Who needs color when you have black and white? View the full Fashion Notebook set on Flickr.

Color Codes is a new series of freeform, image-based posts comprised of my photos and design and mixed with found images of objects and spaces that I find compelling. The singular factor that ties them all together are their color schemes.

Yesterday, my brother burst into my office and said something to the effect of, “I really feel like taking photos. Let’s go.” I’m like, “How soon?” He responded with, “Right now.” He’s way more spontaneous that I am. And, he has a way nicer camera so I always take him up on the offer!

We drove about 10 minutes from home to an industrial area in S.E. Portland and found this building we’d never seen before. It was dead quiet but every once in awhile, really loud mariachi band music would pipe up out of nowhere.

The colors and textures were like nothing I’d ever seen. Though very industrial and gritty in texture, everything was perfectly stacked and organized. The ground had been freshly swept. I felt like it was secretly a movie set!

These Dries van Noten boots are probably the most ridiculous steal I’ve ever come across in my entire life. 80% off. So cheap by Dries standards…the price you’d pay for perhaps a pair of basic Frye boots. Totally an unexpected buy but I knew when I saw them that they would age well with the really simple, classic shape. Plus, the leather is really soft and fits a bit slouchy through the calf so I plan on wearing these in the summer (like yesterday) since they don’t stick or bind.

I swear I’m not grumpy — the sun was just totally blinding. 90+ degrees yesterday! I have a few buffalo plaid dresses that I picked up at Forever 21 over two years ago and still wear them constantly, year round. When it cools down, I pair them with tights, a t-shirt and cardigan.

I Wore:

Dress, Forever 21
Bowler Hat, H&M
Belt, Vintage
Yellow Slip, Forever 21
Helvetica Necklace, Star

All photos by Carey Haider.

01

One of my biggest pet peeves are cheaply made shoes but when I was at Forever 21 this weekend, I spotted the Metallic Spirit Flats which are just what I need when I have to throw something on to walk Rocky around the ‘hood. In true form, they smell like stinky synthetic material (but they’re so damn cute)!

02

What are your summer scents? Mine are Sonia Kashuk No. 4 (light and slightly fruity) and MAC Creations MV1 (stronger with a big dose of vanilla).

03

What does that bottom book say? Los Angeles!!! The way I plan trips goes something like this: Gala emails me and asks if I’d like to join her for an all girls adventure. I immediately respond with a resounding yes! Then, we fill in the details. Disneyland! Jazzi! And, I need to make a pit stop at the All Saints store. I haven’t had a real vacation (let alone a full day off ) this year so I am beyond ready for some girl time and lounging around.

04

You can bet that I already have my mouse ears out. Gala, Jazzi and I did Disneyland last February, then I visited Disney World in November with my dad. Now, I’m hitting Disneyland again with the girls and Disney World in November. I’m sensing a pattern here!!! What do I love about Disney? It’s a chance to escape reality for a day, eat loads of junk food and go on rides (though, I am skipping Splash Mountain — got soaked and my hair turned into a mound of major knots last time).

05

I was seated outside at The Goodfoot a few days ago and noticed this goofy door, supposedly leading to a smoking area….but when I peeked in, all I could see were garbage cans and bikes. Maybe it’s really a secret passageway.

I hope you’ve had an enjoyable week! My dad has been working super hard building us a fence and next up, I have to buy 10 million gallons of gray paint (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration) for our front porch, living room and kitchen. Then, I have to do a million rounds of freelance (another slight exaggeration) and try to get a handle on this thing called life. Wish me luck.

• Immensely helpful: Designing Style Guidelines for Brands and Websites.

• Grace of Design*Sponge does a great job of explaining how to handle rude comments on your blog. (link via Anna @ D16).

• Tony Hawk does a 900. Yes, a 900.

• I remember spotting the Médor watch in Vogue 15 years or so ago and thinking it was the coolest watch ever. Garance Doré has great taste.

• Occasionally, I read advice columns. I love Cary Tennis. His advice is totally real, unfiltered and unparalleled. Plus, the titles are always super good. Check out I trusted my gut and got screwed, Why can’t I get a girlfriend? and I hooked up with the bride’s sister after the reception to get warmed up!

• Newest guilty pleasure:What Courtney Wore Today. As in Courtney Love.

• How to give your photos a cool, retro analog effect.

I am calling this post ‘Laser Lace’ because my new Forever 21 dress has a winding, connected lace-esque pattern. It also has a strange burnt smell that makes me imagine that it was wound and connected by some big, futuristic machine with lasers that steadily pieced each section into place!

See that pattern? It’s sort of lacy, sort of spiderweb-ish. Either way, I love it. This outfit is like my perfect summer combo: feminine, avant garde and…black. Haha.

I’m not much of a sandals person. Even in the summer I tend to pair airy, above-the-knee cotton dresses with chunky platform wedge ankle boots. So, when I do decide to get sandals, they have to be really special. I’ve been wanting these Chloes for so long — I think I even linked to them in a post here on the blog over a year ago. Thanks to yoox, I found these super on sale and my shoe dreams came true. Granted, they’re fairly high and narrow but they don’t seem to bind or pinch. And, I mostly sit at a desk anyway so I am not too concerned about being able to walk a mile in them. I haven’t had such great luck with other Chloe shoes but the incline on these feels just right.

