AliFelski.com

Furnishings clockwise from the Chair: Cameo Lace Chair, Tea Bowl Lamps, Birds on a Branch Hook, Damask Rug, Round Velvet Pillow, Tortoise Droplet Chandelier.

KissMeImPolish.com

Furnishings clockwise from the lamp: Felt Tulip Pendant, Zanotta Lord & Lady Swivel Chair, Isabella Oval Handle Basket, Spencer Chair, Gnome Bank, Doily Rug, Topographic Pillow .

JonTangerine.com

Furnishings clockwise from the frames: Mod Orange Frames, Linen Deco Deluxe Pendant, Louis Ghost Chair, Letter Coasters, Oomph Table, Ampersand Paperweight.

SquaredEye.com

Clockwise from Towels: Kitchensmart Towels,  Abstract Aadi Rug (in the background), La Cornue CornuFé Stove, Whale Butter Dish, Whale Water Pitcher, Perennial Mini Colander, Digit Spice Jars.

Q:Do you have a dream client or project? What is your favorite project you have worked on so far?

I feel like most of the projects I work on end up being “dream projects”. Really any time an art director tells me “just make it look awesome”, a project turns to a dream job. I think my favorite project so far was the Why We Love Boston series, just because I love repetition and I loved the idea of having to illustrate the same phrase in six different ways.

Q:I saw you have an adorable cat, have you snuck him/her into any of your illustrations, and if not.. will you?

I actually have two! I drew a lot of cats prior to adopting Billy and Olive, but recently I was hired to draw “cat internet memes” for Entertainment Weekly and I definitely used my kitties as figure inspiration.

Q:Your letterpress business cards are exquisite.  Do you have any advice for designers who want to do their own letterpress work but may not have convenient access to a studio?

Try to take a weekend workshop somewhere if you are interested, even if you have to make it a mini vacation to a city nearby that has a shop. A few smaller shops offer letterpress courses (as well as local art colleges) that are open to people of all levels. A lot of people make the mistake of spending a few thousand dollars on a personal press and then realize that they aren’t that into it. I think trying it out is important before committing to buying a press. Personally, I always want to print relatively big, so I need to either own a huge press (which I don’t) or live near a studio that owns one (which thankfully I do). The smaller tabletop presses (which can cost up to $2,500, because letterpressing has become so popular) are really only good for very small items like postcards and business cards.

Q: I see your work everywhere online (from TheDieline.com to FFFFOUND! to FPO), do you have any advice for other designers who are trying to get their work out there?

I think one of the main ways to get your work noticed on the internet and blogs is to do something humorous or just really smart. I think I’m lucky that people seem to be happy enough with my work just being pretty, but the work that I really notice and bookmark online are things that are really smart conceptually, or make me smile / laugh.

Q: Buttermilk, your new font, is wonderful… are there any typeface designers you look up to?

I definitely am a major fan of H&FJ. I use their fonts far too much and have to stand back and think “Stop using Archer!” or “You used Gotham on 5 projects this month!”. I also love Mark Simonson’s work, particularly Mostra and Coquette.

Q:You occasionally do type for romance novels, do you enjoy reading them? If so, any favorites?

Alas, I’ve never been given one to read. Doing type for the cover would be a perfect excuse to pick one up though! I love doing type for these covers though. It’s amazing to see your type being scrawled across a bare-chested dude.

Q:You are receiving a lot of online buzz for the Daily Drop Cap. Where did you come up with the idea? How long do you plan on keeping it up? Have you received any interesting opportunities through launching that blog?

When I left Louise Fili Ltd. this September I wanted to come up with a project that would be fun, keep me motivated, and be something I wouldn’t have time for when I had a day job. At first I thought about doing an alphabet per week, but my schedule was filling up quickly (and I was appreciating the extra sleep time!), so I decided to focus on one letter per day. Originally I just thought of running through the alphabet (as I’m doing), but it seemed like it would be more fun if there was more user interaction. I brainstormed with a few of my friends and was then convinced the caps should be able to be used on other sites (I wanted to do this but was concerned about people mis-using them or using them commercially).

