creativecupcake

Kidrobot Christmas

2008-11-06T19:13:00.006Z

Kidrobot has posted up it's November releases including two Christmas-themed toys I really have to get! There are the Mini Munny Christmas Ornaments and the Reindeer Dunny! Going to be doodling on the Munnys and hanging them up and putting the Dunny with the Gingerbread Man from last year. Can't find any UK websites selling them yet? Any ideas?

Toshiba - The Journey of Innovation

2008-11-06T14:17:00.003Z

Gorgeous and innovative site by Toshiba here. Make shapes with the mouse to move around the scene and interact with the animals. Beautifully illustrated and thought out.

Found on the fantastic Made in England

2008-11-05T12:18:00.003Z

Throughout the presidential campaign I've been keeping a collection of designs from the Obama campaign. Not only was his own branding excellent and consistently delivered, the work of other graphic designers was really exciting.

Here's some articles on the subject;

Fubiz.net - Obama Art

Newsweek - Why the Obama "Brand" Is Working

Speak Up - The Hardest Working Presidential Candidate Logo

Here are some great examples designers have created over the past few months;

Shawn Hazen - United Change Poster

Obey Giant - Progress Poster

Patrick Moberg - Nov 4th

Pete Fowler - Mighty Boosh

2008-11-05T11:59:00.003Z

"Designed by Artist / Illustrator Pete Fowler and blessed by the Boosh the figures show Vince in his personally designed Fountain of youth cowboy suit, Howard in his everyday jazzy slacks and Hawaiian shirt, Naboo in full shamanic getup and Bollo as naked as the day he was born."

All figures stand between 11 and 14 cm, Double pack 1 features Howard Moon and Bollo while pack 2 includes Vince Noir and Naboo. Packaging will be window box style with flip lid, fully art worked by the Boosh team."

Love the packaging and the 'Boosh' guys miniaturised in classic Pete Fowler style. Available from December!

New Site Design

2008-10-23T23:23:00.004+01:00

Well, when I put this design up I intended it as a temporary design before I came up with a far more innovative design that was more representative of me and my work. Well the new design is getting there so I thought I'd put up a preview...

Let me know what you think?

Taking photos

2008-10-14T10:53:00.003+01:00

So I bought my camera and I've been playing with it at any opportunity I get - see my Flickr page for what I've been up to. As you can see I've mostly taken pictures of buildings, sculptures, flowers and other things that stay still long enough for you to organise a composition, focus and shoot.

However one of the reasons i wanted to learn photography was to take photos of people, I'd love to capture people's expressions and feelings in a photo. This is where I've been hitting a problem. When on holiday I wanted to take photos of these old Portuguese men sitting outside their houses playing cards - but I was so worried they would take offense to the silly, english girl invading their privacy I didn't do it.

Saturday night was one of the first occasions I bought my camera to a meet up with friends. I thought I'd be able to sneak around the edges of the party taking relaxed photos of everyone having a good time... What actually happened was they would suddenly become aware of me raising the camera to my face and instead of getting a nice natural pose I'd get a photo of someone frozen in a pose or looking sideways at the camera with a scared expression on their face! So this is my new challenge to work out how to photograph people naturally who aren't natural posers - like dogs...

Give them the promise of a treat and they'll sit there willingly while you snap away... maybe next time I'll try treats with my friends...

We want tap

2008-09-22T13:12:00.003+01:00

Was just reading the metro when the fantastic logo above caught my eye. It's Joshua Blackburn's and Provokateur's attempt to 'brand' tap water and discourage people from drinking expensive and not very eco-friendly bottled water. I love the design and think it's a great - and slightly cheeky idea!

You can buy a branded bottle from them too which is 'made from new generation Tritan plastic, which is 100% free of the chemical Bisphenol A' - this is a good idea as the normal plastic bottles are unsafe to continually reuse. Think I'll be getting one...

Pete Fowler & Monsterism

2008-09-05T16:03:00.003+01:00

Don't think I've ever written on here about my love for the work of Mr Pete Fowler - who basically gets to make monsters for a living! He is a designer from Cardiff who is responsible for Super Furry Animals covers and for amazing creati0ns such as the Snorse (above) which is my favourite piece of designer vinyl. His website is here - although its fairly out of date. You can buy his products here.

Think I might go back through my bookmarks and books and write up some more entries about my favourite designers.

Hello Sour Sally!

2008-09-04T17:07:00.002+01:00

Love the combination of hand drawn illustrations with a flash interface on this website for frozen yogurt. Especially love the expressions on her face and the way her legs dangle when she's flying!

