Here is your freshly squeezed design inspiration for the week of April 03 2023.
- SOMETHING GORGEOUS: Glowing Coral-Like Ceramics by Maxwell Mustardo
- PORTFOLIO OF THE WEEK: Angello Torres
- Tax Heaven 3000 by MSCHF
- Apron Brand Identity
- Heinz Tattoo Ink
- ONE GRAM: Harry Potter by Balenciaga
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Resource of the Week
Notion
One tool that I can't recommend enough to designers and creatives is Notion. In fact, Notion is where this newsletter starts every week. I've created a template for myself that automatically populates in my to-do list every week with each of these sections ready for me to fill in so I don't have to start from scratch each week.
I also use Notion for tracking my client projects, invoices, and finances. I call it my command center. I know the idea of organization can sometimes give designers the ick but I could not be more happy that I decided to actually start organizing my work and life using Notion.
I even tested it out to see if I could build an entire portfolio website in Notion and I did that too! I am almost done with this Notion portfolio experiment and I'm thinking of releasing it as a free template soon. Shoot me an email if you would like to use this for your self.
Something Gorgeous
Glowing Coral-Like Ceramics by Maxwell Mustardo
My obsession with texture and color continues! Maxwell Mustardo is an artist from my home state of New Jersey exploring surface, form, materiality, and function through his ceramic pieces. His collection titled "Anthropophorae" studies the form of a vase with many different exploring many different varying color combinations. I cannot help but continue to scroll up and down looking at the entire collection on his website.
I think my favorites are "Blue & Pink #2", "Orange #3", and "Blurple #1". They remind me of fluorescent coral you would see far down in the depths of the ocean.
Which ones are your favorite?
Portfolio Of The Week
Angello Torres
Angello Torres is a freelance designer currently based in Buenos Aires Argentina and I LOVE HIS PORTFOLIO WEBSITE. Also this quote from Angello "STYLE BEFORE SUBSTANCES. BREAK ESTABLISHED DESIGN CANONS AS MANY TIMES AS NECESSARY. A LOT OF OBSESSION & A LOT OF SILENCE."
Angello definitely has a resume full of experience so it is no surprise to see such exemplary use typography, color palette, layout, and interaction on his portfolio website.
First let's talk type! He is using 4 different typefaces and I especially enjoy the retro digital typeface he has. He also does a great job varying the size through his portfolio to really guide your attention.
His color palette is wonderful and exciting with a mix of bright and darker pastel colors.
He uses motion throughout his site from scrolling text to wonderful hover animations that keep you want to move your mouse all over the page to see what you can discover.
I could go on and on but you should check it out for yourself.
Portfolio Rating: 9.8/10
Angello's portfolio website is made using Wordpress, which means he definitely knows his way around some code.
View Angello Torres's portfolio here.
Creative Finds
Tax Heaven 3000 by MSCHF
MSCHF is known for their cheeky and playful experiments and like their ATM leaderboard at Art Basel or their recent Astroboy boot. Since it's tax season they worked with the Tax giant TurboTax to develop the Tax Heaven 3000 which is an anime style dating sim that will do your taxes for you. Very clever 😂
Apron Brand Identity
Creative studios Opening Line and Outsiders collaborated to create an exquisite brand identity for fintech startup Apron. The branding veers off from the "traditiona" fintech startup look and feel and I love the tag line "Get your Apron on."
Heinz Tattoo Ink
Brazilian creative agency Soko is collaborating with Heinz to create a Heinz colored tattoo ink in the official Pantone shade of Heinz 57 red. I mean cmon. I know these brand expressions are getting out of hand but this one is hysterical.
ONE GRAM
Harry Potter by Balenciaga
@demonflyingfox used Ai to generate a very very impressive deepfake video of the cast of Harry Potter as models in a 1980s fashion ad for Balenciaga. I think Dumbledore and Hagrid are my favorite but look at the chin on Harry.
Check out the full youtube video here.
One Thing I Learned
Welcome to Thailand!
I am back on the road finally! Part of the reason I went freelance as a graphic designer at the beginning of 2022 was because I wanted to prioritize traveling and see the world.
Sounds a bit fluffy I know but it has always been a goal of mine to travel the world and now that I can do it while also working I am taking full advantage of it. It took me 4 days before arriving at my final destination here in Chiang Mai Thailand. I left Charlotte on Wednesday March 29th. Then I connected in Washington for a 14-hour flight to Abu Dahbi where I spent one night before flying to Bangkok. I then had one night in Bangkok before flying out the following afternoon on Saturday April 1st to finally arrive in Chiang Mai.
I am very proud of myself for achieving this and I want to share with you exactly how I did it. It's no secret and I didn't do anything crazy other then stayed consistent.
First, I had worked in a full-time role ever since I graduated school. After my first which I was paid $25/hour, I learned that working in-house for a big brand or company paid a lot more than what an agency would. Second, I lived as cheaply as possible. Up until 2 years ago when I decided to travel a majority of the year, I had an apartment for 8 years right outside of Manhattan in Jersey City. Why Jersey City? It was the cheapest area we found at the time while also still being close to the city to shorten the commute. Not only was the area cheap, I lived with 5 of my friends in this apartment all 8 years so we split rent relative to which room each of us had. I then picked the cheapest room so I could save more of my paycheck. Third, I stayed consistent, saving the largest amount of my paycheck I could. I would buy groceries instead of going out to eat, I was take public transportation over an uber, and I would also try to pick up work after my full-time job was over.
All of this combined, over 8 years allowed me to save enough money to feel comfortable and confident going freelance while also traveling and seeing the world.
If you ever had a dream of traveling and seeing the world, or one day going freelance and starting your own design studio. Don't give up. Keep working at it every day. Little by little. Before you know it. That day will come and you will be able to enjoy it.
I'll be sharing my experience working and traveling remote on my TikTok page so if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I will reply!
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