Q:How do you keep yourself motivated to create a new and interesting letter everyday? Do you keep a sketchbook or just blindly go at a new idea every day?

I definitely go blindly at it. I wanted the site to be a thing that made me be creative every day, even when I’m dragging my feet. I think I come up with the best ones when I don’t plan ahead and just dive in.

See Jessica’s Blog

Check out the Daily Drop Cap

Her Portfolio Site

Her work on the Behance Network

Janes Addiction poster by Matt Goldman. See more of his stuff here.

From the portfolio of  Steve Younger, check out his iphone wallpapers.

American Sign Language Matchbooks from the portfolio of JK Keller: artist , designer and obsessive-compulsive from New York City.

A beautiful gig poster by Joanna Wecht.

Hand-lettered header from The Camel in Richmond Virginia. I have never been to The Camel, but it sounds pretty badass: a space for music, art, poetry, video, political forums, and conversation-anything that brings people together in the spirit of a free flow of ideas.

Katie Kirk

http://www.katiekirk.net
Kaite’s work has a fantastical upbeat attitude. Featuring interesting patterns and geometric shapes her work just makes me happy. Check her out at Eight Hour Day and on flickr.

Agnieszka Gasparska

http://kissmeimpolish.com/
I first fell in love with Kiss Me Im Polish when I saw their website, but I got even more excited when I saw they designed Good.is. Check out this recent interview with Agnieszka.

Simon Cook

http://www.made-in-england.org
Cookie has a unique, playful style that combines fun illustration, texture and interesting typography. Check out Cookie’s FFFFound for inspirational snippets.

Jennifer Daniel

http://httpcolonforwardslashforwardslashwwwdotjenniferdanieldotcom.com/
What I love about Jennifer’s work is that it’s funny and conceptual. Hit “cornify” in the left column of her website. Hit it again… now about 20 more times. Oh, I can do that all day. Follow her on twitter for tons more fun.

Si Scott

http://www.siscottstudio.com
Si’s organic flowing shapes and letterfoms have become his unique signature. His work ins unique and inspirational, but watching him work is breathtaking. Check out Si’s work and videos on the Behance network.

This couple’s enthusiasm and hard work has been a huge inspiration for me and I would really like you to get to know them.

Q:What brought you both to Pittsburgh and why did you start Flashpitt, Design Day,  and Refresh Pittsburgh?

Val:
The way we got to Pittsburgh was kind of funny. We were living in Buffalo and wanted a change of scenery. We decided on Pittsburgh as our next destination and planned to move as soon as one of us found a job there. Now we’ve been here a little over three years and we’re loving it so far.

I started Flashpitt because I saw that there was a pretty strong, and growing, group of Flash and other interactive folks in Pittsburgh. Most of the people I talked to had never been to a conference or rarely went because of the travel and cost involved. So, we wanted to see one happen in Pittsburgh because there’s a good community here and we want to see it grow. Obviously there’s more people than just me making it happen, Joe and Jason have been instrumental in making it happen.

Jason:
I started Refresh Pittsburgh because I had wanted to start one in Buffalo, but there wasn’t enough support. I was inspired after attending An Event Apart – and wanted to get more involved in the local community. It was also a great way to get a bunch of people together – with our same interests – and meet new people when we moved here.

I contacted a fella named Pat Collins who wanted to start a Refresh in Pittsburgh too. Our first meet-up had around 13 people in a local coffee shop. Now we meet regularly at the AIP campus and average around 45 people each meeting. It’s growing more each month, but it’s still rather manageable.

Web Design Day happened because I have been planning a “Speaker Series” for quite some time – where I wanted to bring in out of town speakers. The idea grew from there – and turned into much more. The idea of WDD was to bring in out-of-town speakers who had ties to Pittsburgh as well as featuring some excellent local speakers – while keeping everything at a low cost. It was a huge success. We sold out in about 48 hours – and both the local and out of town speakers were amazing. It was nice to see people from Pittsburgh who went on to do some big things – and even better to have our local speakers share a bill with them. Everyone stood out that day – and I think that everyone benefited from the day. Some really good friendships happened too. I definitely want to do another one next year.