Have a play at collecting the ingredients!

Graphic Exchange

2008-09-01T16:38:00.003+01:00

There are far too many amazing things to look at on this site. Lots of inspiration on one site with links out to the people responsible for the work so you can discover more. As useful as ffffound but far more focused. They even have a dedicated website section. I shall be there a while...

Through it I found the work of this studio Platinum (responsible for the photo above) their website is a little off-putting but go through the portfolio - the work is amazing!

New Toy Releases

2008-08-15T14:19:00.004+01:00

Some new designer toy releases I'm looking forward to in the next few weeks. Kidrobot releases their Series 5 Dunny Collection - looking forward to seeing (and probably buying) the Kathie Olivas dunny although there are no photos of it yet!

They are also releasing a Tado Series 'Cannibal Funfair' I love Tado's drawings and am going to try and get hold of 'Lily' as she is so super-cute - hopefully she's not a rare one!

Face Your Manga

2008-08-15T10:42:00.003+01:00

No need to wonder any longer what a manga character of yourself would look like with this fun website! Impressive how many combinations you can make! Have fun :)

Photography - First Play

2008-08-12T13:53:00.004+01:00

I took my new Nikon D40 out for a play on the weekend. It was windy and kept randomly dumping down with rain - which was a bit unnerving, but I had the chance to take a few shots and put some of them up on my Flickr site. Going to London next week for the day so will hopefully get the chance to take some more photos then!

Social Networking Site for Designers

2008-08-12T13:43:00.003+01:00

Just came across an article about the usefulness of social networking sites to designers. I currently don't use any other than for personal use - but was interested in how they could be used alongside or instead of a portfolio. The article mentioned Behance Network among others, like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn and Flickr. I hadn't heard of this site before and when looking through it was impressed by the range of creative people on there. They are now being selective about who they let join - but may be worth the application to see if you could benefit.

Sanna Annukka

2008-08-08T16:44:00.003+01:00

I keep meaning to write about my admiration and jealousy of how fantastic Sanna Annukka's illustrative work is. If it looks familiar to you it is probably because of her work for Keane's album 'Under the Iron Sea'. I desperately want the screenprint above but it's a little out of my price-range ;) I'm hoping from what is written on her site that she will release postcard prints and some cheaper items soon. Until then I'll have to make do with my Keane concert programme that contains many of her illustrations.

Original Source

2008-08-08T16:36:00.002+01:00

Just got sent an email from Original Source about their new website. Interesting to see them make such a departure from their previous site - but I think it's the better for it. Nice mouse sensitive panning over the site and some lovely roll over animations. Think their online branding is now becoming more suited to their product and of course they are taking advantage of the new eco-friendly trend! The site was 'made with Computer Love'.

Lewis Moberly

2008-08-01T10:15:00.006+01:00

I love looking at packaging design - it seems some companies get to have great fun coming up with solutions. While looking at The Dieline I came across the fab packaging for Waitrose own brand items. The design agency behind them is Lewis Moberly and looking through their site it's amazing to see the simple yet effective solutions they have come up with for their clients. I'm also loving the little flash movies they have created to make their portfolio come alive. It must be a real thrill to walk through a shop and see your designs on the shelf - something you don't get with website design!

Design Chapel

2008-07-31T20:50:00.003+01:00

I used to admire this guy's work whilst I was studying for my degree in uni - but had forgotten about him until looking at his amazing online board game for the Got Milk? campaign in the US today. I'm just so in awe of how he can turn his hand to any medium and any style and still come out with amazing results!

Dooce

2008-07-31T20:28:00.005+01:00

One of my workmates introduced me to this blog - and I got so hooked I ended up spending the next few days reading the whole thing. Basically she is infamous for getting fired from her web design job for blogging about her co-workers. Now she's making money from her blog - which is well written and brilliantly funny. I also love the photos she takes of her daughter (like the photo above) and her dogs they are always so soft beautifully lit - I'm hoping to start playing with portrait photography now I have my camera! :)

BBC Olympics - Monkey

2008-07-25T09:39:00.004+01:00

The BBC's main sting for the Beijing Olympics premiered last night. 'The animation, by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett - the team behind Gorillaz - twists the tale of the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West", turning it into a "Journey to the East" and the Beijing Olympics.'

I think it's fantastic and really brave of the BBC not to go down the typical British flag and shot of athletes. The soundtrack is really atmospheric too!

Tim Walker - Pictures

2008-07-23T21:02:00.003+01:00

I'm definitely going to make the effort to go up to London to see the Tim Walker exhibition at the Design Museum. His photos are just so whimsical and quirky. I have this print of his in my flat - so pretty! Have a look at his photos here.

