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.

What is Responsive Design?

Let's talk about responsive design, and NOT responsive web design.  

To responded is to make a reply; answer.  Responsive design is creating design which requires the audience to answer.  When creating responsive design, the audience's response should be varied.  Positive, negative, questionable; all responses become just numbers of engaged people to the design you've created.  The true goal is to create something that draws an audience and requires them to have an emotional response in which the audience must respond; better yet, take action.

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...

www.callebonitastudios.com

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.

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.