Q: What are the biggest  challenges involved in holding events like these? What has been the biggest benefit?
Val:
The last month or two leading up to the event is always crazy. Really really crazy. It’s a challenge to make sure everything gets done while still working full time and still finding time for sleep.

The biggest benefit has been the people I’ve met. Whether it’s someone who works down the street, or someone who lives across the ocean. I’ve made some great friends through doing events I otherwise would never have known.

Jason:
The hardest part is finding people to speak! Luckily, Refresh covers a lot of different topics, so we have a bigger pool to choose from. But it’s hard convincing people to get in front of a group. Also – we’re lucky that we don’t have the attendance of Refresh DC or Miami – but if we keep growing, we may run into some problems finding places to host the events. So far so good though!

Like Val, the biggest benefit is the people I have met and the friends we have made. We’ve met some really cool people.

Q:How has your involvement in the Pittsburgh web community effected your work (design-wise and career-wise)? Your lives?

Val:
Well, I have my job because of the community. I showed up to a PittMFUG (Pittsburgh Adobe Flash User Group – pittmfug.org) meeting three days after moving to Pittsburgh. It turned out the company the hosted the meeting was looking for some freelance help. I started there as a freelancer and they hired me three months later.

On the non-work side, it’s made the community more real. It’s one thing to talk to folks on twitter and IM, or read their blogs. But it’s entirely different when you’ve gotten the chance to meet those people in person at the various user group meetings. Even with all the social networking tools out there, there’s nothing like actually getting to talk to other folks in the community face-to-face.

Jason:
Val says that it forces me to be more social – which is a good thing :)

Work-wise, it’s nice for the networking. It’s nice to help other people connect and find jobs or other people with their same interests. It’s also good for me – there are a lot of professional opportunities available to me that normally wouldn’t. (And it’s a lot easier to find freelance work too!)

Q:Being that I have some event-planning experience I especially appreciate the fact that you all are able to pull off high-quality events that feel intimate. Can you give some  tips on how to achieve this atmosphere and also some more general tips on how to jump start a community in your own town or city?

Val:
I have to give the Pittsburgh interactive community and our amazing attendees a lot of credit for the friendly intimate feel of the events. Most people in the community are really willing to share and are super friendly, so that’s a big help.

The fact that we aren’t some corporation behind the event helps too. We’re just a couple of people in the community putting on events for the community. I like to think that shows through in our events.

Starting a community takes a lot of work and persistence. Starting with a user group is a good first step. You don’t have to be the manager or originator of the group to make a difference. Just get involved and do what you can.

Jason:
I try to think what I would expect from an event – and make it as close as possible. I don’t want anyone to leave thinking that they didn’t get anything out of it. For Refresh Pittsburgh events – I try to keep it mixed up a bit so no one feels left out. A typical night may have 2 presentations – one of programming and one on design.

Q: How do you find the time? What do you do when you all aren’t making websites or planning web events?

Val:
As far as non-web related things, I like to go print at AIR (Artist Image Resource) as often as I can, and I volunteer in the studio at the Warhol Museum some weekends. Like Jason said, I like doing this stuff, so that makes it easier to find time for it.

Jason:
The only reason I have the time is because it sort of *is* my hobby. It’s fun and interesting for me to do these things, so it’s not too much of a problem. The only time it becomes a burden is during the playoffs and I am busy watching the Penguins win the Stanley Cup (which is why there are more events in DC and Philly around theses times!)

Outside of the internets I’m spending money on records and reading books and hanging out with Val and getting bossed around by the two cats and puppy. Or at a penguin game.

Q:Are you guys looking to grow these events? Where do you see the future of these events heading? Are these events strictly targeted to locals or are you hoping to draw in regional or national crowds?

