Erika Explains it all

Words + Actions || JT + coffee + cats || Laughter + adventures

[womenofgraphicdesign]

Congratulations to Paola Antonelli and Marcia Lausen—along with Hillman Curtis, Emory Douglas, and Dan Friedman—for being recognized with an AIGA Medal for their contributions to the practice of design. 

We join AIGA in honoring these women and men for their service, vision, and years of hard work.

[insane---world]

[casaltaxavier]

KYGO  ———– 90 hours of stippling - Approximately  1.3 million of handmade dots. Facebook - Instagram ———– What do you guys think ? 

[edizzle626-blog]

*mic drop*

[edizzle626-blog]

Sarah Hyndman-expert typographer

http://www.sarahhyndman.com/

[instagram]

Defeating Heartbreak with Nicole Bonasoro’s 100-Day Song Lyric Designs

To explore more of Nicole’s story, check out @nicolebonasoro on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

It took three and a half years to build Nicole Bonasoro’s (@nicolebonasoro) relationship, but only one day for it to vanish.

“We were living together, and it came out of the blue,” the 29-year-old graphic designer says about her last breakup. “I just hit rock bottom.”

Instead of wallowing in despair, the creative put her mind to work and found solace in a challenge, proving to herself and the world that something great could come from heartbreak. For 100 consecutive days, Nicole would freehand draw a fun and playful design of one inspiring song lyric. Biggie Smalls’ words came to life in bright blue and pink. Nicki Minaj’s ode to love was reimagined in the form of a pizza slice and the moon over Nicole’s home of New York City dared the world with Janet Jackson’s message of “No Sleeep.”

“There was still a part of me that wanted to dwell, and I was like, OK, you know what? I really need to hold strong,” she says. “That was kind of a turning point.”

The series as a whole plays out like a diary of pictures. Distracted by the daily grind and bolstered by praise, featured lyrics began to reflect her brightening spirits, and so too did her choice of medium. She made Pharrell’s “Happy” with Nerds candy. She put a pen cap on a Sriracha bottle and drew Talib Kweli’s “Hot Thing.”

“It was just really an incredible experience for me, because the more I did it, [the more] I was experimenting,“ she says. Some days though were tougher than others. “I’m a perfectionist,” adds Nicole. “There’s a time to stop, but sometimes it’s hard. You’re not there yet, but you’re like, OK, I need to put it up anyways. I got sick sometimes. I was staying up too late, and then I had to go to the doctor. It was crazy, but it was worth it.”

For Nicole, not giving up was the key. On the last of her 100-day challenge, she honored that dedication with a quote from Atmosphere’s “Lovelife”: “Remember it all / the beauty as well as the flaws.”

And then it was over, 100 days had come and gone. Suddenly, in an ironic twist on the dark feelings that spawned the project, she couldn’t let go.

“I’m the type of person that I can’t take days off, because then I missed it,” she says. “I was like, I’ve got to do something. I went to Boston this past weekend, and I did [a lyric] on the place coming back. I’m always working on something. Always.”

Today, Nicole’s 100-day series is a full-on side hustle. She sells her designs as prints, pillows and shirts at local fairs in New York, and has more orders for a soon-to-launch online store. She keeps all her original designs in a scrapbook, and one day, she hopes to compile them all into a portfolio to be passed around and given to prospective clients.

“I feel like the stars aligned for me during this whole process,” she says. “I just feel like everything happens for a reason now, and it’s crazy to get a great response from people. I know this is what I should be doing, and I’m just doing it. That’s it.”

—Kat Bein for Instagram @music

[womenofgraphicdesign]

Yes, Equal, a public database of creative women

Launched by Isabel Urbina Peña this year in response to a discussion about equality in the type design world (specifically, a lack of female speakers at design and type conferences), Yes, Equal also includes 1+1=2, a series of statistical presentations that highlight gender disparities in competitions, awards and judging in the field of design—underlining the need for projects like Yes, Equal

[edizzle626-blog]

Its my best friend’s birthday. She’s a dream.

[ethanartist-blog]

Justin Timberlake 

[thewightknight]

3, 2, 1 - they pick up the kitties and give us a custom ride to the wet food.

(x)

[edizzle626-blog]

Frig the Budweiser puppy commercial

[alboardman]

[typeworship]

Excellent animated type sequence by Al Boardman mechanical type. Reminds m of something I can’t quite put my finger on. Suggestions in the comments!

See his London loop here.

IBMblr ‘Patents’ Working with the great team at Ogilvy NY, I was tasked to produce the header for IBM’s excellent Tumblr page 'IBMblr'.

[jtusha]

[thelegendaryjt]

Throwback to the best VMAs yet.

[edizzle626-blog]

NEVER FORGET

[pugking-deactivated20130901]

[edizzle626-blog]

<3 I want it

[jtfanatic]

[edizzle626-blog]

He gets me

[instagramlikes]

[typeverything]

Typeverything.com - Security pattern by Martin J Weber, 1942. Via @lubalincenter

[hifructosemag]

Dave Kinsey debuts his new body of work, “Ashes to Ashes,” at Die Kunstagentin in Cologne, Germany on February 5. Known for his bold color palette of deep blues and aquatic teals with jarring, red accents, Kinsey went in an abstract direction with this new series of paintings. While humanoid characters are discernible, Kinsey only creates the slightest semblance of recognizable figures. Dabs of color coalesce into desolate landscapes with seemingly gigantic characters towering overhead. Because of Kinsey’s techniques, the narrative aspect of the work gets muffled and its formal qualities come to the forefront.

See more on Hi-Fructose.

[buzzfeedbooks]

Mandrake