ISO50

As promised...the blog which has been the object of my recent obsession. I am referring to ISO50, the blog of SF based graphic designer Scott Hansen and friends. Other contributors include his manager (music and culture contributor), intern (design contributor and aforementioned student at the Academy), CEO of the music label Scott's band, Tycho, is on (music/culture contributor), and a random friend who recently moved to SF. So.
A) his work makes me happy.






B) the posts are so varied and unfailingly interesting; from playlists of music you should definitely be listening to, to a step by step process of making an awesome poster like this one:



I'm also finding it fascinating to follow the trajectory of Alex the intern's Academy experience, for obvious reasons. He has posted his portfolio of work he's done at school so far (he seems to be a year to a year and a half ahead of me), and it's very encouraging.


Regardless, SUPER inspiring blog, particularly if you're interested in design.

--D

Magic Pumpkins!

With only four days until Thanksgiving (FOUR DAYS!) our friends are all joining forces to make fun contributions to the big day. Carol, our beloved director, photographer, domestic goddess of a friend was oh-so-wise to stock up on crafting essentials, thank you Martha Stewart, that made the perfect Saturday afternoon craft session. As if I weren't excited enough for Thursday's festivities, we now have the perfect magic pumpkin centerpieces to light up the night even more! For tips on making your own magic pumpkins, go HERE.













~Haley

How soon is now?

(I still love you by Elena)

I feel it's my civic duty to inform you that within the next week, we will have a new tote available for your viewing/purchasing pleasure, followed quite immediately by a new tee. We're really excited about them, and I think you will be too. Stay tuned!

Design Crush Calendar Swap 2010

About a month ago, I enrolled in the Calendar Swap on Design Crush. Today, I received my calendar in the mail from my swap partner, Megan of Chasing Davies!







The calendar is by Amy Soczka...I love her adorable illustrations! Check out her great etsy store.



Keeping in a fairly similar aesthetic vein and attempting to hopefully touch upon Megan's style, I sent her the SusyJack 2010 calendar.



--Dara

826LA Poster Love

I found a new blog that I'm head over heels, over the moon, crazy in love with while searching for ideas for my very preemptive thesis ideation. One of the 3(?) writers is a graphic design grad student at the Academy as well, and I'm so impressed with his/their work and taste and...the whole nine yards. And I will post a real post about them probably tomorrow, but it's late, and I've been typing thesis ideations for a very, very long time, so I'm just going to leave you with something they posted a little while back because I'm having sensory overload with all the awesomeness and I have to share SOMETHING:







Friends and lovers, feast your eyes upon these and other promotional posters for 826LA's Echo Park Time Travel Mart (which, if you're an avid reader, you know I'm obsessed with).

I think "Fire Good...but also bad" might have to be mine.

(I don't know where I think I'm getting all this money.)

posters by Amy Martin

--Dara

Put This On

A very fashion-savvy guy friend of ours alerted me to Put This On, an expertly edited men's fashion blog. Coming from LA, I've seen the gamut of "dudes who are into fashion," and these guys just get it right. From what I can tell, the blog, which reads a little bit like Esquire (from what I can remember from reading my roommate's Esquires back in Los Feliz), is a supplement to a video series they're developing on various aspects of men's fashion. There's only one out so far, and it focuses on premium denim.

Put This On, Episode 1: Denim from Put This On on Vimeo.

It feels a lot like the Billykirk video I saw on miel et cannelle recently (of course the boys at Put This On posted about it too). Great stuff.

--D

Girl Crush

The one and only, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

!!!!!!

So, Hema's webstore design may be the most awesome...ever. In stores like this, where there are about a grillion products available and most of them are easy to gloss over, I can't think of a better or more fun way to draw your attention to each one.



(Dont be confused; the picture is just filler. CLICK THE LINK! Prepare to smile.)



(via Dog-Eared)

School Daze

I've promised a few folks that I'd post some of the work I'm doing at school. Sharing it isn't the easiest thing for me to do; I'm so insanely new to the game (my first-ever attempt at learning Photoshop and Illustrator was 4-5 months ago) that anything I come up with now is not going to be anywhere near where I want to be when I graduate. So I'm going to keep that to a minimum. However, it's nice that people are interested, so I'll share a few bits and pieces from time to time.

