Facebook Redesign Concept

i follow a fabulous {and interesting} blog called Dooby Brain, and i couldn’t help but fall in love with this redesign for Facebook.

{excerpt below from doobybrain}

A few years back, Facebook contacted Information Architects to think up some ways to redesign the Facebook site. The plans that iA drew up were never implemented and after sitting on them for a while iA decided to just go ahead and show the design concepts to us to get our opinion on them.

In essence, iA changes the Facebook site to be a primarily 3-column page similar to an inbox or the default view settings in a mail application like Microsoft Outlook. By default, only two comments related to an item are shown and if you click on the item then it expands (the top image is a before and the image below is after an item has been clicked).

Overall, I really wouldn’t mind if Facebook was more like an inbox. I already treat it like one and seeing things this way would just make my life a bit easier.

asha: branded

i have to say, i remember exactly where i was when i received the phone call asking if i would be interested in doing the logo for asha unlimited.  after a brief conversation about the vision and story behind asha, i hung up the phone with tears and my eyes and couldn’t believe that this was my DAY JOB. i can’t believe i get to do what i love every day and somehow pay the bills and help support my little family.

asha is a handmade jewelry line started by a brave and incredible lady.  she partners with women who were formally enslaved a brothel in mumbai, india, who design and make all the jewelry.  she has set up a company to sell their jewelry line “state side” so we can all help support the healthy, safe, and respectable employment of these young women!

her passion for these women is the heartbeat behind the company, therefore, the logo was of extreme importance to capturing the essence of all these things.

the client wanted something simple that could potentially be a jewelry piece in and of itself.  of course, i felt it absolutely  necessary to consider the culture of india and so we started our research.  after taking note that the lotus flower is the national flower of india, we knew we hit one of our target elements for incorporating into the logo.

the lotus flower grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty. at night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. untouched by the impurity, lotus symbolizes the purity of heart and mind.

with several other concepts behind us, this new inspiration sent me over the edge, and i tweaked and pieced together a logo that made my heart sing . . . i waited with baited breath to hear from my client and after about a day and a half (!), i heard music to my ears:  ”mica, i cried when i saw this logo.  this is exactly what we have been looking for.”

yes!!

{we are just beginning concepts for the website, so look for the web launch in the coming months}

onward and upward

well, i can happily say that one of my main, unexpected projects of the year has come and gone!

we successfully built a house (and by we i mean our incredible builder, www.jeffbaronhomes.com) in 16 weeks.

i had to throw my design perfections to the wind a little, as there was little time for backsplash deliberations and paint swatches.  i am beyond pleased with the results, and pretty much skip around my house, i love it so much.

here’s a little snapshot of the front.

the process was a BLAST and i would do it all over again, but WHEW, i’m wiped.

with a curious 1 year old, a little girly girl on the way (due july 9th!), and the official launch of www.maybooks.com, my blogging, needless to say, had to take a back seat.

somehow, i’ve been able to continue designing in the midst of the mayhem as, regrettably, i had turn to fonts instead of vino to alleviate my stress, thanks to my growing belly.

the posts in the next few days will detail several logos i’ve completed in the past several months that unfortunately, didn’t receive any blog PR in my time lapse.

if you are still here, thanks for your patience.  i won’t stay away so long this time.

a special thank you to my clients out there, who undoubtedly, received the short end of the stick from about november to february.  i actually owe my sanity to you– the ones who kept me up until wee hours of the morning designing away.  in case you don’t know who you are:  cindy, paula, leslie, stacey, deb, randy, matt, kat, stephanie, jeff, susan, gina, ashley, jacque, ashleigh . . .and the list could goes on.

stay tuned people,  there are LOGOS to post!

the new year

well, i have exciting news for the new year!

we have decided to “book” our big projects to be able to better focus on each client.

we have already booked january and february and we’re working on booking for march . . . so if you have a large project you’d like us to work on, please let us know asap so we can get a proposal out and we can get you a slot for march!

we are very excited about this new system . . . of course, we’ll still be working on small projects throughout the month, so don’t hesitate to give us a call if a design need comes up!

ciao for now.

branded: Gwen’s Eden

this is a logo done for a brand new children’s boutique. the two sisters are creating {much needed} designer nap mats, burp cloths, bibs, onesies, and other items.

may books on papernstitch!

exciting news of the day:  may books made it to the homepage of papernstitch!

papernstitch is like a new and fabulous etsy {love!} and they have all sorts of creative goodies.

of course, you can always visit the new May Books website and purchase directly from our site as well:  www.maybooks.com

3D siggy: branded

i just finished up a logo for a new company, 3D Siggy.  {i’m also doing the website, so that i’ll post on that in the coming months!}

the company has a great & innovative concept:  take a signature {er, logo!} and turn it into a keychain, wall mount . . .anything!

the options are endless as to what you can do — but the initial focus of the company is to launch with signatures into keychains.

so, the criteria for designing the logo was this:  modern yet sophisticated, with a whismy touch.  we wanted the “siggy” part of the font to represent a signature, and here’s what we came up with: