Lynnegrainger's Blog

A STUDY OF DESIGN — Series:: v1.1

lynnegrainger — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:41:48 +0000

When I met Sandy Ramsey, now Director of Artisans’ World Marketplace, it was about 10 years ago in a different store, but doing similar work — selling craft that literally comes from all corners of the world with the purpose of providing people with the ability to change their lives while providing safe working conditions and a fair wage. (She enthusiastically announced her membership as a Fair Trade Organization.) At that moment, I knew I wanted to offer my design services to help promote the store’s message. I planted the seed in Sandy’s head that she let me re-design a few sales pieces and let’s just say that seed is now a flourishing tree. We started with the store’s logo — selecting a font that would represent the store’s product – artistic and handwritten; organic and free form; recognizable; non-conventional. We chose Treefrog and created her logo emphasizing the word “Artisans,” as that is what her mission is about — the people and their products. Given her funds were both limited and governed by board members, and a non-profit, we had to produce things inexpensively, while still building a strong brand. The stationery package is printed with black ink on a beautiful, burlap-bag looking, fiberous paper to give texture and a hand-crafted feel. We generated gift tags with the same feel that fold-over, providing flexibility to state the price and a short explanation of the product, artisan and country. The giraffe on the letterhead is a mask from Kenya. I photographed the mask and manipulated it in Photoshop. We wanted an exotic element besides the threads above/below the logo; given she has a wooden giraffe outside the door of the storefront to draw-in customers, it was a natural graphic selection. So, this was the first step in the branding process — logo development, selecting the palette, paper, usage of logo, etc. As I walk you through the stages of design elements, please keep in mind the mission statement of Artisans’ World Marketplace.

By serving as a non-profit retail outlet for fairly-traded goods from around the globe, Artisans’ World Marketplace seeks to:

…provide increased self-employment for low-income artisans worldwide
…raise the public’s awareness of and concern for economic justice for the poor and impoverished parts of our world
…support sustainable economic development which protects our earth and environment
…provide funding for projects which create jobs or provide job training for low-income disadvantaged persons.

Artisans’ World Marketplace is providing a concrete way to respond to the global problems of poverty, hunger and our environment. We encourage and welcome you to experience the unique art and positive change we are making in our world.

Below you’ll find Artisans’ logo, letterhead, gift tag. More to follow.

A Study Of Design Series

lynnegrainger — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:47:06 +0000

I’ve decided to demystify design. Years ago while working at an agency, I was enthralled by the creative director’s magic abilities. As if these clever solutions just appeared to her. I wondered what her process was, what led to these ideas, could anyone do this? Though not everyone is a designer, there are logical steps, knowledge, creativity, and talents which when combined successfully lead to good design. I’ll be addressing this in my A Study of Design Series conversation. My logo idea is based on the style of Alexander Calder’s wire sculptures, like Le Lanceur de Poids, 1929, his years in Paris. These sculptures are so wonderfully simple, like a contour drawing in motion. I wanted eye glasses to suggest a studious, scrutinizing element, yet not a definitive outline for the face. Expressive eye brows to create interest, motion, a humanness. The font? Dogma. Chunky and bold type to weight the wirey glasses. And a casual sign-off with Marydale for the word “series.” See logo below. So, my first client study next post will be Artisans’ World Marketplace.

Designing coffee mugs

lynnegrainger — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:15:37 +0000

It started with a Golden Retriever who loved to sit in a chair. No kidding! Then my voice teacher’s dog named Mozart, who howled when I practiced singing. And it happened to be the Year of The Dog; how could I resist designing something. But I wanted the ”something” to be an item people would use daily and get a giggle out of seeing man’s best friend. Voilà! The Year of The Dog coffee mug. A year passed and I started sending out promotional postcards with give-aways and one of the items I designed was a Year of The Ox coffee mug and coffee. This year? Come back and find out.

The Art of Packing up Christmas

lynnegrainger — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:45:03 +0000

Everyone responds differently to a subject. By this, I mean the content of your artwork, your design, your painting, etc. As the creator, you have the ability to shape how the viewer sees it, even if the reaction to it remains unpredictable. And, quite frankly, in visual communication your goal is to relay a message and move your audience to do something—so response can be measured and guided . That being said, unpredictability and surprise is always a possibility. And that I love. My subject matter? Max and the Grinch. As I stuffed them into the box, I felt inspired to snap this shot, actually, I took several shots, but chose this one. Here’s why. First of all, it’s unedited. All cropping was done in the camera. I wanted a tight crop so Max’s nose was cut off, his antler is blocking the Grinch’s face, so you know they’re sharing tight quarters and you sense the box is small. Both sets of eyes are visible as are the shapes of their heads to give you a sense of who these characters are….recognition and emotion. The angle and crop of the shot create movement, as do the lines of Max’s long nose and long antlers. The dominant element is the box with the characters, however, I’ve allowed for smaller, out-of-focus Christmas ornaments in the background to add to the visual story. It’s purposely shot with a short depth-of-field (f5.6) to create a sense of color and a secondary story in the background. In other words, pay attention in the foreground. It’s not disimilar to Impressionist painters keeping the background loose and unfinished — giving an impression of something that is partially incomplete in its detail. Paying attention to size variation of shape and form brings elements closer or father away from the viewer. And don’t forget color; the red tie on Max grabs your attention — warm colors create excitement, movement — and it’s the complement to the big green Grinch. The touch of red on the out-of-focus ornament pulls your eye back to that area, but it’s subtle enough not to keep you there. So, harmony in composition, so that all elements are working together (the whole is great that than the sum of its parts). All that being said, I love photography. It’s a passion and helps me see the world differently. And packing up Christmas, Max and the Grinch for another year creates a bit of melancholy within me. And as I reflected on the holiday (tree trimming, the performance of a variation on the Nutcracker, the music of Gloria Musicae, dinners with friends and family, the smell of evergreens, streets illuminated by lights, and the spirit of giving) I closed the box and stored it until 2010. Oh, and finally, don’t over think the whole process.; )

