read, write, design, create
If you’ve enjoyed my blogging and creative content this month, please consider supporting me with a one-time donation through Ko-fi! Your support helps me maintain my blog, pays for my design software, and helps me run my small business.
Donate during the month of September to receive a lockscreen and desktop wallpaper featuring a creative quote from the one and only Albert Einstein.
For the first time last week, I shared my virtual workspace via Twitter. An open invitation for my friends and followers to experience A Day in the Life of a Graphic Designer was released on social media, along with a 9am-5pm schedule.
My plan: to Live Tweet my regular old workday on Wednesdays. But why?
Continue reading “Working 9-5: Why I’m Live-Tweeting my Wednesdays”
You can now find me on Ko-fi! If you’ve been enjoying my content, please consider making a one-time donation.
Follow me, cost free, on Ko-fi for regular updates, shop updates, and other news.
Supporters who make a one-time donation during the month of August can download a lockscreen and desktop wallpaper featuring lyrics from West Coast Friendship by Owl City.
Have you been wondering how a graphic designer like me spends their day? Are you tired of working from home all alone? Did you ever think a regular workday would be exciting?
I invite you to join me for A Day in the Life of a Graphic Designer. I’ll be sharing my workday with you via Twitter tomorrow (August 12) in a “productivity crawl” from 9am to 5pm (PST).
You don’t have to be a graphic designer to participate, but you will get a glimpse of my workspace, pick up a few tips and tricks on productivity, and hopefully get some much-needed social out of social media. Use this time to get stuff done in your own way.
9AM – Event Begins
9:30 – Research & Prep
10AM – Focus Time
11AM – 20 Minute Break
11:20 – Focus Time
12:30 – Lunch Break
1:30 – Event Resumes
1:45 – Check & Respond to Emails
2PM – Low-Focus Work + Entertainment
3PM – Stretch Break
4PM – Event Resumes
4:30 – Last Push
5PM – Event Ends
I hope to see you there!
There’s never a dull moment when there are things to make, conversations to have, games to play, and books to read. My July has disappeared in a flash, and I’ve got quite a bit to report!
Now that you know how to pick the perfect fonts and match them up, I’m sure you’re eager to start using them. For me, there’s nothing more satisfying than turning everyday words into something eye-catching, effortless, and effective. Which is deeply ironic, since text-only design used to be the bane of my existence. Ah, if Past Elza could only see me now…
Despite our rocky beginnings, typography is an integral (and enjoyable) part of my graphic design work. Today, I’m going to help you begin to make sense of the various concepts, common terms, and techniques that make up the world of typography.
Continue reading “For the Love of Fonts 3: Typography Tips & Terms for Beginners” As you will remember from my previous post, each typeface has its strengths and weaknesses, quirks and charms, and possibly a history. The more you know about a font’s background, the easier it is to pick one for your project. It also makes it easier for you to pair two of them together.
Mixing and matching fonts can make for eye-catching and impactful graphics. It’s the kind of detail that looks effortless when done right, and completely tragic when it misses the mark. Today, I’m going to help you avoid the latter by giving you the lowdown on font pairings.
Picking multiple fonts for a single project is actually a lot of fun once you’ve got the basics down. Think of yourself as a font matchmaker. Your job is to determine which styles will have a happy and harmonious future together in your final design. To do that, you should learn why some font pairings are a dynamic duo and why others are doomed for discord.
Continue reading “For the Love of Fonts 2: Font Pairings & How to Make a Match” 
Keeper by Kathi Appelt
Cover art by August Hall
An early appreciation for letterforms and fonts is what got me started in graphic design. I collected a lot of typefaces early on because I thought they were super cool. And I still do. Typefaces can be anything—structural, sophisticated, stylish, serious, swooping, silly, stringy—they transform everyday words into artwork with the flick of a wrist and a click of the mouse. MAGIC.
So why, when we have all the coolest fonts at our fingertips, are there text designs that look like a tragically failed cloning experiment of something that should be super-cool and trendy? Well, I happen to have several answers that stem from that one simple question, so here we are.
To limit myself and my word count, today I’ll tackle the topic of font choice. The right typeface plays a large part in how designs look, but selecting the right one for the job can be a bit of a chore if you don’t know where to start.
Continue reading “For the Love of Fonts” 
Question of the Day: Do you prefer to hide things or look for them?