Val:

We’re definitely looking to grow the events, I think that’s a natural evolution for them. Flashpitt 09 is already on track to be bigger than Flashpitt 08 attendance-wise, and we expanded the schedule this year too. I don’t want it to get too big though. I think the small conferences are the ones you can get the most out of and I don’t want to lose that.

The geographical range of attendees depends on the event. Flashpitt definitely draws a national crowd, but the majority of attendees are from PA or neighbouring States. Web Design Day, on the other hand, is more specifically about the Pittsburgh region, so the attendees are more geographically focused around Pittsburgh.

Jason:
I agree with everything Val said. Flashpitt is more of a large event. Web Design Day is more of a local thing, but I expect to make a few changes for next year. I try to keep the attendance limited to WDD simply to keep it a more intimate event. I want people to not only come to the event but also be able to interact and meet the speakers – and I still want to keep the focus on Pittsburgh folks.

One thing Val and I want to do more of is 1 or 2 workshops throughout the year – plus I would still like to do my one-shot speaker series once in a while too. One thing at a time though!

Q: What is it like being a web industry couple? Where do your skills differ and how do your expertise overlap? Do you have any tips for other couples who are both active in the web industry and community?

Val:
We get to do things like debate JavaScript vs. Flash over dinner. Maybe that’s too geeky for some people, though. The downside is that we work too much.

I work more on the design and Flash side of things, and Jason is more on the front-end code and JavaScript side of things. So we don’t overlap a ton, but just enough to have those geeky dinner conversations.

Tips: get out and do non-web stuff too! Oh, and adopt a cat or dog. Pets are amazingly good at reminding you to take some time away from the computer. Plus they’re cute and keep your lap warm when you’re up late designing or coding to meet a crazy deadline.

Jason:
I like that I never ever have to learn how to do anything in Flash because that’s what Val does. It’s also great being married to someone who values the cost of a high speed internet line as much as I do. The pets are good too, because they remind us to get away from the computers once in a while.

Q: What are the qualities of a great web presentation? Each of you name one talk you have seen at an event (that you all did not organize) that left a great impression on you.

Val:
The one thing that always makes the difference when watching a presentation is how much passion the speaker has for the topic. You can just tell if the person is really into what they’re talking about and if it’s something they’re really passionate about that totally rubs off on the audience.

Picking just one presentation is tough, but I’m going to go with Tali Krakowsky’s Streaming Stories talk at Flashbelt back in June. She showed some amazing examples of projects where the environment was the interface and had super insightful commentary about them. That’s what really made the presentation for me.

Two honorable mentions: Jer Thorp and Seb Lee-Delise are two other speakers who I was really impressed with when I caught their sessions this year. (I’m really excited to be bringing them and the rest of the folks on our speaker list to Flashpitt this year!)

Jason:
Dan Cederholm at AEA Boston was amazing. I’ve found him to be a not only a great speaker – but a great writer too. He’s just a natural at it. He’s a great teacher and he mixes it with a good deal of humor and other insights as well. Plus when he talks, he talks like a regular guy – it’s almost like he’s *not* giving a presentation, but just hanging out and talking to you.

I’m also a huge fan of both Geoff Barnes and you, Samantha. When you two are hitting up the larger speaker circuits I can be like “I saw em back when they first started!”. <– I totally agree {Val}

Posters are a unique beast to design because of how users interact with them. Unlike a website or a book, there is little physical interaction with a poster and generally a user will view it from a distance and only take a limited time to digest the information presented. Posters walk the fine line between art and design. While they still need to communicate a message clearly, they are afforded the luxury of luring the viewer in through nontraditional tactics.

Working for the US Army’s webteam I had a very rare opportunity to design a poster that celebrated the Army’s 230th Birthday and Flag day which were both on June 14th 2005. My concept was to create a large American flag which was typographically made up of all the army engagements up until the day the poster was released. While my final design was mangled by inter-department bureaucracy and printed as a logo choked,  franken-design-mess the project gave me the opportunity to research the history of poster design for the United States Military & government.

