[nikkitranchita-blog]

We're tying the knot! The only thing more exciting than getting married is getting to design all of my wedding stationery. We are getting married in August; I've had these done for a while (we're less than 3 months away at this point!) but I'm just getting to posting them now.

The style of the wedding is lakeside nautical, vintage inspired, outdoors/woodsy, and slightly bohemian. I strived to allude to all of that in my design. It was also very important to me to keep my hand drawn style throughout the design. I hand illustrated the floral/plant wreath around the text and the anchor/ampersand in the middle. Our main colors are navy blue and aquamarine. 

We letterpressed them on a friends press. My letterpress machine is in its final stages of being rebuilt. I'm so excited to do the invitations on it!

I put all the envelope liners in by hand, had a stamp made for the return address & stamped all the flaps, and hand addressed each recipient's envelopes. 

I am so happy with how they turned out! More photos and details on my website.

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[nikkitranchita-blog]

I am in love with Ruche's photography in their look-books. How fun would it be to be on set with them?!

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[nikkitranchita-blog]

Happy Mother's Day to all those beautiful moms out there! My mom got this pretty little present on Sunday morning. I was so excited to give it to her, I couldn't stand it. I don't know if I was more excited to give it to her because of the present, or the wrapping!

My friends and family will tell you that I have a serious home-made wrapping paper addiction. For Christmas, I carved a Christmas tree stamp to make off white trees on kraft paper. I love making stamps, and one of the easiest and quickest ways to do that is using a wine cork! You can carve all sorts of little shapes (hearts, stars, snowflakes) really quickly with an exacto knife. If you're in a hurry or not too handy with a knife, just take the cork and dip in some paint like I did for my mom!

I stamped light pink acrylic paint on a little piece of kraft paper, tied it up with a double layer of thin twine, slipped in a piece of wheat (or some weed found in my back yard), and tied on a little tag with pink and gold glitter stripes. Piece of cake!

It's just a little extra touch to give a gift some love and make the recipient feel that much more special!

More photos on my Flickr.

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[weandthecolor]

[nikkitranchita-blog]

weandthecolor:

Stitch Design Co. - Identity

Check out the design studio’s website.

More identity inspiration.

posted by W.A.T.C. // Facebook // Twitter // Google+

[nikkitranchita-blog]

Amazing "Color + Print" video by Anthropologie. I love that the designers paint their patterns with watercolors. Beautiful!

[magicworks-blog]

“Print will never die. There’s no substitute for the feel of an actual book. I adore physically turning pages, and being able to underline passages and not worrying about dropping them in the bath or running out of power. I also find print books objects of beauty.”

- J.K. Rowling, Words with JAM magazine (via magicworks)

[nikkitranchita-blog]

20 questions to ask clients...

The Design Cubicle prepared 20 awesome questions to ask your clients before you embark on a logo design journey. This is essential, and the more you get to know your client, the easier it will be to come up with something that is spot on for them.

Also useful from Creative Latitude: forms, questionnaires, pricing guides, etc.

And some fun and useful tools from Freelanceswitch.

[nikkitranchita-blog]

how to work with and hire a graphic designer

When initially embarking on a freelance project with a client, I always outline my research and design process. It helps provide the client with clarity and assurance while we do what we do. It's especially important because each designer will have a different process, so it will be impossible for the client to know the designer's right off the bat, unless they have previously worked together.

I found this great article that goes more in depth on "How to work with and hire a graphic designer." If you are a potential client of mine, I strongly urge you to read it. It will make our professional relationship stronger if we better understand each other.