fashion x design x culture x travel x food
From the monthly archives:
I’m off to Melbourne for a short break. I’m really looking forward to tiny cupcakes, swapmeets, seductive bars, lanes, San Churro, shimmering lights and splendid vintage finds. Oh and lounge access (thanks Willy). I’m sure I won’t be able to keep quiet while over there… but in the meantime; I wish you a totally delightful, mind-blowing, soul-nuturing and ass-shaking weekend!
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While grappling with insomnia the other night, I started reading D-Listed, as I often do when my brain just wants some cud to chew on. And that’s when I saw them…
How cool are they? Nothing like a plushie animal head on your wrist. The moose is a bit extravagant though. Also, LOOK WHAT THE GIRLS ARE WEARING. (No, not the watches. The clothes. I swear I saw these kids down at the club last week.)
All this retro goodness got me thinking about my favourite toy commercials from when I was kid.
First up is Skip-It , Skiiiiiiip-It! I had a pink one, it was totally gnarly. I could try and beat my very best score for hours – making my siblings and pet rabbit watch me. Um, tiny warning – if you watch this it may take hours to purge the jingle from your brain.
Connect 4: I never owned this, save a crappy travel version. All the pieces were the size of fingernails and I’m sure my sister ate some. This makes me very sad. Perhaps I’ll have to invest in a Connect 4 set for my next drinking and games night!
And finally: I’ve mentioned the AWESOMENESS of Dr. Dreadful’s Labs before… now I’ve hunted down the ad.
I want to scoop sugar sludge out of a skull. Now.
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To be honest, while I’ve been writing Code For Something for a over a year now, my focus has been purely on content. It’s a very uninspiring design history, and I’ve put little effort into it.
That’s where the lovely Emma comes in! We are working via email, having face to face discussions and participating in the occasional bout of shoe shopping.
My brief: to develop an identity for Code For Something (both for the web and is flexible enough to fit with other projects in the future) that is distinctive, feels cool and works with the content. Layout options will also be explored.
We kicked the project off by having a look at Code For Something’s previous and current incarnations:
Left. CFS v1.5 – veryplaintxt theme with a little bit of flair injected through the repetition of the button device.
Right. CFS v2.0 – Thesis theme. The header features hand written type, while the rest of the site is mostly text, set in Georgia.
Emma reviewed the current look and feel of my site, commenting: “Somehow the type doesn’t quite fit the content you are attracted to and therefore have images of on your page.” She said it felt disconnected, but on the bright side, it was an opportunity to vamp it up once more - “One can never have enough makeovers!”
To start with, Emma sent me a wee task:
“Compile a moodboard: of your key images online + what you like + anything random you are attracted to. Then I’ll have a crystal clear idea of your aesthetic and I can whip up something tasty!”
A moodboard is a collection of imagery that designers use as inspiration before starting design work. A moodboard can include: images of designs we like, photographs of similar products, packaging examples, illustrations, colours, textures and descriptive words.
I got to work and eventually sent Emma a page jammed with shiny pretty things I’d picked up trawling around the internet:
Little did I know there was some sense to be made of my madness! From my board Emma deduced that I liked:
(As a little bit of entertainment, and because I really want this identity to be a reflection of my personal style, we cross-referenced these conclusions with the outfit I was wearing. My favourite Crystal Castles t-shirt, violet Uniqlo skinny jeans, safari ankle boots; accessorised with white Ray Ban specs and a grey scarf printed with an over sized hounds tooth pattern. It’s reality – I really do like hard geometric edges with soft colours.)
Based on the information at hand and moodboard, Emma sent me back 3 pages with comments as a reverse brief.
A reverse brief comes from your design partner, and can take the form of a written statement, a moodboard or rough sketches, to confirm the design direction and offer initial thoughts on the design problem.
Page 1. Samples of cool geometric patterns. Could become little sign-off motifs, house headings, create a header etc.
Page 2. “I think to contrast the sanserif type that would be predominant, something really considered would work for the logo. I love the ‘g’. We could create a CFS emblem using those 3 letters, as well as an extended Code For Something.”
Page 3. Colour examples, as mentioned above. Plus cool gradients.
These boards were spot on, and I completely agreed with Emma’s emblem suggestion. I also really liked the flexible idea of geometric shapes – they could extend to web elements such as favicons, dividers and sign offs. What a champ!
Phew. After all that important up front stuff, Emma is heading off into her bat cave for a bit to make some magic happen – and develop a colour palette. She will then show me the results of her alchemy for feedback – I can’t wait to see it! Another thing I’m looking forward to in the near future: Emma will be sharing some design tips. Hurrah!
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Mmm – Louis Vuitton watermelon slice, YSL caramel and Chanel luscious lilac lollipops. Photographer Massimo Gammacurta conjured up these little treats. I find his ‘Scent of Fashion’ photographs for Grazia UK very clever too! Over at Feature Shoot there is a brief interview with Massimo that explores his background and inspirations.
