SECRET PROJECT REVEALED!

You may have seen this on miss Emilia's blog already, but I finally have time to share the outcome of all our hardwork this past month.

I was introduced to the lovely (and talented) interior designer Mette Keating during the summer, who contacted me in the fall with a potential project for a booming internet company called Wattpad. Wattpad is an online platform for readers and authors to share stories, and offer feedback and support. They were looking for some illustrations to fill an empty wall in their new headquarters. That project grew from a one-wall mural into an eight-wall mural.

It had been some time since Emilia and I worked together, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The idea that everyone agreed on was using handwritten "words of Wattpad" which were collected story quotes and feedback from users.

It was finalized, printed and installed last week! I haven't been to the space yet, but these photos have been shared on facebook.

More photos and process to come! Happy Hols!

ANOTHER HOME PROJECT

It was my boyfriend's birthday recently.
I had told him about this card idea that I dreamed up whilst riding the streetcar home one day. He thought it was silly. It was. So, I brought that card to life, and gave it to the person who inspired it (him). Apologies for the abrasive computer screen in the background, iPhone/sleep deprived photography is never the greatest.

Recent work

My days at St Joseph Media are winding down. I was hired on a month ago as a "Design Assistant" after my very lovely and talented intern boss moved on to a new position at another company. The final week of my contract commences tomorrow. I thought I would share a few bits that I worked on which have recently been published in Toronto Life. Since I'm updating my portfolio, searching for the next chapter in my work life.

Building illustrations in the Sugarmoon ad

Most Influential event photo spread layout

Resizing/recreating BMW ad

Sketching holiday card for Quill & Quire

I haven't had any business cards for quite some time. I really wanted to make something that was more of an invitation than a standard business card. I have been missing screenprinting, and discovered a shop where I could get my screen exposed. Here is the outcome.

 Emilia and I have completed our top secret freelance project that we have been working like maniacs on. It feels good to finally have a scrap of free time again! We are waiting on the approval of the final design and then shall send it onwards to be printed and assembled accordingly. We're both pretty excited to see the outcome and share it with everyone. It has been absolutely magnificent reconvening as a design duo – despite the pesky ocean in the middle. As a design team we have a wonderful equilibrium, and Emilia has a great way of making hard work vastly more fun!

Hawkestone Soap Brochure Design

I'm sure certain whether I posted the final brochure for Hawkestone Soap Co. I couldn't find it in my posts, and I still haven't managed to get my mitts on a hard copy (as she has printed them), but I will do so soon and add it to this post! 

Advertorial Illustrations

Here are a couple of illustrations that I did for an advertisement at St. Joseph.

Internship busyness

I apologize I haven't been posting since my internship commenced many moons ago. The delicacy of sharing the artwork that I have been working on for this company sort of prevents me from being able to demonstrate what I have been doing. I'm not sure what the policy is, but I certainly don't want to get myself in hot water. 

However, one of my projects has surfaced on the interweb. Since it's now available to the public eye, I imagine I could draw your attention to it. 

I created this logo for the Quill & Quire video series:

You can see it live on their site. I can't say I'm very fond of the white background version.

I was pretty excited to find my name in the masthead of the latest issue of Toronto Life, and now I've found myself in the digital version: 

 

Hopefully there will be more to post about soon! 

SISU

So, Emilia Buggins and I have been discussing starting a collective for quite some time. Emilia has taken the reigns on the idea and has gotten the ball rolling. We were given the deadline of Oct. 5th to propose some ideas for the logo, etc. The name has been chosen already "SISU," a Finnish word that according to Wikipedia has been "loosely translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity." The members of the collective are spread across the EU, UK and Canada, as well as across different disciplines. This is a rather unique aspect of our group.

I spent some time mulling over that definition and intersecting it with the circumstances surrounding our members. These are my notes:

WEBSITES I LIKE: http://www.amoebacorp.com/projects

(layout of projects, font choice, carefully chosen use of colour, not the logo/header, 

LOGO CONCEPT 1: Compass; where different coordinates/directions meet. Measured/calculated navigation.

Compass definition: 2. "to contrive to accomplish."

Contrive definition: "create or bring about by deliberate use of skills + artifice."

My exploration led me to researching compasses after discovering some parallels. 

I liked the aesthetics of the compasses below, particularly the second one. 

I began doing some experiments in illustrator (below). None of these are very fetching. I feel I should have followed the style of the second image (above), for a more graphic/iconic approach. Reflecting, I'm not certain the compass was a very suitable concept. So we shall see what others have come up with. 

IN THE LAND OF THE FREE

I've neglected to post any photographic documentation of my trip with Emilia and Mikee to Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee. We journeyed from Canada to Michigan, then through Indiana and Kentucky down to Tennessee. We found fantastic little spots, a fabulous Thai restaurant in Louisville (the hometown of my favourite man Jim James), as well as a sweet coffee shop which sold cute ceramics in Nashville. I only wish we had more time to spend in all these places. Unfortunately doing all the driving tuckered me out and I didn't end up using my cameras much. Regardless, here's a handful of the better shots.