Wednesday, July 30, 2008

What does your kerning style say about you?


Communication designer, Valérie Madrill, applies graphological interpretations to digitally-typeset text in this intelligent & entertaining graduate project. With academic precision Valérie identifies the psychology of users of differing styles of margins, leading, kerning, tracking and even font choice. 

Widening left margins mean an "obliviousness to economic necessities", while narrowing left & right margins mean a "conflict between fear of people and inability to remain alone" and overlapping lines of text means "sign of mental disorder."

So, what does your typographic style say about you? My small even tracking says I'd make a "good homemaker" while my irregular right margins say I have "unwise thriftness" and "reserve alternating with loquacity." :-)

Check out the whole "Graphology vs Typography" project here.

A few snippets of her project below. Visit her website for the full project and other design treats (my favorite is the rabbit poster): www.valeriemadill.com.



TRACKING


LOWER CASE i
LEGIBILITY

CAPITAL LETTER M


Monday, July 28, 2008

Farm-fresh prints


The summer season is upon us here in NY. That means so many delicious fruits
& vegetables on the farm and at local farmers markets. I have been eating my fill of sweet cherries, green beans, sweet corn and fresh salsa. To celebrate the eating season I've tracked down some of my favorite prints on Etsy that pay tribute to edible seasonal delights and have them here to share with you—even though I'm jealous that some of them come from kinder hardiness zones & longer growing seasons than myself. :-)

*Click on the images for a little more detail.


Hand screen-printed calendar featuring delicious fruits for each month—
you definitely don't need to live in California to appreciate this one.
"Seasonal Fruits of California" $35.00 www.clairenereim.etsy.com


Vividly-colored modern seasonal screenprint from modern manifesto
representing one of the four humors: sanguine.
"4 Humors Screenprint- Sanguine" $16.00 from www.modernmanifesto.etsy.com


Just some of Rigel Stuhmiller's hand-carved block print
reproduction notecards inspired by veggies.
"Vegetable & Fruit Block Notecards" Set of six, $16.00. www.drenculture.etsy.com


Beautifully illustrated limited edition book with original Italian text and English translation.
"The Fruit, Herb and Vegetable of Italy" $180.00 from www.angelaliguori.etsy.com


Fun retro-flavored letterpress poster with positive message for kids. :-)
"Eat Your Peas" $45.00 from www.pantrypressinc.etsy.com


Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Three Red Hens giveaway on This Old Hen House Blog


Three Red Hens is excited to be featured on a fellow poultry-lover's blog: This Old Hen House's today. You can also enter to win a set of my farmy cards. :-) Click here to read the interview and enter to win.

Field Trip! A little inspiration for me and hopefully for you

I take so many photos for work, but it seems like I never get an opportunity to take them for myself! For some reason NYC cityscapes just don't do it for me. My husband finally took me to the Bronx Zoo yesterday and amongst the hordes of kids I was able to snap a few good shots. Unfortunately my memory card is mostly full of blurry monkey pics but these animals were able to stay still for long enough... Getting out and about with camera in hand gives me so much inspiration for new work. I hope these pictures will brighten your day too!




Not the pinkest flamingo in the pond, but the closest.

Endangered/rare kingfisher.

Lemur in the Madagascar exhibit.



Penguin feeding time! I think I was more excited about this than the kids in attendance.

Another lemur in the Madagascar exhibit.

Siberian tiger at Tiger Mountain. For some reason the zoo was misting in the viewing area. I had to get out of there quickly before my hair exploded.



A dwarf mongoose—one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I have a sneaking suspicion they bite, though.


Kookaburra. A very funny looking bird.



Where do you go to find inspiration?
Any recommendations in the NY area?