The Rookery

Who ever is behind The Rookery … YOU ARE AWESOME! (And yes, I can use all caps there.) The Rookery is a binding and letterpress studio in Salt Lake City, Utah. From stitching and screenprinting, to bookmaking and letterpress – I want to live in their Flickr page! The above listing is what attracted me to The Rookery on Etsy, thanks to the listing popping up on the front page of the site. But after some digging, I found their website and lovely Flickr photostream filled with goodies. See the awesomeness below. 0

McFancy

Amy Moss of Eat Drink Chic styled photos in a pitch for a McDonald’s pop-up shop. The idea was to makeover the fast food giant with a 5-star restaurant aesthetic which would appear during fashion week. I like the packaging ideas, perhaps almost a bit too simple. But they are quite lovely! 0

Fracmetrica Black

Wow. Found Fracmetrica Black in a forum on the Typophile site, this is so much fun to play with! It’s Open Type and it’s free to download. 0

The Creative Crisis

Creativity, is it a commodity? There is a crisis among us creative folks which has to do with the cost of our services. Whether you are an architect, a writer, a designer, or a photographer, the web has it’s advantages and disadvantages. The general public can have anything it wants at the click of a finger, creating our biggest competitor. They pay bottom dollar to get by on their limited budgets. Blueprints are being outsourced to China, photography is being hunted on stock photo sites for as low as $1, design is being outsourced to India for low-cost and low-quality logos. But there are consequences, and the biggest consequence of all is quality. What happened…

Ee Gruppa

I am utterly impressed by the two-color projects by Ee Gruppa, a design group out of Slovenia. 0

Ryan Frease

Clean work, awesome style with solid design mixed with illustration – Ryan Frease. 0

Feltron Report 2009

Nicholas Felton has created a visually stunning – The 2009 Feltron Annual Report. Look, like, love! 0

Same Sex Wedding Inspiration

So I’ve been working on a collection of invites, or something to that extent. And it came to me that I should create custom-illustrated wedding invites for a same sex couple. And it just so happened that right around the same time, Martha Stewart Weddings featured a same-sex couple wedding in their 15-year anniversary issue. So for those of you who are looking for inspiration, here’s an inspiration board for some thought. From left to right, top to bottom: Row 1: Just Married window display, Flickr; Custom Invitation, Faye + Co Row 2: Gray Area Pom Paper Decoration by PomLove Etsy, Combination Ring on Love & Pride, Groomswear on JCrew.com Row 3: Same-Sex Wedding feature…

Spencerian

If you are a follower of my Twitter page, you probably already know that I found a copy of the Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship printed in 1867 in a local antique shop. I am 39 pages into the book and some of the writing is certainly hard to read – I’m so used to modern-style writing. But the most wonderful part of the book was not what was written on the pages, but samples of someone’s practice left in the book. I found a few scraps with script and wanted to share them here. Not the best photos thanks to the lighting in my office, but I’m working on a remedy for that! And…

PA Spotlight: Harry Bertoia

You should probably recognize that last name, as in the Bertoia Chair. That’s right, Harry Bertoia (shown third from right in his diamond chair) lived in Pennsylvania for many years of his life and his family grew here in Barto, Pennsylvania. He was mostly known for his widely popular furniture, but was also a sculptor and university lecturer. He introduced wire rods into the furniture design scene in 1952 and worked with Charles Eames to develop his signature molded plywood chairs. How’s that for a resume? I managed to grow up loving his chairs, but never really knew of him until I did some research. My uncle worked for a company that plastic-coated the wire…