Found: Great Texture Example in Packaging

The Fiji Water bottle is a great example of what a rich texture can do for a product design. The Figi designer printed the palm leaf graphic on the label in the back facing in so the buyer can see it through the water and it looks beautiful. This design jumped out at me yesterday because the photo is very simliar to the one I posted previously of Robbie's.

Since there has been much scrutiny over the source of many water bottle companies, Fiji tries harder to communicate with the consumer through it's package design. To learn more about that visit Sustainable is Good.

texture arsenal

Every graphic designer shoud have a texture arsenal. That way you already have lots of textures to use when you need them. 

Texture can come from the type of paper the designer chooses. Designers also add visual textures with photographic images of objects. Today I am referring specifically to background textures that give depth to designs. They can be simulated textures that you create in photoshop or actual scans of textures you have found. 

Sometimes the right mixture of both does the trick.

These picture of leaves in Honduras taken by my husband, Robbie Petersen are great additions to my texture library.

My new goal is to build up my personal texture library and share them with my readers. In the mean time,  I’ll share some sources for some great free background textures that I found that I am sure you’ll love.

Great paper textures can be found at Design Freebies.

Beautiful wood textures are available at Vandelay.

Clay, concrete and slate  can be found at High Resolution Textures.

Enjoy, and please share your favorite freebie texture sites with me.

ever hear of yarn bombing?

It is like graffiti except with yarn.

Installation at the Design Center at Philadelphia University center’s grounds as part of 

‘‘Lace in Translation,’’ 

Image courtesy: Kerry Polite/From The Design Center at Philadelphia University.

Yarn bombing goes by other names like, graffiti knitting, guerrilla knitting and even yarnstorming. A group of artist called Knitta began the "knit graffiti" movement in Houstan, Texas in 2005.

A very clever Natural Gas Belgium Commercial uses the yarn bomb concept to illustrate 

the softness of natural gas. The making of the video is worth a gander as well.

My latest yarn bomb find is the Warmest Euphomium. 

If you want to make your instrument a one of a kind sensation, check out the how to at instructables.

Interior Design Helpers

I found this Dream Home Journal that is a style sourcebook & idea organizer. This journal by Cath Kidston is nicely designed and fun to use. It has helpful questions to help you journal ideas and get the creative juices flowing. There are lots of pages to paste in color inspiration and patterns. Graph paper pages make it easy to layout furniture. There are extra deep pockets to put more quick references for ideas. Now I can have all my ideas in one place. You can find it at Paper Posey or if you live in Utah they have them at Deseret Book in Orem.

If cutting paper and moving it around on graph paper isn't for you, there is an awesome free program by Sweet Home 3D available on line or for download. It helps you make a 2D furniture layout and then displays it in in 3D. I wish I had this last week when I pushed my furniture all over the living room until it fit. Even though pushing furniture back and forth is a great work out, you can really save some time by planning ahead.

If you have more helpful interior design helpful solutions please share the link.

Crafty Project for a Friend

This fabric owl collage is my first attempt at designing anything with fabric. I drew out my owl, made a template and cut the fabric. One thing that proved to be helpful was Heat N' Bond Lite Iron on Adhesive.

That helped to keep the fabric in place. I am now gonna sew it to the onsie and give it to my new little friend Marlie Jo.

Wild Nothing

Wild Nothing is one of my favorite band finds of 2010 and I get to go see them play in Salt Lake tonight. Here is one of their videos for their song China Town from their Album Gemini.

 It features clips from the 1969 short film, "Clown" by Richard Balducci.

a few of my favorite things

One more crafty lass enters the blog world. As a graphic designer and fine artist I am always looking for inspiration for my work and feed back. I think I'll expand that to my home, food and craft endeavors as well. What better way to find and share inspiration than a blog? So here we go. I figure the best way to start is to share a few of my favorite things. I love color. Right now I am really into this clean light aqua blue color. Above is a nostalgic remake of a Bush Transistor Radio. Below is a beautiful starfish necklace that caught my eye by Cherry and Violet on Etsy.

Here is a photo I found on flicker prim and proper for a ladies dressing room.

Last but not least how about this,"Custer's Last Stand" play set? In light blue of course.

I really want to use this color in my graphic design work next week.

Have you found anything in this color lately? Please share.