parlato design, los angeles :: branding | graphic design | marketing strategy

friday fun

hp — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:00:52 +0000

Experience Human Flight from Betty Wants In on Vimeo.

creative inspiration

hp — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:00:30 +0000

valentines!!!!

louise fili love stamp, image: louise fili

let’s just get this out of the way: designer, letterer & typographer extraordinaire, louise fili, has designed the latest LOVE stamp for the post office, and if you haven’t had a run-in worthy of swearing them off lately [which is unfortunately hard to come by], stock up on these, because they’re AMAZING!!!

neenah paper valentines

school-style valentines

…and speaking of the love season, it’s the LAST WEEK to order my valentines benefiting , featured this week on neenah paper’s against the grain blog. it’s time to get serious about supplying yourself with old-school fun and compliment bombs away! pick up your pack before friday, february 10!

heart-related art

spencer harrison, image: fudgegraphics.com

when i saw this poster in a selection of playful typography on fudgegraphics.com, i thought of valentines, but the post is full of fantastic digital and illustrated [and digitally-illustrated] typography. but this is easily one of my favorites anyway.

happy valentine’s day!

creative inspiration

hp — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:00:27 +0000

anyone from generation x should be intimately familiar with the pbs logo from all the sesame street we watched. just thinking about going through the design process with several somewhat-mundane revisions and client requests puts a humorous spin on it, for designers anyway.

logos

new york times logo, image: logodesignlove.com

this is a lovely idea for anyone who has the opportunity to do some environmental design for their clients–how about growing a logo with colorful indigenous plants? these succulents would be perfect here in southern california.

branding

aetna rebrand, image: underconsideration.com

admittedly, i have trouble getting excited about healthcare branding, but this redesign of the aetna brand is some really great work by siegel+gale, and it’s one of the few times i absolutely agree with the folks at brand new. see the whole profile at underconsideration.com.

hiring a designer is just one piece of the branding puzzle, but to launch a good brand, the business leaders themselves would do themselves a favor to spend some time brand-thinking. here are the 5 basic building blocks for branding your startup from fastcodesign.com.

compliment bombs: just one great use of school-style valentines

hp — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:30:02 +0000

compliment-bomb your friends with a gaggle of valentines!

probably the only weapons of mass appreciation you can get away with sending through the US mail are compliment bombs! why spread all your valentines around if you really want to say a bunch of nice things to one person? shower them with niceness, write a unique sentiment on each card in my school-style valentine packs benefitting dayna stephens and mail it, hide it in a sure-to-find place or hand-deliver to your most valuable targets.

this idea came about when my super-awesome friend, colleen, decided to sponsor a pack of valentines with the instructions that i should donate them to some lucky person who would use them. and that’s a real nice idea, but i said NO WAY! because colleen is one of my favorite people, and i’m not sure if she knows the profound effect she has on everyone around her. so i thought, what if i just write all her valentines back to her and surprise her with them [i hope she gets them before she reads this post]. beyond making something nice for a friend, it’s a great exercise to list all the things you’re grateful for—even in just one person. imagine the connectedness you can create by identifying your gratitude for everyone you know!

so skip the flowers [plant seeds instead and enjoy them all year], skip the chocolates [unless it's that dark chocolate with sea salt caramel bar from trader joes, i'll take that any day], click on the BUY button below and get started on building your very own homemade BOMBS! of love, that is. i don’t stand to make a penny here, once i pay the state and the post office, all the profits go to help dayna stephens. we’re in the home stretch, and if we sell them out, i’ll double your money in a matching donation! let’s do it!

a sunny video for a warm LA winter

hp — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:30:06 +0000

A Year of Sun with Mr. Persol – HD from Yuki 7 on Vimeo.

thanks, thefoxisblack.com for the link and writeup!

creative inspiration

hp — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:52 +0000

Micro Macro from Encyclopedia Pictura on Vimeo.

super-cute explanation of the universe done in food! i especially like the polar caps in shredded mozzarella.

branding

rebranding teachers, image: hyperakt

a beautiful rebranding of teachers by hyperakt re-imagines the inspiration of education and applies it to just about every civic touchpoint conceivable. great work!

products

cuppow, image: cuppow.com

i saw this innovative item on 3 blogs in one week, and it first caught my eye for the retro-style packaging. however, i have several friends who have given up on the travel bottle craze and gone luddite, preferring to cart their beverages around in mason jars with canning lids. i think this is great, except for my desire to frequently sip. then i saw this cuppow thing and love that it makes a sippy cup out of jars. now the question is, can i get it in glass instead of any type of plastic [though i see it's bpa-free and recyclable]. see the writeup and video at fastcodesign.com

breakfast salad

hp — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:25 +0000

breakfast salad

i was recently in la jolla and had brunch at cody’s where i tried this amazing idea: a breakfast salad. theirs was a mix of baby field greens dressed in a mild vinaigrette, topped with goat cheese crumbles and poached eggs. they poached the eggs freeform, and despite having an egg poacher, i think i prefer the freeform method, for the delicate texture, for the ability to see just how much the yolks are cooking, and for the fact that the eggs look like formative solar systems when they’re done. i have been thinking about the breakfast salad i had for nearly 2 weeks, so i thought i’d try to recreate it with baby spinach and a lemon-dijon-maple dressing.

