Pretty Modern Design Offices & Art Studios

02/14/2017

Don’t you love it when you type out a whole post and then it fails to ‘Save Draft’?

Same.

So I’m back from the 3 week trip the beautiful Uganda. My husband was teaching a course about understanding the culture through the arts. The people and the country were gorgeous. I was so homesick while there at first and now I miss it. We had a layover in Brussels on the way as well, beautiful! I hadn’t been there before. More on the trip later.

I’m really into decor as always but specifically offices — perhaps because I’ve been taking on new work lately and am still midway through organizing my own office/creative lab. So inspiring. These are gorgeous.

Murphy’s Law

Ruby Press Office via Kristen Loken

Jamie Lauren Photography

Zoe Feldman Design

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Agency

The Start: Brand ID Inspiration Boards

02/22/2016

Let’s start at the very beginning (it’s a very fine place to start!)… So when starting most projects I prefer to create (with my client or coworker) an inspiration board. Which usually translates into a 5-6 page PDF booklet with imagery, colors, patterns and elements that myself and the client have selected to communicate their brand, project or idea. For brand identities this is the very first place I start (after you fill out the new client questionnaire of course!) and it ensures we’re both on the same page as far as design goes (and I’m a very visual person, aren’t you?).

Here are a few inspiration boards I’ve done in the past (I haven’t gotten to work with any clients who favor pastels yet! I’m waiting.. Is this you?).

Brand IDs

Canary Rock (1 page)

Polished Perfect (1 page)

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Crafts DIY

Let’s Start Digital Scrapbooking

07/05/2010

Because I’ve never actually made myself finish a digital scrapbook page this feature gave me a reason to pick up the hobby as well! Why digital? It’s much easier if your photos are digital, you can scan and photograph favorite patterns AND you don’t have to keep a big box of paper and glue handy for scrapbooking~ this is especially important for minimal me.

My first digital scrapbooking attempt.

What do you need to get started with digital scrapbooking?

A bunch of patterned paper to scan or a collection (think of a theme!) of digital scrapbooking materials.
A digital camera, scanner or collection of scanned photos.
A photo editing program.
Creativity and patience.

Which photo editing program should you choose?
Are you a beginner or have you had experience with more challenging programs? If you are a beginner, you may want to purchase a first-time user friendly program such as Adobe Elements or Corel Paint Shop Pro. If you have more experience with more challenging graphics programs, you may want to invest money in a professional program like Adobe Photoshop.

How hard is digital scrapbooking?

It’s not hard at all! With a few design elements and a graphic design program just about anyone can throw together a scrapbook page, even a child. Don’t let it scare you away, it’s easy, entertaining and fun!

Digital Scrapbooking Materials

Kitschy Digitals
Two Peas in a Bucket
Jessica Sprague
Pugly Pixel Freebies
Designer Digitals
DigiScrap Boutique
Scrap Girls
Free Digital Scrapbooking

Your Style

In creating a digital layout from scratch, there are the same basic steps: add background paper, add photos, create photo mats or accent papers, add embellishments (if desired), and finish with text. You can use these steps to create your own personal style, whether it’s clean and streamlined like a magazine layout or contains drop-shadows and a more traditional paper feel. With digital scrapbooking there are about a million ways to go and it’s all up to you to define your own personal style!

by Nicole LeBlanc

Methods

Instant-Page
You can download or purchase a pre-made layout template for easy scrapbooking. This is a great way to begin if you’d like to learn the ropes and get used to the techniques. Simply add your photos and text for instant pages.

Build it Yourself
Once you’re ready to start designing your own pages using your own embellishments or downloaded embellishments you can follow this tutorial:

by Jennifer Johner

The Makings of a Digital Layout

The following is an outline of the steps needed to create a basic digital layout from scratch. Don’t get overwhelmed, it’s quite easy to follow along with your own design program.

Create a New (Blank) Image
Determine the size of the layout you would like, such as 8.5” x 11”.
180-225 dpi is a good resolution for inkjet printers; 300 dpi is professional quality.
Enter the settings in your software’s new image dialog box, including a white background, then press OK.
At this point, and frequently throughout the design process, save your layout as a TIF so all the layers remain intact and you can go back and make changes to individual layers whenever you wish. Choose File > Save As and then save as a TIF.

Add Photos
To add a photo to a layout, browse your file system to find photos or drag them into your program (Mac).
Click and drag photos into the layout or use the edit/copy and edit/paste commands to paste them into your new layout.
Move and resize the photos as you desire, there’s no glue involved so you can always change your mind later!

Create Background
Use a paint-fill, pattern or downloaded background.
Creating your own is just as easy as photographing a favorite blanket or piece of paper.

Add Text
Using your text tool, pick the text color, font, and font size. Then click the mouse on the page where your text should be placed and type away. Try different sizes, colors and effects for differentiation between text elements — such as journaling and dates!

