Tiny Emerald Trees... or Something

If you follow any kind of design news, you know that today Pantone decided the the Color of 2013 will be emerald green. I'm not sure why they get to pick but ok. I like green. I like it better than last year's color... tangerine. Bleh.

In honor, I decided to get back to some pattern designing since I've been taking things back to some basics... like spending hours coloring with crayons.

I'm working on a frighteningly long list of sewing projects including a dog coat, a bag and a quilt using up some of the leftover fabric from the wedding and some fabric of my own design that Kevin had printed for me as a surprise. Wish me luck!

Oh Hello Color

Here are some more designs with added color. I'm really not sure why I find this so exciting but every time I've gone back to a black and white design and clicked that little paint bucket tool in Photoshop, I'm thrilled to see the result. It's never quite what I expected. 

I hate these color separately but I love them together. Here's the black and white version. 

I called this one "Flaming Chicken." Here's the black and white original. There are larger versions of both color versions on my Flickr as well. 

Response 6: Summer Colors

So this is really my LAST last post for class. My classmate Jonathan made a post about how much he's looking forward to summer and I have to say, "ME TOO!" 

As I mentioned in the last post, I've recently discovered the wonder of color-izing my old black and white designs in Photoshop. I knew there was a reason I had been saving all these high-resolution scans. Here's one...

Here's the black and white version. I had originally named it "Chlorine," because it reminds me of the way the sunlight hits the bottom of a swimming pool (a very summer-y thought). Here's another one that was originally called "Rivers" but adding the green really made me realize how much it looks like growing grass or uncurling ferns.

Anyways, adding fantastic colors to these designs will be keeping me busy for a while I'm sure. What do you think? Better than the originals?

Week 6: Kuler Than You

This week in class we're discussing how niche websites and communities (i.e. not Facebook) influence our blogs. I feel like this is a perfect opportunity to share one of my favorite time wasters EVER: Adobe Kuler. I was introduced to this massive time sink by a graphic artist at work. Ironic?

The tool is a color palette creator that helps you find beautiful colors that look perfect together, and it's free! I find it so inspiring to play around with and think of the colors on my blog or website, in a design, in my living room or all of the above. You can even export your colors into Adobe products like this student edition of Photoshop I have been craving (PLEASE, someone just give me one more reason I neeeeed this).

So you're probably wondering what this has to do with social media. Adobe Kuler also offers a lot of community resources for graphic artists and designers. Kuler gives users the ability to save, share, tag and comment on color combinations (Spicy Chicken anyone?) which creates a whole community just around design. Users can favorite and follow specific users if they find their color soul mate (hello, Blue Crush are we MFEO?). You can import photos from Flickr to help you pick colors and there are even forums where designers can share their creations.

By integrating social tools into their free product, Adobe has created a community for their users and fans who are passionate about design. Now that's a smart social media strategy.