Badass Ideas

After months of scanning the web for examples of great design & typography, I realized that much of the custom lettering,  illustration, and letterpress that I had been swooning over was done by the same ridiculously talented designer. Jessica Hische’s work has been tweeted about and fffound, I can’t turn around on the internet without bumping into her beautifully crafted designs. I got particullary stoked when I read that she creates her type directly in illustrator with a mouse (and even sometimes a trackpad) and that she started creating her own typefaces in college because “I was broke… and couldn’t afford to go on an awesome font spending spree”.  In addition to her work being featured just about everywhere.. her new blog  The Daily Drop Cap, is helping to beautify the web by making charming letters available for blogs everywhere!

Read on…

Some people collect coins or stamps or cats… I collect snippets of things that interest me on internet. Here are a few recent favorites from my Ember Account and my Twitter favorites.

Janes Addiction poster by Matt Goldman. See more of his stuff here.

Read on…

Between tweeting, obsessively feed reading, and collecting inspiration (check out my Ember Account, formerly Little Snapper) I come across designer’s who’s work just makes me drool. Here is a compilation of a few I thought you should know about, if you didn’t already.

Read on…

Val {@vlh} and Jason {@gjhead} Head are the kick-ass couple behind the scenes at many of the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania web community events. From FlashPitt to Refresh Pittsburgh and Web Design Day, these two are dedicated, passionate… and most importantly… an inspiration. I met them through the internet (big surprise, right?) and after a few visits to the ‘burgh and the magical wonderment of twitter, I can confidently say they kick total butt! Both are hugely talented (Val is a designer and Jason is a front-end developer), and in love with the web and with the web community.

This couple’s enthusiasm and hard work has been a huge inspiration for me and I would really like you to get to know them.

Read on…

My bedrooms were always plastered with the most badass posters in College & High School. Sure some of them glowed when the black lights were turned on, but many were beautifully crafted pieces of art. Like many folks going into the design field, I had lofty dreams of being a hip gig poster designer with a silkscreen or letterpress studio.Some of us have managed to make that dream a reality, while others  (like me) just lust over other designer’s poster work and do some for fun when the opportunity arises.

Posters are a unique beast to design because of how users interact with them. Unlike a website or a book, there is little physical interaction with a poster and generally a user will view it from a distance and only take a limited time to digest the information presented. Posters walk the fine line between art and design. While they still need to communicate a message clearly, they are afforded the luxury of luring the viewer in through nontraditional tactics.

Read on…