The main characters of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Coffee Beans & Music Scene Poster

lynnegrainger — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:18:54 +0000

If you haven’t seen Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, you should. Not only is it fun, there are clever life insights folded into this wonderful, magical, colorful film. As in…“We don’t know where we’re going, because we can’t see.” And so it is. When I first met Del Harley it was in a meeting for my client, Artisans’ World Marketplace, I didn’t know Del and I would be working together on future projects. I’ve had the good fortune of helping her design a postcard for Rock, Love, Peace, in addition to, collateral material for Change, a Starter Kit to a flyer announcing Live Music at Starbucks — her title, The coffee, beans & music scene. Add a little groove to your buzz! As you’re probably suspecting by now, Del is a songwriter and has tons of creative ideas. So when she asked me to design this mini poster (aka. flyer) to promote this event, I was thrilled. She asked me to base my design off of the Hatch Show Prints. Huh? Check it out. (www.countrymusichalloffame.com) The people in the music scene know all about this art form. It rocks. So, my mini poster became a layering of grunge, rustic, tattered elements with big type, lots of layering in Photoshop with musical notes, chirping birds, textured background, coffee bean earthy colors, and splotches of coffee goo. When your client is an artist, the volume gets turned up a notch. Del is teeming with ideas that aren’t cookie cutter, and she forces me to get outside the cookie sheet. Get a coffee, warm up your voice and look at this design.

Design and Gardening in Motion

lynnegrainger — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:05:41 +0000

Mosaic the ground you walk on

lynnegrainger — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:52:33 +0000

Once you understand some design principles and use of color, your avenues for expression are limitless. In fact, you may run out of surfaces. My backyard is my escape — I love gardening, I love color, I love texture, I love the outdoors….it’s the antithesis of the computer, and like my gardens, my ideas flourish. Once I began to mosaic, my friends felt inclined to give me tile remnants, dishes, broken mugs, etc. And since I needed to cover the concrete in my yard and wanted texture and love to mosaic, my yard became my palette. It’s a quiet, meditative, artistic expression for me — balancing color and shape. (See this site for some good information on design principles: www.johnlovett.com). I purposely laid down larger shapes of broken tile with clusters of smaller broken pieces for balance. Color, direction, texture…all play into the design and aesthetic. Some pieces have flat solid color, others patterns. Warm colors for energy and cool colors to calm play off one another. Play around, you’ll begin to sense what works. I wanted an organic, irregular shape to invite the eye, not a hard edge, so I left uneven edges in one area. To tie in the tiles with the remainder of the concrete, I painted them a terra cotta color. Design is design is design. Beauty abounds. Go break some plates.

The Rare Australian Red-Bunned Canary

lynnegrainger — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:53:00 +0000

This is inspired design at its best! My boyfriend gets the credit for the first sighting of the Rare Australian Red-Bunned Canary (Lynneus Graingerii) — he was both puzzled and mesmerized by its vibrant, unforgettable red plumage atop its crown. This sensitive, rare, glorious, magnificent, resourceful bird happens to metaphorically represent me. He sees me as holding these traits and more….and the day he made his sighting I had my red hair loosely tied up in a bun. As with any inside joke, this has been a source of much laughter, inspired sketches and the source of my logo, RBC Productions, which is my creative mark for my on-going mini videos I’ve been producing. I love being able to create with both sound and images, it turns design and visual communication upside down for me. This RBC logo seems apropos given my 2-year stint of voice lessons, my sensitive and intuitive nature and my love of birds. Besides all that, it’s just clever and fun. Following is both the original illustration by B.G.D. (will divulge name later) and my logo (based on his sketch), which I took into Illustrator and drew; selected typography, scribbled the bun, etc. Wanted something recognizable, concise, clean, and playful. Keep on looking and push the limits of design!

As promised, video of “The Old Girl”

lynnegrainger — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:26:29 +0000

TheOldGirl09

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2009 highlights

lynnegrainger — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:21:19 +0000

2009 is nearly done. As one year exits and the next one enters, I feel inspired to note the things that made it memorable. For one, I sold my 1989 Toyota Camry – fondly called “the Old Girl.” As one would imagine with that name, she was more than a car; anyone who’s owned a car that had soul gets it. In her honor I took quite a bit of footage, had Peter Acker photograph me and the Old Girl…well, I was pretty much over the top as you’ll see in my attached video. (next blog) I also spent some time in Cape Cod with my family — this place speaks to me. It’s where we visited in summers and there’s something more than charming about the area. My boyfriend and I visited France. Yes, I said France. Mon Dieu! This country has it all — crazy good baguettes and croissants, history, architecture, fashion, cheese, landmarks, Eiffel Tower, Mont St. Michel and more. I am developing products — see attached image of my journal, Empty Your Head. And finally, I’ve just about completed final edits on my book. It rocks. More on that later. Happy New Year Everyone. Lynne