Favorite Ladies

Good evening, folks! Tonight is another night spent doing wedding work for me, which is really not so bad at all. I am loving having my creative touch in different things, from what I mail out to what will be sitting on the tables and chairs and hanging on the walls. No one will have exactly what I do! It's the best having an original!

This is something that I don't mind sharing, though, because it's only meant for a select few to see. In weddings, most brides choose to ask some close friends and family to stand beside them at the altar as bridesmaids. It's so hard to pick sometimes (at least it was for me!) I have no sisters or girl cousins to ask, and it was ALL based on friends. And I have so many who are pretty much equally close! But I made that difficult decision and cut down to 4 of my best friends. And then came the fun part!

Bridesmaid cards!!!!

What girliness you can't use on your wedding invitations -- my husband-to-be is decidedly not pink -- you get to unleash for one glorious moment on your ladies. And I jumped into that big puddle of pink and rolled around in it. But anyways. :) That first side of the card is a freebie, and the second can be changed up to fit the occasion! Pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

Now, I should get back to the hard part. But it's looking pretty spiffy so far. Have a sweet weekend!

Oh You Fancy, Huh?

Some people are fancy people. They are swirly, curly, diamonds & pearls, champagne, and roses... or at least they are on the inside. When it's up to them to throw a big bash, they order swan ice sculptures and set out the silky tablecloths.

Some people, on the other hand, are no-frills. They are straight lines, black & white, martinis, and minimalists. They are likelier to throw a downtown party with a lot less glitz and a lot more fashion in form. Still sophisticated, still modern, but a lot less concerned with being too romantic and flowery.

There are people whose wedding invitations will have silver ribbons and an Edwardian cursive writing, and there are people who aim to impress in a different way.

This design didn't begin today, actually. It is a variation on one that I made a couple of months ago for my boyfriend's birthday. I got a two photo frame and put a pic of us on the top and filled the bottom part with this design. It looks different from the following design in a few ways but that it an original and will not be duplicated. :)

If you know me, you might see a resemblance with these silhouettes... haha!

What a sexy font! To some it might seem plain, but to me, it is fresh. I think the faces and the heart are fun, especially if someone were to have the front of their invitations refer to scripture. It's a balance of a beautiful truth about what love is really founded on with a reminder that the wedding will be anything but grave. I am really liking it! I think I will save a few things for the future... hmmmm. :)

Well, Star Wars IV is beginning to get good again. (Thanks Spike TV!) Back to what I do best -- nerding out a little bit on my Saturday nights! Sweet dreams, friends!

- Lara

A Winter's Tale

Well, yesterday, I was feeling very springy and sunshine-y. Like a bright bouncy daffodil. I was envisioning grass, flowers... in particular the smell of jasmine, which is my favorite thing about Florida springtime. It is just intoxicating!

But today, I am feeling much more wintry. On the real, I am tired of this weather. I would love to wear a jacket outside instead of shorts in December. Is that so much to ask, oh tropical peninsula? When will we have the slightest chance of lighting a fire in the fireplace without our faces melting off?!

Sometimes, when you can't get what you want, you have to pretend! (Within healthy reason, anyways. I am not saying you should forsake reality for delusional fantasy worlds.) Especially by making things that remind you that it's supposed to be winter.

Red, white, and black. It doesn't get much more classic than that. I really like white space when communicating winter and modernness. This is what I feel like Little Red Riding Hood would use on her stationery -- a little mysterious and dark but with a pretty, sexy pop of color. See, now who doesn't like fairy tales? Even if real winter isn't always that picturesque and lovely, it has its moments. Which I eagerly anticipate.

Stay dreamy!

- Lara

P.S. Many thanks to the efforts of the Graphics Fairy! She is responsible for this beautiful winter tree. I wish I could design things of that caliber. But for now, I appreciate what others provide for use. :)

Up With The Times

Hello, everyone! (Every... no one, haha. That is totally fine by me.) Even if I am writing to an essentially pretend audience, I am practicing what it is like to write to real readers and connoisseurs of all things eye-catching and clean, when it comes to design.

I really like things that are simple and have the right balance of colors, straight lines and curves, and have a really sharp, polished look. All the weird neon gradiation and moving GIF graphics of the past? It just doesn't look 2012. Using only typefaces that come with MS Office 2000? People's eyes tend to glaze right over those things. My hope is that if I ever get to put my brain to good use for someone else, I can come up with something that is attractive enough to pull in the right people's attention and convince them that they can expect professionalism in every way. Up-to-date use of our social media and communication. Good organization. Good communication. This generation wants everything available and answered at their fingertips and will move on to someone else who does that if the first company/firm doesn't fit that bill -- and if they haven't touched their website since 1995.

This all has nothing to do with what I am putting up today at all, really! I just wish I could help out some of the businesses I see online or around town without someone really putting time & effort into their advertising. So much potential!

