Oh, baby:

Before I begin today's post, I just want to put this out on the table, lest the post title fool you: there are no new babies at traciedesigns HQ. There are no new babies on the horizon--nor will there ever be. Don't get me wrong, I love babies--I'm just at the point in my life where I love other people's babies.

Anywho. One of my BFF's had a baby last week, and I am beyond thrilled. Of course I am beyond happy for my friend and her husband, but selfishly I'm thrilled because there's a newborn in my life again (one that's not mine! +1!), AND it's a boy!

To welcome Dimitri into the world, I made this:

And remember how this weekend, I was all, creative rut, boring work, WAAAAAHHHHH! This project was fun. This was a great first step into getting my groove back (I know, way to make this birth all about me, right?). But for serious, you guys, this project was a great combination of the things I love: design, typography, CUTE LITTLE BABIES. Perhaps this is a first step into a little side business? Something to think about...

Want:

OH. EM. GEE. You guys, Target has partnered with Missoni to bring us all affordable zig zag goodness!

Debuting on September 13th, the Missoni for Target line includes clothing for women, men and kids (natch), as well as accessories, housewears, and a bicycle. Yes, a Missoni bicycle.

You can see the entire collection (and read some of the hysterical comments--"This doesn't look like something I can wear to a PTA meeting or soccer game!" Ummmm...) on Target's Facebook page.


Hello, adorable. Seriously, I think I might just go broke buying this stuff (not to be worn together, natch. I think it's a little much if you're piling Missoni, on top of Missoni, on top of Missoni).


There is a very blurry line between want and need when it comes to these shoes.


As with these great winter accessories. Hurry up and get cold so I can wear these!


OMG My kids are going to rock the socks off the world in this adorableness. Seriously. How. Freakin. Cute. Is this??!


Home accessories? Yup, I'm in.

Love:

Amy Butler fabrics.

Remember, last week, how I was all, I don't sew, or anything of the sort? Well, because of that, I never have the need to purchase fabric. Like, never.

However, we have these dining room chairs, and the off-white fabric that they came upholstered in is no longer off-white (and a little sidebar here: Seriously? WHAT were we thinking, getting chairs with off-white fabric?? It's like we were brain dead the day we decided that off-white + kids was a good idea. OK, rant over)--actually, they kind of look a little Jackson Pollock-y, what with all the stains and spatters. But not in a cool Jackson Pollock-y way; more like a sad, dingy Jackson Pollock. So, you know, time to re-cover them and make them pretty and fresh.

So, hello Amy Butler.

Holy cow these fabrics are great! I want to learn how to quilt, just so I can make amazing patterns with all of these designs (OK, not really. But now I want to find a quilter and art direct quilts--because I'm sure that's not annoying). But seriously--how fun! I've got my eye on 5 different patterns--which, coincidentally, look pretty great together, if I do say so (without me having planned it, either. In picking them out, I knew I wanted yellow, orange, or gray, or some combination of those):



If they look as great in the swatches as they do online, I might just go ahead an upholster each chair in a different fabric. Because, OMG, LOVE.

The designer behind the awesomeness

A while back, I posted about these clothbound classics from Penguin (seriously, how much do you love them??).



This time, let's talk about the designer behind the awesomeness: Coralie Bickford-Smith.

The inspiration blog the 99% interviewed her, talking about a typical workday, inspirations, and the like. First of all, I totally want to hang with this woman. She sounds awesome!

The best days are when final books come in. If it's one that I've put my heart into I can't wait for them to reach our floor so I rush up to production to get my hands on them and make sure everything is as it should be. It can be a bit scary, opening those boxes of books, but when it has all worked, it's ace.

And totally want her job!

Working in central London, I can go to some wonderful places to get ideas – museums, galleries, shops. And right at my desk of course – sometimes I just get sucked into the Internet and binge visually for hours. If this is the way my day has gone I go running for half an hour at lunchtime to escape and reset my brain.

Read the entire interview at the 99%, gush over Coralie's work on her website, and--as an added bonus--check out these adorable T(ea) towels. Want.

Political madness

Tuesday, August 10 is primary day here in CT. Since the spring, we've been inundated with political ads on TV and the radio, as well as direct mail, and most offensive--the political phone call. I get the political phone call, I really do. However, as good telemarketers do, they never call at a convenient time. As a matter of fact, if they're not calling at dinner, they're calling at the kids' bedtime. We've had them call after 9, which in my book, is just plain wrong. Is nothing safe from the telemarketer?

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about the political lawn sign. They're not everywhere--yet; but they're out there. And as usual for political lawn signs, they're pretty blah. Or are they?

Rick Torres: As far as political signs go, this one is pretty unoffensive. Sure, you've got your red, white and blue; but the size is not typical, and the lowercase letters feel more relaxed. Also, white space? Yes please. Points taken off, however, for no website--because the url is ricktorres2010.com--not ricktorres.com, as one might think.



Nitzy Cohen: Nitzy has tried to distinguish herself using not red, white or blue, but purple! If anything, it makes her stand out in a sea of political colors. Everything else? Yeah, notsomuch. The atrocious line spacing, fonts... ugh.



Dan Debicella: Again, with the no website! What is up with that? And the shooting star? Ugh. Definitely not my favorite.



Rob Merkle: Rob's got a good thing going with his last name here. Tasteful font, decent layout. I could do without the star and stripes, but whatever. It's not terrible, which is setting the bar pretty high as far as lawn signs go.



Tom Foley: OK, say it with me, people: If your name is not your url--yea, I'm talking to you, Tom Foley--your website should be on your lawn sign. Trust me, it helps. Plus, you've got the room. Like, really--you have the room. This one to me just blends into the background.



Just one more pet peeve to wrap the whole thing up: political candidates--all of you--get a consistent graphic designer, for the love! For every bad lawn sign, there's a somewhat decent website--and vice versa. There's all kinds of font inconsistencies (hint: Futura is not Helvetica--yeah, I'm talking to you, Rob Merkle), it's just painful to look at.

I guess the real question here is...

...Will Conan save the princess?

I'm not a big late night TV fan--if I can stay up past Jon Stewart's monologue, that means I'm usually up working--so in our house, Jay Leno's last show came and went without mention, as did Conan's first week as Tonight Show host.

However, I got in late last night, and I did turn Conan on right before bed, if only to see his new backdrop. Have you seen it?



It's fine, it's a backdrop; serving the exact purpose it's there to do... look nice behind the host. However, the folks over at Serious Lunch (found via Gizmodo) must have played a LOT of Nintendo back in the day, because they found that Conan's kind-of stained glass backdrop is really Super Mario in disguise!



Check out Serious Lunch for an animated gif layover of both images.

I think it's really cool--plus, it gives me an excuse to restart my quest to beat MarioKart; apparently, there's a ton of inspiration I'm missing as I try not to fall off Rainbow Road!

One Day of Design

I'm pretty excited for this book to come out:

When I wake up, when I check the time, when I brush my teeth, when I get dressed, when I have breakfast, when I cross the street, when I call to say I’ll be late again, when I work, when I have a break, when I get back home, when I relax and when I go to sleep I am surrounded by graphics and illustrations.

'One Day' takes a comprehensive look at how these graphics have entered our daily lives, and adorn everything from alarm clocks to skateboards. Not only do these graphics apply beauty, life and personality to our objects, but they also create a relationship with us, when they become part of the “visual soundtrack” to our lives.

According to Amazon, it will be released stateside at the end of next week. Which is when I will be ordering it!