F.O. - Finished Object

As an avid knitter the only thing more exciting than receiving a box of yarn in the mail is receiving a box of yarn that has label I designed.

Client: Plymouth Yarn Company

Project: To create a label for a new baby yarn that showed both youth and quality.

The label needed to speak for itself much like various other products that are on store shelves. Yarn has a slight advantage because it isn't sold in big, badly lit warehouses but rather small boutique stores. Consumers can ask a store clerk their opinion, potentially see knitted samples and be inspired by patterns. The yarn needs to appeal on touch and feel and also quality and value. Touch and feel are not factors I can change but the intangible ideas can be conveyed through the design of the label. Let's hope knitters like it!

A sampling of history

Have you heard that the entire LIFE Magazine photo archives are on Google now? It is fully searchable by topic or decade. Flipping through one afternoon, these were some of my favorites.

Here's a mod dog house from 1956. It has two rooms and a skylight! I think Lola would love it.

And for Henry:

I love this high-tech girl high above New York with her brand new Polaroid.

And here's some ladies enjoying a glass of wine in the late '40s.

This photo is from 1944, wartime in London. I know the subject matter is supposed to be the soldier and woman having a romantic moment, but I am far more interested in the Piccadilly Circus signs. Look at that Guinness clock! (If only my house were bigger...)

Last but not least... look who won the 1945 Westminster Dog Show.

Totally fun

If you have a Mac go get this app! Drag and drop your photos over the Poladroid and out spits a cropped, retro version of your image. You have to watch them develop and you can even shake them around to help them expose.

via TUAW.

Happy Monday!

Here we are, it's Monday again. I spent my weekend trying to learn CSS, but what I really learned was that I don't even know HTML. I have always labeled myself as a "print designer" so that I could shy away from the evils of web design. I had managed solely as a print designer until just recently one of my clients kept asking me to update their website. How could I say no to a steady paycheck? I dug out my Adobe disks and installed Dreamweaver and after a few weeks I was humming along editing text. Of course, once you do a little text editing then the client needs pictures and press releases posted. Suddenly entire days were being filled with web edits! What? Begrudgingly, I decided it was about time to officially learn the internets.

And let me tell you, if you have an engineer for a husband and you start talking code not only does he not stop pawing at you but he buys you fun toys like this new little printer.

The Polaroid POGO wirelessly prints little stickers. One online review said it was "great for teen girls." To which Thomas replied, "That's how I knew you'd love it!" Thanks, hon.

Oh, and Saturday also brought this! Very exciting.

What? When?

I have no idea how it got to be Thursday. The last week flashed by without stopping to say hello. I had to go back to my iPhoto to see if I had even taken any pictures. I couldn't remember, but what do you know? I did!

I went paddle boating around the Oceanside Harbor with my friends where we ran into this guy having a lazy snooze in the sun.

And, my sister was in town on her boat the S.S. Classy.

Then we had a fire. Gross.

They managed to keep the fire contained on Camp Pendelton and no homes were lost. So all in all I guess it's been a good week but I'm struggling to figure out where it went.