cmyk embroidery 5:59 PM

i came across evelin kasikov's cmyk embroidery recently & was amazed by it. as someone who does a bit of hand embroidery myself [particularly on paper materials—it's a very different process from cloth, really!], i fell in love with the precision of her work & the wonderful combination of an impersonal computerized method with a very traditional, personal, & expressive medium.

from her site:

CMYK embroidery is a hand-made printing process, based on computer generated halftone screens.
Images are halftoned according to conventional screen angles: Cyan 105, Magenta 75, Yellow 90 and Black 45. Dot screens are the transformed into cross-stitch screens, printed on paper and marked for embroidery. I use cotton threads in CMYK colours; the intensity of colour depends on the number of strands used. The final outcome is a printed page created by hand.

she seems to do much of her work now using this hand-stitched cmyk work. i'm thinking i might try a piece or two myself!

color theories 4:48 PM

[ed. note: you might think that being home sick would be an excellent time to get caught up on things like blog posts, like i did! unfortunately you'd be wrong. but i am going to try my best to be coherent through all this & post some things that have been in draft mode for some time.]

in our first class, we were asked to write a little about our relationship with color. i've been thinking about this for a while, unsure of how to answer. i don't have any anecdotes about my childhood & how that relates to color, really, aside from that i can't remember ever having a favorite color. i do remember a strong fondness for the 'bold' marker set, with its gem-tone blues & purples & magentas, its rich mustards & greens. but what i liked most about them was that they worked together, all of them, no matter how you used them.

this, i suppose, is a better explanation of my feelings toward color. i try not to play favorites, though i tend to be drawn to those rich, royal tones still. what interests me more is the way colors interact with each other. a color that i might dislike in one context is bound to be the perfect thing in a different context.

so, perhaps that's my answer. my views on color are pretty much the same as my views on everything else: context is almost always the most important consideration.

font aid iv: coming together 1:55 PM

[my little ampersand]

thanks to the magic of twitter, i found out about font aid iv, a project put together by the society of typographic aficionados, or sota. as you can guess from the name of the project, it's a fundraiser that they've organized a few times in the past, most notably in response to the south asian tsunami [the results of which can be found here, at myfonts].

for font aid iv, the proceeds of which are to go towards expediting relief efforts in haiti, typographers [& designers, & artists, & anyone who wants to participate] have been asked to create an ampersand icon for use in a collaborative typeface. my contribution to the project is above.

i don't usually get involved with fundraisers or political events in general. i feel like i'd rather help on my own than go through anyone else. but there are some times when you can't help on your own, & being part of a larger group is what will help most. & with a project like this, i feel better - donating a little time & work instead of funds [like that weird setup where you can donate $10 from a text? but it shows up as a cell phone charge? so it's not tax-deductible, but the cell phone companies likely get those tax deductions?].

what i mean to say is: it's a quick project; it's for a good cause; i'm glad i made a little ampersand & sent it off into the world. maybe you should too.

crayola's law 3:38 PM

this may be showing my age, but i remember watching this years ago & feeling very excited afterward, coloring with my own box of crayons. for many of us, i imagine crayons [crayola or otherwise] are our first foray into experimenting with color—likely because they're easy to carry around, generally don't make much of a mess, and are easy for little hands to hold and control.

but like everything else, over time, things change. crayola packaging got a fresh update within the last few years. & this is to say nothing of the crayons themselves.



i came across this article the other day that illustrates what has now been dubbed "crayola's law"—namely, that the number of crayola colors doubles every 28 years. but there are other interesting things to note, too, like how many shades of red and purple there are, especially as compared to the small blue-green range.

other things to think about: is the increase of crayola colors destined to be exponential, or is there a limit to the number [not only w/r/t space in a box, i mean]? do the increases in certain shades correspond with demographics or higher sales in certain geographic locations? perhaps most importantly, will the large range of color choices in any given box of crayola crayons change the way children experience and relate to color?

repurposing 11:33 PM

well all right.

while this blog had been created for use in a digital design class i was taking, i have decided to turn it into a multipurpose design / art-work blog. i feel this is a good idea. so i will continue to write here a little for myself as well as for a new class i am taking on color theory! i am excited about this, the future.

we've been assigned a few small projects involving greyscale value charts. one of these is to be done in acrylic paint.

i can't remember the last time i used paints like this. maybe in middle school? high school? it was a long time ago & i was still living in my parents' house, for sure. i've worked a little in watercolor here & there but this was a throwback to something else. here's hoping i haven't messed the whole thing up. & by the whole thing i mean not only my project but also the white carpeting in my apartment.

a love letter 11:32 PM

John Gall, I love you.

on the best book cover designs of the oughts 9:53 PM

For a bibliophile like me, the Book Cover Archive is a frequently-visited site (and somewhere I find I lose hours clicking through). There are some real gems in there—along with some more questionable choices—but it’s always great for inspiration and seeing what’s out there.

The creators of the site maintain a blog about the Archive, and they recently posted a wonderful piece about their top ten covers of the 2000s (and runners-up!). Some highlights:

From 2001: A General Theory of Love. Design by John Gall; Photo by Boris Schmalenberger

From 2008: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Design by David Pearson

The design chosen for the best of 2009 is by far one of my personal favorite book designs for a book I can’t say enough wonderful things about. I won’t spoil it here—go check those links!—but it’s definitely worth picking up & reading.