This week I am going to go a bit into my skills as a graphic artist. I have always loved the art of placing things on a piece of paper to make it look neat, refined and interesting. I don't always like plain, same ole, same ole, so I try to add a bit of jazz into my designs, yet always follow the customer's desires. I also take into consideration the client's personality or the event's personality. A while ago, my gal pal here in town needed church function tickets for them to sell for their one and only fundraiser for a ski trip this past winter. They were having a spaghetti dinner and she wanted the tickets to portray a fancy Italian Restaurant. So, with lots of information to put on the ticket, I was limited to the art's size I could incorporate into the ticket stub. I found this perfect border with forks wrapped in spaghetti and meatballs! How apropos!
Then, of course, the font is the most important aspect, in my opinion, of the design. If the font doesn't say it with feeling, then the entire piece falls flat. I used an easy to read script font for the "Italian" worded title. I also went to some place online for an English to Italian dictionary. It was fun to do. I have no clue if I worded it correctly, but I don't think there were any true Italians at this function to critique my translation! Anyway, I made a cute full page flyer that was sent to all the church members via email regarding this fundraiser dinner. The tickets were easily sold, the dinner was a success because the kids raised enough funds for their trip! It felt good to be a part of it.
Below is the way in which I start my designs. Since I do love font styles, I begin with the business name and just start typing it out from the computer in any font I think MIGHT be suitable for their company. Given a few choices from this group below, the client adored one of the two I thought were best, also! It's on the top left with the gray watercolor looking swoosh! I was so pleased. When the business card was made, I used a plain, sans serif font for the client's information that was easy to read at the smaller point size. She was very happy to replace her old logo/business cards with this new version. Again, it felt good to be part of it.
It's truly great fun for me to design business cards, logos, brochures and so many more things.I love color, as is obvious from my website. Placement is a big deal, too. If you don't have the right negative space thing going on, it can make the design too crammed and hard to read. It needs to flow. Hey, these are really basic things, but they are the foundation for a great design.
More great designs. come in the form of simple notepads. I sell these notepads at my website that seem to be my best sellers so far. Just about all my orders have at least one pad in them! People ask me all the time, "How are notepads made anyway?" I take them to a little place I know at the local university and have them glued at the top. They cut the paper for me to exact specs, back it with chip board and place it in a humble old wooden contraption that is pretty small actually. It is then put between two blocks of wood and clamped down to keep the paper stack from moving and to get a nice tight notepad. It is then literally hand brushed with a special white glue. It's then left to dry for at least 5 hours. They then unclamp the stack and tear off the top sheet of plain paper they added to the top so that the notepad will have a clean top sheet with the SooBoo name art design on top! It's very simple, just like the designs. Here is the latest pad I have done. This is a gift that will be given when this customer meets with them this next weekend. I was also asked to make gift tags with the recipients first names on it. They can attach these to wine bottles, or tuck in a gift basket or stick in a plant when giving those gifts. It's a wonderful gift to give to friends. How nice is it to get unusual but useful gifts like these! Again, it's warming to be a part of it. A bit of me goes into every design, and to know that others love it like I do enough to give to their friends and family is very special to me.
This notepad is 5.5" x 8.5" and 100 sheets thick.
This is the gift tag which measures 3.5" x 2" which is business card size.I am also going to show you some more gift certificate holders. These can be used for those handy gifts that come credit cards sized to any store imaginable! There are tons of holidays for which to give these things, yet, I LOVE YOU is one that is taken for granted. You don't even have to put a gift card in it, you can just write a little poem or sweet nothing inside for that great night that you two just had!
These holders come with a "snot glue dot." Sounds icky but it' s just what you find in the magazines that have little give away things inside their issues. It's really super sticky but not permanent. I also add a clear adhesive dot to close the card. This saves on cost for you and me by not using an envelope AND it saves on paper. SooBoo is all for that!
Speaking of saving paper, I found this website, in one of the too many magazines to which I subscribe, called, Peaceful Company. I found these terrific items called Euro Cloths which supposedly save on paper towels. They claim that these last the equivalent to 17 rolls of paper towels! Well, I just had to purchase some. I decided that I would give them as gifts as well. The Republican that I am does not deter me from understanding that waste is bad. My son even has broken me from a life long habit of running the water when brushing teeth and washing dishes. NO MORE! It's very sad to me that recycling is not a way of life here in the rural areas of the south. When I first came here, I felt sick to throw away a plastic bottle or a can in the regular garbage. If these things are not picked up on a weekly basis curbside from your home, then it's very difficult to acquire a weeks worth of these recyclables in bags and boxes around the home. So.. we wait. Anyhow, I have been using ONE euro cloth for several weeks now to clean the counter tops. It really works great and to clean it, it can be either thrown in the dishwasher or can be boiled. It does NOT fall apart. I love it. A little Peaceful Company has come into my home. Just like I have come into others homes with my SooBoo designs!
There are definitely tons of influences that have come from our family members, best friends, websites and communities. We are all intermingling and aren't even fully aware of it. We touch each other's lives in ways we have no idea. To me, these are life's greatest and free gifts of all. Take time to recognize who's touched YOUR life for a while. (Especially Mom!) It's inspiring, absolutely!
Enjoy the warmer weather~
peace out!
Susie
These holders come with a "snot glue dot." Sounds icky but it' s just what you find in the magazines that have little give away things inside their issues. It's really super sticky but not permanent. I also add a clear adhesive dot to close the card. This saves on cost for you and me by not using an envelope AND it saves on paper. SooBoo is all for that! Birthday wishes come in the form of folded gift card holders as well.
Speaking of saving paper, I found this website, in one of the too many magazines to which I subscribe, called, Peaceful Company. I found these terrific items called Euro Cloths which supposedly save on paper towels. They claim that these last the equivalent to 17 rolls of paper towels! Well, I just had to purchase some. I decided that I would give them as gifts as well. The Republican that I am does not deter me from understanding that waste is bad. My son even has broken me from a life long habit of running the water when brushing teeth and washing dishes. NO MORE! It's very sad to me that recycling is not a way of life here in the rural areas of the south. When I first came here, I felt sick to throw away a plastic bottle or a can in the regular garbage. If these things are not picked up on a weekly basis curbside from your home, then it's very difficult to acquire a weeks worth of these recyclables in bags and boxes around the home. So.. we wait. Anyhow, I have been using ONE euro cloth for several weeks now to clean the counter tops. It really works great and to clean it, it can be either thrown in the dishwasher or can be boiled. It does NOT fall apart. I love it. A little Peaceful Company has come into my home. Just like I have come into others homes with my SooBoo designs!
There are definitely tons of influences that have come from our family members, best friends, websites and communities. We are all intermingling and aren't even fully aware of it. We touch each other's lives in ways we have no idea. To me, these are life's greatest and free gifts of all. Take time to recognize who's touched YOUR life for a while. (Especially Mom!) It's inspiring, absolutely!
Enjoy the warmer weather~
peace out!
Susie
1 comment:
Great to get a behind-the-scenes peek at what you do!
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