Resources – Method & Craft

I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA lately, things have been a little busy around here but I really want to share this resource with you!

Method & Craft is an awesome resource for learning new techniques. They ask various designers/illustrators, to share what their processes are. They explain that we all use the same tools, but we use them in different ways. You can learn from fellow designers through various videos, interviews, articles, and notes that Method & Craft has put together.

Here are a few posts that you could check out:
• Creating and Replacing Custom Shapes in Photoshop
• Interview with Interactive Designer, Ben Cline
• Custom Vector Textures in Illustrator 

Spaces // Allie Lehman

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone’s holiday weekend has been relaxing. I’m so excited that we get to take a peek into Graphic Designer, Allie Lehman‘s workspace today! Take a look —

Tell us about yourself as a creative. 
I’m a graphic designer and have been freelancing full-time since August 2012! I also co-founded The Wonder Jam with my husband. We focus on unique and quirky branding while working with those that are passionate about living well + making a difference in our community. I also co-founded Haute Blog. We host 6 hour workshops to help women launch their self-hosted WordPress blog (while drinking champagne, of course). When I’m not juggling those three businesses, I’m blogging over on Be Up & Doing or Considering You.

Describe your creative journey. 
I spent most of my life diving head first into the world of fine art. I took private painting lessons as a child and continued to paint even in college. It wasn’t until I graduated college that I truly fell in love with graphic design + photography. Moving to Columbus really encouraged me to learn about building a small business. The community here is so supportive and I love meeting like-minded entrepreneurs.

Share a little bit about your space. 
I work out of our two-story townhouse and have dedicated a corner of our (very large) bedroom to a space where I can work by myself. Day-to-day, I’m working down in our dining room with my husband and our intern (who is also my brother!) but I love having a place to call my own. I can wake up and concentrate on personal projects. I’ve tried to keep the clutter to a minimum but on a normal day you’ll find a stack of random papers sitting on the desk and all my wrinkled clothes draped over the back of my extremely comfortable chair. Hey, that’s life!

What’s your favorite thing about your space? 
Definitely my chair! My husband surprised me with it on my birthday this month. I’m in love.

What’s one thing you think every creative needs in their space? 
A stack of books that will inspire + a place to take off your rings and really dig into your work. I love taking a break and reading about photography or symbols. I always need that break from a computer screen. Oh and the ring thing? I don’t know how designer ladies draw + design with all those rings on! I take mine off as soon as I settle in to create.

Thanks Allie!

Find Her:
+ Website
+ Twitter

The Illustrated Guide to Popsicles

I’m so excited to share a new blog column + contributor — Liz Grant! Liz and I have gotten to know each other over the past year or so, and I’ve had so much fun learning and connecting with her. Sometimes it’s so helpful to have a friend who’s headed down the same path as you, someone you can turn to when you’re having design blocks or client questions. Liz is a talented freelance graphic designer, so we’ve decided to create a column that allowed us to experiment and exercise our creativity. The Illustrated Guide will feature various subject matters through different illustration styles. To kick off the column, Liz illustrated a guide to popsicle making!

Liz:
It’s officially hot here in California, and it truly feels like summer has begun. I am constantly craving something cold and fresh to beat the heat. And you know, nothing screams summer more than popsicles! If you’ve got a freezer, it’s time to start creating some delicious treats. So grab some fresh fruit from your local farmers market and pull out that blender!

Get inspired by these yummy recipes >>
+ Pink Grapefruit and Rosemary Popsicles 
+ Summer Berry and Mint
+ Blackberry, Honey and Yogurt Pops
+ Mexican Chile Pops

Spaces // Kate Miss

Kicking off the week with a look into the all-around creative, Kate Miss‘ work space! Get inspired by her beautiful space and all the amazing things she creates.

Tell us about yourself as a creative.
I do a lot of different creative things, but mainly I’m a graphic designer and jewelry designer that dabbles in photography as well.

Describe your creative journey.
I come from a creative family, so I’ve always been been involved in some type of art my entire life, whether it be fine art, music, photography, or designing websites as a teenager – it was tricky deciding what I wanted to go to school for. But ultimately I chose graphic design because I knew it would be the best path for me to get a job as someone supporting myself. I think it’s a really good base career for a creative person who doesn’t quite know what they want to do because it can pay the bills, and can always lead to other creative endeavors if you decide you need to either being doing something else entirely or want to dabble in other things as well. I love graphic design but I would go out of my mind if it was the only thing I did. Being able to stop and work with my hands making jewelry or leaving my studio to go take photos is pretty dang awesome. I worked as a graphic designer for a few different companies fulltime out of college for about seven years before going freelance fulltime. Best decision I ever made.

Share a little bit about your space.
I joke to my friends that I work in a dungeon, but I know that’s not entirely true. It’s a very weird space – a room in the semi-basement off of the laundry room of an apartment building. I suppose it was originally storage, but it’s perfect for a creative space. My fiance is an artist who uses it nights and weekends and we split it right down the middle – my friend Katie also rents a desk two days a week so I don’t go out of my mind being alone all day. The downside is that it doesn’t get a ton of light and I can’t really see the outside world, but the upside is that it is so, so cheap, five blocks from my apartment, and nice and cool during the summer. Occasionally I’ll look for better spaces that are less raw and have more light, but nothing is as cheap or perfectly sized. I recently repainted and tried to jazz it up a bit more to make it homier. I use a kiln and sand bronze some days, so the rawness of the space is still necessary.

What’s your favorite thing about your space?
That it’s separate from my living space. Working at home prior to this, there were so many distractions! I’d eat all the snacks in the house, randomly decide to do dishes, or lounge on the sofa. Now I can’t do any of that unless I walk home. But luckily, I can walk home fairly quickly, so most days I walk home for lunch and come back within an hour.

What’s one thing you think every creative needs in their space?
A comfortable chair! Some people are crazy about having a pretty chair in their workspaces, and there is pretty much no such thing as a pretty chair that’s doing your back any good. Invest in a good chair and stop caring about how cute it is. Your back will thank you!

Thanks Kate!

Find Her:
+ Graphic Design
+ Jewelry
+ Photography
+ Blog
+ Twitter

Design Terms : Kerning

Let’s head back to last week’s Design Term, widows + orphans. I mentioned one way to fix the problem of widows and orphans would be to adjust the space between the letters or words. Which leads us to today’s term: ‘Kerning’. Kerning is adjusting the spacing between letters or characters. Let’s face it, no font is perfect (maybe some…). So sometimes, it’s necessary to do a little tweaking to individual space between each letter. Or other times it might be visually appealing to adjust the letter spacing as a whole. To kern your word or an individual space in Creative Suite, highlight your text or place your cursor between a specific letter, and using your Apple keyboard, press option and the left/right arrow key, depending on which way you would like to move the letters.

Drive

Where does your drive to create come from?
Why do you do what you do?

Take some time to create something, just because you love it.