Anyways, this was a quick and not-so-exciting little flyer, but I think it looks pretty and sophisticated enough:

There isn't really that much crazy stuff going on here, two fonts and two colors (besides black). But simplicity does the trick! I love that I get the chance to make up invites and flyers for Cru at my university and can play around even more on my software and see what I am capable of and get better and better.

Here's to modern aesthetics! (At least, what I think is modern-ish. It's okay to have a different idea!)

- Lara

Save the Date #2: A Little Bit of Curl

I lied. I flagrantly lied. I'm just on a roll, and there's no stopping me! Thank you, professors, for giving me a week of from some paper being due. :) I appreciate it! It lets me get my juices flowing and play with some colors!

When you find a gorgeous font, you look for ways to use it and make it work. It is just too pretty to leave lying on an invisible shelf inside of your computer. What, you didn't know that's how computers are organized beneath all that plastic??

This is one such case. It was too swirly and perfect. It needed some air. It needed life, people. I admire typeface artists so much for somehow creating these masterpieces that we take for granted, as if there was a "big bang" creation of all the fonts in the world. Someone designed that Verdana you use all the time, or cute little Trebuchet. Even Arial! (That guy must have made BANK.) Next time you are like, "Wow, those letters look cool," when you're looking at a magazine or an invitation, appreciate the person who made it! They do good work!

Anyways, that was kind of irrelevant.

See what I mean?! You know exactly which line of text I am talking about. Mmmm. So delightfully full of swoops and curves. Yes, my beauty, you had to come out and strut your stuff somewhere. Even if it is an imaginary Save the Date card. Maybe someday, I will have the chance to print you on paper -- what a glorious day that will be!

Keep it classy, friends!

- Lara

Bible Study Flyer

I promise this will be my last update for the day. I realize I could have combined all of these into one massive post, but that makes me look less accomplished and more like I have no life. (I DO HAVE ONE!)

Or maybe the choice is giving me the opposite PR problem? Eh, whatever.

I made this earlier today to print and hand out on campus to invite students to the community group bible study I co-lead. I hope it isn't too feminine? I have a hard time occasionally gauging color and style to keep something from being girly but also giving it a little pizazz, so that everything you get isn't just Times New Roman boring.

Would you be likelier to check something out if it looked like time was put into the ad you are handed, or the commercial you watch? Or if the style looks current with the times? Why do you think that has such an impact on people's decision-making? It's fascinating to me that something cheap, boring, or out-of-date can quickly turn someone off of something that they really might be into. Either way, it's just an interesting thing of culture and psychology. Who knows. Thanks, popular media!

- Lara

Experiment #1: Save the Date

So, as I have already mentioned, I am not a professional graphic designer. I haven't taken one class at my university (since they are only offered at the other campus), except for a little "don't you wish you could afford this!" session Adobe put on for their Creative Suite 5.5. My disclaimer is that I will not pretend to be super good at any of it. I just think it's fun and sometimes I feel like what I make turns out okay. :)

I am turning into such a girly-girl these days. Growing up, I avoided pink as much as possible. I was very selective about frills and bows that appeared on my person at any given time. As a teen, I prided myself a lot more on my excellence in school than I did in doing my makeup or flirting with boys, although on the inside, I secretly wanted to be into those kinds of things but was just too concerned with being taken seriously. But when I started to follow Christ (read about it here!), I was a lot more comfortable in my own skin and began to let the real me come out and play. I felt the freedom to bake cupcakes and wear glittery eyeshadow! Because it didn't matter to me as much anymore that people look at me and be impressed by how smart or talented I was, I sure had a lot more fun being the girl that God made me to be!

All of that is to say that now, out of seemingly nowhere, I am really having more fun with wedding stuff. Part of it probably has to do with the fact that I am finally in a serious relationship with the most AWESOME man in the history of the world, Darin, who I could talk about for hours if I wasn't overly conscious of sounding like that girl. (You know what kind of girl I am talking about.) Now, wedding things just don't seem that unrealistic and far-off anymore, and there is so much fun to be had when a couple has a chance to let their personalities show off!

This is my very first try at a fancy "save the date" card. And by fancy, I mean not-too-fancy; it has a pretty modern feel and nice summer colors. It's more along the lines of what I would pick if I were planning a wedding... which isn't looking too far off, so I'm not a psycho yet, right? ;)

I just adore lemony yellow! It's a happy, laid-back color that says, "You can relax and have a good time at this wedding. Bridesmaids, your dresses will not be expensive. Enjoy your mojitos during the reception." Not that there's anything wrong with super classy, fancy weddings, but for some people, they like the simplicity of keeping it in a "yellow" state of mind.

Anyways, friends, have a fresh and fun day, and be true to yourself!

- Lara