Haberdashery

I have to admit that I have a strange obsession with all things 'haberdashery'. Last week my mother gave me these original packs of hooks and eyes and poppers and a huge box of buttons to rummage through. She has always been able to sew anything and always saved bits and bobs in case they are needed. My excitement was out of proportion to the gift. I will not be saving these for a sewing project - they are going to be framed!

Christmas greetings

Happy Christmas everyone and best wishes for 2010.

New corporate identity and website design

Amanda Grant is a food writer who is passionate about teaching children and encouraging their parents to get them involved in everyday family food and cooking. She writes for Delicious magazine and for Tesco.
Amanda wanted a website design that would reflect her personality and act as a tool for her to promote her writing and her diverse range of work. She wanted it to look friendly and anything but corporate, appealing to parents, children and be accessible to other food professionals such as magazine editors, chefs and publishers. I hinted at a relaxed scrapbook (or recipe collection) style of ephemera in the design and used a selection of fonts to create an eclectic feel. The illustrations are fun and simple and give a hint of food to the pages. Cooking with children is a messy and fun experience so the odd splodge here and there keeps it real.
This site was lauched at the Children's Food Festival, and was developed by Sunset Design.
The logo has been adapted from the font 'American typewriter' selected as the typewriter style links nicely to Amanda's writing.

Illustration

Here is a simple illustration for a housing assocation. It demonstrates in a graphic form the ways that a customer can influence decision making in the organisation and the path of that influence.

Can't live with them, can't live without them

This is funny - be warned though, it should have an X rating for the language:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mentaldesigner#play/all/uploads-all/0/VfprIxNfCj

Greek Holiday

A fellow blogger has pointed out that I have been away from my blog for too long. (see comment below) So, let me explain… summer, sun, sea, holidays, camera, fun. That's it, and here is a souvenir postcard from my holiday.

Or is it…?

Actually, and you may have already guessed, I have not been away, just busy either working or having fun with my children while they have been off school for the summer. These pics were taken somewhere in England on Friday last week. A beautiful September afternoon borrowed from the summer. Everything looked Greek even the olives on the tree! Anyone know where it is?

Man v Mother Nature

I always carry my little mobile phone camera while out walking. The quality is not great by any means but I snap away, especially when I see an odd something or some good light. These two shots were taken on different days near my home. I have done nothing but click the shutter. Each image suggests a story about man trying to overcome nature. I like the fact that nature looks like it is in control and could have actually grown these items.

Valentines

He'll never guess...

Cool, cool, stuff

Last Sunday afternoon (whilst I was nursing a Burns Night head), my kids were playing lego and had built a mad structure, a kind of cantilevered house over a river with drawbridges and rooftop rooms. There was a garden and animal enclosures. For more inspiration, I showed them all the architecture pages on The Coolhunter site. All they could say was 'Wow!' and 'Is that really a house?'. At the end, one of them said 'It does make you think that our house is really, actually, like, quite boring.'

Burns Night

Today the Scots celebrate Burns Night which we celebrated with friends last night. The traditional meal of Haggis, neeps and tatties was served and whiskey was drunk. This got me thinking about tartan... I Googled tartan and this fun site came up. Have a play on it. See my version above.