Guest Post: Thanks and Happy Holidays!

 

Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for having me on the blog this week!  It's been fabulous sharing with you all.

Let's stay connected:

Blog: http://theaudacityofcolor.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AudacityofColor
Tumblr: http://theaudacityofcolor.tumblr.com/

PS: And Thank You Amanda, Tam + Sam

Guest Post: Friday Music Inspiration - Target Demo by Tes-One

Most Fridays I like to post about music videos, artwork or new albums to download in a section I call Friday Music Inspiration.  Music literally moves me and recently it's been a big inspiration on my work.  Today I wanted to share a series of portraits of hip-hop legends Tupac and Biggie by Leon "Tes-One" Bedore.

About The Work -- Target Demo: Portraits of the late Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace

“Biggie and 2pac will always be examples of how powerful music can be as a medium. Their ability to translate the often grim, inner-city struggles to the masses had them both praised and vilified. Played in the streets and targeted in the media - a marketing plan of rivalry set sights on their friendship, fans and the entire hip-hop community. A senseless tragedy over extraordinary talent, “Target Demo” is my tribute to both men.“

For more info or to buy the limited edition prints, visit the www.rareink.com.

Guest Post: Louboutin and Typography

Typography and fashion are on my list of favorite things so while these images from the Christian Louboutin store front in London are a couple of months old, I still thought it was worthy of sharing.  Designed by Studio XAG in the UK, the inspiration here was the bright lights of Vegas.  Brilliant!

via The Window Shopper

Guest Post: Color Palette Series - Man

As a design student, I'm in tune with how color conveys thought and emotion.  I often look at the photography and artwork and break down the colors used in the pieces in a series I curate titled Color Palettes.

This image from New York based photographer Kwesi Abbensett's potrait series titled Man.  Kwesi has a wide body of work ranging from editorial spreads to everyday people and places.  See more from his portfolio here.

In the Closet with...

It isn't often that our girl, Little Miss X, makes an appearance but she could not resist when asked by notable Montreal fashion blog, Jeans and Stilettos. She was recently interviewed on her sense of style and design preferences. To discover her fashion must-haves, read her interview.

Ce n'est pas souvent que l'on voit Little Miss X  mais elle ne pouvait pas dire non lorsque le blog de mode et beauté Jeans et Stilettos lui demandé  de se prêter au jeu pour la rubrique 'In thecloset with'. Pour Jeans et Stilletos elle  parle de son  vestimentaire, son amour pour le design… et plus encore.

Pour découvrir ses coups de coeur lisez l'interview ici.

Guest Post: Graphic Ladies

On my last day of guest blogging on Tam+Sam I'd like to share with you images I collected for some work I'd like to produce in the near future. I'm always thinking about personal projects I'd like to work on when I have more me time. Some being illustrations exploring portraiture, particularly of women. I love the idea of flattening the face (or even the figure) into graphic shapes, so whenever I see great examples from other artists I screen-grab them and add them to my "inspiration folder." Here are a few I've collected in the last few months.

A big hug and thank you to the ladies of Tam+Sam. It was such a pleasure being a part of this amazing site. I enjoyed sharing some fun inspiration and a little behind-the-scenes look at some of my favorite projects I had the opportunity to work on. And a huge thank you to the Tam+Sam readers, I appreciate your time :).

From our Guest Blogger Andrea Pippins of Fly 

Guest Post: Soultanicals Logo

Logo design is by far my favorite element of graphic design. I love the challenge of creating a mark to identify a brand. So I'm ALWAYS excited when a client reaches out to me about designing a logo. Today I would like to share with you a logo project I really enjoyed working on in the last month.

This project was with a client who is launching a line of organic plant-based body and hair products called Soultanicals. When describing the essence of her brand the client used words like soul-infused, afrolistic, and soul-centric. I loved these terms! I couldn't help but be inspired. Immediately I brainstormed different ideas to bring "soul" and "botanicals" together (I mean, that's totally what the brand name is all about).

The client mentioned that she wanted an afro lady incorporated into the logo somehow. When I think of afros I think of the 60's and 70's, and the illustrative style of the 60's and 70's was inspired by Art Nouveau. Therefore, I looked at illustration and beauty packaging from the Art Nouveau era for inspiration as well as different ways other artists interpret hair.

