Badass Ideas

I once worked for a guy who constantly moaned that using a computer would never be as good as paste-up for layout. As ridiculous as his attitude sounded to me, it worked for him. I learned how to assemble my first graphic compositions natively in Photoshop and inDesign while he was seasoned in the art of phototypesetting. His hand-crafted layouts were exquisite, flawless and just as professional as those created using a computer. Using a Mac saves designers time and energy, and makes the process much more streamlined, but for someone who was fluent in conceptualizing his visions through traditional methods the computer was the wrong tool for the job. The final product of his process yielded designs that won awards and exceeded client expectations even after the mac became an industry standard.

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There was a time in my design career when it was a far fetched fantasy that my clients would be interested in my hair-brain idea to cross-pollinate their content over various social networks. Now, twitter and Facebook are all the rage and a website without a gaggle of social media icons littering it’s footer would just be unheard of. I hate conforming to trends, but sometimes trends bleed into client requirements.. and there lies the fine line many designers have to walk on a daily basis. We have to be as creative as humanly possible while meeting requirements, staying under budget and rocking deadlines.

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Moving is a bitch, but the upside is picking out new home-furnishings and decorating. A few months ago I wrote a post on another blog about how bubble chairs helped to inspire a web design I worked on for a Scandinavian hotel Chain. As I have been scouring the internet for fun new home furnishings, I thought to myself “if a chair can inspire a website, could a website inspire a piece of furniture, or the mood of a room?” Just for fun, I paired some of my favorite web designs with fabulous home furnishings to get fantasy rooms inspired by websites.

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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!

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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.

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