Moving on Home

This blog has moved to my  website and can be found at  http://www.thedigitalvineyard.com/blog/. Hope to see you there.

Brigitte

Design Indaba Expo 2010: What I saw there #1

Did you miss the 2010 Design Indaba Expo? Or maybe you just couldn't take it all in (I couldn't). This series will take a closer look at a few things that caught my eye. I am going to spy on the chosen stands beyond their limited spaces at the expo and see what else they have got to offer in terms of creative fuel and inspiration. 


Raw




I loved this concept. I think it is one of the things that stuck out to me above all in the Design Indaba expo. At the Raw stand, there were 2 products on display Ikonik and Klik.

Ikonik is a system of plywood lockers. I love this because one of my most treasured “furniture” finds was a tall locker when I was a teenager. It was grungy and has been carted around to my various student digs and has now had a makeover in fire-engine red enamel paint. Ikonik's lockers take me back to my years as an art student with great, creative prints on the front. I love this idea, lockers supply so much space for the smaller home (and I have lived in some small spaces) and these are made out of Eco-friendly plywood. Design-wise the simple and customisable lockers caught my eye and are on my list of things to buy when I finally get to design my own kitchen.

Klik is a modular system that allows customisability- love this. You can move the bits and pieces around. Originally designed for office furniture, it can be used all around the house too. If you're like me and love to change things around regularly, this is a neat option to consider.

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References
images from http://www.rawstudios.co.za/

One Page Coming Soon- My Latest Design

I feel quite proud of this one. I like the simplicity and color. This is the first step in the design of Thou Art Useful's web site which will get under way soon. Thou Art Useful is the business of artist Carina Turck-Clark which consists of the design and creation of functional art as well as lessons in craft and sculpture for all those interested.

I felt that the image was appropriate because Carina is constantly busy making thins in fabric and loves bright colors. Check the page out at: www.thouartuseful.com/

Web Design Inspiration #4

dafvy.co.uk is of a 19 year old designer, David spinks portfolio site. I really love the simplicity of this one page design with smooth scrolling javascript and colour changing background.  My only criticisms are 1. the red in the above image looks a bit like coca cola's branding and 2. one can't click to see the next image in his galleries, you have to close it and open the next one (in other words, I'm just a really lazy browser).

Web Design Inspiration #3

stonewall.co.za/
This local design makes use of very interesting navigation. The cursor is a bit irritating but other than that I think this site is great.

My New Site- Live Today!

It's official, my new site went live today. Go and check it out at thedigitalvineyard.com and let me know what you think.

Thanks to all of you who gave your input and helped me when I couldn't see the site for the CSS.

Web Design Inspiration #2

http://www.designcommission.com/

Web Design Inspiration #1

http://www.matrizcomunicacao.com.br/

GB Signs & Print: Logo and Business Card

I am working on a few larger projects at the moment and as such, I cannot show them here yet. However, I have a few smaller ones to present as I go along. Today I completed a logo for a local printing company (my dad's) and a business card.

The design makes use of simple typography and clean CMYK colours to represent the nature of  his business. I went with a  retro feel (probably because its for my old man...) that I think suits his business and will look great on his vehicle (now to convince him to let me rebrand it...).

I've chosen an off white, slightly textured paper (preferably recycled) to continue the retro/ vintage feel.

No Design but some cool quotes

So I haven't managed a design a day yet. At least I can claim some victory in the fact that I know myself well enough to know that new year's resolutions are a complete waste of my time. However, I have been busy doing some work but will post it later (once my clients see it first..). For now, I thought I'd share some cool quotes that I found at: http://inspire.boranikolic.com/ :


"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
— Douglas Adams


"What works good is better than what looks good. Because what works good lasts."
— Ray Eames

"Don’t make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don't hesitate to make it beautiful."

— Shaker design philosophy

"Becoming a top expert takes about 10,000 hours of hard work."

— Malcom Gladwell

"A designer should only use these 5 typefaces: Bodoni, Helvetica, Times Roman, Century, Futura."
— Massimo Vignelli

"When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty.
I only think about how to solve the problem. 
    But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, 
I know it is wrong.”
— Buckminster Fuller

These thought provoking qu0tes are just a small taste of Bora Nikolic's site.  I'm off to find him on Twitter.

A design a day keeps design block at bay...

The Digital Vineyard has decided to get onto the blogging band-wagon. The reason I have decided to do this was because of challenge originally sent out by Smashing Magazine entitled: A challenge for 2010:"Design Something Every Day!. Which was brought to my attention by Cassandra Miles on Twitter. 

Basically, the challenge is to spend less time looking for inspiration online and more time honing my design skills by designing something new each day. Now, I am not committing myself to every day because I know I won't do it (New Year's resolutions are a waste of time so I don't make them). However, I think its a great idea. I have already bought myself a flashy new journal to start scribbling in (which is all I have done so far) and now I am starting a blog to kinda keep myself accountable (to myself a this point because no one else is following me yet). 


So watch this space!