I also collected images that related to how I wanted my afro lady to look; peaceful and in a natural meditative state. I also had to figure out how this afro lady would be used. Was she interacting with nature? Would she be a character? A label or a symbol? After tons of sketches I decided to pursue a concept where a natural haired lady was embracing nature and/or being embraced by nature.

Once I got a handle on the face and how this afro lady would relate to her "environment" I created several options (along with some other completely different logo concepts) to present to the client.

The logo pictured bottom right is what she chose.

From our Guest Blogger Andrea Pippins of Fly 

Guest Post: Leadership Quilt

In my first semester in grad school we were given the theme of leadership for my design thesis class. We could design anything we wanted as long as it related to the idea of leadership in some way. Just to give you some examples one classmate created a product line for Martha Stewart Living, a brand that leads in the Home & Lifestyle industry; another classmate created a series of puppets based on various leaders throughout history. When I learned of the designated theme I immediately thought of Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy in South Africa. The stories, the strength and the beauty of the young girls who attend Oprah's special school became the inspiration for my project.

My idea was to design a gift that Oprah could give each girl upon graduation. That gift would be an inspirational quilt to remind each girl to be the leader she is meant to be. The individual quilt would be personalized with the name of the girl appliqued on the front. The idea is that the quilt becomes a personal keepsake with quotes from leaders from various backgrounds interwoven with symbols related to leadership. Back then I conducted a survey on Fly to see what readers thought of when they heard the word "leadership." Courage, faith, vision, and service were all characteristics that were consistently expressed in the survey results. This helped me brainstorm ideas of how to visually interpret those attributes.

After much conversation and research about South Africa, the school, and different quotes from established leaders, I finally began the design process. I found a quilting team to help piece, quilt and bind (you can see the woman who pieced the quilt and coordinated the team here). Most of the fabric sections were printed on my home printer and other swatches were purchased. You can't see in the photo but there's a lot of applique and embroidered details.

It was such a fun project. I'm passionate about inspiring young women and this concept allowed me to create a tangible piece that could do just that. I also loved the collaboration aspect; it allowed me to learn about the quilting process and gave me the opportunity to design in a totally different medium. It would be great to do more projects like this. If I had to do it all again I would change some things like the palette and some of the symbols. Looking back they seem a bit young for high school girls. For the most part, though, it was one of my favorite projects and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

You can see closeups of the quilt here.

From our Guest Blogger Andrea Pippins of Fly 

Guest Post: Looking at Environmental Graphics

Recently I have accepted a project to design a mural for a commercial space. I'm SO excited because this is something I've always wanted to do. Right now I'm in the very early stages of the project, which means I'm looking for inspiration and collecting images to create my moodboards. This stage is always so fun because I get to take time to surf the net, look at books and go through my stash of magazine clippings for ideas. For this project I'm researching how other artists and designers approach murals and environmental graphics; especially how they handle scale and type, pattern and color. This helps me see what can be done, what has been done and what I can do to make my ideas functional and unique.

Ideally I would love to use tons of hand-lettering which is why I liked seeing the super graphics (large-scale environmental design) done by the likes of Pentagram, design company ATTACK, mural artist Stephen Powers, and street artist Ananda Nahu. My favorite though, is the work from Margaret Kilgallen. Her whimsical images inspired by street art, old-style letter-forms, and folk-art are simply beautiful.

I also like the simplified graphic patterns used in the first image for Design Within Reach and then the wallpaper for Salon Modern by Studio MPLS. These are all great references for beautiful large scale artwork that communicates a message, design identity or tells a story.

From our Guest Blogger Andrea Pippins of Fly

Guest Post: Hype-Eat : Colette + Ladurée

Juillet 2003 : Première expérience avec Colette et Ladurée.

En quelques mots, Colette c’est le temple parisien de la hype, de la branchitude… Bref l’endroit où les modeux shoppent des articles en série limitée et où certains auteurs dédicacent leur livre comme ce fut le cas cette année, de Mr Scott Shuman aka The Sartorialist.

Quant à Ladurée, il s’agit d’une maison de pâtisseries où j’allais chercher mon goûter, c’est-à-dire, des petites douceurs bien connues sous le nom de macarons. Souvenir… Souvenir…

Décembre 2009 : ces deux grandes enseignes unissent leurs forces afin d’offrir pour le temps des fêtes, un petit corner où il sera possible d’acheter les fameuses petites bouchées soigneusement disposées dans des petites boîtes customisées et baptisées « Polka dot Irresistible ». Moi, je « dévooore » l’idée!!!

