WINTER WONDERLAND

{ Latvian version here }

We've had the most amazing winterscapes here for the last couple of days. Everything is covered in white snow and frost. That's mother nature's white-on-white styling that I love so much in design and interiors! Sadly I don't have the camera with me today nor am I able to take time off in the middle of the day to catch the amazing views so I offer to you these amazing winterscapes by pro photographers on the Behance network!

{ Mikko Lagerstedt }

{ Akos Major }

{ Vladimir Zivkovic }

Isn't all this absolutely amazing? We've come to the point where we should be getting sick of the winter but it seems that I'm starting to enjoy it for real! 

Enjoy yours as well!

Cheers,

O.

DAILY LIKES 24.02.11

Hello there! Hope you had a good day today. Mine was a bit hectic and stressful so I'm glad it's almost over and I'm looking forward to enjoying a lovely evening with my family at their place. I hope they'll have something nice cooked because I haven't eaten today. And those triple chocolate toblerone muffins look SO good...

{ Food }

Katie Quinn Davies

{ Illustration }

Charlatans by Darling Clementine

{ Calligraphy }

Oscar & Emma via Oh So Beautiful Paper

{ Interiors }

Femina Magazine via Decor8

{ Paper }

42pressed via Oh So Beautiful Paper 

{ Fashion }

The Sartorialist

Have a lovely evening!

Cheers,

O.

THE FIRST EDITION OF DAILY LIKES

1. Oh, wow! It's been ages since I last posted anything, but trust me, it's because everything's been so busy and crazy round here lately. I'm replacing yet another colleague and trying to find any extra energy to do something creative at the same time. I feel more grateful than ever for the inspiration that's bubbling in the world wide web like a pleasantly dizzying, happiness-inducing glass of the very best champagne at the very best of events.

2. Today we celebrated something called Men's day at work, which is a modernized version of a Soviet tradition, which is the main reason why it's not really popular here. However, one of my colleagues was so keen on making the day unforgettable for the men in our office that I spent the last week doing lightning-speed designs for a set of playing cards. I hope some time later in my career I might be able to create a set that would be more "me" and one that I'd actually enjoy designing! Oh well, maybe someday...

3. I've picked up playing guitar once again and realized that, even though my cherry red Epiphone SG is a devilishly handsome guitar, I'd really love to have a classic guitar because it suits the kind of music I like to play so much better... This is going on to the wish list!

4. I haven't read anything but blogs for an eternity! Therefore I make a not-so-strict promise to myself to pick up those beautiful, amazing, wonderful books that I got from Amazon a couple of months ago, and finally read them! Typography, graphic design, photography... such amazing books! I'll let you know how I'm doing.

5. I've been doing lots of calligraphy lately. Loving it and starting to develop a style!

6. I'm committing to start a new column called "Daily likes". One illustration that I like, one typography/calligraphy piece that I like, one interior that I like, one paper design item that I like and one fashion piece that I like. I might drop in food, photography and other stuff from time to time. Let's see how it goes, shall we? :)

SO. Here we go!

Disclaimer: All images are linked to their sources/authors and are the property of their respective owners!

{ Daily likes }

{ Illustration }

Ilustrista

{ Typography }

Loulou And Tummie

{ Interiors }

Bolaget

{ Paper }

A Fine Press

{ Fashion }

Emerson Made

Have fun!

Cheers,

O.

FREE VINTAGE GRAPHICS FOR YOUR PROJECTS

Hi there! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend and I hope it's been full to the brim with inspiration, love and happiness! I just wanted to drop by and share with you an amazing site where you can download fantastic vintage graphics - for free! What a great find!

Cheers!

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD DESIGN

First of all, I GOT A MILK FROTHER, just like this one and I love it! I never even knew that the airy, silky soft milky froth isn't reserved for coffee shops and people who can afford the ultra-expensive super-huge espresso machines, but hey, now I have the most delicious hot chocolates the whole time!

Secondly, let's get back to the point! Think of it like this - when you're looking for a good source of information, a respectable, up-to-date and trustworthy source, what are the criteria that you judge the possible sources by? Well I might be a tiny little bit too superficial but I believe this is the case when looks count and they count bigtime! Don't get me wrong, one shouldn't judge the book by its cover cause, you know, even the dullest book design cannot eliminate all the good information in the book. However, first impressions do count and when I'm browsing online for, let's say, a printing house, I would most certainly chose the one that has the best website (with the precondition that I have no other idea on the quality of their work).

