Type Whore

Hanging with Chris Haberman

2011-10-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

If you know me you know that when there's an artist who's work I love, it's those people I follow online and like to keep tabs on what they've been up to, often reading their twitter posts or blogs regularly. So then when I actually get to meet one of these awesomely talented people IRL, I realize that sometimes I might come off a little, well... stalker like. Whatever, these people are my rock stars and I'm ok with being giddy over spending a little time chatting with them and picking their brain during a little one on one even if glowing about how much I like their work and other places I've seen their stuff embarrasses them. Hey, it's not my fault their stuff is cool.

While wandering outside the Littman Gallery today looking for a place to sit, read and sip coffee before class I got a sweet surprise when I saw a mural sized piece of work with a familiar style peeking at me from inside the gallery and could hear what sounded like minor construction going on. I took my chances and slipped in to check it out. Sure enough there was Chris, drill in hand, rearranging a few pieces for his soon to open exhibition, A People's History of Oregon. I checked it out and let me tell you right now, you will never have more fun learning about the history of this state than you will with this project.

Be sure to swing by the Littman Gallery (in the Smith Building at 1825 SW broadway on the mezzanine level) on Thursday October 13th from 5-7pm. You will not be sorry!

Siren Nation Festival Poster

2011-10-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

This year I was asked if I'd like to do the Festival poster for Siren Nation's 5th year. What an awesome opportunity! Not only are some serious female talents going to be present but getting to do a show poster for them is even more exciting! Then to find out that 10,000 mini poster/postcards have been ordered and will be in as many Portland Mercurys in just a couple weeks is very exciting. Exciting, exciting, exciting. Can you tell I'm excited? That's a lot of eyes looking at something I've drawn. I'm pretty sure my 12 year old self would have had a massive panic attack and locked herself in her room. It's a good thing I'm not 12 any more!

If you can still get tickets for the weekend long festival you should do so now, because it will sell out and then you will be sad because you missed 3 solid days of amazing women in Art, craft, film, music and even an entire day of women run workshops! Get tickets here and do it quick, before they sell out! (I also did the website design for this years festival! I'm teaching myself all kinds of new things this year)

Here are a couple process shots and the final poster at the bottom.

Hand Drawn Type Posterer Jon Contino

2011-09-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

Aside from the awesomeness that is Jon Contino's imagination, his posters run the hand drawn gamut from delicate and almost feminine to old world to straight up bad ass.

Be sure to check out his other work at his website and keep up on his current projects at his blog.

Internship with June Lion Photography

2011-07-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

Beginning tomorrow I'll be working with the awesomely talented Kelly Goode of June Lion Photography! I'm super excited to be given the opportunity to really fine tune my biz skills so that perhaps the idea of running my own creative business in the future won't feel like such a daunting concept.

I've admired Kelly's work since I discovered her a little over a year ago. Not only are her images dreamily beautiful but the attention focused on details and her ability to capture natural moments make for a very voyeuristic experience for the viewer which is really exciting.

Check out her blog or find her on facebook and be prepared to lose a little time browsing through all her delightful stuff!

TPP strives to make everything prettier with type (my kind of fellas!)

2011-07-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

The stunningly adept fellas over at The Phraseology Project want to make the world a better place... well at least more typographically beautiful and in my book that's very much the same thing. Those in the know always say that it's the self-initiated projects that end up being the most interesting and get you noticed. (duh! Those projects are more fun and it shows!)

Check out some of their rad stuff, get to know them better, and for the gods' sakes get yourself a print or two to make your home awesomer!

100 Days of Typography

2011-06-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Check out this designer's site with type experiments galore! The talented (and multilingual) Lucia Soto has taken on a type challenge to be reckoned with... a type design poster a day for 100 days. Click on each poster for more info about that particular project, including source material, inspiration and how long it took to create. See the project here. And be sure to check out her simple and functional side-scrolling website here. Enjoy!

Hanging at NEMO

2011-04-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Friday was a very exciting day for me. If you know me at all, you probably have heard me talk about NEMO; A designer's crush that started a little while back when I happened upon some work done by them. This was solidified into full on love when I visited their website's employment page only to be greeted by a background video of the staff having a hot sauce eating contest resulting in laughter, runny noses and vomiting. Yes, my dream job full of people who work their asses off and have a lot of fun doing it!

The rad guys who took the time to show us around, answer questions and unload a bunch of schwag on us didn't seem put out at all that we hung around for nearly 2 hours and in fact had one of their photographers snapping pictures of our visit the whole time.

I was probably as annoying as ever with my endless questions and mildly over-enthusiastic nature but they didn't even bat an eyelash and seemed totally stoked to go into great detail.

Thanks NEMO!!!

photo taken Ryan Barrett!

Making Friends

2011-04-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

I would be, undoubtedly, THEE worst 'Reality' tv star ever...