Disponible dès le 12 Décembre. Glissez en un mot, à un(e) ami(e) qui prévoit de faire un aller/retour Mtl-Paris.

En attendant une telle collaboration à Montréal, voici deux adresses à connaitre et à fréquenter pour satisfaire vos envies!

La maison du macaron
4479 Rue de la Roche Montreal, QC H2J 3J2(514) 759-9290
+
PointG
1266 avenue Du Mont-Royal EstMontreal, QC H2J 1Y3(514) 750-7515


Gracieuseté d' Audrwey

You know you want it

Il est celui qui signe les looks des jeunes résidents de l’Upper East Side et dont certaines modeuses et modeux adoptent les tenues. Sa formation, il l’a acquise aux côtés de Patricia Field, la styliste de la série Sex and the City. Son nom? Eric Daman, et comme sa consœur, la très réputée Rachel Zoe, il met sur papier ses conseils mode en publiant un livre intitulé You Know you want it, que toutes les fashionistas (et peut être vous aussi Messieurs) s’arracheront le 15 décembre prochain.

Dans ce bouquin d’environ 200 pages, le pro du style de la série télévisée Gossip Girl nous livre ses fashion tips pour s’approprier un vêtement, créer sa signature look pour ne plus ressembler à un porte-manteau! La préface est signée Leighton Meester aka Miss Blair et on aime l’idée. Notre garde-robe appréciera sûrement le ménage qu’elle subira après la lecture et notre bibliothèque aura également une toute autre allure!

En attendant la sortie du livre ; une vidéo où le styliste nous décrypte le look du personnage Serena Von Der Woodsen:

INFOS: You know you want it d’Eric Daman, préface de Leighton Meester

Disponible en librairie le 15 décembre! Pré-commande sur Amazon!

Gracieuseté d'Audrwey

Guest Blogger (Part 2)

Ok, so we had so much fun with our first guest blogger... that we thought we'd do it again only this time, en Français

Audrwey, chroniqueuse radio et super-blogueuse (Jean Stilettos) a accepté notre invitation et sera avec nous tout au long de la semaine.

Nous avons hâte devous montrer ce qu’elle nous a concoctée !

Logo = Conceptions KB - http://www.conceptionskb.com/

Guest post: Life Is Real

I've had this song by Nigerian/German artist Ayo on repeat for the past few weeks. It brings back so many memories of my one and only visit to Nigeria when I was five. Riding horses on the beach in Lagos, bathing in the river, meeting my grandmother for the first time, I digress.
Take a moment and go on a virtual journey with Ayo's sultry vocals, you'll thank me later :)!


Courtesy of Nuvanynice

Guest Post: Togo Waves & Road Maps

Emeka Alams is finally unveiling his highly anticipated debut collection for Gold Coast Trading. After successfully dropping the Chop/Hand Soup T & Cassi Go Home Duffel Bag, a sort of teaser for the full line the wait is over! Continually intending to re-educate the masses on modern day Africa through his designs, Alams has dubbed the debut Togo Waves & Road Maps.
Instead of going from here to Africa im taking it from Africa back here: "3rd world" to "1st". To purchase & find stockists contact info (at) livefromthecoast.com.

Courtesy of Nuvanynice

Guest Post : Won Hundred

A fan of minimalist style, I'm currently overcome with joy after stumbling upon Danish label Won Hundred. Designer Nikolaj Nielsen skillfully infuses pops of color throughout a predominantly muted palette for A/W 09. There's also a strong architectural presence throughout the line which contrasts the simplicity producing pieces that are timeless.

To shop the collection visit Won Hundred.

Courtesy of NuvanyNice

Guest post : Paid In NY

Princess of the Posse designer Kelly B. is back with a dope drop for the holidays! The Paid in New York Crew is a tribute to all of the amazing characteristics that encompass the wonderful city. Kelly chose to photograph industry notables that personify Ambition, Style, Creativity, Diversity & Individuality like Suzette Lee, Stella Burchard & Johnny Killface to model for the campaign. Visit Princess of the Posse to cop your crew!

PS: Cope the shirt on sale for only 40 bucks.

Courtesy of NuvanyNice