A Little Inspiration

Over my Fall Break, I am going to capture images from my environment and make small commentary as to why the images are good or bad inspiration. I'll be continually adding more over break, so check back often for the newest shot.

I'm going to start with an image I took after my last trip to Trader Joe's. Firstly, this IS THE BEST BAR OF CHOCOLATE ever created. BUT...can you tell why I bought it in the first place?

If you guessed: Because it has an awesome pirate ship, a swordfish, and some kind of graphic medley of an Albatross and a bus, you would BE TOTALLY RIGHT. It is a fantastic fairytale inside and outside of the box! The color scheme alone would have gotten my attention, but the addition of the contemporary font and the out of the box art style pretty much forced my hand. How could I pass up such a promising adventure?

 I hit the Holiday Mart in KC today and among the hundreds of shopping retailers I found several great and some not some great examples of graphics at work in the world. Directly below is a card that I found particularly lovely. The color scheme is balanced out well with complementary colors and the background design is kept faint enough that it doesn't interfere with the cards readability, but still can be easily seen and appreciated. I love that the damask pattern was kept on the flip side, only in a different color.

I think the color scheme of the below card is appropriate, but the font and type direction changes often enough that I feel a bit scattered. It took me a second glance to figure out that the design on the ball was actually a kind of reverse type of an "E."

I really like the fade of cheetah print that runs along the bottom. Subtle and very cool.

This card is great. I love the black and white theme that is going on with the whimsical design. The addition to color on the little girl's glasses makes me think of rose colored lenses. I feel like this card is not only displaying contact info, but advertising that the pearl necklaces can make your world view just a little more childlike and rosy. :)

This card says rough and tumble without being rough and tumbled. Very clean cut, simple yet edgy font screams, "This cowboy has made some sauce and it is good."

I was surprised to receive this card amongst so many upstanding businesses. It is almost unreadable with crowded text, multiple colors, and various fonts. There doesn't seem to be a focused color scheme or a direct theme. I would never be so critical, but even the corner cut on the card is crooked and uneven. I feel like this company needs to go have a second go and a focused idea on a new card.




The below card is larger at about 5x5 and has a very clean design. Glossy on the front and the back with a simple yet eye-catching vector art-I'm in love. I ran into this card all day in my bag because of its size. The color scheme is tidy with blues and white and the font choice is easily read and compliments the style.

This is the reminder, save the date, card that I received. I think the "O" as a snowflake works as a fun design and the card is still left readable. The color scheme is a simple Black/White with a red spot color, I am assuming. The reverse type of the sponsoring group's name above the event is small, but stands out in the white on black.

I thought this was a very cool design of a card. On the front is the full color images and a simple tagline for the store and then on the flip is the same images, gray-scaled and enlarged with the largest portion of information about the store.

I may be partial to this typography logo as I see the logo everyday in my car. The logo is for a candle company (that also makes auto air fresheners on request). I think the logo is just a little more than perfect. I love how the letters stack to create the illusion of a candle with the flame on top.