The Week In Pictures: 3.2.12

After five glorious days of sun, fun and silly antics, I was definitely hit hard with a case of the post-vacation blues this week. The only solutions for me were to 1. Jump back into work as a distraction and 2. Surround myself with color. A lot of it.

Ever since I was a teen, my primary form of relaxation has been reading fashion magazines. I’ve always loved editorial design and they have some of the best. But now, with who knows haw many subscriptions (10? More?) and little free time, they’re piling up fast. This is maybe a third of what I need to get through!

One of the best moments of last week was delivering a round of proofs of the upcoming Rock n Roll Bride magazine directly to Kat in Vegas. I’m in Porltand, she’s in the U.K. and well, I never thought we’d get a face-to-face meeting. This time, we’re pushing ourselves harder to create something that’s not only beautiful but also meaningful.

This magazine project ties into something I’ve been thinking a lot more about this year. Behind the scenes, I’ve been focusing more on the big picture. I keep coming back to quality over quantity. During the first few years of my career, I worked as hard as I could to develop a solid base of clients and took on way too much work in the process for two reasons: I wanted to build my portfolio as quickly as possible with non-school work and I needed the income. Now I’m at a place where I want to focus on larger projects. Whereas I used to often just do a logo for a client, a project now might go something like this: 1. Identity development. 2. Business cards and collateral. 3. Blog and / or website. 4. e-promo and print promo templates. 5. Print magazine. Because of this, when I’m now working with a new client, it might be months before the full project makes its debut. That means less design updates here but when they do happen, they’ll be much larger and discuss more of the process we’ve gone through.

Like I said, color is playing a huge role in my life lately. It doesn’t have to cost a lot to add a few splashes to your wardrobe. The neon yellow dress was from Forever 21 and the chunky knit green sweater (which, in this rain / snow combo week here in Portland has really come in handy) was found at Buffalo Exchange.

I didn’t expect to have such a great time in Vegas last week. I’d been there many times before and yeah, it’s fun but after three days on The Strip, you want to run home screaming. But this time was different — maybe the allure of vacation has gotten more seductive as I’ve gotten older. You know how it goes: you escape into a fantasy world where your room magically gets cleaned every day, emails slow down and your friends from different cities are somehow by your side. You eat out every night, explore new, glittery environments and document them with fresh-eyed excitement. Of course this can’t last forever but what I’ve learned is that sometimes, we just need to get away from it all. Away from the internet, away from the monotony of every day life. This week, I am thankful that I got the time to step away and appreciate the world around me. If you’re feeling the need, I hope you’ll have an opportunity to step away and do the same soon.

Tags: the week in pictures