One of my favourite websites is www.thisiswhyimbroke.com. this website is a collection of various objects ranging from the ultimate pocket knife to your very own space invaders couch! all of the stuff on the website has been designed simply for fun as well as entertainment. I can only look forward to being able to design and create such neat things!

I never would have thought that by adding interesting graphics to an ordinary tent would some how make it extraordinary! These tents are bound to get someones attention!

http://www.thecoolhunter.net/

This just looked very neat! I thought it was a very interesting take on our traditional cup cake rappers.

Here is another great resource to find great illustration ideas http://www.studioonfire.com/. Studio on fire is more of a letterpress studio but never the less, they still continue to inspire me.

Earlier this evening I believe that I am now one with the print production checklist. I am beginning to see and understand it's many in depth specification requests.

3D scale models have to be one of the most challenging things to create from the base concept development to the actual final product. I am finding that there is always another problem solving issue up a head when working on a project such as this. Anything from burning off a good portion of your thumb to miniature furniture assembly, what will I be able to accomplish next?

I appoligize for the "darkness" of the image, I wanted to showcase the additional lighting that I had added.

I never really realised how frustrating it can be sometimes as a graphic designer when you know exactly what font your looking for, but you refuse to pay an insane amount of money for it, so frustrating, does anyone have any solutions?

I would love to extend a huge thank you to the staff at Thrive Studio for allowing me to come into their tattoo studio to take photographs for my museum project.

Thank- you again truly,
                                        Krista Sebastian

sample cover for my museum catalogue, thoughts and comments are welcome :)

Shiny object photography has to be one of the hardest things to do perfectly without the help of photoshop to edit afterwards. Here was my attempt, that has also been designed into a product advertisement.

Another interesting assignment... to combine photography with illustration to create the idea that the "character" illustration belongs within the photograph by using shading with a combination of dodge and burn tools. This was a challenging but also very rewarding assignment, a large thank you goes out to my model, Kaitlin.

I have recently designed a seasonal package for H & M's clothing and accessories. I took a blurry photograph of christmas balls and then further photoshopped the image to get the desired "boken" effect. It would mean a lot to me to get some more feed back to see if it really works as a seasonal line extension of the H & M's brand.

When researching ideas for creating characters I stumbled across this website : http://humorsurf.blogspot.com/2011/07/funny-characters-pics.html it's great for gathering new fresh ideas for illustrations as well as animations. The Yum Yum Design Studio was founded in 2007 by two London art directors. This site is a great source for references and ideas, and is well networked into similar sites.

Photography

Here are some of my better shots! comments and suggestions are welcome! :)

A photo of Kate (fashion)

Kate (Fashion Magazine)

Treadless

I can not seem to get enough of these amazing design spec sites. Another one on my top list would have to be Threadless! Threadless is a website that allows you to submit designs to be critiqued then put into a competition with other designs to be printed onto t-shirts. Nothing says amazing quite like custom t-shirts! It is also a great site to gain inspiration from.

Have a look for yourself :D http://www.threadless.com/?mkwid=sUtAj21Jg&pcrid=6462082464&kwd=threadless&mt=e&gclid=CO3Y3OPohawCFdU55QodhAi9Cg

Between The Folds

Between the Folds is a documentary that focuses on the art and science of paper folding. This is truly an inspiring look into how something so plain (paper) can become so beautiful. The movie showcases the different artistic "movements" within paper folding and interviews many of her devout followers. A very captivating watch!

After watching this movie I have to admit, it made me want to attempt some paper folding of my own!

Exit through the Gift Shop

This was a great film that was directed by the notorious Banksy (street artist) who is most known for his political /cultural/societal bending stencil creations that have spanned the globe. The movie is focused around one mans obsession with street art (Thierry Guetta) but really brings to life the debate of whether "street art" is really art or just vandalism? This movie is currently available on Netflix.

For more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_Through_the_Gift_Shop

A package redesign

I would like to get some feedback about one of my most recent projects, all comments/thoughts and ideas are welcome.

my product is a lip gloss called "Kawaii kiss gloss" by Bijin. After speaking with the cosmetologist she explained that Bijin was an experimental sub brand that was being produced and manufactured by Benefit cosmetics. I personally love the look of Benefit's cosmetic packaging, using bold colours paired with either bold/vintage illustrations or a well kerned fun font, either way it's says fun but classy! This is the kind of feel I wanted to give to my package design.

For the front panel, I wanted to showcase the actual product by incorporating a photo of it with some vinyl gloss over top to give it some shine against the matte finish on the other panels.

For the side panels I wanted to keep it simple, accentuating on the Bijin brand name while adding a simple vector image to help balance the adjacent side.