Anyway, that having been said, our first big project was to create a poster. It could have been for anything- for example, one student chose a poster promoting safe sex; another was an ad for an exhibit at an aquarium. I chose to make an event poster for the Orange Holiday Social.

So, even though that lovely camping extravaganza happened way back in September, here is my poster for the Subterranean Country Club's first event:







--Dara

Kareena Zerefos

I couldn't even begin to tell you how I first came across Kareena Zerefos. I first posted about her back in January (our little blog is over a year old and we TOTALLY let it pass us by! Hooray for us). She's an Australian-based illustrator, and I'm just in love with her style.




I so wish that t-shirt were in my po' student price range, but this great poster is just as lovely:


--Dara

Supermarket sweep

I can see already that discovering Supermarket (thanks to Uniform Studio) is going to be a dangerous thing for me. Here's another awesome vendor; Cicada Studio (based in Dirty Jerz! hearts) sells beautiful printed fabrics and tea towel wall calendars.





It's a shame the calendar's a little above the price limit (slash out of my budget) for the Design Crush calendar swap...I'm sure it would make my swap partner's day.

--Dara

Geometrically Minded

I guess I have polygons on the brain....these Dorit candle holders by Jean Pelle are looking pretty sweet to me right about now.



--Dara

Molly M Designs

About a month ago (back when I still had dollars to spend and I was giddy with new-apartmentness), I placed an order for 4 of Molly M designs' lasercut prints. I waited and waited....until I discovered they had been sent to my old address in LA. Way to not change your address on paypal, D-Town. So I FINALLY brought them back with me after my visit this weekend and hung them up yesterday afternoon. I love how they look all in a row!


Kate at For Me, For You did a post today about them as well....definitely have a look, because there's more geometric awesomeness where that came from, AND they're available in smaller and larger sizes. Which is to say nothing of her lasercut jewelry.

Molly M Designs

--Dara

The Handmade Ho Down

On Thursday, December 3rd, I know where I'll be headed after class: The Handmade Ho Down on Folsom Street! It's ticketed as the first ever "SF Etsy Urban Craft Show Event." I can't imagine what could be negative about the situation; supporting Drawbridge, an expressive arts program for homeless and other children in need, check out some great SF-based Etsy vendors, and all kinds of free SWAG? Sounds just about right to me. Throw in a photo booth and you've got yourself a deal....and done.

more info here.

Our new look

Hey gang, as you may have noticed, we've given the blog a bit of a spruce. Nothing fancy, just a bit of a font change (which is likely to be subject to further tweakage) and a new header, but we're excited about it! If you like what you see there and in the flickr pics Haley posted below, rest assured you will be pleased with the final result of the Enchanted video. I just happen to know (since I'm dating him) that our composer has finished his first scratch track of the score, so it's only a matter of time before you lovelies get to have a viewing!

xo,

Dara

Missing Seasons

With only two weeks until the ski lifts usually open back home, I'm feeling awfully homesick, or rather just sick of missing the seasons. Thanks to the Aspen/Snowmass site, I can at least live vicariously through the gorgeous pictures they have captured of the seasons I'm longing for (and hopefully plan a trip to the slopes sometime in the new year).

{photos by Jeremy Swanson}

{photo by Daniel Bayer}

~Haley

Magic Hour

Here's a little preview of a photo shoot we did for our upcoming video... taken with my new camera, by the lovely and talented, Carol Fahey! Stay tuned...

~Haley

Mulberry for Apple

As long as we're on the subject of beautiful things we in all likelihood can't afford (see below previous post), have a look-see at Mulberry's new collaboration with Apple.




sigh.

(via notcot)

--Dara

Our weekend

It was a typically heartstring-pulling weekend in Los Angeles. I spent Thursday and Friday surgically attached to Chris, doing all kinds of normal activites that are that much more fun when you're with the one you love, and Friday night had a lovely little reunion with some of my best pals.
Saturday was the main event- our good friend Jessi's beautiful daughter, Lily, turned 3, and Jessi threw a Pirate's Tea Party, complete with a scavenger hunt, treasure chest pinata, netting hung about as though we were on the Pirates of the Carribean ride in Disneyland, and, of course, a happy "yarrr" day cake. We stuffed ourselves silly, and then some of us went out for dinner! Just a little Thanksgiving training.
Sunday, Haley and Carol and I took some lovely photos for the closing credits of the Enchanted Royals video....we'll show you a few in the next few days, so stay tuned.
---Dara