I Wore:

‘Lace’ Dress, Forever 21
Patent Belt, Vintage
Headband, Forever 21
Watch, Nixon Chalet
Wedge Sandals, Chloe

Rocky was so well-behaved during last night’s photo session! Normally he whimpers, tugs and pulls but this time, he just stood perfectly still. He cracks me up. I love it when I get home from work and he’s waiting at the door for me with his hair parted down the middle and all brushed out!

P.S. All photos by Joey.

P.P.S. Sorry for the blog slowdown. My weeks seem to keep getting busier and busier.

This is a fun one! Last night, I walked around my office and gathered up some specimens with interesting type that I had sitting around. Featured is a piece of a Mohawk Paper package, an A&G Merch business card, a Chloe tag from shoes, a page from the NOA NOA look book and a hang tag from a set of Urban Outfitters curtains.

The entire set of The Typofiles can be viewed here.

Color Codes is a new series of freeform, image-based posts comprised of my photos and design and mixed with found images of objects and spaces that I find compelling. The singular factor that ties them all together are their color schemes.

Welcome to The Week in Pictures, a weekly column that features snapshots documenting my life as a designer and blogger living in Portland, Oregon. Thanks for reading!

01

Big upgrade alert! Over the weekend, my brother helped me move my West Elm bookcase from our all white room up the stairs to my office (of course we started laughing and I was afraid he was going to drop it and smash my foot). I felt like I never looked at my personal library because it was so far away. Now, with all these goodies residing less than two feet from my desk, I feel like I’m going to be a lot more inspired. I do my books by color (just like my shoes).

02

Lazy summer evenings sitting in the sun, sipping a hibiscus margarita with my beloved = priceless.

03

Last Saturday, I bought clear plastic drawer trays at Target. Upon returning home, I spent an hour organizing my sock drawer by color. Perhaps a wee bit OCD, but now I can actually find what I’m looking for. Little upgrades like this make me so happy.

04

I love black and white flower patterns. This dress is 2+ years old, from Forever 21 and still a personal favorite.

05

More office snapshots — I finally feel like it is finished. For the time being, I’ve decided against getting a rug because I love the worn in texture of the wood. Eventually I’d like to have my floors refinished in ebony (inspiration: my living room and Alexander Wang’s offices). The flat files and magnetic board are from IKEA, the Panton chair is a reproduction and the metal vintage gas station signs were a gift from my brother. I’ve had my mannequin Twiggy since 2004 — though we wear the same size, she’s like a foot taller and I hate sharing my clothes! So, she languishes in the corner wearing the cashmere cape off my Rick Owens jacket, thigh-highs and vintage glasses from a flea market in Chelsea. Some of you mentioned wanting to see more house / decor photos so I’m going to start making more of an effort. Consider this room #1!

Any fun weekend plans? I’ll be hiding away in my office, making a valiant attempt to get caught up on freelance….

To finish off the week, I thought I’d contrast the angular, masculine identity of Josh Fassbind with the pink, super girly look of Rock n’ Roll Bride.

Kat, who runs Rocknrollbride.com contacted me with the intentions of giving her blog a slight facelift. She’s friends with another of my clients, wedding photographer David McNeil and after deciding to run her business full time, she felt that it was time for a more polished look.

I love Kat’s infectious attitude, bright pink hair and penchant for Vivienne Westwood for Melissa shoes. Her look screams pure rock and roll but with a feminine twist. I wanted to translate that into some fresh graphics for her blog. (To be clear, I didn’t do a full blog redesign, just a new header, colors and menu / navigation bars — she did the install).

Kat specifically requested branding that looked like my The Week in Pictures header;  flowy, with serifs. And, as we got started, I noticed that it also has a slight Rolling Stone magazine vibe — classic rock and roll.

Kat liked the pink-haired girl illustration in her old header but the second I saw her photo galleries and started digging, I encouraged her to showcase them instead. To me, they summed up her style perfectly. I wanted to keep the playful side of Rock N’ Roll Bride but at the same time, I wanted to give it a more mature feeling since it’s growing so much.

Kat loves pink but I wanted to narrow it down to just key elements instead since too much of a bright color has the ability to distract from the content. Because of that, I changed the top navigation bar as well as the headers for the right columns to a solid dark gray. The gray anchors the pink while being less harsh and contrast-y than straight black.

The Rock N’ Roll Bride tagline is “Your Big Day the Rock N’ Roll Way” which I love! I set the tagline in Gotham Bold since it has a simple, elegant feel when a lot of tracking is added.

Though this header concept was not used, I wanted to show it to point out what the logo looks like when used without the tagline.

This is another header that was not used but shows what the tagline looks like when set in white. Kat wanted the focus to be more about her blog and brand instead of having her face front and center and chose a beautiful photo featuring a gorgeous wedding dress and bouquet of flowers. It’s just enough to give you that classic bride feel.

As we were moving along in the process, Kat started tweeting about it and Charlotte Gamble of Restoration Cake jumped in and offered to make her a custom cake.

Wow! How awesome is that?!!! It’s so….Rock N’ Roll Bride! It’s been a blast working with Kat — her excitement is infectious and that same uplifting, inspiring attitude can be found on her blog. Check it out!