A Happy Little Design Studio

My new favorite illustrator is Miss Sophie Blackall and I'm excited to say I just ordered her new book "Missed Connections".   She drew her inspiration (pun intended) for this book from actual Missed Connection ads she found on Craig's List.    Brilliant concept, right?!   Blackall's illustrations are not only gorgeous,  but they are sprinkled with humorous little details making them incredibly fun to look at.   Check out this feature video from Etsy.  Not only is she an amazing illustrator, but she just seems like a genuinely nice person too!

Okay, I know what you are thinking.... it's March, so why are you creating a 2011 round up post now?  Well, because we have been so busy over the last several months and just haven't had a chance to show them off yet.   So I thought it was about time we shared some of our hard work from the last quarter of 2011.

First, let's introduce the 2 newest members of the A-Hap team!!  As of December 2011 my husband Corey began working full time from our home studio.  Not only is Corey a wonderful pen and ink artist, but he provides programming knowledge, and a brilliantly creative mind!  While he has always been a contributor to the work created at A Happy Little Design Studio,  I love having my brain storming partner in the studio FT!

The second new addition to the studio is Marge!  We adopted our adorable basset hound puppy last September.  Contrary to the "lazy" basset hound stereotype, she is full of energy and keeps us on our toes at all times!  She loves playing with her older brothers, Eli and Henry, and she is excellent about reminding us to take breaks!

And now to the project work!  Check out the lovely ladies of Rock String Quartet, Bella Electric Strings!  <Insert whistling and cat calls here.>   We had the pleasure of creating their new website and postcard mailers.  Full website can be seen at: http://bellastrings.com/

Speaking of Rock N' Roll, La Jolla Booking Agency also kept us busy the last quarter of 2011.  We have been working with Andy at La Jolla for nearly a year now to create event posters, postcard mailers, and print ads for classic rock tribute bands acts such as the Beatles, CCR, Led Zepelin, and The Rolling Stones... just to name a few.  Here's a sampling of the work we created for La Jolla the last quarter of 2011.

We created the logo and implemented the website for S3T Sports using Wordpress framework.  S3T Sports specializes in talent booking and representation for athletes.  Full website:  http://s3tsports.com/

We also worked with lovely Emily Murphy from Boston based web development firm Common Places.  Emily contacted us to create a variety of print collateral pieces including business cards, informational hand outs, and a 90 ft x100 ft display!  Nonetheless, I think my favorite part of the project is the icons we created for their website.

We are currently working on several really cool projects including a mobile app we created for our good friend Jane Goodrich Photography,  a logo and e-commerce store for a line of tennis inspired fine jewelry, and logo and application design for an amazing new social media company.   I hope to be able to share more details about these projects soon!   Also, we plan to share lots of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator quick tips over the upcoming weeks.

Is it almost March already?!  We've been busy, busy busy here at A Happy Little Design Studio.  While we love being busy, the poor blog has been neglected for months.    We are currently in the middle of  several big projects... which I can't share details about quite yet.  But I CAN share with you that I was asked to participate in the Design Makeover Column for Photoshop User Magazine.   Myself and 3 other designers were asked to submit a website re-design for a pediatric doctor's office.    Yep, that's me on page 25 of the February issue - now available on Newstands.  It was a lot of fun to design... and it's pretty cool to see my it in print!  Be sure to check back in next week for an end of the year 2011 project round up.

[caption id="attachment_1019" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The original website for http://www.pediatric-health-group.com"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1017" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="My Redesign for the Services page."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1018" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="In Print!"][/caption]

Just over a month ago, my husband and I were contacted to make a short promo animation for the Twentieth Century Fox TV Show, Glee.  As most Gleeks already know, their "In Concert" movie hit theaters in early September.  The animation was intended to be a Jib Jab-esque promotional video for the new movie's Facebook Fan Page.  (For those of you that are clueless, Jib Jab is a website where you can upload your own pictures which are used as the faces in silly music videos.)   Ultimately, the animation wasn't used in the promotional campaign, however, we had a ton of fun making it and can now share it with all of you.