Feeling Moody - Essential Mood Board Training

Great design don't always just pop out of nowhere. Mood boards cultivate ideas, and when trying to develop, nothing helps bridge the gap between the idea person and person who creates like a mood board can.

Mood Board Essentials :

 1. Name - give your mood board a name that excites you about the project, and what it can become.  If you start with a boring name, the project will be come boring.

  2. The Hunt - Finding objects, colors, tones, language, lines, photography, filters, applications that inspire you for the project at hand.  Specifically identify the aspects of these items which you would like to bring into your new project.  The idea is not copy, but to use items from all aspects relating to the project to inspire you to create something new.

  3. Edit - Once you have collected all of the elements which inspire this project, edit them.  When you started hunting for inspiration, you may have been going in one direction but realized somewhere along the way there were better paths to take.  So delete or separate all of the items that no longer belong in this project.

  4. Implement - You may not use every idea that you found will on your inspirational journey.  Actually, please don't use every aspect in your mood board all at once.  Save some of the goodness that remains in your mood board for a rainy day, you never know when a few extra assets will need to be created.

Rituals - 10 minutes of daily drawing (free drawing)

Art has been used IN rituals for thousands of years.   You probably have recognized art and design in your personal rituals.  Rituals like going to a religious service, the mural you see on your daily commute, the design on your favorite coffee mug you use every morning.  Even rituals like walking the dog, and the trusty Nike swoosh on the shoes you grab overtime to perform this ritual.    

How often does art BECOME a ritual though?  Incorporating a dose of creating can be incredibly rewarding.  There may not be any monetary gains from a daily doodle, but it can be a great stress reliever or just a good daily laugh.  A doodle a day, keeps the doctor at bay... I think that is how it goes.

Hitting The Wall - Knowing When To Put The Mouse Down

At some point we all hit a wall.  Solution: oxygen.   I realize when I have hit a creative wall, when I realize I've gone around a design challenge and made it full circle to where I started.  That is when I know, time to get some oxygen.  It is incredible the amount of creativity and clarity that can come with taking a 5 minute walk outside, or just sitting outside for 5 minutes. Sometimes being so close to a project can cause you to lose a sense of your surroundings.  Take a break, check in with the outside world and refocus for more productive design time.

Stacked - Graphic Design Stacking Elements

Stacking elements is a powerful tool in illustration and in typography.  To use stacking as a tool, you must put the emphasis on the right element and then work around it.  Identify the key word, message, letter or icon first.  Building around a central point helps bring attention to the intended element.  If too many elements are emphasized the overall message and intent can be lost in a sea of Jenga! like text or elements.

Breathe A Little - Letting Your Design Breathe

When do you breathe best? Is it when you are in a crowed subway station or when you are out on a mountain top?  The answer usually is out on a mountain top.  Graphic design elements work in similar ways.  

Letting a graphic element breathe, means to allow enough white space around the entire element to make the element stand out on it's own.  Information is interpreted best when there isn't too many alternative elements distracting from the main messaging.  Take a breath, it's okay to not fill the blank space and let the focal point breathe.

ASCEND- Creating Visually Interesting Design

Go up.  The eye doesn't always have to go left to right, it can also go up.  Adding variety to the direction we expect to view characters can add the visual intrigue it takes to capture a new customer.  Upwards and onwards...

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Expanding Your Brand Identity

After a few years your brand identity may be feeling a little tired.  The original ideas and concepts that you started with change over time and so should your brand identity.  Keeping your brand identity fresh reflects how your brand is changing and growing.  Viewers or customers expect to see references to your original ideas and concepts, but by keeping your brand identity updated they will know you value growth and hopefully they will want to continue to grow with you.

www.callebonitastudios.com

CREATE & STAY WILD - California In The Springtime

Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with being wild.  Harnessing wildness into a cohesive thought is so tough, so embrace it and create!  Wildness gives us an outlet to express the energy that isn’t used or exercised in day-to-day life.  So create & stay wild.

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www.nelsonexcavation.com

SEASONS CHANGE - Seasonal California

The poppies are almost out in full bloom, the lupines are sprinkled about and color is all that I see.  Currently, I am completely in awe of the amount of vibrant colors surrounding me.  I have realized this seasonal transformation is a surprise to me because I have been in a city for the last 3 years of the flourishing spring season.  I hope the realization of spring and the new beginnings never grow old.

www.callebonitastudios.com

www.nelsonexcavation.com

SHADOW - Best Practices Working With Shadows

I can’t tell you how many times shadow has “messed up” one of my photos.  Shadow can be a thorn in your side given the wrong direction of the lighting.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, shadow can add life and placement to a static image.  Dealing with shadow is a true skill.  Ask any professional photographer and they will know exactly what to do to make shadow an asset and not the enemy.  Embrace and learn, know I still am.

