recent work | el & roger's order of service

I wanted to share with you a wedding order of service which I was recently asked to design. El & Roger wanted something modern, minimalist and perfect for Spring! I combined hand drawn typography with a clean and modern font, and added leafy illustrations to give it a bit of personality and ensure it was in-keeping for their beautiful May wedding!   

I'm trying to take on more and more freelance design work now, as I just really love doing it. I feel like I could paint, scribble, draw away and play around on illustrator for hours without getting bored! I've set up a facebook page too (eek!), so if you're on there feel free to follow along where I'll be sharing more of my work. And please get in touch if you're looking for a freelance designer! 

+ first photo courtesy of my lovely big sister! 

the grand budapest hotel

I know I'm not the first to blog about this, but have you guys seen Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel yet? If not, please go and see it soon, it's one of the best films I've seen in ages, and also, a total visual treat for your eyes! I've been excited about seeing it ever since I saw that gorgeous pink hotel in the poster, and the trailer just made me even more excited. I'm a big fan of Anderson's films; The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Darjeeling Limited are two of my favourites, and this new one was right up there with them. Absolutely hilarious, gripping, so well acted (Ralph Fiennes is just brilliant!) and also, just really flippin' beautiful! All the way through the film I was swooning at the staging and the beautiful symmetry, the colours, the costumes, the typography of the chapter headings, even the branding of the cake company, Mendl's. (I found an interesting interview with the film's graphic designer - what an awesome job!). Anyway, hope you enjoy this beautiful film as much as I did. I want to go and see it again now please. And I want that poster on my wall. 

polpo | a venetian cook book (of sorts)

A bit of an unusual post for me, but I couldn't resist, I mean have you seeeen this cookbook?! My mum gave it to me for Christmas, and I love love it. Polpo is one of my favourite London restaurants ever ever, and the cookbook is totally amazing too. I love the way it's bound with red thread, I love the gorgeous gold typography and the thick cream paper. But the design layout and photography used is beautiful too. I can't wait to get stuck in and try to create some of the recipes, especially the spinach, soft egg and parmesan pizzetta. My fave. 

Photos - iPhone 5 + vsco cam.  

love a good parcel

In an attempt to buy more of my Christmas presents from small and independent companies, I obviously ended up treating myself to a few things too, oops. Shopping for things online from creative humans is one of the best things ever ever. It’s super easy and stress free, you can get things from ALL OVER THE WORLD, oh, and then, because they’re all so cool, lovely and creative, they go and wrap it up in the most beautiful of ways. Just look at this loveliness, gotta love a good parcel!

1 | I treated myself to this tote bag from Fieldguided, it’s been on my wishlist for like, ever. I totally love it. It’s so gorgeous and reeeeally good quality too.
2 | Knot & Bow does the cutest stationery supplies, all in totally gorgeous packaging. I got some bits for me, and some Christmas surprises too!
3 | This diary by Marjolein Delhaas was on my wishlist at the start of 2013! So I treated myself for 2014 and bought it from Restored, a lovely online shop in Amsterdam. It is beautiful. (Unfortunately it wasn’t available to buy locally this year).

Talking of beautiful parcels, I’ve signed up to the Christmas Post-a-Parcel which Nia has organised! I’ve been sent my partner and am looking forward to getting super creative this weekend!

Also, I’m deleting my old blog in the new year, so make sure you switch over and start following here!

*This isn’t a sponsored post in any way! I just really, really loved these things :)

graduation

well i graduated from design school last night, this has honestly been the fastest year of all time! i'm mostly exhausted but it's so nice to be at home with no homework and deadlines looming over me. and it's such a huge relief to finally have gotten to this stage. my online portfolio is live, my business cards were handed out at the show last night, and i can finally relax a bit. i've already caught up on a lot of sleep today! and now i'm looking forward to blogging, reading, seeing all my friends and family and hopefully getting out of london a bit! but i'm also excited about working on some non-student briefs, and developing my portfolio more. i hope you like it! (the business cards were printed by moo - i used their printfinity service so i could have six different designs with my contact details on the back. they're really nice quality, and were printed super fast, so i definitely recommend them.)

designer | alyson fox

i recently discovered alyson fox, through the gorgeous collaboration she did with & other stories, which i LOVE. and i want to buy it all. it's mostly all gone online now, but trust me, it's all beautiful. as is all of her work - drawings, patterns, designs, jewellery and other collaborations... i feel like a bit of a wally because my big sister has had that print hanging in her flat for ages and i never bothered to find out who it was by! anyway, just a little bit of inspiration for your wednesday!

thanks all for your comments on my identity design! i'm giving myself the night off design work tonight, partly because i can barely keep my eyes open, partly because i want to catch up on wimbledon with a glass of wine. yes.

currently designing | my brand

it's the end of a very long day of designing for me. but just the first of four this long 'weekend'! i'm trying to get all my work up to a good standard for my portfolio, before i graduate in july. it still feels like i've got such a long way to go though! and i'm a bit terrified. a lot. one of the things i've been working on recently is my personal brand identity, which I've really enjoyed. so i thought i'd share some of my options with you. please let me know what you think! they're all much of a muchness, and i think i have a favourite. but there is a bit of tweaking to do, and i'd love to know your opinions before i finalise things. i've really loved using hand done typography throughout my course, so i imagine that's the route i'll take for this too.

i'm also starting to work on my online portfolio, i'm thinking of using squarespace, or maybe behance prosite. let me know if you have any recommendations? and i'll try to pop back here again soon :)

designer | erin ellis

recently discovered the gorgeous work of erin ellis, a designer and illustrator who specialises in hand lettering. i love love love hand lettering, and have used it myself for a few of my design pieces on my course. erin's style of hand lettering is super gorgeous and fun, i love the way she uses it with delicate illustration and rich photography. it works so so well! i'm currently working on my personal identity branding for my portfolio, hand lettering is a route i'm definitely thinking of going down... but we'll see!

found via miss moss.

design | zumtobel + anish kapoor

zumtobel, an innovative austrian lighting company commissioned anish kapoor and brighten the corners to design their two part annual report for 2012. the first part is purely typographic, and completely in 8pt courier! and it sits along side the second part which is pure colour, taken from anish kapoor's video 'wounds and absent objects.' the results are completely awesome...

you can see the entire report here. this post doesn't really do it justice, it looks completely amazing in print, almost mesmerising. it's my favourite, i love it. also, that video is totally worth checking out if you haven't seen it before.

right... sooooo much homework to do this weekend, better get back to it! hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

designer | lotta nieminen

yet another designer whose work i have discovered recently and loved. i feel like i am being flooded with amazing inspiration at the moment! lotta nieminen is a graphic designer and illustrator from helisinki, but she now lives in new york. her portfolio is super impressive and diverse, and her website is lovely too!

i love these designs, and did you know that sisällys is finnish for contents?! yep.