My motto looks a lot more like this lovely shirt by Wire and Twine:

Zine Fair :: Elementary School Style

2011-03-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

My senior capstone was so awesome. I mean teaching elementary school kids about DIY publishing and showing them how easy it is to create their own books and zines is pretty much the coolest possible way to wrap up university studies. I already have a deep love for making fun things you can put your hands on but a series of zines geared for kids just doesn't get much better in my book.

To wrap the whole thing up we put together a big zine fair for the kids at the school which included a Community Field Guide zine that the kids all contributed to over the course of the term, activity tables and the unveiling of the zine collection that will be a permanent fixture in their school library! Pics below are from the zine fair and the process of creating the portable zine display made from cardboard. Yes, cardboard!

Rob in a Tub

2011-01-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

I made a digital illustration of Rob for his birthday yesterday. Used photoshop ink and watercolor brushes along with several layers of textures. It was pretty much a hit, I'm glad to say!

Daily Doodles

2011-01-29T20:25:00.001-08:00

I thought it might be a good idea to keep up on my drawing skills. Class lectures seem like a good time to do that so I've been posting my notebook doodles on my flickr/tumblr. They look at like this:

... though not all my doodles are lecture note related...

Hey! I got written up by AOL's Asylum.com!

2010-12-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's not The New York Times or Print magazine but it's still pretty exciting to see our 8-bit Mario hallway project at Portland State University written up! Plus it was on the front page of Digg.com for a couple hours, so that's something!
Check out the pics and the story here!

The 99% clears it right up for me...

2010-11-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the day, faced with an overflowing inbox, a list of messages on your voicemail, and the to-do list from your last meeting, it's tempting to want to “clear the decks” before you start on your own most important work. When you're up-to-date, you tell yourself, your mind will be clear and it will be easier to focus on the task at hand.The trouble with this approach is that you end up spending the best part of the day on other people's priorities, running their errands, and giving them what they need. By the time you finally settle down to your own work, it could be mid-afternoon, when your energy has dipped and it's hard to focus on anything properly. “Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be better,” you tell yourself.

But when tomorrow comes round there's another pile of emails, phone messages, and to-do list items. If you carry on like this you will spend most of your time on reactive work, responding to incoming demands and answering questions framed by other people. It's a never-ending hamster wheel. And it will never lead to remarkable work, in Seth Godin's sense, “worthy of being remarked on.” We don't find it remarkable when our expectations are met – only when they are exceeded, or when we are surprised by something completely unexpected...... - Mark McGuinness

Truer words were never spoken. As the year wraps up, I feel myself energized with the kind of change making willpower usually reserved for the first 5 or so days of the new year. Thanks to Mr. McGuinness's article The Key to Creating Remarkable Things.

He also mentions a favorite time and project management book (and people on amazon seem to agree) Do It Tomorrow And Other Secrets Of Time Management. With such good reviews, I think I'll check it out and we'll how it goes. I'm hoping this new found determination to get shit in more productive order lasts past the caffeine in this morning's coffee...

Megan Mcisaac- capturing unnoticed moments

2010-09-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered Megan McIsaacs photography through a friend of a friend of a friend. And I'm really glad I did! She has an incredible eye for capturing the little moments that people often totally miss. There's something beautiful and joyfully simple about her work.It makes me want to never put my camera down so I can practice capturing the unnoticed moments of my life...even in my sleep! Check a couple of her images below then see more by visiting her website here or check her out on facebook where there are even more pictures.

Jesse Kuhn Does it Raw (toast)

2010-09-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I stumbled onto a news article which led to a google search which led to RawToastDesign's blog article about the subject. Now, while it's unlikely that this school will be able to win out over better funded private school who are no doubt pulling out all the stops just for the sake of winning, I have to admit either way, I'm glad to have found Jesse's work.

If you know me you know my undying love for poster art, especially the quirky, strange and beautiful illustration that is often the medium. See a few of his pieces below then go check out more of Mr. Kuhn's illustration and design work . Now! Go!

Nick Felton Skypes in to Show and Tell

2010-08-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

If you know me even a little bit you know about my undying love for infographics. And the king of infographics, one mister Nick Felton skyped into PSU today to chat with us about his awesomeness!

You ~~can~~ MUST check out his personal annual reports. They'll make you consider your own life in a whole new way!

Also check out the video from his 'visit':

Nick Felton - Show & Tell from Friends of Graphic Design on Vimeo.

Love What You Do- with frank chimero

2009-11-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

Last year in one of my classes we got the opportunity to chat with the fabulous mister Frank Chimero via skype. And it was rad!

But this year, accompanying PSU's design show "Love What You Do", Frank made his way out here to our little city to speak on exactly that subject!