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Currently I’m working with a designer to remodel this blog from top to toe – which is thrilling step to take in a little blog’s life.
Why work with a designer? To put it simply, they make things not only look better (whether that’s more professional, fresher or friendlier) – but they make things work better. Logically, if things both look and work better, you’ll be able to deliver your message even more clearly… and that’s the aim of the game!
Of course, it can be a scary prospect to work with a designer if you don’t know the various stages or aren’t too sure of the lingo. While I work with designers every day (they’re a beautiful breed) – I realise many people haven’t had the same joy.
That’s why over the next few weeks I’ll be taking this opportunity to take you step by step through the design process and give you an insight as to what it’s like to work with a graphic designer – from a client’s point of view.
I’ll be working with my friend, and frequent collaborator, Emma Kaniuk. She has a particularly genius approach to typography, publication design and small identities.
Aside from being an awesome designer, Emma is an accomplished foodie and frequent globetrotter!
Stay tuned as we take this beast on and give it a fresh new look.
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A lot has gone on in the last week. To be honest it’s been a total watershed, which I will tell you all about very soon…
However, here are some of the things I got up to: Chuckled at Dai Henwood at the comedy festival, attended going away drinks for a friend, stopped in at a party for Serato’s cool White Label, had a catch up with the Alt Albion crew in a quasi-English pub… and wrote, wrote, wrote.
After such a whirlwind week, I did what any exhausted girl would do; I went home. Home is to go north, to Omapere, a minuscule hamlet cradled in the arms of the Hokianga Harbour.
It was bliss – as you can see from all the photos in my Hokianga Flickr set. The last picture is from my Gran’s house… now you can you see where the whole spoon thing stemmed from!
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Here’s some more sweet Korean stationery for you all to lust over. Millimeter/Milligram aka MM-MG makes cards, card holders, bags, pen and other lifestyle accessories, all with quirky, sunny messages.
There are a lot of products to choose from on the site (and ooh yes, they ship internationally, but I managed to narrow it down to a few favourites:
As they say: “We create the good quality of product, which has beautiful stories”. It’s everyday sunshine!
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Listening to the Summer Song is like walking into an air conditioned convenience store after schlepping around town for hours in the sun. You don’t buy anything, you merely walk around the shelves browsing until your skin stings from the icy artificial temperature. The video kind of feels the same way.
Lucky Northern Hemisphere friends, going into summer, this is for you.
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My husband gave me a wonderful 29th birthday gift — 52 tiny red envelopes with a handwritten love note and a bit of cash in each, just enough to run across the street to the flower stand and make a bouquet, once a week.
Abigail is documenting her glorious year of flowers in a Flickr set. What a sweet gift! It would be my idea of heaven, even if I did only buy hydrangeas and lilies.
Other good years – a year of cupcakes, cookies, shaped and polished nails, a massage a month, a different magazine a month or a bottle of wine a week. Bliss. What would you love to have, little and often, that you wouldn’t normally get for yourself?
[via Grow Fonder; which is a neat little blog - take a peep!]
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I have declared Wednesdays are for written inspiration. Today at lunchtime I plan to wander to my nearest bookstore (the glorious Unity on Auckland’s High Street) and purchase myself one fresh novel. Sadly I probably won’t get into it till next week, but it will be good to have something new to read on the flight to Melbourne.
In the mean time here are some gratuitous images of my favourite word wranglers:
- Haruki Murakami. I wish I could read Japanese and read his stories in his native tongue. What, just, exactly is lost in translation?
- Hunter S. Thompson.
- JT Leroy (imagined imagery and included mostly because I adore the story of the fraud). Have you read the sordid tale?
- James K. Baxter, New Zealand’s finest poet.
- Joyce Carol Oates (and Christobelle).
- Richard Feynman, physicist. His books are hilarious.
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Ratatat played a really good show in Auckland on Wednesday night. I’m writing a proper review, the draft is open on my desktop right now. Mangled guitars, meaty basslines and wild cats. Yeow!
It seems I actually made it out every night this week. Saturday evening I went to see Lady Gaga and the Pussy Cat Dolls play at Vector Arena. Gaga rocked it in every way – from her costumes to her soapy little speaking voice. Ah, there’s nothing like pure pop silliness to put you in a good mood. Such a good mood, the photos are not suitable for public consumption! I digress. Over to you, my lovelies; have you been to any good shows recently?
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Code For Something by Amber Parkin is a stylish & witty commentary on fashion, design, food, travel and culture. Make yourself at home.
“Style is the dress of thoughts”
– Lord Chesterfield
CFS wants to know what you love/hate/think - email amber@codeforsomething.com