breakfast salad serves 1
2 eggs
1 tbsp vinegar
1 large handful of baby greens
1 oz goat cheese, crumbled
salt & pepper to taste

dressing:
1 tb dijon mustard
juice of 1 lemon [zest optional]
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp oil [try a flavored oil like sesame or garlic]

heat a pan of water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar over medium heat until simmering. swirl the water into a whirlpool and crack eggs, gently dropping them into the water. poach to desired consistency, and set aside on a plate when done.

place all dressing ingredients in a bottle and shake well to mix.

place the field greens in a tossing bowl, pour 1-2 tablespoons of dressing over them, and toss to coat. transfer to a serving bowl and top with the poached eggs. add crumbled goat cheese, and season with salt & pepper to taste.

2 weeks to spread the love for dayna!

hp — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:40:46 +0000

all your amazing help has sold HALF the valentines with TWO WEEKS to go!

in case you haven’t heard, i’m selling my arsenal of valentines to spread the love for dayna stephens. we set out with a goal to sell 150 packs of valentines in 5 weeks, and so many of you advance-planner, get-aheaders bought them an astounding month in advance! now it’s time to help our sometimes-procrastinatey friends jump off the fence and into action, because the real fun begins when i double your money after we sell out! remind everyone you know that it’s FESTIVE to hand out cute cards with nice compliments, it’s FUN to pretend your a kid again, and it’s AWESOME to help a good friend in the process.

here’s where we’re at:

we have 75 packs of valentines to sell!
we have 14 days until february 10 to sell them!
that’s a mere 5 packs per day at 5 bucks each! we can do it!
keep spreading the word, link to this post or to the parlato design studio store!
use those sociable icons below to share it to your favorite social networks!
fight the healthcare system with love—do it for dayna!

spreading the love for dayna stephens

hp — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:09:47 +0000

sure, you’ve seen these before—but this year i’m adding a special twist to the otherwise-consumerist practice we call valentine’s day. see, instead of trying to make you buy a dozen roses or chocolates, i’m suggesting you use your much-more-meaningful heartfelt words to tell your friends, family, co-workers and all-around-favorite people how awesome they are on sustainably-printed, environmentally-friendly cards. and once i sell them all, instead of keeping the money, i’m sending it over to help dayna stephens in his efforts to raise awareness about testing as a kidney donor, and in support of his own operation and medical care. help me sell them all, and i’ll double your money with a matching donation of my own.

so, why would i do this besides the fact that dayna is a fantastic guy who needs a kidney? well, if you’re a freelancer or otherwise self-employed individual, you know that one of the biggest issues we face is affordable healthcare. with a pre-existing condition, dayna’s choices are limited, funding is not all-inclusive, and qualifications to get that funding are rather exacting. as a witness to the ongoing folley we call healthcare in this country, i find it outrageous that a sick person should accept the possibility of being a casualty to a system that could otherwise help him save for so many rules and tricks and hoops to jump through. so, he’s doing what he can, following the rules and jumping through the hoops, and what we’re doing is helping with the remaining balance.

so, what is $1200 really going to do for someone who needs a kidney? the amount i can raise personally is just a brick in the wall, but there are a few efforts rolling out through the jazz foundation that will help get dayna’s costs covered. stay tuned for more perks and special events that will go toward the efforts of helping dayna. in the meantime, by some valentines!

i like valentines, but i can’t think of how i’d use them. i get it dude, here is a list:

> give them to your kids to fill out and take to school
> pretend your job is as fun as school and fill them out for your co-workers
> write 16 separate compliments to your partner and stick each valentine on a notched chop-stik in a vase to make a compliment bouquet
> make a valentine’s promo of your own and use them as the notecards you send to your own clients
> write nice notes to your family or co-workers and hide them in drawers, cabinets, on shelves and in books
> use them as an opportunity to put a little hello in your neighbor’s mailboxes
> write nice notes to your family and construct a valentine mobile with sticks and string
> donate them to a school or after-school program for a fun kid activity
> write your future self compliments and words of encouragement and read them whenever you need to
> stick them on your mirrors so you can remind yourself that you rock and to stay awesome!

got it? time to get awesome!

creative inspiration

hp — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:38:05 +0000

this is a fascinating little ipad app for people with repetitive stress in their hands. i’d love to know how it works, but i have neither the affliction nor an ipad. see the full writeup at fastcodesign.com

branding

tunnelbravo, branding for north / image: designworklife.com

i love this branding work for north, a new restaurant in arcadia, arizona, by tunnelbravo, featured on designworklife.com. they’ve combined a rustic bistro / artisan foods feel into a lovely 2-color pop of modernized overprints, and even made a custom typeface for them from a vintage typewriter. see the whole brand showcase on the tunnelbravo site.

echo park

this is super-sweet: there’s an anonymous love letter drop box on sunset blvd right at laveta terrace. write whatever you like, drop it in the box, and it will eventually appear on the echo park love letters blog.