Before we get into this week's edition of Creative Juice, I just wanted to ask you if have had any problems with the new design of emails? When I write these emails, I'm sort of a bit blind as to what you see on the other side. Whether you open it on your phone or laptop or a specific browser. My biggest concern right now is that none of the images are coming through. If you don't mind sending me a reply to let me know that would be greatly appreciated!
Now let's get into it!
Creative Juice is a weekly newsletter published every Monday morning so you can start your week feeling inspired creatively to make cool sh*t and get paid for it. Every Monday I share something gorgeous, a portfolio of the week, three creative finds, one amazing post from social media, and one lesson I learned recently.
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If you have an idea of how I can improve Creative Juice and make it better, feel free to submit your feedback here.
TL:DR
SOMETHING GORGEOUS: Designers Will Love This Coffee Table Book
PORTFOLIO OF THE WEEK: A Portfolio Website With No Work?
CREATIVE FIND 01: Sweet Candy With Lots of Attitude
CREATIVE FIND 02: Pruning The Botanical Garden
CREATIVE FIND 03: 60 Pages of Comic Sans Gold
One Thread: Apple Vision Pro 15 Maxxx
ONE LESSON: Is Starting Your Own Design Agency The Next Step?
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Something Gorgeous
Designers Will Love This Coffee Table Book
Braun: Designed to Keep
I am sorry to do this to you but yet another monograph of an iconic brand with a legendary design aesthetic has been published and I will be shipping this to my place so that when I arrive home I will open it. Look through all the pages. Then place it on my bookshelf to be opened in 1-3 years.
You might be familiar with the iconic German consumer products company founded in 1921. The company is known for it's design aesthetic for their products such as electric shavers, record players, movie cameras, clocks, and small kitchen appliances. I can remember seeing their iconic clocks in convenience stores when I was younger, not knowing that they would become a major influence in my design learning.
There is something about being a graphic designer and having resources like this in your possession. Whether you use it or not, to me it feels like a piece of design history that I don't ever want to forget.
Portfolio of the Week
A Portfolio Website With No Work?
Guillaume Beaulieu
This might just be a first for POW where I share a design portfolio website that has absolutely no design projects or work on it. In fact, this design portfolio website is a mere landing page but I love sharing with you examples of out of the box thinking.
The reason why I love this execution of a portfolio website like this is that the design of the landing page becomes a project or demonstration of one's design skills within itself. Achieving this is not necessarily something you whip up in a day (my face when Guillaume messages me saying it was done in a day). My thought is that developing a landing page that makes an impactful impression first starts with considering what your goal or objective is at your current stage of your design career. Guillaume is an experienced designer as he is now a cofounder and co-creative director at the design studio MamboMambo. It's probably not too much of a stretch to assume that he himself does not want to take on projects as a solo designer and would rather funnel any work to his studio. However, he is probably constantly meeting people out in the wild and networking so having a landing page that can point people to his work and give off that creative designer vibe is worth having to encourage them to work with him.
The coolest thing about Guillaume's portfolio website is the 3D expression he is using as the background. He is using Spline and some other wizardry to have the cubes jitter and move. It's not too complex but simple enough to keep me wondering how tf he made that. Also, another point I love about Guillaume's landing page is the typeface he chose for his wordmark. The typeface is called NaN Jaune and you can find it here.
At the bottom of the page are links to fonts he produced, his Behance portfolio, Instagram, and email. The one thing I would've liked to see is a link to his design studio so it would save me a Google search.
Overall, while Guilluame is a bit more experience and can nail an execution like this. His portfolio website is a great example of what to do if you have your design projects on communities like Behance or Dribbble but still want to impress visitors with a more designed and controlled landing page.
Score: 7.7/10
Built with: Webflow
Creative Finds
Sweet Candy With Lots of Attitude
Chilli Bomba Visual Identity by New Genre
A sweet gourmet candy whose visual identity is all about serving spicy looks. Fun to see a brand breaking the fun and whimsical mold of the current candy market. Reminds me of Sour Strips by Maxx Chewning.
Pruning The Botanical Garden
New York Botanical Garden Visual Identity by Wolf Olins
Having lived in and around New York for years. I can say that it was time for a new look for the NYBG. I love the new headline typeface and how it gives off the botanical green house vibe.
60 Pages of Comic Sans Gold
Comic Sans - is it really that bad? by Thomas Steeles
I very much enjoy comic sans and happen to use it in my newsletters but this book really speaks to those who will ride or die for Comic Sans. Unfortunately it would seem the book is currently sold out so here is to hoping they do a restock soon.
One Thread
Apple Vision Pro 15 Maxxx
@rubahitam_
All week my feed has been filled with Apple Vision Pro content and sightings. People using them in the most odd spaces, on a bus, crossing the street, you name it, there was probably someone doing it with the new Vision Pros on. I like this collage of Apple Vision Pro meets Playstation meets cyberpunk hyperpop by rifqi.
One Lesson
Is Starting Your Own Design Agency The Next Step?
As you might tell this week you are receiving CJ on a Tuesday instead of the regularly scheduled Monday. Unfortunately I have been a bit busy with client work and I am also putting together a lecture this week on web design. It will mostly be for non-designers but I'm considering broadcasting on TikTok live if anyone will be online at 4:30AM EST.
Anyway, this morning as I was walking from my coworking office I was catching up with Morgan Light. A super talented designer I had the pleasure of chatting with years ago over a portfolio review. Morgan and I have stayed connected through social media since and it has been amazing to see her grow as a designer and all the sick work she has produced since meeting (I take no credit for any of it btw. She was already amazing before we connected). But during our quick catch up this morning I had asked her what her plan was for the future...
A bit existential I know but she knew what I meant. She currently works at one of the best design agencies in the world and a natural next step for designers at this point would be stick around, gain as much experience as possible and then move on to start their own agency or studio. However Morgan had mentioned to me that she really had no interest in this. She was very happy with where she was and the work she was doing. I mean makes sense since she is creating some really awesome stuff. But it really made me think because I have been having a similar feeling about starting my own studio.
I mean I would love to continue designing for clients for a little longer but the idea of starting an agency or studio can sometimes be stressful. Also in my mind I think I'd much rather look to start something that might be a little more "scale-able". At least prior to opening a design studio. Something that can potentially help more people in a more impactful way. While sure, I'm a little busier than usual with client work, I know I'll have time eventually to get back on track with some of these ideas but I think it's helpful to share this idea that you don't have to continue designing for design's sake if you don't want to.
I truly believe that pursuing a career, a life, as a graphic designer is probably one of the best things I could've done with my life. As a graphic designer I feel like I have learned that nothing is truly every impossible. With any problem there can be a million different solutions. Some might be better than others, but not all of them may be right for you. As long as you have the drive, you will figure it out.
PS. Let me know if you can see the images in this email.
PPS. If you will be online during my "Web Design like a Pro" lecture this week let me know and stay tuned to my Instagram for details!
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