The creator behind one of my favorite graphic design blogs, Graphic Exchange, has some photo prints and stickers for your walls on the site Harmonie Intérieure. I love these images and find myself constantly gravitating towards this derelict yet beautiful and emotive style of design - it’s an especially welcome contrast to the IKEA-esque modern and kitschy styles that are very popular.

I was really inspired by Modern Dog’s approach and outlook on design when they spoke at TypeCon last year. For a design studio so well-known and experienced, they are refreshingly down-to-earth, open, and funny. Not a single self-serving design aphorism for me to quote. 

You might recognize their packaging work for funny products like Dirty Girl and Miso Pretty, and lots of posters from the Northwest music scene. They spoke about their offbeat process behind this particular poster for the Seattle Repertory at the conference - the sweet and serene butterfly image is an imprint of someone’s butt. 

If you like their stuff too, they are commemorating their 20th birthday next month with a brand-new book.

It totally looks like I went out of my way to find today’s very Valentine-y images, but so not the case! Nevertheless I think they are very appropriate for the holiday in very unique ways. This poster by Mia&Jem, another San Francisco design team, is so clever! 

Don’t you wish thought of that too? Redbean has been a design inspiration since I was but a student wishing to go to art school, and now the studio is making cards like the one above to purchase on Etsy. I love how their style perfectly balances spare minimalism and organic ornament, and this card says it all so beautifully and clearly without the fluff and sappiness.

Thought I should spread the word on this project that hits close to home, quite literally. I was up in the Bay Area when the California wildfires hit - though I was thankfully not directedly affected by them, it was devastating to pick up the Oakland paper and see the map of the fires practically surround L.A. county and wonder if we were going to be next.

The So-Cal Fire Poster Project has teamed up with a bunch of talented designers and artists to raise funds for victims of the wildfires by selling limited edition posters like the ones above, done by Modern Dog and Rule29. It’s wonderful to see fellow creatives donate their talents towards a good cause.

One of my new year’s resolutions was to start journaling on paper again - something I haven’t done in probably a decade, seriously - so I was in the market for a good-looking but unfussy notebook. I can’t write in something too pretty. My handwriting is not worthy.

So naturally I gravitated towards the simplicity and refreshing design approach of New York’s Start Here. I think they just get it. Notebooks that can be used and abused and still maintain their aesthetic appeal. They make them in a rainbow of colors, so you don’t have to get the pink one either

I don’t know how I forgot to mention Nick Sherman, who I met at TypeCon back in the summer, where he spoke about his intercut wood typeface project. I loved the results of his deconstructing letters into abstracted art forms. Hope these prints can be purchased in the near future!

I stumbled upon Anahata Katkin’s work while looking for Marie Antoinette and it was love at first sight. These particular pieces are from the pages of the collaborative project Extravagant Liasons. I love the fearless layering of modern forms and vintage embellishments that make for something beyond your standard “pretty” design.

I swear I spent an hour looking at all the silkscreen posters made by The Small Stakes, another TypeCon find. Their work is amazing! I love their type work and use of negative/positive space.

Beautiful Angle was responsible for some of my favorite entries in TypeCon’s Type Gallery, which took place last August in Seattle. This letterpress poster project comes from Tacoma, where Lancy Kagey and Tom Llewellyn, a graphic designer and writer team, handcraft their posters monthly to be distributed around the city. You can purchase Risk Love and more of their posters on their site.