Micheline

Micheline is a stationary boutique in Mexico dedicated to designing and printing stationery and pieces for social events. The redesign of their brand by Anagrama caught my eye because it is based almost entirely on a theme of black and white, with a contrasting splash of colour in the form of their catalogues. Above are examples of the monochrome packaging wrapped with their printed tape and logo stamped labels, one a single stylised M, the other the complete Micheline name. And below are the elements that make up this packaging.

A hint of colour appeared on the grand opening invitation, and then the catalogues in the boutique itself provide a rainbow of striking colours, along with some of the products themselves.

 

 

Logos

There are a plethora of logos in existence, but some stand out for their quality and clever concepts, so today I wanted to post a few of my recent favourites. The above logo was design by the design firm Gardner Design and the one below by The Action Designer.

And below are great designs for a food writer and a company called Giraffe. 

Bird Illustrations

These fantastic bird illustrations were done for an article in Audubon Magazine about bird beaks, which "are more than nature’s ingenious designs, they’re wonders of evolution".

M&S Crockery

I recently spotted the lovely "Chickens" crockery range at Marks and Spencer, which includes teapots, egg cups, egg baskets, mugs, plates and bowls. The designs are a great mix of soft and more vibrant colours, with a very cute naive illustration style.

Naomi Murrell

      

Yesterday I posted a brooch by Naomi Murrell who lives in Adelaide and has a website selling both jewellery and paper products. She has a brilliant logo which is strong and stylised, with great fonts, and she uses variations of this bird and heart image across her range. Pictured are my favourites products. 

Mibostudio

I recently discovered the Etsy shop Mibostudio. I just love their motley crew of make-it-yourself paper animals, pictured above and below. Mibostudio is the papercraft department of the British design company Mibo, founded by designer Madeleine Rogers and based in Brighton. You can purchase these lovely creations as a pdf file, which contains the templates for your chosen set of animals. The pdf is sent to you via your Paypal email address and then you can get printing, cutting, and gluing! 

Laser Lovelies

  

The lovely laser cut items in todays post show the variety of designs

and ideas you can create using this technique. Above is a laser cut brooch by

the Australian illustrator and designer Naomi Murrell.

Bird decorations by Lush Designs with laser cut wings

A wreath laser cut from white cardboard by Cardboard Safari

A laser cut butterfly from an installation of "Biomimetic Butterflies"

at the McLeod Residence gallery in Seattle

Laser Cafe

In looking for great examples of designs using laser cutting, I came across the Fab Cafe which opened in Shibuya, Tokyo in March this year. They aim to provide a space where people can enjoy making things in an exciting environment that's furnished with a variety of digital fabrication tools, including a laser cutter that will cut or engrave almost anything! Below are just a few of the things that have been created at the cafe.

Customise your iPhone case

...or your Mac with your own design

The laser cut net for a woodpecker below

Customise your own stamp

 To create a design, all you need to do is take it to the cafe as an Abobe Illustrator vector file and plug it into the laser cutter. It will then cut out or engrave the design for you on lots of different materials, including paper, felt, acrylic and wood. It costs 2000 yen (just over £15) to share the machine with up to 3 people for 30 minutes, or 5000 yen (just over £38) if you want the machine to yourself. Below are some images of the cafe itself, where even the drinks are cute and creative!

  

Printing Blocks

The possiblities of designing using Laser Cutting technology seem endless, because it

can be used to cut almost any material. So over the next few days, I'm going to post

some brilliant creations using this method. Today I've found this beautiful alphabet that has been laser cut from a 3mm birch plywood and is based on a Bodoni Poster font. It

was digitally created using Adobe Illustrator by Nigel Bents, Paul Oakley and Jonny Holmes from Chelsea College of Art & Design, and shows how a project started digitally

can come full circle and be hand finished.