Jennifer Wick @jwickdesign-blog - Tumblr Blog

The big Holiday challenge

Hello friends! What a busy spring it’s been. In the stationery world, holiday card designs are huge (like super important!), so we spend the majority of spring creating designs that you’ll get to select for your holiday card in November. I would be ever so thankful if you could take a few moments to vote on my designs and any other designs that you love. Thank you!

Happy Merry Peace Joy:

Storied Joy:

Stamped Peace & Joy:

ShineBright:

Hap-happiest time:

Hobnail Frame:

Joy & Revelry:

Modern Holiday:

Ornate Noel:

Painted Pines:

Ticker Tape:

To the point:

Winter Foliage Frame:

#minted #holiday #stationery #jennifer wick

Wedding Challenge

The big Minted wedding challenge just wrapped up and voting is now in full swing. I like to create invitations that convey the personality of the bride and groom, or give clues to the type of wedding it will be. I really enjoyed creating the designs below, and if you see any that capture your attention, feel free to take a moment and vote. The competition is fierce, with over 1,400 entries created by top notch designers. Voting is open through Dec. 9, hint hint ;)

Alabaster Florals

Cartwright

Hadley's Gift

Sorbet Stripes

Milk glass Border

Sun Bleached Florals

Meadow's Crest

Divergence

Art Deco Filigree

Field Notes

Old Post Road

http://www.minted.com/design-rating/119677

My Better Homes & Garden interview

Happy October, friends! I'm so excited to finally share the little interview I had with Better Homes & Garden magazine. I have loved reading BHG magazine for over 15 years, so when Minted's PR director, Natasha Lawler, e-mailed me in July to see if I was available to be interviewed for a holiday card article with BHG, I could barely contain my excitement! The only caveat was that the interview had to be done the next day due to the tight magazine deadline. It also was the night before our summer vacation. So, in addition to my design work I had to wrap up before our trip, the packing, and the laundry, I had to scramble to think of clever tips on how to create the perfect holiday card.

I love how the page turned out, and was happy to see they showed my Signed & Sealed holiday card for Minted.

New identity projects

Building on my last post, here are the most recent logo designs I've had the opportunity to create. This is one of the many things I enjoy about my profession - the variety of work. So enjoy a round up of logos I've designed for consulting firms, a wedding planner, a stationery designer and a new store in Petaluma, CA. Enjoy!

ALT Consulting

Bespoke

Sincerely Jackie

Brava Weddings

Free Range

New work

I can't believe summer is almost over. It feels like it just began! My business has grown dramatically this past year, and I'm thrilled for that. I'm still trying to juggle my ever increasing workload and my family, so to all of my every faithful clients, I want to say thank you for your patience! I would not be where I am without great clients. Speaking of clients, here is a project I did while ago that I'd like to share:

Mindful Nutrition I really enjoyed working on this identity project with Karen. Her business name fit perfectly with what she does - As a registered Dietician with a masters degree in Nutrition Therapy from NYU, she combines her dietetic knowledge and therapy skills to help her clients achieve a healthy mind body connection with food.

Skylines

Sorry for the long absence in posting! Lots and lots of new work to show starting with this super fun project for Hershey. I was asked to create two ‘skyline’ scenes for their two main stores in Times Square and their flagship store in Hershey. Each scene had their own challenges to overcome - I couldn’t show any specific stores or brands in NY except for the Hershey store, so I captured a few iconic landmarks, but otherwise, kept it rather streamlined. The challenge for the Hershey skyline, was that I could not show any of the rides from HersheyPark (because they are actually separate companies under one main company and we did not have enough time to ask for permission, blah blah blah) So, as you can see in my first version, I show a restful dairy farm scene. I still love the farm representation since that is true to our area, and the cows provide the milk for the chocolate. But, they wanted it to have a more urban feel, so you can see the final version with a coaster instead. I’m still really pleased with how they turned out. The designs will be embossed on journals, and will be printed on t-shirts and a few other items that will be available for sale at the the NYC and Hershey store!

#illustration #design #branding

Rested

Hello and Happy 2013! I hope you had a wonderful holiday break. I found myself sorely in need of downtime, so I purposefully did not do ANY work after Dec. 23. This fall into the holidays had been a blur with a record high amount of work, so by the time December came, I was feeling ultra stressed trying to manage my ever-increasing workload, finding time to practice my violin for church every week, and trying to find time to get all of the gift shopping, cookie baking and preparations ready to host Christmas at my house. I have never been good at delegating work (not that I have anyone to give it to!) and I am not particularly good at overseeing multiple projects with ease. So I tend to beat myself up for not doing more to make the Advent season special for my three kids, or for not getting 90% of my cards out on time, or for not making all the types of cookies my mom made, etc. I know that what I am writing isn't new or even unusual. I think a fair amount of women, specifically moms, tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves to do everything well and to make it look effortless. That's why I was grateful to have the time after Christmas to just do NOTHING. I knew I was trying to handle too many things in my own strength this year, and it was showing as I was getting more and more stressed and enjoying life less and less. I felt that God was telling me to rest, and once I listened to Him, I felt such peace that I haven't felt in a long time. I did more then rest, I crashed. I didn't get the rest of my cards out. I didn't create business goals for 2013. I didn't create the online store I've been dreaming about for the past two years. I didn't answer my e-mails. I didn't do billing. I didn't enter any designs for Minted (this one was particularly hard since I love designing for Minted). Instead, I purposely enjoyed abundant amounts of quality time with my family. We watched every episode of Cupcake wars on demand, we played games, watched Home Alone and Elf too many times to count, had friends over, ate and ate and ate, and just enjoyed being together. And it was great! Thanks for reading my babbling blog! I hope this can bring a little encouragement to any of you who struggle with trying to balance work & family. Have a wonderful & meaningful 2013, and I look forward to posting more often with new work and thoughts!