I was super stoked to get to see him in person since his visit with us the previous year had made such an impact on me. As he wrapped up, I made sure to push everyone out of my way as I scurried up to chat with him (first person to do so, thank you very much!).
He made a lot of really touching observances and looking at the notes I jotted down (including some of his quotes) I think I will be adding them to my new, ongoing project of illustrating sayings that catch my ear including pearls of wisdom from my 2 year old niece, a bad lady talking to herself on the street, and the president.

The Love What You Do exhibition will be running from Thursday, November 5, 2009 – Friday, November 27, 2009.
(note: the photos below were yanked off the www.commandsave.com site since my camera phone sucks!)

Lots of people to hear frank speak! (hey! That's me right there in the middle!)

Kate Bingaman-Burt and Frank Chimero!

Adhemas Batista is selling colors

2009-08-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not even sure how to explain how much I love this guys work! The funny thing is I discovered and fell in love with his style long before I had any idea who he was when I tried a bottle of wine that was on sale at the store. And as much as I generally dislike white wine, Roogle Reisling's label design compelled me to buy it and save it for a hot day. (which I'm glad I did because it was amazingly good! And this from a staunch red wine and beer drinker!)

Adhemas's work is all swirls and patterns and the wonderful thing about his website is that he includes photos of his process from the initial drawings to versions previous to the final. Be sure to check it out at www.adhemas.com

Nate Williams on being awesome....

2009-08-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

Ok so maybe the article is actually on generating ideas but his stuff is just so freakin awesome......
Here's the article from his blog: A Method for Creating New Ideas.

And you HAVE to check out his flickr... *swoon*

Voila! Themed Dinner Invitation

2009-06-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

I find that somehow the more restrictions a project has the easier it is for me to get creative. So with this invitation project I was nervous about coming up with an imaginative solution because of the parameters being so open about the theme, guest lists, dinner menu and the overall presentation.

The theme ended up being inspired by a dark and ultimately tragic fairytale set in the Taiga forest, a la Mid Summer Night’s Dream minus the pan flute playing trickster. So then the challenge was how to evoke a sense of the time and place. Because I do a lot of photography, photos often are a part of my work and I really wanted to stay away from that and force myself to rely mainly on typography preferably far from the influence of gritty, punked out gig posters like many things I have a tendency towards.

I went with a decorative typeface that I’ve been itching to find a proper use for and
I feel like it works well in this instance. My intention was to stir a connection to the sensibilities of Art Nouveau, which connotes all kinds of natural, floral and magical things without having to try very hard. For the body copy I wanted a face that looked like it had a long history to it but was also delicate and complemented the decorative face. Looking at the cards now, I realize that the body copy is much more effective in the small point size but on some of the cards it’s so large that it loses
it’s efficiency and lends to a feeling more like magical forest tree stumps than delicate twigs.

I’d love to say that I put a lot of time and effort into the design of the package but the truth is, I saw something similar while perusing the internet and just added a flap to fold over the front. When looking at the open package the inside of the left flap feels vastly empty despite the deckled edge peeking over. Even more so with the center section displaying the invitation, the right side folded into a red handmade paper pocket to hold the tiered cards and the whole lot emblazoned with a lovely hand drawn branch blooming with flowers that runs across each piece that when viewed together in their proper place creates the image as a whole. That leaves the lonely, plain left flap sitting off awkwardly by it’s self. The obvious solution would be to cover it in the same hand made paper as the rest of the folder to help balance the layout but something such as a detail from the drawing might help give it it’s
own purpose.

In the end, I’m quite happy with the way it turned out. I feel that I accomplished my goals, learned some new crafting techniques and made something interesting, tactile, and quite pretty to look at.

If you want to see some of the process shots of this project you can check it out at my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethmolson/sets/72157618205784871/

Book Covers

2009-06-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the portfolio review which was like a starving 9 legged monster that ate up every moment of my time for the last 5 weeks, this project had to come together pretty quickly. I'm sure my friends and family are glad it's over too since I spent a lot of time mulling over ideas for the book covers regardless of their interest in it or not. "oh maybe I should go with the monsters theme and then I could do something like this, or this, or that" "or I could do this but that doesn't go with the monsters theme so maybe I could do the 'heros' set..." Well you get the idea.

I think my first problem (aside from massive time crunch) was that I came across a psychadelic poster that had the most awesome lettering. I really wanted to try it out so I ended up trying to force everything I knew I SHOULD do with this project together with what I WANTED to do.

I knew what would actually work but I had a hard time convincing myself to let go of the overplayed drugs=1960's idea. Once I did though I ended up pulling all the pieces together very quickly.

I really like how the book covers turned out. Of course there are things I want to adjust such as a few spots of kerning but I feel like overall it's expressive and just out of control enough to compliment the "beat" movement that are the center of the books.

I only wish I would have printed them out for turning in because, even at the large size, the photos on flickr don't do justice to some of the elements most especially the type on the back cover which looks great in printed form but like total ass on screen.

