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- Elle Decor
- living in: cat on a hot tin roof
- sights & sounds: nate duval
- biz ladies: the difference between PR and marketing
- singapore city guide
- top 10 design-related tech innovations
- europa touring maps + giveaway
- studio rita wallpaper
- More Recent Articles
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- Prior Mailing Archive
Thank you to Elle Decor online for inviting D*S creator Grace Bonney to contribute an article on the power of Twitter (and how to use it) for designers.
Click here for the full article online.
The first time I saw Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, my jaw was on the floor. Liz Taylor and Paul Newman absolutely smolder, smoke and burst into flame as an unhappily married couple imprisoned by circumstance at the family’s Mississippi plantation. Tennessee Williams sets a stage like no other, and the movie adaptation of his play sweats with sloshy, southern privilege that grabs and doesn’t let go.
1. Pearl Clip-On Earrings, $24; 2. Antik Batik Bowie Dress, $326; 3. Mercury Glass Container, $70; 4. European Mirror, $249; 5. Baker’s Jar, $28; 6. Sloane Sofa, $3,600; 7. Wooden Crutches, $13; 8. Whiskey Set, $20; 9. Gold Leaf Sconce, $396
CLICK HERE for more stills and the second roundup after the jump!
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Looking through Nate Duval’s portfolio, it’s almost hard to believe that all of his concert posters, band t-shirts and album covers (plus art for national ad campaigns, corporate identities and more) are the work of just one dude. But his self-imposed chameleonic nature is one of the things we love most about this Massachusetts-based designer, whose gig posters (for acts like Jeff Tweedy, The Decemberists, Phish and many others) favor bold colors, graphic prints and delightfully freaky amalgamations of humans, plants and animals. I talked to Duval about how he got into concert poster design, what his creative process looks like and why, exactly, he’s so fond of that cross-species Frankenstein look. — Rachael Maddux
Tell me how you got started as a visual artist. Was it something you were always interested in? Did you study it in school?
Nate Duval: Well, I have always had an interest in arts. Not in the “I was oil painting the day I emerged from the womb” sense, but I always just liked art. I have been into music, poster art, album design and fun stuff like that all of my life and always thought doing stuff like that would be way fun. When I got to high school and finally had an opportunity to start choosing classes, I always found myself taking art right on through AP Art senior year. Graduation time rolled around and at that point of my life, I felt I should try to do something I actually enjoyed doing instead of just doing something I was good at (writing), so I decided to pursue it and take on advertising design at Syracuse University. I also knew that I didn’t want to go to an art school because, one, I wanted more of a “big college” experience, and two, my interests in art were more “commercial” than fine art, so I chose Syracuse. I was (and still am) very happy with my choice, even though I did not ever really end up working in the advertising field in a full-time or professional sense. It allowed me to get a pretty broad training in several different areas (photography, design, advertising and writing) that all come in handy with what I do now with my business. I also met my wife and fellow illustrator Jen Skelley there, so that is great, too.
Image above: Eight ticket designs for the mail-order ticket lottery Phish held for its fall 2010 tour.
Are you a full-time designer now, or do you do other work on the side?
Nate Duval: I have been working for myself exclusively for just about three years now. It’s been very surreal to turn what started off as a “Hey wouldn’t it be cool to do something like that?” idea into a full-time, successful business.
CLICK HERE for the rest of Nate’s interview after the jump!
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Today’s Biz Ladies post comes from Biz Ladies regular, Andrea Baxter, owner of Bratface Marketing and co-founder of Smart Cookies. Andrea has previously contributed posts on how to brand your business on a budget; trendsetters, influencers and connectors; sole proprietorship vs. incorporation and how to use social media to humanize your brand. Today she confronts a sometimes confusing topic, the difference between PR and marketing practices, presenting six features to help us distinguish the two. Thanks, Andrea, for this helpful post! — Stephanie
CLICK HERE for the full post after the jump!
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Image via Veer (home of the Singapore Kindness Movement)
Today’s City Guide comes to us from Emily Loke, blogger, founder and creative director of Paper Tiger Press, Singapore’s first letterpress studio. Emily takes us on a tour of this magical Southeast Asian city through its traditional restaurants, unique shops, chic lodging and even a vintage Asian toy museum! Thank you, Emily, for this glimpse into the Singapore way of life! — Stephanie
CLICK HERE for the full guide after the jump!
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I’ve never been a huge tech person, but Kate just did a fantastic roundup of tech-related innovations that has me second-guessing my mild tech aversions. She rounded up her Top 10 design-related tech innovations (I hadn’t heard of at least 1/3 of them) and there are so many fantastic ideas in here that are bound to make your life easier in one way or another. I love when design can solve a problem and look beautiful, so this list is right up my alley. Click here to check out the post at MyLifeScoop and view the full list with sources. xo, grace
Images above: digital letterpress apps and icons
Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. While my budget doesn’t allow for global travel on a regular basis, I like to use my favorite travel blogs and magazines to feel like I’m constantly immersed in new people, places and cultures. New York City is full of different things to try, but nothing comes close to celebrating a place in person and getting to experience things first-hand.
It’s with that same spirit and affection for travel that Jen and Omar from These are Things created their new series of European city maps. Inspired by an old European road-trip guidebook, they decided to apply their modern, graphic style to each city’s historic landmarks. With prints for Athens, Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris and Rome, the full set ($199 for six or $39 each) is a creative way to celebrate beautiful cities you’ve visited or maybe inspire a trip to visit them one day. And if you can watch the video above (with its accompanying Amelie music) and not want to visit Paris, you’re a stronger person than I.
Jen and Omar sweetly offered to share a set with one lucky D*S reader, and I couldn’t resist the kind offer. Not just because I wish I was personally eligible to win, but also because travel has been on my brain non-stop lately. We just finalized the D*S Book Tour cities/dates (info coming soon), and all I can think about is getting on the road and experiencing new places first-hand.
So, if you’d like to be eligible to win, please leave a comment below with your funniest travel experience story. Whether it’s sad/funny or hysterically funny, hopefully we can all enjoy each other’s stories and maybe even inspire each other to travel someplace spectacular. We’ll collect comments through the end of the day on Wednesday, and Jen + Omar will pick a favorite to be announced on Friday. Good luck and happy travels. xo, grace
*PS — Check out Jen and Omar’s sneak peek here.
One of my favorite things about spring is getting ready for ICFF and all the amazing design it lays out in (hundreds of) neatly packed rows. For the past few years, I’ve enjoyed seeing wallpaper studios featured more in those rows, and I’m curious to find out who will push the medium further this year, hopefully with some sort of interesting (textural?) innovation. Typically, that happens in the British design section, but I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for something exciting in the American and Canadian booths. While the previews for new designs aren’t out yet, I did get an update about a pretty new collection of wallpapers from Sweden’s Studio Rita.
Working in cooperation with Photowall, Studio Rita recently released a collection called “Forest Views” that plays with different tree/forest motifs. The collection includes six large-scale patterns, my favorite of which is “Tiny Tree” (above) by Maria Bergström. Maria was inspired by the sunlight that filters through forest foliage and interpreted it in a way that feels handmade and homespun. I’ve featured my favorites above, but you can view the full collection right here and purchase the papers through Photowall right here. xo, grace
*If you’re looking for more wallpaper, I listed my top 50 resources right here.
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