XO Jen P.S All the photos above are from my Instagram account, if you want to follow me : ) @jwickdesign

It's here!

I treked out to Hershey (which is a mere 10 minutes from my home) and was so happy to see the Countdown to Christmas advent calendar I design & illustrated for Hershey for sale at Chocolate World. I know how much I loved fun advent calendars when I was kid, so I hope kids enjoy this as much as I did creating it! They are also available online here. Enjoy!

What does my one cat, Sophie, have to do with my work? Absolutely nothing, but this gives you a glimpse into what I see everyday when I work : ) Even though she crowds my desk and leaves me a 5x5" mouse area to design, I'm thankful for her calming company when the kids are in school. Thankfully my work tends to slow down in the summer, which is a good thing since my three kids are home and have places to go! I wish I could show you the many projects I've been working on, but either I can't until they are published, or else I don't want to show you until they are all finished (holiday cards for Minted, projects for a chocolate company, corporate identity work, my tan, just kidding... wanted to see if anyone even reads this!).

So until then, enjoy the summer and I'll post soon! Jen

I'm feeling very nostalgic today as I realize that our beloved guinea pig, Caramel, won't be around much longer. Lauren picked him as her pet almost 5 years ago, and he keeps me company as I work by chirping at me and banging on his bars when he's bored. His tumor is growing quickly and I'm seeing changes in him, so I'm trying to prepare myself and the kids that any day may be his last.

I was thrilled to find out that 8 of my children's art prints were selected to be sold on minted.com! Each design will have 2 alternate colorways and will be available in 6 sizes. So I'm working on setting up the files as we speak! And if you have any ideas on additional color options, please send them to me! : )

I'm very behind in posting new work, due to my gigantic workload! Here is a logo I created recently for a UK based sporting website. I can't wait for the site to be launched. I really enjoyed creating a sports logo with a European feel. No American football, baseball or basketball. Think soccer, cricket, rugby and tennis. I was hoping the client would chose the one that is the final mark, since each letter houses one of the sports icons. Good day!

A challenge for a worthy cause

I'm drawn to Minted design challenges like a moth to a flame! But I was especially excited to participate when I read that Christy Turlington Burns was partnering with Minted for the Children's Art print challenge. She created the non-profit group, Every Mother Counts, which raises awareness and support to reduce maternal mortality around the world. Christy will select three designs to be gifts to those who donate to Every Mother Counts.

I love creating designs for children, so once I was on a roll, I kept designing! The competion is fiece for this challenge, so if you like any of my designs, I'd so appreciate your vote! Links are below each design. Thanks!

Born Free

Growing Up Savanna

One world

I see the Moon

Just the Facts

Hey Neighbor

See and understood

Storybook Initial

Ringmaster

Little Caboose

Here's a sneak peak at a winter wonderland scene I'm creating for holiday packaging (super top secret right now, but I'll post the printed piece once I'm allowed!) I've definitely been channeling my childhood memories of Rankin Bass movies for this one. Fun stuff!

It's my party!

I should rename this blog to Jen's Minted challenge entries, since that's all I seem to post! So on that note, the latest challenge was to design birthday invites for kids ages 1 to 16. I had fun trying to cover all the bases. If you have a moment, please click on the links and vote. Thanks!!

The big one

Up up and away: http://www.minted.com/design-rating/47412

Headliners: http://www.minted.com/design-rating/46934

The All-Star: http://www.minted.com/design-rating/47193

Sweet cinquefoil: http://www.minted.com/design-rating/46890

Once again I had high hopes to get my cards out before Christmas. But I've had more work this December than I've had all year, so my poor card never got sent to the printer. The sentiment is still the same. I wish everyone a wonderful holiday filled with love, peace, and joy : )

Flashback Friday!

As I was picking up my beloved Dunkin Donuts coffee, the Tears for Fears song Shout came on XM radio and totally took me back to 7th grade. That, in turn, reminded me of a favorite poster I had on my wall which was to become instrumental in shaping my design aesthetic. The poster above was designed by Paula Scher, who is a brillant designer and educator with Pentagram. But back to my story. I was obsessed with Swatch watches back then, I put the scented Swatch watch at the top of my Christmas list, and I specifically said that I DID NOT want the paisley swatch. In fact I wrote that I would be happy with ANY swatch watch, EXCEPT the paisley one. So guess which watch I received that Christmas?

Yes, I got the hideous lego colored paisley watch. Turns out I grew to love that watch, and moreover, I adored the cool poster that came with the watch. I was fascinated by everything in the poster and I would gaze at it. I knew then that I wanted to do work like that.

Just thought I'd share a silly tidbit about events that have shaped me and influenced me as a designer. P.S. I lost that beloved Swatch watch on a trip to Canada in high school and still wish I had it. I do have the case still...

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