Type By Hand
Yesterday, I abandoned my Mac for some hands-on, fine-tuning of my hand lettering skills. Lead by the uber talented Wayne Thompson and Gemma O’Brien, we delved into the nitty gritty of x-heights, baselines, double decker letters and ascenders before free styling with a personal type project.
I have been following Gemma’s work for a while now and jumped at the opportunity to attend this workshop. To see some of her work up close, ask questions about her process and seek advice was such a great opportunity - her passion is infectious.
If my fiancé thought I was a type nerd before, well he best beware, for they have created a monster. Thanks Wayne and Gemma for the tips and tricks, the backwards left-hander technique correction and an all round inspiring Saturday.
A recent personalised name print that I was contracted to design. The design features Homestead and Haymaker, which are two beautiful and versatile fonts that you can download from the folks at Lost Type Co.
A new Facebook cover image for Christmas.
Handwritten fonts are so hot right now. The desire for print design aesthetics in a digital world has seen a huge surge in their popularity. I personally love this trend. Handwritten type adds a personal and organic feel and invokes a feeling of friendly nostalgia.
There is an array of free handwritten fonts available on the web, but its very hard to find good quality ones, until now. Let me introduce to type designer Emily Connors of Emily Lime Design. I stumbled upon her Etsy shop of hand-drawn goodness the other day and it was love at first sight. I have become quite the fan. Her fonts are cute, whimsical and have such personality. Each one includes playful swashes, embellishments and/or alternate glyphs to help you make each creation a unique and interesting one. Best of all they are modestly priced!
If you keep an eye on her Etsy store you will often be able purchase her creations for a fraction of the price as you would once they become available on commercial font sites.
I was recently hired by Melbourne-based software consultancy company Fenwick Software to design a custom invitation for a showcase afternoon they were hosting for their valued clients. They required something that was on brand, would effectively communicate the large amount of information required and ultimately impress its recipients, encouraging a good response.
This is the result; a personalised, Z-Fold invitation printed on 300gsm Curious Metallics Ice Gold. See more here.
A couple of months ago I posted some invitations that I designed for my best friends Baby Shower. On Monday she welcomed her gorgeous, healthy baby girl into the world. I am so over-joyed for her and her husband, they are proud as punch and I just know they will be great parents. I have worked frantically to finish this name print for them in time for the weekend.
A business card I recently designed for a freelance social media professional. Her personal brand is very minimal, clean and direct.
At the end of last year I posted about an online magazine I had fallen in love with, Adore Home Magazine. Well, much to the delight of this newly engaged gal, it’s amazingly talented creator, Loni Parker has just launched another project - Lovely Wedding Magazine. It delivers swoon worthy weddings, to-die-for styling ideas and on-trend products. Again, it is beautifully designed and best of all, free!
Images are courtesy of Lovely Wedding Magazine
Get ready to rumble, it’s a typographic smack-down! Letter versus letter, designer versus designer, battling it out for the title of best looking character. Fighting puns aside, it’s an excellent excuse to ogle some beautiful design and be inspired. There are new fights weekly so be sure to visit and back your favourite.
These are some baby shower invitations I designed for my best friend who’s shower I am organising. The cute little nappy pocket is an idea I found on Pinterest, and made my own template for. They were so much fun to make.
A quick sketch of a feather that I completed this afternoon which will form part of a job application I am working on.
Somewhere over the rainbow.
Wow, just wow. Is this the most impressive wedding invitation you’ve ever seen? Whilst I’m more of a print and pretty paper kind of girl, this is whimsical, inspired and downright enviable. Designed by Jessica Hische of Daily Drop Cap infamy and her designer partner Russel Maschmeyer, it features a timeline of their fairytale love story (I’m a sucker for those), which unfolds as you scroll. With lovely illustrations along the way by very talented friends of theirs, all of which you may read more about here, the invitation was a 6-month collaborative project that has many in awe.
