be so good

Some recent work - an inspirational quote image for Accepted.com to share and use on their social media. So far one of my favorite quotes. (And who doesn't like cupcakes!)

See more right over here.

Inspiration

Over the last few months I've been designing some share images for one of my clients. They post these inspirational quotes on Facebook for their fans to share. It's a fun way to engage their audience through social media and hopefully it will lead to greater brand awareness and business for them.

This is a fun project for me because there are few restrictions other than including the quote. Most of the quotes are thought provoking and don't necessarily conjure up a particular image so typography becomes the main element to convey the message.

Enjoy these examples and become a fan of Accepted.com to see the latest on their Facebook page. (Or see them when I remember to pin them here.)

Thank You

A big thank you and shout out to Big Cloud Media for help with Wordpress.

I have been working on a site for some weeks and came across a technical problem that I was unable to figure out how to fix even after much research online. All my settings looked correct! Eventually I narrowed it down to a specific issue but wasn't sure of the fix. Koji of Big Cloud Media picked up my cry for help on Twitter and was able to suggest a number of solutions, the first and simple one worked thankfully.

Check them out on Twitter and if you have Wordpress issues, see #WPQA also.

Thanks!

fabric effect

I follow a number of different blogs that have great graphic design resources, tutorials, advice and inspiration. Every so often I pick one of the many tutorials and see what new skills or tips and tricks I can learn from it. One I did last week was a super easy effect - stitched fabric type style done in Photoshop. Tutorial can be found on WeGraphics (here - thanks!) and my finished product below, it only took minutes for this great effect!

share images

Recently I've been working on some images for Accepted.com - inspirational or thought provoking little snippets to share on their blog or Facebook and get their clients involved.

Some are easy to design, the quotes are straightforward and the idea comes straight away. Others are more difficult, it sometimes takes a while to figure out some sort of visual or type treatment that reflects the idea.

More here.

social media, an example

Social media is now one of the main ways businesses promote their products, services and events and some of my clients have embraced this fully. My work now includes graphics for Facebook, blogs, Google Plus, podcasts as well as various eye-catching call-to-action buttons and images for their website.

The example here is of Accepted.com's Facebook page with a  cover image advertising a webinar. I kept it super simple. The yellow striped area leads the eye down to where one can register for this event. The viewer can very easily see where to click! The trick is to using the Facebook layout (or other social media) to your best advantage to generate leads and income.

case study 1 - book design

A recently completed project I worked on was the design of the cover and inner pages of Till We Eat Again by Judy Gruen. I've put together a case study of the initial brief, the process and how we came to the final design.

See it here.

(And go buy the book, it's very funny.)

NOTE: The cover color was the authors choice, not mine! FYI, not all the work I do is green...

tree. triangle.

Work was a little quiet today so I had a play around with some images. Trying to design a little out of my regular style, use different techniques or colours or shapes, playing with contrast. I'm liking this grid-based, triangle design layered over a couple of pictures from Palos Verdes (taken in 2010). It's a bit like I took a bunch of triangle stickers and stuck them onto a photography poster! Fun!

book design

I recently completed a large project for one of my clients, a book cover design and complete layout of the inner pages. They are happy with it and I am pleased with how it turned out. I really enjoyed working on it!

The client had the initial title and content and then we brainstormed to come up with a concept for the cover that was interesting and related to the theme of the book. Many MBA related books had fairly boring covers and I wanted this one to be different, clever and contemporary. The inner pages were designed to be clear and straightforward, easy for the reader to follow the points relating to their admission process. 

It's now for sale (here) so if you or anyone you know are considering an MBA, this is the book for you! (Makes a good holiday gift.)

let's talk about the weather

Fall weather in Los Angeles. Sunny one day, bucketing down rain the next.

Enjoying the Autumn sun on my roof.

A few days later driving in torrential rain.

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Some recent work: My friend started a blog - "Dressing Like A Man" - style advice for men, classic yet fashionable without being a fashion victim. I had a bit of spare time a while back so I designed a header for the blog.

Go check it out!

mug shot

Recently Smashing Magazine had a photo contest where they invited readers to submit an image of their favourite coffee mug for a poster of coffee mugs. I'm a big fan of my morning coffee (don't talk to me until it's had a chance to absorb) and have a few favourite mugs (and varieties of coffee in the pantry) but the mug in the photograph I submitted was a gift from my husband. He gave it to me a while back when I was teaching myself CSS. Anyway, my image made it to the poster! You can download a high resolution version of it here.

I've also just updated my blog to a new domain name! You can now find this blog at www.sarahlikegreen.com because it really is my favourite colour!

nite lite

Sometimes for fun I'll just play around taking pictures of something that looks quite mundane but has captured my eye for some reason. Then these pictures often end up in the trash but every now again the "experiment" works and some of the photographs turn out to be interesting or useful for a future project.

These here are some night pictures of the street (in DC) through our hotel curtains. I'd use something like this as a background image for a poster, magazine layout or an edgy website or layering in some digital art.

updating 'n pinning

The latest social media favorite of mine is Pinterest, a virtual pinboard to collect images from around the web and following others to see trends, cool stuff and whatever inspires. Check out this image of some of my latest pins. It's wonderful site for ideas and inspiration. And unlike the real world, doesn't require blu-tack to stick magazine cuttings to the wall!

In other news, I've just done some updating to my website, adding a couple of small things to my portfolio page plus some general housekeeping like fixing incorrect links and adding in new skills. Currently busy with some work and a Dreamweaver course (I can do websites! And HTML emails!) plus planning a couple of personal projects that I hope to get started sometime in the near future. But more photos soon!

spherical

In between my real work, playing around with spherical designs with the 3D filter in Adobe Illustrator. Got some interesting and nice effects.

72 colors

Pulled out one of my several boxes of colored pencils to start on some projects I've been meaning to get going for a while.  A delectable selection of 72 colors in each box, these images are their own color bar!

Haven't managed to get much done on said projects yet other than sketch out plans, my work area requires much reorganizing and cleaning to get started properly. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures.

wedding album: work in progress

Our wedding was a little over a year ago but I'm still working on designing our album, it's seriously time consuming. We had a great photographer (contact me for his details, in Melbourne, Australia) and we ended up with several thousand images. It was more economical for me to do my own album plus I wanted to continue our theme within it. But simply sorting through them to find the ones we liked best was a job in itself! Once settled in our apartment I got started on the album design and I'm still going. I'm making a photobook-type album rather than a traditional album, using our wedding logo and colors to embellish the design and make it unique.

Anyway, I'm almost done (just the reception part to go) and I'm looking at options of who to use for printing. I want high quality print and binding for a reasonable (read: affordable) price. The sites I'm considering are: Photobook, Picaboo, Smilebooks or Shutterfly. I'm leaning towards a book with lay-flat pages (an option not offered by all companies) and often means standard hard cover without the option for a custom fabric or leather cover. The size is 12 in x 12 in, a less standard size so therefore less customizable options with some sites.

If you have used any of these companies, I'd love to hear your opinion of the product your ordered. Or if there's another photo book printing company that is recommended please let me know.