Add Ready-made Embellishments
For a punch of detail and splash of color, you can add ready-made embellishments (visit the sites above to download some!) that can be dragged onto your layouts.
While your layout is open, choose File > Open and browse your hard-drive for which embellishment(s) you’d like to add, open them, and then drag them into your layout. You can change their rotation, color, and size, if desired.

Save File for Printing and/or Web Display
Save the final image as a TIF — for a high-resolution print you can print from this file.
If saving to print elsewhere, save as a full-size PDF or JPG file.
To make your file ready for web, save as72 dpi, about 500-600 pixels wide and as JPG.

That’s just a bit of information to get you started, hopefully this sends you into a frenzy of creating your own scrapbook pages digitally. For more help with your graphic program view the instruction manual or search the web for more tutorials. There are many great scrapbooking blogs and forums for you to play around on and get more inspiration~ go explore the world wide wonderland!

Our own Wendy Rose tried her hand at scrapbooking as well and found a new delightful hobby to share.

by Wendy Rose

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Visual Splendor

Remembering Rainbowlicious and 1990s Web Design

08/09/2009

My beautiful, creative best friend and maid of honor happens to also be the queen bee of whimsy online in the late 90s. If you don’t remember her because you aren’t a computer geek artist, then you definately missed out on a piece of bubble gum ball history that you’ll never be able to get back. Because she was so often direct linked, she allowed no direct linking.. so her websites aren’t even on the wayback archive! I had to dig deep into the depths of cat*e//Miseducated rainbow, stuffed old skool folders. This was quite a treat of course because I am a nostalgia whore and cannot relish in the colorful creations that we once lived for enough. (don’t look in my closets, Rainbow Brite dolls are stuffed in there waiting to be loved)

Kimi, the girl who forever has my heart:

From the mouth of the kitten of a different flavor comes some bits and pieces that were on Kimi’s collective from waybackwhen complete with everything cute, sweet and colorfully perfect. Absolutely no one could compete with the queen of the eye candied, pixel perfect palaces. Enjoy these images and descriptions by kimikat herself and immerse yourself in delish 90s web nostalgia.

luna’s luna page

..my very first page, established in january 97, and to my knowledge is the very first sailormoon website made entirely by one of the feline persuasion, that of course being my very talented and MUCH*ly* loved luna daisy =)

not just a sailormoon site, luna’s page includes a cornucopia *hehe!* of kitty information, and tons of interactive activities ^_^ plus a good dose of moonkitty madness!

this page started out on geocities of course and remained there for over 2 years until rescued by the amazingly wonderful cheerbear*chibiness we all call coki!! =) coki has saved me from a ton of popup ads and headaches, and has become a wikked friend as well *waves!!*

i have the most fun with luna’s page and it really is my true love out of them all ^*^ i update it daily for the most part 🙂 you can read more about luna’s page if you’d like to here (link closed).

Rainbowlicious

..this is my (kimikats!) personal page, one that i left neglected for ages and am finally getting around to revamping and resituating 🙂 if you want to see just how messed up i am in the head, this is the perfect place to do just that! ^*^ being messed up in the head is a good thing by the way .. just so you know =)

most might be surprised to find out i’m not some 13 year old playing with mind expanding drugs but am actually in my mid 20’s, i was a preschool teacher at one time, and before that … well i’m not saying *lol* .. though above all, i’m just a twisted lil raver girl from los angeles :))

Diana’s Divine Designs

..my lil free graphics shop, consisting mostly of insane/neon/daisy/sanrio-ish backgrounds and also includes a ‘topsy turvey table tutorial’ 🙂 started on easter day 99, for a couple of reasons; one being just to help out others and spread some of my trippy lil backgrounds around. ive never been sure why, but some people seem to like my loud graphics and the requests for a place like this was overwhelming, with sometimes over 10 mails a day asking for just such a thing!! and secondly, heck, it was easter!! and i simply didnt have any eggs to pass around ^_^

thank you for stopping by to peer into the world of luna*C! =) if anyone actually reads all this, i’ll be one happy kitten! =^*^= and if not, ah well bonnebell, i had fun writing it =) call me easily amused but hey… and if your amused just as easily, then you’ll REALLY enjoy the pages in luna*C to a tee!!
*giggles on her caffeine high and waves!*

Quilting Bee

Everyone’s favorite community in the old skool web days! Swapping patched with friends to build a colorful and unique quilt you were to display on your website in a super special space!

Leave XOXOs for Kimi

Simply post the link to an image/graphic or message you’d like Kimi to have or that you made inspired by her to your reply and submit! It’s that easy! .. and soon we’ll be gazing upon your delicious art~ the very best, most eye-popping gifts will be specially displayed here for the kitty kat queen herself!

ALL gif graphics used in the article are (c) Kimi/kimikat, keep stickypaws clean.

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