Inspiration is all around us.

David Airey said on his logo design blog two months ago that nature provides some of the most striking and beautiful colour palletes imaginable. I thought this was an exceptionally clever observation.

Yesterday these words came to mind as I sat outside of a cafe in bustling Birmingham City centre, enjoying a sunny day out with my husband two young children.
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Cast your eyes to the right in the ‘Pages’ section in the right hand navigation, I have created some cute badges for you to use….

Image Courtesy of Visibly-Vintage

Sybarite dolls… a whole other world; where fashion meets art, style & photography.

Sybarite: A general term for describing one fond of pleasure and luxury.

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The use of stock art is prolific in the graphic design world, you only have to visit websites such as www.istockphoto.com to know that there is a huge demand for stock art, and it’s not just the punters asking for it.

By punters I mean customers and business owners, excuse the crass wording, but it just felt right at the time ;-))

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A very charming web design was recently pointed out to me. I visited the website and was immediately struck by the relaxed and friendly atmosphere, in addition the high quality of the overall design and colour scheme.

Not only that, but the website is that of a fashion pattern designer/illustrator of the highest calibre, and the portfolio itself was a treat to view let alone the website. Designer and website owner Katie Mantle has kindly agreed to allow me to showcase some of her work for you.

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Illustrations and photography have been used extensively in marketing and sales for eons, and whilst one or the other have tended to dominate the commercial design world at times (in the 50’s for example, the use of illustration was profilic compared to today), both remain popular methods of visually communicating a brand message via advertising and marketing.

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This year the peace symbol celebrates its 50th anniversary, and Happy Birthday Peace.com has been launched to celebrate the symbol and it’s roots.

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I recently came across an interesting blog called ‘gaping void‘. What first grabbed my attention were the amusing comics littered throughout the blog - after delving further I discovered that these are described as ‘cartoons on the back of a business card’, I soon realised there were more interesting things to discover…

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I was contacted recently by email by someone from Salford University who thought I might appreciate some unique, creative Christmas cards and asked if I could spread the word about them.

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A while ago I saw details of a website called Illustration Friday on another blog and thought it was an interesting concept but did nothing more for some months.

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