When I See You, I Feel Warm Because...

Via Le Love

I Want to Dress Like a Cupcake Too

These photos are from Drop - Fashion Street Snap, Snap 3033 via The Clothes Horse. Inspired by Luella Spring 2009? I'm not sure, but I do know that I want cupcakes now.

Just Enough Sunshine On Her Eyes

From Le Fashion, by way of Nightmare Brunette

Tokidoki Screensaver Now Available

I'm a sucker for beyond-adorable illustration and Tokidoki now has a screensaver that even updates itself with new themes. Ah, incredible sweetness delivered straight to your desktop!

Now granted, I prefer to just turn my monitors off but once in a while I get interested in seeing something other than a two large black holes on my desk.

I had the Fliqlo screensaver on for a while, but I started to notice a bit of ghosting and that's a dealbreaker for me. Still, it was very pretty while it lasted.



♥ Huggles

The Magic of Logo Design

A great deal of people have already written about what makes a great logo and many more have put together collections, showcases, studies of great/bad logos that I don't feel it necessary to further flood the interweb with my own thoughts on the matter. Others have fully and eloquently expressed the process better than I ever could, so from them, I will learn and pass that knowledge on.

Some day soon, I will share with you my own process of branding myself but right now, I am still trying to figure that out. Go figure, as a designer it is my privilege to help create logos for other people and to my own detriment, I have yet to design my own but I digress. Without further adieu, the following are my personal resources on logos.

Showcases

• Brands of the world
  Comprehensive resource to browse and access thousands of logos around the world.
• Logo Pond
  Identity Inspiration
  
• Logo of the Day
  Logo Design Inspiration - Daily!
• Web2List
  Collection of Web 2.0 Logos
  
  
  
• The Logos of Web 2.0 by The Font Feed
  A breakdown of the different trends of Web 2.0, from softies, futurists, classics and new classics.
• Logo Design Trends 2009 by 1stwebdesigner.com
  
• An Exciting Showcase of 2009 Logo Trends by Graphic Design Blog
  
  
  
• Logo Lounge 2008 Trends
  
• Your Logo Makes Me Barf
  Even the website isn't pretty, but it gets the point across right?
  
  
  
  
• Best and Worst 2008 by Brand New
  

Tips, Guides and Branding

• Famous Brand History by Logo Orange
  It's always a treat to learn the history of a logo or of anything else, for that matter.
  
• 5 Vital Logo Design Tips by David Airey
• 45 Rules for Creating a Great Logo Design by Tanner Christensen
• The Power of Personal Branding by Nubby Twiglet
• Branding Firefox by Jon Hicks
• Firefox Logo Guide
  See the work above in action.
• Corporate Brand Guidelines
  A collection of brand guidelines for various companies, this one is especially useful for times when you've completed a logo design.
• ESPN Brand Identity Guide
• 81 of the Best Logo Design Resources
  Even more links to wrap your mind around! A huge list covering topics from type, history, trends, books, tutorials and even more showcases!

And this article ain't complete without the amazing Make My Logo Bigger!!! cream.

The Best Online Colour Tools and Guides for Web Design

The following is a collection of colour resources that have been helpful in generating colour palettes and transition from print to web.

1. Color Schemer Online
   A simple and easy guide to make a quick colour palette.
   
   
   


2. COPASO by COLOURlovers
   An advanced colour palette tool to create colour schemes and themes. You can extract colours from an image, colour picker and use the colour wheel for more ideas.
   
   
   


3. Kuler by Adobe
   A collection of colour palettes with the ability to share and download palettes from the community.
   
   
   


4. Colorotate
   Browse colour palettes or create your own with the ability to adjust, mix and blend in a 3D format. Simple but fun.
   
   
   


5. Color Explorer
   A formidable online tool for generating your own color palette. It features the following abilities: create a palette from an image, colour picker, colour libraries including W3C named colours, web and websafe colours, TOYO, RAL, TRUEMATCH and FOCALTONE, colour-matching with various algorithms and even an analysis and conversion tool for different colour systems. This tool is a real gem.
   
   
   


6. myColor myIdea by Pantone
   More of an inspirational, colour explosion than a tool but it does allow you to see the Pantone colours beautifully.
   
   
   
7. Color Scheme Designer
   Ad advanced color scheme generator, practically has all you need to make wise palettes without the colour theory knowledge.
   
   
   
8. Color Palette Generator by DeGraeve.com
   This one is for the times when just want to use an existing image and extract a colour palette from it. So, so easy!
   
   
   
9. Converting Pantone Colors to RGB
   A must-have quick guide for translating colours from print to screen. This is especially useful when you are maintaining consistency of corporate identity through various mediums.
   
   
   
10. Conversion from Pantone to RGB and Hex HTML
    Similar to the one above, just another guide to help out.
    
    
    

Barquentine Skirt by Makool Loves You

Ooh, a very pretty skirt with a bow and mine if I had the expendable bones for it. Unfortunately, I do not. My fabulous roomie, K is into retro, vintage fashion, altering and making her own clothes. Maybe she can help me make this one, granted I have not sewn anything together since I made clothes for Barbie with my cousin when we were younger.

Did you notice that it has pockets too? Sweet!

Check out Makool Loves You for more prettiness.

500 Days of Summer

Speaking of the lovely Zooey Deschanel, I wanted to share the trailer for her upcoming movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I'm looking forward to seeing this one.



I also enjoyed her movie with Jim Carrey, Yes Man. It was a sweet, light comedy.



I'm sure you know that she's a singer too, oh what you don't? Yeah, she does.


Munchausen by Proxy (Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva) - Uh-huh


Munchausen by Proxy (Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva) - Keystar


Munchausen by Proxy (Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva) - Sweet Ballad

Lovely in motion

As part of my ongoing quest to further fill my life with design, beauty and love, the following are videos that bring me joy. It really depends on my mood but right now I prefer to derive inspiration from light, happy scenes with a dash of cheekiness! Perhaps these will add a bit of light to your day.


A light romantic and breezy music video of Lucky by Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Caillat.


A cheeky video, "Charlie The Unicorn: Charlie Goes to Candy Mountain" by TypeQueen of NewGrounds and SecretAgentBob on YouTube.


Wonderful wardrobe that I'd love to own starring one my girl crushes Zooey Deschanel for Cotton.


Oh only if my days could be spent so carefree while riding cute bicycles, eating delicious cupcakes and following balloons. Commercial for Miss Dior Chérie.

From the Beginning: Desiging for Yourself

As a full-time employed designer for a studio, I have found myself lacking motivation and inspiration to continue my own designs and artwork. I recognized this a long time ago, though my work has kept me engaged with design, it has not allowed me to completely explore my own creative flavour.

Now is the time for me to kick myself into gear and finally put together a website for myself, one that fully encourages and encompasses my own imagination without limits. I need it to be my portfolio and personal platform to share my thoughts, advice about the things I've learned so far and goals for the future.

Follow me on my journey of self-improvement and quest for creative fulfillment. I will go through obstacles and bouts of procrastination but I will do my best to overcome these, because it is time to stop letting my own self-doubt and fear keep me from achieving greatness on my own terms.