Be yourself. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll save it for another time.
Kat Creech, wedding + event planner extraordinaire, is such a joy! I’ve worked with her and her fab team many times to design wedding invitations, so I’ve seen first hand the passion she brings to each and every event she plans. When she told me it was time to bring her own brand to the next level, we both said “yellow” at the same time. It just fits. Yellow is optimistic, bright, exuberant, clear and warm all at the same time … just like Kat.
When she showed me her signature, I just knew we had to incorporate it into the logo. Its bold, cheerful and fresh look is just the message we were going for. Kat loved her look so much she decided to throw a rebranding party! I could hear the champagne popping all the way from Houston, Texas. Love that!!!
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Father’s Day is June 16th — that’s just around the corner. Time to dig up a sweet photo (or a totally embarrassing one … your choice) and send dear old Daddy a Father’s Day card! It’s fun and easy to create a personalized Father’s Day card at Cardstore. I love that you can upload pics to Cardstore directly from your Facebook account and personalize the card with your own signature, and Cardstore will mail the cards directly to your Dad! They even pick up shipping fee with the code: Show Dad Some Love! $2.49 Father’s Day Cards + Free Shipping at Cardstore! Use code: CCG3429, Valid 5/30 through 6/10/13.
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It was a rainy day here at our Charleston studio, but we managed to sneak in a few photos between rain drops of our brand new design. A little bit vintage, a lot pretty … I’m pleased to announce that our new Santa Barbara invitation is now live on Delphine! Inspired by, you guessed it, Santa Barbara, California. It would be great for a fancy barn wedding or rustic ranch wedding, don’t you think? With twinkly lights and sparkly drinks and lace gowns and maybe even some cowboy boots.
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This project was a first for me. Nanna’s boyfriend, Oliver, hired me all the way from Denmark to design a logo for her as a surprise birthday present! I have to say it was a little scary to design something for someone I couldn’t talk to, especially when communication is her field —and, when it boils down, mine, too— but it all worked out great. Nanna loved it (and was completely surprised), I had fun tapping my inner journalist (my old job), and Oliver got loads of brownie points for being an awesome boyfriend.
Nanna is a freelance journalist and communications consultant in Denmark, so the design had to be professional and to the point. I chose a font that has a hint of a pen and a black and green color palette, inspired by vintage typewriters and those dark green office chairs everyone used to have (I still have one at our drafting table).
The logo isn’t her “real” signature, but I can almost hear the scratch of a fountain pen when I look at her name. I threw in the typewriter and pen icons for a touch of whimsey for her social media avatars, but left the business card and note cards clean and simple. It was also fun to design for the standard European business card size, which has a different proportion than American business cards. They’re a little bigger all around, but also more square, which frees up a lot of precious negative space.
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So March totally snuck up on me. Sorry for the lack of posts last month! We were super busy in the studio making some much needed changes to the Delphine website … it now works on mobile devices, yay!!! We also added a few new designs, including Ponderosa, which has been a big hit so far. Thanks to everyone for your support and well wishes as we prep for a super huge wedding season. XO – E.
It was so much fun to design this playful logo for Jany Columbo, a pet sitter (and pet lover) based in Charleston, South Carolina. Taking care of someone else’s pet is serious stuff, but a big part of the job is play, and I wanted that aspect to shine through with the branding. Jany has a bright, cheerful personality and a genuine love of animals, thus the bright colors and fun animal graphics.
The bright, fun color palette was inspired by the outdoors: turquoise sky, green grass, and sunshine yellow. I chose a strong, modern font with a little bit of quirkiness. The bright graphics and bold font choice imply trust and stability, but nothing is too serious looking, since I wanted to stress the importance of play.
We’re still working on some other elements, including a report card for pets and a website, so check back in a few weeks.
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Of all the branding projects I’ve worked on over the last few years, this one is most near and dear to my heart. As any designer can tell you, designing for yourself is nearly impossible. After many starts and stops, crumpled sketches, head banging, hand wringing, and second guessing I’m beyond thrilled to present our new brand, Chromatic & Co.
It’s our newest paper adventure, and the focus is all about color. Inspired by the golden age of advertising, and the trappings of a graphic design studio circa 1959, the brand has a decidedly retro vibe. You can check out the inspiration board we’ve been using at the studio to help guide our new brand on our Project Chromatic board on Pinterest.
Check back soon for snapshots of our new business cards, press kits, and other collateral. Meanwhile, please pay Chromatic & Co. a visit online, and by all means, follow ChromaticCo on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook, too! (Instagram & Vine coming soon).
UPDATE: 5/17/2013: just got word that this logo won a graphic design award from HOW Magazine. Yippee!
Never got around to sending holiday cards? Good news: the Delphine valentine’s day photo card collection for Cardstore is live! Yay! Valentine’s Day (or Love Day, as I like to call it) is just around the corner … where does the time go???
Cardstore has recently added some really cool new features (not to mention a bunch of cards by yours truly), so please hop over there and check them out. Let me know what you think of our new designs.
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This week I’ve been working on something big and exciting … AND on John’s big birthday preparation.
//designs ©Delphine
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Wonderland has been one of our most popular designs lately. I was inspired by Alice in Wonderland when I designed it … a little bit whimsical, a little bit Victorian, a lot charming. This example is shown letterpressed in coral and noisette (nut brown) inks on bright white 100 percent cotton paper, with antique gold envelope liners.
Sneak peek at some new greeting cards we’re working on for one of our licensing partners. It’s always a little weird to work on holiday designs in the thick of summer, but sorta fun, too.
//designs ©Delphine
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Charleston Stitch is an invitation design near and dear to my heart. I designed at the request of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine (my all time favorite magazine … I’ve been a fan since the very first issue), with my once and again hometown of Charleston as the inspiration. This example is shown letterpressed in gorgeous keylime and champagne inks on thick off-white 100 percent cotton paper.
I love the simplicity of these sweet custom “a perfect match” wedding match boxes we did for Lindsay and Derek. It’s the little details that really make the look and feel of an event come together.
Jennifer Price is a pioneer of the industrial-chic look. Her vintage wares, displayed at the oh so fabulous SoLo collective in Solana Beach, California, are carefully curated, swoon-worthy treasures. Dubbed the “Real Dealer,” Jen is the best of the best when it comes to industrial furniture and vintage finds. No doubt the SoLo staff regularly needs to wipe drool off her merchandise, which ranges from vintage factory tables to industrial lighting to awesome Mad Men -esque martini pitchers to vintage signage and educational charts.
When she asked us to design a new look for her business, we knew it had to seem like it had been around forever. Of course letterpress was a natural choice for her business cards, but since she goes through tens of thousands of cards each year we also printed a more economic flat printed version to keep on display in the shop.
Jen’s favorite color, and the color of much of her merchandise, is warm steel grey. We paired it with retro teal, referencing the 1950s office furniture that she loves so well to form her branded color palette. We broke my self-imposed 2 font max per logo to create her crest logo. Of course we used tried and true, been around the block fonts (including THE vintage font of fonts, Futura Bold).
Her new website and blog are full of eye candy (Jen was a professional photographer). If you like the vintage vibe, do yourself a favor and road trip it to her studio. You are in for the ultimate shopping experience.
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