If you're interested in seeing the other incarnations of these covers or some of the super rad book cover inspiration I collected check out this project's flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethmolson/sets/72157619509196176/

Stickies Typeface dos

2009-06-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

I'd mentioned that I'd be reworking the typeface promo a bit for the final review so here's what I ended up with. Good product photography can do wonders for digitally being able to show off your work.

This was a really great project. I wish that I would have had more time to explore other promo ideas but I suppose one of the things about being a designer is not only working with what you have but gauging your workload and then work accordingly.

Luckily (or not so luckily if we're talking $$) I have a lot of free time this summer to rework projects and take on new ones so I have a good feeling this project we be among them.

Dinner Party invites

2009-05-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of ideas for the dinner party invites project. I feel like there is something super awesome just on the tip of my brain but I can't quite get it. In the mean time my first ideas are something along these lines:

•TV Dinners dinner party with famous characters from the heyday of TV. Everything could have a touch of retro tvland to it. This feels like it could have an especially awesome menu!

•Some sort of bizarre carnival theme.

•I really like the idea of doing a HAZARDS of LOVE theme. If you haven't listened to the story contained within the new Decemberists album you are missing out. A sort of quiet, fairytale that's a little haunting and dark and beautifully tragically romantic.
I think that could translate very well even if the theme/guests will probably be very obscure to most people.

I'm going to keep brainstorming and see what else I get.

Stickies- the typeface

2009-04-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

All done. Kinda. I think a lot of these things seemed like they'd look a lot cooler in real life than they actually did. My imagination is rich with ideas and plans unfortunately it doesn't realize I don't yet have the experience to pull off such elaborate crafts.

Anyway I'll be reworking it just a bit for the end of year review. But in the mean time here's what I have:

more sticky shinannigans

2009-04-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

nifty promo inspiration

2009-04-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Typeface Ideas and outcomes

2009-04-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I had a couple ideas for the typeface we are doing in class my favorites:
• condiments (katsup, mustard, relish etc)
• cd cover artwork (cd inserts)
• beer cans (I've got plenty of those sitting around)
• bites out of apples (think this would be too much of a waste, and expensive)
• post-it notes
• dirty clothes

So I went with sticky notes. I'm really excited about how it looks but will admit it might be tricky removing the background from the letters for use in other things. Here's an example of what I have so far.

The history of type...and then some

2009-04-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend I went to Sunriver in eastern Oregon to party away the weekend with about 20 friends for a birthday. I realized that even though I was bringing my computer, the likelyhood of my getting any work done on my typeface would be little to....well who am I kidding I knew I wouldn't get ANYTHING done! So since I didn't have to drive, and I was feeling a bit guilty about spending the whole weekend in the sun, on the river, hiking, making big delish meals, playing ping-pong tournaments, drinking lots of beer, watching classics such as ROADHOUSE and soaking in the hot tub I brought along my book Thinking With Type by the fab Ellen Lupton. (the super sweet website for the book is here)

Now, I may not have made any headway with my typeface, which yes I relize is due one week from today, I DID however read the book from cover to cover and feel quite accomplished in that. And what an insanely interesting book! So my teacher Kate did a great job goin over the basic history in class so I already knew a lot of what what mentioned in the book. The great part was getting the insight to the stories behind some of the historical figures. I think that's probably everybody's favorite part about any history. Being able to relate to the people behind the typface, or the concept or the invention makes it that much easier to connect to what you're learning.

Typography and Jack Black together at last

2009-04-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

Comic Sans walks into a bar, bartender says, 'We don't serve your type here"

2009-04-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

Check out this article on the anti-comic sans group that just might save the world. Sheesh, even the type's creator thinks it's annoying!

eepybird's sticky note experiment

2009-04-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

super wow!

a life in sticky notes

2009-04-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

house industries interview

2009-04-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

See the article here
At first I was thinking how odd (and expensive) it seemed to go so awesomely overboard with font packaging but then I realized that when you order the face they don't send you a chair and colored blocks and a nativity scene... I know... duh!

I really enjoy the idea of design being inspired by type. Though I certainly don't regard type as an afterthought I'm not sure I'd really ever considered it for the part of product inspiration. Obviously, if you know what you're doing, it works really well :)

Type scavenger

2009-04-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

Pick ten type faces. Really? Ten? That's it? Luckily since it was explicitly stated that these don't need to be our favorites just ones we find interesting I'm going to list 10 totally new ones that I haven't used before but that caught my eye. I think that's a good place to start.
Aviano

Picayune Intelligence

Normande (it's like Super Bodini)

Cooper (there seem to be lots of people who don't like this one... but I DO)

Calgary Script (taken from a handpainted sign on a Mexican Food Cart I think)

Metroscript

HoneyDukes

Thunderhouse

Cezanne

Barbieri

HOBO... JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!