My original concept with a detail of the type in the flag:

In doing research for this project I took inspiration from posters during the era of WWI and WWII. At that time poster design was  an essential means of communication for recruiting soldiers and for motivating the American population. While doing my research I found the  WPA poster collection online at the Library of Congress which I wrote about in this previous blog post. I highly recommend you check it out, the design is phenomenal.

After getting pretty stoked on the WPA era design I discovered the work of  Michael Schwab in a highly unlikely place.. the train station. A modern day designer Schwab puts a retro twist on many of his subjects. I love his work so much, I purchased his Amtrak series of posters… which are still in tubes under my bed (because i can’t decide how I want to frame them).

One of my favorite types of posters to both have and create are gig posters. A few years ago Jim Jones (my partner in crime and design) and I decided to join forces and create a couple for a friend’s band in Richmond Virginia. While its hard to not be influenced by other kinds of gig posters, the piece we did for Existor was mostly influenced by their trippy jazz influenced music.

Poster designed by me and Jim Jones:

While I love ALL kinds of gig posters I was first really turned on to the genre by the work of Bonnie MacLean. Yep, this is where my Janis Joplin infatuation really shows through. Bonnie’s organic lines, interesting typography and bold colors look to be the product of some crazy acid trips of the 60s,but according to Bonnie that is not the case. When I look at Bonnie’s work I see a  heavy influence from the work of Alphonse Mucha and Privat Livemont.

When it comes to modern day gig posters there are just so many amazing designers out there I can’t feature them all. I have recently snagged a couple in my little snapper gallery that I particularly like including:

For More Great Poster Design Check out:

http://www.thesmallstakes.com
http://www.aestheticapparatus.com
https://www.theheadsofstate.com
http://www.eljefedesign.com
http://www.methanestudios.com

For a great history of early poster design check out:
http://www.designhistory.org/posters.html

If you want to keep up with all sorts of work that inspires me subscribe to my Inspiration Feed!

Or check out my Ember Account (formerly Quicksnapper)

A few years ago, my best friend began considering this very possibility. Keri, who I have known since the 6th grade, decided that she wanted to drop everything and change her life to pursue a design career. Keri has always been interested in design, we became good friends because we were both on the staff of our middle school yearbook and later took art classes together in High School. While other friends have come and gone, Keri and I have always shared the bond of appreciating creativity, design, making things, and art.

{Keri & I ~1994}

In college Keri fell in love with Spanish and chose a major in it, graduated and got a pretty good job in Richmond Virginia making good money. As an Int’l Customer Service Rep. for Alcoa Inc (thats Reynolds wrap, ya’ll) she managed client relations with customers all over the world exercising her proficiency in spanish. But one day it hit Keri that this is was not the career path she wanted, and began the long journey of leaving her well-paying job, adorable little house, and the awesome town of Richmond (can I get a hell yeah for the fan?) to move to DC and attend the Art Institute of Washington DC.

Something I have noticed about students who decide to go back to school for a career change is… they don’t f*ck around. They realize the importance of building a great portfolio and leverage their experience and maturity to buckle down and crank out great work. They are fast, efficient, interested, and mature designers. Marry all of that with a proficiency in Spanish and you have Keri.

Keri recently graduated from the Art Institute and I am really proud of her. The courage and tenacity it takes to go back to school and seek a new job in a new career path during these economic times is pretty amazing to me.
I encourage you all to please check out her work, reach out with any leads or feedback, connect on LinkedIn, and welcome Keri to the design community. After all this hard work she is excited to get started doing EVEN MORE work, design work. If you know of any entry level design positions in the DC area, please consider contacting her.

Check out Some of Keri’s work here

See Keri’s LinkedIn Profile Here

So, I just wanted to catch you guys up personal and fun stuff, I tend to be spending less time blogging, but not necessarily less time doing designy things… they are just all over the place. If you follow me on twitter you probably see stuff I post pretty often, but they don’t all necessarily come together right here.

