Feeling professional

For the first time in my life I have to create some business cards for myself to attend a networking event held at the university. 

It is always a really difficult task designing for ones self as I always tend to be my harshest critic, how do you convey all of your personality and talent in a 85mm X 55mm card? 

Needless to say I had a lot of fun playing with such a small dimension and created some little cards that I think fit my style quite well - colourful, handwritten and a little bit quirky! 

Overall the event was a really fun night with lots of interesting people and maybe one (or more) doggie bags of left over buffet food, side note why is buffet food always soooooo good? 

To sum up a positive night all round. 

Little Experiments

Today was been a very busy yet satisfying day for creativity, this morning involved lots of fun in the screen-printing workshop (yup STILL working on that box) followed by an afternoon of silly experiments in the photography studio.

Just thought I would make a little post to share some brightly coloured images to hopefully brighten your day.

Have a great weekend x

Fun in the studio

At the moment I find myself really drawn to all things pastel and soft. I think the spring palette has been influencing my work lately as all I want to design are beautifully delicate cotton candy coloured images.

It may also have something to do with the beautiful new book I rewarded myself for FINALLY finishing my dissertation, (yay!) I have been building up my collection of the PALETTE books for the past year and only last week acquired the next one for my collection. 

My little brain has been buzzing with lots of ideas for how to incorporate my new colour obsession into projects. These little images are just for fun, I love colours that look unrealistic or have a sense of the unusual about them.  

More little projects

The past day and a half I have been working on re-designing my website keeping the same theme but just adding to the colour palette and layout to make it feel more like who I am now in terms of design and personality.

The above images are just little shots for composition and to show off all the cool things I own that are orange (seriously that chalk pen has changed my life). I'm hoping to get the ok with the flat layout and them get to grips with actually coding this thing! I anticipate lots of late nights and many cups of hot chocolate in m cosy little study corner in my room. 

                                                  

I LOVE hand rendered type and recently i've been obsessed with scribbling out little sayings and phrases and trying my hardest to fit them into projects, sometimes thats nice and everything works out that way but other times its also nice to just create them for the sake of pleasing myself. 

Tomorrow I go back over the border on an overnight trip to Edinburgh with my Uni and i'm so excited! I love Edinburgh and can't wait to visit the Fruit-Market Gallery and walk along the cobbled streets and head to the City Cafe for breakfast (any other suggestions for food? i'm all ears) I'm taking my little polaroid camera and sketchbook and i'll possibly upload some snaps on here.

Brush Pen Doodles

At the moment I find myself really drawn to beautiful hand rendered calligraphy.



There is no denying that recently designs are starting to look more organic again. In an incredibly digital world it is refreshing to see things created by hand, with imperfections and wobbly letters (why is the letter S such a difficult shape to draw?). It puts personality into design and a fun element that can't always be reproduced digitally such as the little mistakes that make lettering and hand writing unique to each of us, not to say that digital should be shunned completely, I am so lucky to be born in a time that is forever evolving technologically. I can create designs at such a fast pace when before it may have taken hours.

These little quirky doodles are just a fun experiment with my fancy new brush pen (why has it taken me so long to get buy a brush pen?). I like the idea of mixing the physical with digital and using both mediums at once. The colours are so bright and merge really well with the brush strokes.

Just thought I would share some quick little sketches as I have been so busy lately with Uni work taking priority it's been easy to neglect blogging (what's that? my last post was in August, oh dear) I aim to keep regular posting maybe featuring more of my work that i've been creating. I am working on such a fun project I can't wait! to share on here so keep a look out for that.

I'm also on instagram if you just can't wait another 5 months for my next post http://instagram.com/eilidhmck.

Evening Wanderings

 It doesn't feel like that long ago that I was harping on about how beautiful the summer here in Carlisle has been. While I have enjoyed brighter evenings and the happy faces the sunshine brings a little part of me is beyond giddy that over the past few days there has been a noticeable chill in the air and orange leaves dotted over the ground  in the park.

 I first moved to Carlisle in early September so that time of year will always be extra special to me. There is something about the smell of Autumn that I just can't get enough of.

I feel that I have relished this past summer and fully indulged in ice creams, bike rides, BBQ food, being outside and just enjoying the sun on my little pale face. I will continue to enjoy the rest of August( if not a little impatiently). For when it comes I shall welcome September with open knitwear covered arms for September brings the start of a new academic year (my FINAL academic year eeep) friends returning from their summer adventures and lots of crispy leaves.

Summer in the City/ Peak at my Summer sketchbook

 I love Carlisle it's not like a regular city but more like a big town. The people are nice and friendly and the town centre has a lovely nostalgic feeling. One of my favorite areas to go is Bitts park as it has the most beautiful willowy trees and brightly coloured flower beds. I enjoy riding my bike through it in the evening and walking through it in the morning. Despite being situated next to a rather busy road it feels so enclosed and is the perfect place to go on a warm day.

I recently spent a few hours on a really lovely warm day just sitting in the park cutting and sticking pictures in my summer sketchbook, talk about bliss!.

(I also feel this experience was enhanced by the presence of my fabulous lemon dress, so summery, so lemony.

I also thought I should post some pictures from said sketchbook. I love having a good nosy through sketchbooks they have an unfinished quality that really appeals to me. I bought this little boden A5 notebook from Ebay and I love it! the colourful design and hand written type on the front are right up my floral printed  street.

I love these little doodles on the inside cover they are so bright and playful! They remind me of drawings from when I was wee.

Oh washi tape how I love thee, I feel like adding a strip to any design instantly gives it such a fun textural element. 

I could cut and stick for hours and hours just filling pages with all the little ideas bubbling around in my messy mop. Trying out colour/ pattern combinations and page layouts not to mention going through rolls of washi tape..

So there we go a little peak at my sketchbook and lots of rambling about parks, lemon dresses and washi tape. A perfect summing up. xx