Beautiful branding work for Gabbani by Switzerland-based creative studio Demian Conrad.

“Visually the references are from the flavour of the 30’s with a mix of various typographies and the use of the black&white optical art typical of the 60’s.” “The black and white approach makes the all range standing out from the colorful and flashy bags commonly used by the competitors.”

via NotCot

Amazing craft and design by Sophie Williams for a stationery brand created using end-of-line sketchbooks as writing paper, and envelopes from the pages of donated books from the National History Museum.

‘The Finishing School’ was devised as my stationary brand with a conscious focus of reusing paper and other materials already in circulation.

I just found the work of Celeste Prevost and love every bit of it.

Kathleen of Twig & Thistle created a fun invitation with a meat theme for her husband’s surprise 30th birthday party. Using a faux bois stock and some crafty kraft paper, she made a set that would certainly leave a unique impression with it’s recipients. The link above is Part I, which means there’s more to come! Aren’t they great?!

I’m really adoring the work of Rachel Wiles of Benign Objects. A graphic designer and a writer/editor for The Dieline, Rachel creates handmade wedding invitations and I’m envious at how she incorporates unusual materials into her pieces. Handkerchiefs? Gorgeous! I might be looking into some unique ones myself, so watch out!

I love the paper work of Julia Guther! Cute, modern, and fun! Type can be done in so many ways and three-dimensional paper just adds a really interesting look and feel.

When I was working full-time for someone else, I was able to balance all of the other parts of my life because it was what I was used to. Now that I’m making the most at my attempt to be a one person company, I am now aware of all of the things I didn’t know that I was missing. For one, the amount of time that I get to spend with my family. I used to commute one hour each way, sacrificing two hours out of my day (and sometimes more) for jobs that weren’t really satisfying. With no more commute, I had to learn how to balance all of this extra time – which may sound easy at first – but it was so easy to get sucked into dabbling on the computer, or working on something in the house. But these were all things that didn’t really make money. So I had to remind myself that now I had to make sure that my time was being well spent on working towards my ultimate goal of owning my own business. Finally, after many (many) months I am learning a balance. I can’t work 10 hour days like some, but I work enough that I am satisfied with my progress and it’s not negatively effecting my home life.

Another point of learning (and growing) was the choices. I am now able to accept and decline jobs that I would like to work on. It’s having the ability to say yes or no that has really made me feel like that I am growing as a business person. And that feels really darn good!

But I can say with much certainty that it has not been easy. There have been arguments with my husband, nights where I’ve cried out of built up frustration, and times where I just did not know how I was ever going to make a living out of what I really wanted to do. And one tough moment when my son told me that I should get a real job like daddy. Ouch. Then there were the good moments, like my husband building me a home office, him telling me he had 100% faith in me, and my son telling me that one day he wants to be an artist like me.

I love graphic design, it’s what I was born to do without a doubt, but as many will tell you – it’s not easy. There are many growing pains and as painful as they may be, I am thankful to learn from them. I will keep moving forward with the support of my amazing family and friends, a smile on my face, and a small spring in my step from the pride of being a self-made woman and working towards my ultimate goal.

Looking for something inspirational?

• Lemonade the Movie – It’s not a pink slip, it’s a blank page.
• The Element – How finding your passion changes everything.

Photos by Tina Dolin

I’m a little sad (being so close to Lancaster) that I didn’t find his work sooner, but this morning DWL has his work for a campaign called Love Lancaster featured … I was ecstatic! Daniel Kent is a freelance graphic designer living in Lancaster, PA and partakes in a great creative community. I’m hoping that sort of attitude will increase here in my town, a little goal of mine.

I love link hopping. I don’t know what you officially call it, but when you visit a site and click on a new link, then on that site you see another cool link and click on it. It can go on and on. Thanks to my obsessed link hopping I discovered We Made This, a graphic design studio based in London that focuses on print with some lovely work and a blog filled with eye candy!

Thank you Colombia. Cristina Londoño is a graphic designer operating as Wallnut Studio in Colombia. Amazing work that unifies a brand and uses color in a good way. View much more on the Wallnut Studio website.