I just finished up another wonderful class of excited students at CDIA Boston University. I recently have been teaching Intro to the Design Program, this is both print and web design. The best thing about teaching this class are the fresh perspectives on design and the debates that ensue. In this class I try and talk about everything from how design effected our recent election to the London Olympics logo. As a designer you sometimes take for granted the things you do on a daily basis, but in a class of intro students you are reintroduced to the smallest details of the design industry, and reminded of how very special this profession is.  One day during this particular class a student asked me “where do you get fonts?” It took me a second to catch onto this one…. at first I was like “New and exciting fonts? well.. I read blogs…” and then it hit me “Oh, you mean foundries! Well… wow, there are so many there are….” and in that moment of explanation I rediscover the magic of all those wonderful foundries I love so much. A routine part of my daily lifestyle had become magic again as I got to share all the exciting sites and boutique foundries that I love so much.

Though I haven’t been very good about updating my blog recently, I had an article come out in issue 188 of .net magazine and I currently have a makeover redesign for the current issue of .net that is out in the UK right now (go get it!), and will be out in Practical Web Design Magazine (issue 191) in the US in about a month. I recently posted an article on “CSS Tips for Designer from Designers” with a lot of help from some wonderfully talented friends for the Art Directors Club of Washingtons DC’s Full Bleed Online Magazine ( subscribe to the RSS feed).

I am not the only one who has been busy lately. Some folks I know who have been moving and shaking include my partner and crime, Jim; who started a new gig at a fantastic studio in the DC area, The Orchid; who is playing some badass tunes all up in the DC area, Elliot; who has launched a new site, and my friend Keri (you will see her stuff in an upcoming post); who recently graduated from Art Institute Washington after taking the risk to go back to school to pursue her love of design.

When I am not doing any of that I have been hanging at the beach with my friends and family because the key to creativity is being able to decompress and live a life that inspires creativity. I hope you all find some time to do the same. More posts coming soon.

Also I thought I would share with you some of my more recent favorite tweets:

From Zeldman

From Elliot Muñoz

From Graham

From Val

From Geoff Barnes

Last month Viget’s Design Director, Tom gave a fantastic presentation to our design team on various applications for collecting inspiration (he wrote a marvelous post). This presentation finally kicked my ass into gear on creating a collection of my own. While Evernote was a tempting possibility I joined Elliot Jay Stocks and Patrick Haney who have been using LittleSnapper to keep a visual record of  design that inspire them. With some tips from Tom (@TheTroz) and a fellow Viget designer, Talbs (@talbs) I was quickly on my way to a solid little collection.
There are two factors that make LittleSnapper the solution for me:

It seamlessly integrates into my work flow.

I have the icon in my dock, when I see something I snap it. It provides fields for all the information that makes that “snap” useful to me. There is a field for the web address, description, and descriptive tags. I hardly have to go out of my way to document a really cool piece of design. My only suggestion for improvement here would be a tag suggestion feature… its hard to remember if I am using the tag “Packaging” vs “Package Design” when I am in a hurry.

It has an online gallery component that creates an RSS feed.

While I could set little snapper up to integrate with my Flickr account, personally I want to keep my Flickr for photos and personal design pieces, and have a separate area just for inspirational work of other designers. Having it online is essential for me because I may want to pull it up in a pinch to show clients or students and I would also like to share it with you guys. The fact that an RSS feed is generated adds a whole other component to it that I would like to play with further. Eventually  I would like to pull the RSS feed to my blog to display selected pieces of inspiration.

Two Things I have learned from Creating a Quick Snapper Gallery

Holy Crap, I have a very defined “taste” in design! Yeah, you guys probably know that all ready, but its interesting to see it for myself.

Most of what inspires my online design comes from offline inspiration. Package and poster design is incredibly beautiful.

Check out LittleSnapper and subscribe to my new “Design Inspiration” feed. Or…if you would rather… just mosey on over to my QuickSnapper page.