creativity in review / 1

Here are six things I've been obsessing over lately that I think that you might love too:

Muted Colors + Shape Repetition: I absolutely love this series of different menu designs. I did an art piece a couple years ago repeating a rain drop shape out of newspaper and ever since I've been much more drawn to repeated patterns of the same (fairly basic) shape. It looks complicated, when in reality it's really simple to create. And lately, I've also just loved muted, calming color pallets like this one.

Handmade Bookmaking: I had to create my own bound book for a class and much to my surprise, now I can't wait to get to creating some more handmade books. Binding paper together is easier than you may think and the look of it is gorgeous and will create a frenzy of people questioning how you did it. I think it would be the perfect way to create a cute little custom journal for a gift. For a tutorial for how to make a simple stab-stitch book check out this article.

Uniquely Designed Brochures + Printed Material: I'm realizing how often people stick to the status quo when it comes to printed material like brochures or baby shower announcements or pamphlets. They just stay with the normal size and typical format that has been done time and time again. But at last people are stepping out of the box, and I am finding that Pinterest and blogs alike are swarmed with unique ideas of how to execute printed material. (Check out this cute little baby announcement on the right. Adorable.)

Interesting New Ways to Brand Your Company: This custom stamp for tape blew my mind. As did all of the new things that are coming out for business cards and the new ideas that are being offered for portfolios. Mind. Blown.

Cut-Outs: Designs like the one above and this one I am basically drooling over. Sometimes trying to cut out part of a design in order to emphasize something or make part of the design look unique looks forced or unnecessary, but in these cases the designers hit the nail on the head. I love how they used positive and negative space in order to create an experience, they really thought about the end product and what they wanted to communicate. Design is more complex then people think, eh?

Calligraphy + Quotes on Everything: I just adored this banner and I am definitely guilty of spending multiple days this week practicing calligraphy-inspired lettering and trying to put a unique twist on quotes that I love. Anything quotes, I'm game. And calligraphy is the #1 thing on my list of things to learn how to do well. (The banner above is rather fake calligraphy, but hey its the reference that counts right?)

Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6