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PRESENCE

Presence, a sometimes painstaking task, can be the key to unlocking your creativity.  More than ever, our attention is pulled in difference directions by the multiple forms of communication and ways we receive information.  All of this clutter can make being present in your current location, work, task, exercise regimen seem almost impossible.  Isolating yourself from these distractions can open new opportunities for clear thought and creative exploration.  Go ahead, leave your cell phone at home and be present with only your thoughts for awhile.

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SPACE

The opportunity of the unknown.  What can or could space do for your design?  The relationship between two objects can be defined by space, how much space between the two or how little.  Giving too much space to a focal point can leave the intended focal point looking isolated.  If there is no space between the focal point and the secondary object, it can be confusing as to which object should be the focus.  Evaluate the context of the objects to define the relationship and use space to clearly express their relationship.

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Repetition - Pattern, An Essential Element Of Design

Repetition: the recurrence of an action or event.

Repetition, in design, can have a varied effect.  When large objects are repeated it can be shocking... like Stone Hendge shocking.  Small objects repeated make the eye look for a pattern, for instance in tile work.  In architecture, repetition is often present and unnoticed when the pattern created by the repetition is traditional to our culture.  When traveling to a different culture, vivid new patterns appear in every surface.  Searching for repetition when you travel to another culture can offer insight into a cultures history, religion, and people.

Support Public Art

Have you ever gone to a large city and noticed the amount of sculptures, gardens, and murals there are?  Why is all of this great public art in large cities?  It might be that large cities have a budget for public arts, and they have a large platform that many tourists and visitors pass by and view.  Public Art is an important feature in all communities though, it can bring people together or just start conversation.  Smaller cities and towns need the effects of public art just as much a large cities, so why is there less public art in smaller communities?  Rally behind your local public arts projects and embrace the beauty and conversation that will follow.

Studio Joie De V

Studio Joie De V, bringing an upbeat approach to classical pilates.  Calle Bonita Studios (CBS) is excited to present Studio Joie De V's re-vamped website.  CBS created the web design in collaboration with Allison Howie, owner of Studio Joie De V.  Allison's light filled studio is an amazing space to clear your mind and get to work on the Pilates reformer.  With Allison's clear vision and clean esthetic, CBS was able to create a website that introduces the peaceful space before actually stepping foot into the studio.  Visit www.studiojoiedev.com for more information and to sign up for a class with Allison.

Word Flow Yoga

Word Flow Yoga, and inspired space for movers and shakers to share words, movement, and community.  Curated by the amazingly talented Cat Walker, Word Flow Yoga is la lifestyle blog that will no doubt inspire us to live a more practiced life in more ways than just yoga.  Calle Bonita Studios is so proud to have collaborated with Word Flow Yoga on their logo, and to provide a unique esthetic to convey Word Flow Yoga's fresh and encouraging voice.

FORM

A shape, a body, a mold, a mode; form.  Form, as a noun, is based on the outer line of a form.  When a form is translated into a three-dimensional shape, shadow and highlights appear creating visual interest.  When a form is translated in two-dimensional, shadow and highlights must be created to add visual interest.  When form is thought of in such a minimalist way, the objects arounds us can take on new meaning.  Letting form take the foreground can be just as interesting as form being the vessel for shadow and light.

IMPRESSIONS

Impressions: A strong effect produced on the intellect, feeling, conscience, etc.

Working in clay is a humbling reminder of how easy it is to make an impression.  It is also a reminder of the amount of skill it takes to create the desired impression.  Physical impressions are on almost every surface that we interact with: the grout lines in the floor we are standing on, the texture of the walls, the tread on the tires that take us from place to place.  Some of these impressions are more functional than decorative, but they all started by altering an object/surface/idea that was flat and non-descript.

THE NOT SO CIRCLE OF DESIGN

The process of design is so varied from person to person, is there a fundamental process to design?  Like life, is there a circle of design?  

Being creative is called a number of things, a skill, a gift, a character trait, ect. For each person the process of being creative cannot be the same, just as the act of being creative is just a varied.  Even the end result is varied in the creative world.  A logical thought is that the goal of all design is a complete or finished project.  Although, for many creatives the process of exercising a creative thought is the goal.  Not all processes must make universal sense, but they must make us critically evaluate the results, whatever they may be.

BONNIE ESTATES

Logo and label for small production winery.  Calle Bonita Studios created the Bonnie Estates logo and wine label with a modern and playful feel to attract the millennial wine enthusiast.