Another Interesting little fact, Bijin was chosen for the sub brands name because it is actually an abbreviation of the Japanese word "Bijinga" which translates to "beautiful person picture"which is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women in Japanese art...hence the Geisha illustration was born!

Tiny Meat

Another great find, thanks to Andrew!   www.tinymeat.com is a new and interesting take on spec work. This site allows designers, illustrators of all sorts to submit their designs to be critiqued and then if selected to be printed and sold on leather wallets and possibly even canvas bag. How does this differ from other spec work you ask? This company is recognizing the artist as well as their work, on each page displaying the actual artwork accompanied by the artists contact info. Also for those who's work has been selected for production, the artist will receive some cash (which is always nice) but more importantly a contract that will require the company to pay a royalty to the artist on each sale as well as requiring the company to seek future permission if they wish to expand/ change or alter the designs in any way. A great example of this would be if Tiny Meat wanted to print your design that was originally made for a wallet on to a different item such as a canvas bag, they would first have to have your permission to do so, after gaining your consent they would also continue to pay you a royalty for your work. They are still making a profit from the artist but they are also creating a platform in which to buy and sell designs while showing not only the artist but the consumer the respect they deserve.

http://tinymeat.myshopify.com/products/cat-mart-billfold-wallet

Tim Burton's creation

One of my personal favourite illustrators, film director, film producer, and overall artists would have to be Tim Burton! He's definitely more then a triple threat within the creative community! Naturally I was extremely excited to see that he was creating a new exhibition of his work that would be displayed at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, more famously known for being the permanent residence for the international film festival. What intrigued me most about this exhibit was the scale/contrast of the installations, and the overall amount of wonder and amazement that it creates for the viewer, simply stunning! Attached is a link to a review of the exhibit as well as a link to a youtube clip of one of my favourite things on display.




Review
http://www.mlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2010/11/tim_burton_exhibition_at_toron.html


Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=konxrBdL7uc

Hespeler Library

A really neat compilation of new and old architecture would have to be the Hespeler Library. The use of modern materials blends with the original history and materiality of the pre-existing Carnegie library that the new structure encases. After further looking into the buildings construction, much care and consideration for not only the environment but also maintaining the original buildings luster have definitely been taken. Just one look on a sunny day will showcase the new structure, acting almost like a mirror to surrounding structures, but during the evening once the lights are on you can clearly see the original Carnegie library. Simply beautiful!


Click here for more info on the buildings construction and features :

http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/faculty_projects/terri/226-casestudies-2010/hespeler-library.pdf

Brave New Things

This was a very interesting find! A Japanese designer by the name of Tokujin Yoshioka has created an installation called “Snowflake”. The installation itself is made up of plastic sticks, that combined resemble hundreds of snowflakes. It allows people to move through the piece and to experience a feeling of being in a winter wonderland! 




Check out the link :         http://www.bravenewthings.com/?p=1160#more-1160

Another amazing idea, that is extremely fun to do are to create paper toys. This link is a wonderful website that allows you to download free pdf's of already designed toys that you can make at home. I found that the characters are very entertaining, along with the colour pallets that accompany them. When I  first came across this type of design it began to inspire a lot of my ideas and thoughts towards packaging. How to make my packaging more interesting to look at from all angles, what colours to use, and to always remember to make it just as "fun" as Matt Hawkins has done with simple paper toys! way to go, I love it !


 http://www.custompapertoys.com/

This gave me quite a laugh  :D

A new "fruit punch" flavour from Rockstar energy drinks. What do you think about this design? I was very intrigued to find that attached to this can was a straw, most likely to appeal to a female consumer both through colour choice and flavour selection.

New Packaging


During a quick stop at my local convenience store to purchase a drink, I came across the new package design for Trident's  gum. This new design caught my attention immediately because of it's bright colours and shiny silver background. After taking a closer I noticed that they have cleverly printed all of the nutritional facts and other necessary info bits on the plastic casing that surrounds the gum for quality control purposes, so that once the plastic wrapper has been removed the consumer truly gets to enjoy the design to it's fullest without all of the confusing eye clutter. This is an Amazing solution to an age old problem that faces and frustrates Graphic Designers on a daily basis! :) The taste of the gum however was not one that I would purchase again... but they have done their job well as I still purchased it! Great job Trident! This solution will definitely inspire some of my own future package designs, showing me that anything is possible.

Thank-you :)

Filler text (also Placeholder text or Dummy text) is text that shares some characteristics of a real written text, but is random or otherwise generated. It may be used to display a sample of fonts, generate text for testing, or to spoof an e-mail spam filter. The process of using filler text is sometimes called Greeking, although the text itself may be nonsense, or largely Latin, as in Lorem ipsum. :)  This pretty much sums it up.