click the image above for 100% size.

As any good designer knows, typography is a main element of design. With the thousands of typeface choices many designers get overwhelmed. Modern design dictates that type not only be treated as an element on a page, but a main eye catch as well. Graham at ImJustCreative.com created a site, lovehelvetica.com, to simplify the typeface jungle, and pay homage to one of the classics… Helvetica. Being such a versatile font, Helvetica lends itself to a world of design with it’s huge variety of weights.

This design is my homage to the great font, Helvetica Neue. The thought process behind the design was to use the ‘a hole’ (thanks Albertonomo via flickr) to “peel” back into a heart shape and convey the idea of ‘love helvetica’. The 2.0 gradient shading has been my design kick for the month, so there’s some of that in there as well.

Comments/criticisms are always welcomed. Or design one of your own and sent me the link! Fond me on twitter to let me know as well @lhodsdon

Title: OCFAMILY.com Masthead

Client: Churm Media, in association with OCFAMILY

Program(s) Used: Illustrator CS2

Time Span: 3 Hours

About: Churm Media requested a way to show it’s readers and advertisers the success it’d had at this year’s annual PPA (Parenting Publications of America) Awards Convention.

Designer Notes: I really wanted to explore trying to make the banner really appear as if it was intertwining throughout the Masthead. Piggybacking upon the great success of OCFAMILY’s website at this years Parenting Publications of America’s Annual awards contest & ceremony. Here are what some of the judges had to say about the website itself.

Gold: OC Family; Kimberly Porrazzo; Kristen Schott; Jeff Kitchen
OC Family’s web site provided rich multimedia content for its users. The highlight of this content is the ability for OC Family’s community to contribute photos of children. The photos are tastefully incorporated into the Web site’s design and provide an engaging entry-point into the site’s additional content. The directory of community businesses provides detail with both contact information and a description of services.

Title: OCFAMILY TV Logo Design

Client: Churm Media, in association with OC Family Magazine

Program(s) Used: Illustrator CS2

Time Span: 2 hours Conceptual. 2 hours design.

About: ocfamily.com needed a logo design for their new video feature in which anyone can upload videos of their children. The idea was to make them a TV star, on the web.

Designer Notes: I really wanted to add an element of freshness to this logo. In the end the company decided to take a darker direction and make everything black based.

Of course with no money exchanging hands, purely a project of mine to see if i could “update” their logo. Fully built in Illustrator CS2, this image is 100% vector and scalable to any size.

‘we heart it’ is just as it’s name says… a site that allows you to tag any photo on the web that inspires you, that you like or you just find interesting. Simple enough to manage and fun to browse. Build yourself a community and manage your own RSS feed of images you “heart”. Give it a try, and if you sign up add me as a contact and have fun browsing my “heart”. Also, leave me a comment and let me know your user name so that i can follow you too!

My dear love for tutorial doage (yes, that’s now a word) keeps my skills sharp and my knowledge of all things graphic design high. I generally browse through the tutorials pages looking for something to catch my eye that gives me a sense of “how can i incorporate that into one of my Magazine layouts.” On this particular day i was looking through Photoshop Lady’s website to see what new and exciting things the graphic design community had come up with this week. Low and behold, there it was. A Gel Button effect in photoshop to rival MANY gel button tutorials on the “market”. And trust me, i’ve done many of them. Most of them good, and get you to the goal you’re set out for, but this one had so much glamour that i knew i’d have to see how it was accomplished. So, not to bore you with the details or to try and explain the steps i’ll just give you a link so you can test for yourself. All in all, once i got a subject for the ‘logo’, this tutorial took me about 5-10 minutes, then add another 5 for personal tweaks and adjustments.

So without further ado, here’s my rendition of the tutorial (via 3nhanced)…. after the jump [click image for full size].
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In the pending months to come there’s a planned re-design for ninethreestudio.com. This will include a new “web 2.0″ style logo as well as *hopefully* a complete site revamp… so i guess this logo is a small sneak peek at the new 2.0 stylings. Subtle, yet noticeably different than the current logo.