I do wonder why printing houses usually have such lifeless, boring, plain stupid websites. They're rarely clever, well built, functional or beautiful in any way. Let me show you an example so that you understand what I'm talking about.

What the.. what were they thinking of?? Let's use CMYK colours and crumpled paper, that way they'll know that we're a printing house! And look at all those pretty fonts, lots of them, and pops of RED, isn't that great? Let me tell you, I'd never never never and once again - never would make any deal with people who have SUCH a bad taste. No thanks, I'll pass.

Here's a better example. It's still very colourful but a lot more balanced, paired with whitespace, and guess what! Upon further inspection, I found out that it's a LOT more functional! I love the way the company has made use of newest technologies, posting how-to videos, offering client zone services, images of examples, quick ordering etc. etc..

And then there're companies like Moo, which are good in just about every aspect and - yes, you know it - they have quite a nice website!

This company looks fun (except for the quite creepy huuuge smiles), I'd give them a shot!

All in all I'm quite sure, even though I haven't really done much research on this theme, other than that carried out by Life Itself, that the quality of a company is directly proportional to the quality of its graphic and web design items.  That's the way things work, luckily for us. So here's to good design - cheers!

TEXTURED DIGITAL ILLUSTRATIONS

It's a nasty day in the city of Riga. Rain keeps drizzling all day long on dark grey melting ice. The receding snow is revealing patches of wet, slippery ground covered in dirt and trash. It's not a pretty sight but it is nevertheless a  premonition of the Spring to come.

The day is dull as ever at work too. I feel as if a giant vacuum has sucked out all the energy, all the excitement and drive out of me. But it's a sign of Spring as well. I always feel morally almost dead before Spring. I remember myself coming home from school many years ago, dragging my school bag along - it seemed as if it weighed tons - I just couldn't pick it up. It felt light as a feather just a couple months before. However it's actual weight hadn't changed at all, I just had no strength in me by the approach of Spring... So here I am, excelling at procrastination and staring blankly at a fixed point on the wall in front of me. But I don't feel like an Olympian at all.

Here's a thing to lift my spirits - a couple of brilliant illustrations that suit my tastes quite perfectly as I am a big fan of the usage of textures and shadows in digital illustrations in order to achieve a handmade/papercut effect. 

MUSINGS OF AN OFFENDED SPIRIT AND INCREDIBLY PRETTY CALLIGRAPHIC PIECES

So I was sitting in my bunker, not knowing the weather, whether it's night or day or anything else about the outside world that I love so much... And in comes my colleague, someone I'm not too excited to see, and introduces me to a complete stranger, by way of pointing gesture as if I were a piece of equipment or furniture, as "the girl who folds the paper dummies". The stranger says, "she does what?" and the colleague responds: "folds paper dummies, like these!" and off they go. And I'm left there, thinking, how much is a person defined by the job they do? While the two where discussing my profession, I ever-more eagerly clicked away at the designs I was creating at the moment and suppressed the wish to shout out loud "It's not me, it's not my job! I was forced to do this but I'm a creative person! I design things, draw things, create things, I'm not a paper dummy maker!" So I get angry and sad and walk about with my nose down to the ground, especially lowered by the fact that I didn't have a lunch break today, not that I couldn't have one but I was so moody and apathetic that I couldn't collect my drooping physique enough to leave my seat.

So, as I was saying, I began musing on the subject of whether or not is one defined by the job one does. I've always been kind of paranoid that the job I'm doing will somehow swallow me and force me into becoming someone I don't want to be. As if working as a waitress to cover my bills would actually turn me into the kind of waitress who never achieves anything more than being the head-waitress. To be a creative equals doing everything creatively, it seems. I consciously express a kind of a character in everything I do and I acknowledge that. I can't really distinguish myself from the roles I play. Call me superficial but I think that my outlook is a huge part of the person I am. I like to think of myself in terms of playing the character well. Then again, I can't say I invented the character, rather it's the character that developed from the combination of myself the way I am and myself the way I want to be. It sounds so complicated when you try to put it down... Anyway, all I was trying to say is that I am truly disappointed when someone downgrades me by forgetting my true calling in favour of my current occupation, I am offended, actually. I do not not care! Because trust me, if I didn't have bills to pay I'd quit any day. But the threat of financial instability is a risk that I can't afford to take. Trust me, though, the day will come when I will pack my things and start my own little print shop and BE a creative person from every direction you could look at. I promise you that.

Trust me, there's better stuff ahead, so clickity-click below