Monsters in Photos

2008-07-18T19:01:00.003+01:00

Loving the illustrated monsters in old photographs created by Relleno De Mono. Really keen to try the technique of combing photos with vector graphics inside them. (Found through the brilliant Monster Munch.)

Adrian Johnson

2008-07-17T09:41:00.003+01:00

I've been loving the Robinson's Squash and the the Vodafone adverts out at the moment. Thanks to the 'Orange You Lucky' blog I've discovered the designer behind them - Adrian Johnson. Check out his colourful and textured work - so cute!

Wordle

2008-07-16T16:29:00.003+01:00

Take your favourite song lyrics or a paragraph of text from a book and paste it into this website to generate a word cloud. You can change the colour and font and save it out - you get some interesting results! The one above is my word cloud of John Mayer's 'Gravity' lyrics :)

Photography

2008-07-11T11:50:00.002+01:00

I love photography and it's something I've been wanting to start taking up properly myself. I' m looking into courses and looking for good deals on the Nikon D40 SLR - which looks pretty good for beginners.

Here are some of my favourite photography sites at the moment;

Dooce - beautiful photography and an hysterically funny blog.

Kate Hutchinson - love her 'Why am I marrying him?' series.
Nataly Lemus - interesting and well shot wedding photography.

Scott Hansen

2008-07-11T11:39:00.002+01:00

As my boyfriend is close to buying his new house - I will be purchasing him some Scott Hansen prints for his walls. Love the colours and retro 50's-style photography and typography. He he - he's in trouble I have soooo many ideas from too many years of watching interior design programs.... mwha ha ha!

Sarah Defriend

2008-07-11T11:34:00.002+01:00

Go over and have a look at my lovely workmate's new website. Showcasing her talent for detailed illustration, website design and great eye for colour. Tell her I sent you... ;)

Kathie Olivas

2008-07-11T11:27:00.003+01:00

After admiring the illustrations of Kathie Olivas for a while - I was tempted in to buying one of her 'Scavengers' figures yesterday. Like the fact it is so true to her illustrations and that the way it has been painted gives it almost a ceramic look, the magnetic packaging is also beautifully illustrated and put together.

CSSAddict

2008-07-11T11:22:00.001+01:00

This site is a great resource for tutorials, inspiration and css info.

Orange You Lucky!

2008-07-11T11:11:00.003+01:00

Great blog from illustrator and designer Helen Dardik who creates these amazing bright and colourful patterns and just seems brilliantly excited by design.

Design Sponge

2008-07-11T11:03:00.003+01:00

One of my favourite sites to waste a few minutes getting very jealous of all the gorgeous homes in the 'Sneak Peaks' section. Now all I need is a house...

Tara McPherson

2008-07-11T10:57:00.002+01:00

Loving the work of Tara McPherson who is an American painter and illustrator. A recurring motif in her work is a person with a heart-shaped hole through their chest. A nice video of her explaining her work process is below.

WebStreaker

2008-07-04T15:41:00.004+01:00

It's Friday afternoon - you know what'll cheer up your day at work? Sending this little guy steaking over a website... Yey! Look at him go!

JohnMayer.com

2008-07-03T12:43:00.005+01:00

John Mayer's new website design by Clear not only looks really good but features a fully interactive tour map, exclusive photos and video from the Mayer camp and allows the fans to choose which songs he'll perform during the encore - really nice feature!

Wish Come True by Friends With You

2008-07-01T14:36:00.006+01:00

I love these!!

Wish Come True toy collection, designed by the brilliant FriendsWithYou. "These magical toys feature weighted bottoms and built-in bell chimes, giving them all a playful rocking motion and a subtle, soothing sound. The series features six primary characters - Coco, Fluffy Pop, Malfi, Buddy Chub, Popo and Mr. TTT - plus 3 bonus chase figures that have yet to be revealed. Wish Come True is a new direction in Designer Toys."

They have a beautiful, distinctive visual style and they are just so bright, colourful and happy-looking that no one can resist picking them up when they see them on my bookshelf!

Moo

2008-07-01T13:59:00.007+01:00

As I finish off my new website design - I've also been busy designing new promotional postcards. I sent them off to be printed by the brilliant Moo.com who have to be one of my favourite companies. Checkout their website now for lots of fun products including their new business cards. Can't wait to get them back in the post!

Creative Cupcake - New Blog

2008-07-01T13:29:00.000+01:00

Testing New blog...