UPDATE:This logo has also been submitted to Logo of the Day, so let’s hope that they post it and my 7 faithful blog readers can vote for it!! *finger’s crossed*

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think! … please …

“un-styled” logo after the jump and on the link… JUMP!
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Jacob Cass has recently launched one of my new daily stops on the internet underground subway! Logo of the Day is a site dedicated to quality logo design. Each day a new chosen logo will be placed up on the site for review by the site’s community of users. How BRILLIANT! Any designer worth his weight in leftover Adobe Creative Suite packaging knows that logos hold a special place in their hearts… at least mine does, prudes! haha. Stop by the site, and also swing by Just Creative Design for Jacob’s personal website. There’s a lot of GREAT information on there, don’t be the “should have” in your cubicle chatterboxes!

UPDATE: I’m an idiot. In my previous post i referred to Jacob as Justin. It’s late. i’m sorry!

Here’s a collection of 70 of the coolest, most unique business cards i’ve ever seen. Thanks Francesco Mugnai and Justin at Big Head Design for passing around the wealth of this list!!

66 more cards after the jump. it’s a big post, i had to split them to the single page, haha!
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Title: OC METRO BUSINESS Hot 25 2008 Logo Design

Client: Churm Media, in association with OC METRO BUSINESS

Program(s) Used: Illustrator

Time Span: 10 hours (Concept, client revisions, completion)

About: Every year OC METRO BUSINESS host it’s annual Hot 25 Event. the event honors hottest 25 people of Orange County, not a beauty contest. This includes entrepreneurs, business executives, managers, or just anyone in general making huge waves in Orange County. Every year the event is themed, and has to do with the new directions that OC METRO BUSINESS is going. This year the event, and the company, is completely rebranding itself as a web and digital entity, hence the theme “Hot Goes Digital”. The client’s idea was to show how OC METRO BUSINESS is moving into the 2.0, very web friendly.

Designer Notes: My original concept for this logo was to incorporate the feel of web 2.0. Very glossy, colorful, reflections, clean, simple and sleek all into one logo. After showing a first round of designs and color combinations the client didn’t want to stray from it’s branding and the logos went through a revision and font change. The end result is what you see above and a bit different that the original concept, but what the client wants, the client gets.

Let me guess… the same people making logos like these are the same folks that are designing their logos in papyrus… right. they have to be… no designer worth their weight in that little black stuff you find on the bottom of your mouse would let something like these slip through the cracks!

So. let’s recap in respective order, in the cleanest way possible:
• Little person head-height (no pun intended) to the taller fellow… shouldn’t this the NAMBLA logo??
• Either one person bending another person over, or some seriously messed up conjoined twins.
• C’mon, really? kidSEXchange…. one more time for anyone who might have missed that… kidSEXchange.
• It’s a penis folks… a penis…. for shame!!

Thanks again to Justin over at Big Head Designs for helping to make me a bit better of a designer, and a hundred times better proof checker.

My good friend over at Big Head Design is back on the ball. He’s gone from a graphic designer to a Lead Designer in just under 2 years! Congratulations on the big move and the new site.

Big Head Design specializes in full company branding and identity. They’ve got the tentacles and outreach to do everything possible, from flash to business cards. With cutting edge designs and ‘in-the-now’ knowledge of design trends and directions, BHD is the right choice for anyone’s business branding needs. From jobs as simple as a letterhead to jobs as giant as billboard advertising, Justin at BDH, treats each job with the utmost importance. No job is too small, or too big, for this full service company to handle!

Good luck Justin and the BHD team!

Big Head Design has created an awesome logo for one of their newest clients. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Client: Take 2 Entertainment. Programs Used: Illustrator (CS3). Project span: 3 weeks. Description: Logo design for an entertainment coordinating company. Wanted to incorporate the marker, use purple, and have a modern typeface. I wanted to create a logo that would have branding opportunity with a shortmark, and logotype.