sweet spot - something that communicates a powerful idea very simply and directly and in a way that can't be ignored. When I do, it serves as a deep well of inspiration for whatever comes next.

This is one of those times.

Getting Your Hands on Vintage Books in St. Johns

It's true!

One of my favorite tasks as a designer is to work with Néna at St. Johns Booksellers to come up with ideas and window designs to promote her wonderful bookstore and the books she sells. For January, Néna wanted to showcase some of her outstanding vintage books. This is what I came up with:

Decembers's window was a much-welcome explosion of lights, color and glitter for the holidays, so I wanted to do something very clean and simple for January to let the amazing vintage books shine. Hence, the idea of books being pieces of history you can hold in your hands. To carry the idea, I created a number of hand outlines in various fun and vintage-style papers, to place in the books and around the window.

The results were exactly what I wanted! I love the moment when I take a step back, about halfway through the process of setting up the window, and realize that my idea is going to work exactly the way I'd hoped. Especially when times are tight and the design budget is limited.

I've had so many compliments on the poster I created for the window, I decided to offer it for sale in my Etsy store.

Néna has some AMAZING vintage books, including a gorgeously tooled set of Oscar Wildes, and an almost unbelievably cool self-published and AUTOGRAPHED Anais Nin! She also has a Victorian-era Imperial folio on Pompeii which is just incredible. I am rapidly running out of superlatives!

Check out more about St. Johns Booksellers over on Facebook.

Happy 2013!

Last Friday in St. Johns

We've got an art event coming up in our neighborhood, and this is the poster I designed for it:

My New Business Cards

Designers frequently have a hard time designing their own identity, and I'm no exception. But with my recent portfolio update, I fell in love with a new logo for myself and I finally got around to designing my new business cards:

I am purely delighted with how these came out. I was going for something clean and beautiful, with a sense of personality and charm as well. The handwritten typeface is exactly what I wanted as well. Generally, I'm very conservative with my typeface choices, but sometimes something expressive like this is just what's called for.

Time for a New Identity?

A possible new look for StacySix Design in business card format.

I'm pondering an identity update. My current visual identity isn't quite as sophisticated or as illustrative as I'd like it to be. As I reach out to new client, I'd like to be able to hand them something a little bolder.

Graphic designers are notoriously bad at designing for themselves, or so I was told by numerous design instructors while I was still in school. I can see why. Given the time, we'd probably want to change personal logos at least as often as we change shoes.

My current logo.

My current logo is cute, clean, and makes a subtle reference to the crafty side of my interests with the stitch-like type. But maybe it's missing something. A little extra oomf, for lack of a better word. I'm going to be playing with different ideas this month to see what I can come up with.

Comme Ci Comme Ça

Or, as one former associate used to put it, "some days, chicken pie; other days, chicken s---."

I've started entering designs over at 99 Designs. It's a website where clients can go to request design work. Designers submit their work, the client picks one, and the winning designer receives a payment. It's quite good practice, especially in working with a variety of clients and their various specifications. It's frustrating, however, when the clients offer no feedback and I'm left wondering where I fell short. Take the two designs below:

I'm very happy with these two designs (especially the one on the right), but the client wasn't. I read the spec sheet pretty closely and there are no radical departures from their stated desires. I was disappointed not to have made it into the finals, as it were. Nonetheless, it was a good experience. I tried one new thing and was delighted with the results. 

So basically, it's back to the drawing board. What do you think?

Warm Wood Desktop Background

This is my current self-designed desktop background. If you like it, feel free to take it for your own use.

Baby Steps

I'm pretty darned happy with myself right now. I made a pattern that well and truly tiles. It's in my favorite colors and so dynamic!

I Love Blueberries - Sensing a Pattern

Blueberry One

I started playing with my blueberry images from a previous design, experimenting with creating patterns. The results? I'm having serious fun! These will, eventually wind up on Spoonflower. From there? Who knows? The second one looks more old-fashioned, more sweet. I may try taking the seeds out of the first pattern and see what happens. Currently, they remind me of braille, or of some kind of organic punchcard.

Blueberry Two

The Beauty of Overhead Powerlines

A bit of illustration/design brought on by the rare beautiful day yesterday, and perhaps all the reading I've been doing lately about going off-grid, sustainability, and self-sufficiency.

Of Birds and Wheels and Contests

I was going to enter this design* in a contest until I read the fine print:

ALL ENTRIES BECOME THE PROPERTY OF SWEET SKINS, AND NONE WILL BE RETURNED TO THE ENTRANTS…All entrants acknowledge by entering this Contest that any Tank-Tee designs created and submitted as part of this Contest cannot be used by the entrants (or others) for any other commercial purpose whatsoever other than to enter this Contest or for their own personal portfolio…

Etc, etc. Basically, the rules seem to indicate that once I enter a design, I cede all rights to use that design anywhere else, ever, regardless of whether or not I win the contest. The company involved could even use the design later on without compensating me at all. Frankly, I was surprised to discover something so apparently unethical in a contest sponsored by such a wonderful local company. Perhaps I'm just inexperienced with design contest legalese?

I love Sweet Skins' clothing and recommend them wholeheartedly otherwise. They represent the best of what local can be: generally ethical in business practices, responsible ecologically, quality product, community involvement. I'll be supporting them by purchasing their clothing. I just won't be designing for them, apparently.



*A sketch I did a few years ago and finally converted to digital, while refining it a bit. I added the wheel from my recent bicycle graphic to the background, and voila! I've often wanted to do something more ornate and detailed. Having done it, I like it.

Spring is Coming