Small Bites: March 23

We are 3 days into spring and kicking off another week. Here are the small bites that inspired my design main course this past week.

Fast Company did an article this week featuring a new website that FINALLY explains what the 3 letter airport code means. Have you ever wondered why it was LAX for Los Angeles or why Toronto is YYZ? As a global travel junkie, I definitely did. Whether you’re interested in travel or not, the website is beautifully done with gorgeous typography (hello, Futura!) and rocking a clean, modern grid.

As designers, our bosses/clients can make us crazy at some point. What if your boss was the President? AIGA did a great article this week interviewing the Creative Director for the White House. All those speeches and bill proposals that President Obama does needs graphic design work. Ashleigh Axios does great work with pretty dry material. She actually makes budget proposals visually interesting with clean, modern infographics.

Aaron Draplin is one of my favorite designers and the founder of the Field Notes notebooks. Draplin loves America and really promotes made in America and vintage Americana in his design work. This week he released a limited edition of his Field Notes called “Two Rivers.” This edition will benefit the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Wisconsin. These are beautifully designed and printed and benefit a piece of American history.

I’m a total sucker for beer packaging design, which is odd given that I don’t drink. But, I think some of the best creative design work out there lands on beer packaging. HOW Magazine agrees and just recently released a book on beer label design, but check out their top 10 listed on their website this week.

And, finally, Typographica released their favorite typefaces of 2014 this week. Check out these beautifully designed typefaces from around the world.

Stuck On You: The Wonderful World of Stickers

I am a serious sticker fiend. The 8-year-old girl inside of me has never outgrown the love of beautiful stickers and finding surfaces to put them on. Sure, it can be a bit childish, but it actually seems to be a popular thing with designers. They’re successful give-aways at design events, and most of us glamour for them when we’re out and about. Oregon coffee chain Dutch Bros releases a new sticker every month at a limited supply. People proudly display their political affiliations or miles run on their cars. To me, besides being a source of beautiful design at times, are another avenue for self-expression. It lets people in on who you are and what you’re into.

From a design standpoint, I think they’re a great outlet. I like small areas to design within, because I think it’s more challenging to create something fun and unique.

Here are some of my favorites from my collection—share some of yours. 🙂

My car, Archer. Named after the font by Hoefler & Frere-Jones as well as the FX cartoon. This has some of my favorite stickers on it, including the pink sticker from VooDoo Donuts.

Yep, we understand that we think differently, we’re a bit weird and we bring a whole new view to common things in this world.

As a huge fan of the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, I hoard this precious Andre the Giant sticker designed by street artist Shepard Fairey.

Nerdy graphic design humor, obtained at the 2014 HOW Design Conference

Nerdy graphic design humor, obtained at the 2014 HOW Design Conference

This is one of my most cherished stickers. Artist and designer James Victore handed them out at the HOW Conference in 2013. He reminds us to take risks, go against the norm and it’s okay not to be perfect.

I keep a notebook with meeting notes at work. I put some of my most favorite stickers on the cover: Johnny Cupcakes (an amazing tee shirt designer), Apple (what designer doesn’t love this?) and a local screen print shop called Ragged Print Company.

Local coffee shop / bar Wild Goose Meeting House is an awesome hangout that promotes local music, great coffee and Colorado’s many microbrews. The lumberjack is one of my coveted stickers from Dutch Bros Coffee, one of my favorite haunts for java.

I’m not a beer drinker, but I adore this sticker from Denver brewery Great Divide. It’s for their Yeti Beer, which is an award winning beer. I love, love this sticker and find it fun to believe.

United PIxelworkers was a fake union for web designers started in Pittsburgh to really be a tee shirt company. UP sold union tees for each state and became a phenomenon. They even had the great Aaron Draplin design this logo. UP became so successful, they ventured into another tee business called Cotton Bureau and shut the UP doors this past December to focus entirely on Cotton Bureau.

Another coveted Dutch Bros sticker, definitely dig the Communist propaganda style artwork

Love Each Other is a great message from Justin Ahrens, an awesome Chicago designer who runs Rule 29 and focuses on doing design for worthy causes. He sent me this sticker when I bought his photography book of the children of South Sudan.

One Man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure

As creatives, we must constantly be on the lookout for inspiration. So many of our ideas come from the things we expose ourself to whether it’s travels, meals out with friends or little things we come across on a routine shopping trip. With the internet, there is an infinite amount of visuals we can tap into for ideas, but sometimes it’s better to go after things more tangible.

Bob Gill, one of the original founders of Pentagram Design, and an original Mad Men said that if you want to design for a dry cleaner, then you need to go to a dry cleaners. In other words, get up from the screen and get your ideas from the real world. One of the biggest advocates for getting out in the world is designer Aaron Draplin from Draplin Design Company. He loves to go junking—he travels across America and hits up small town flea markets and antique shops looking for design inspiration. He takes massive amounts of photos of his junk treasures and posts them online, and he’s been known to buy a few things as well.

Creative Exercise: Redesign This Beer Label

I’m on the board for the Colorado Springs chapter of AIGA. One of our monthly events is Drink & Draw, where creatives in the community get together to hang out, drink beer and get away from the screens to do some old school drawing. Each session has a theme to help direct the exercise. The one we did this month went over so well, I thought it’d be fun to propose to you readers.

Mass Transit Logo, copyright Bristol Brewing Company and Luke Flowers Creative

Local craft brewery, Bristol Brewing Company, has some awesome labels designed by Luke Flowers Creative. We decided it would be fun to redesign the Mass Transit label, but you had to use the style of one of the famous designers we admire.

Choose from one of the following designers:

• Aaron Draplin
• Louise Fili
• Ryan Putnam
• DKNG
• James Victore
• Saul Bass

Here is my humble effort of an attempt at Aaron Draplin. I am NOT an illustrator. Just trying to have fun with this thick-lined style and retro vibe. Post your results, this will be fun!

My feeble attempt at imitating Aaron Draplin’s style on the Mass Transit label.