I’m always on the lookout for fresh visual inspiration — and with the permeation of Pinterest and Tumblr it gets harder to find exciting, provoking imagery that hasn’t been reposted everywhere. Veer, long one of my favorite sources for purchasing fonts, has launched Veer Ideas, a Tumblr full of stunning photos and type. The mix of compositions and colors really gave me a creative jolt — this collection doesn’t disappoint.
When ScotchBlue Tape invited me to take part in their D.I.Y. creative challenge, I was both honored and flattered but I’ll be honest here: my mind when blank when it came to dreaming up a project. I’m used to spending my days designing behind the computer but feel like a fish out of water when it comes to handcrafting most things — luckily, this is Joey’s strong suit! He started his own line of skateboards last year and we’d often talked about collaborating on a design but it was one of those projects we never seemed to get around to. We quickly realized that this was our chance to finally make it a reality!
To get started, I built out some inspiration boards to give Joey and idea of the direction I wanted my design to take. Pinterest is great but I thought it would be WAY more fun to curate my ideas on cork boards. I knew I wanted the design to be geometric, have at least one pop of color and include my old standbys, type and stripes.
• Blank Skate Deck. Joey carved mine himself (see above) out of reclaimed wood from a furniture shop that was 9 ply but you can pick up a blank deck at most skate shops.
• Print-outs of Design. We printed out my design in three 11×17 inch sheets (black and white is fine on normal paper) that were then taped together as a stencil.
• ScotchBlue Tape. The thinner width was especially awesome for knocking out our stripes.
• Spray Adhesive: You’ll need this to affix the paper stencil to the tape. We used a 3M version.
• Spraypaint. We used Krylon brand with a gloss finish in black, white and yellow (see above) and finished with a clear coat to seal it.
• X-acto Knife. You’ll need to cut out the pattern so you can spray paint the design.
• Prep: Joey cut this deck out with a jigsaw himself, measured and drilled the holes for trucks and sanded it to a smooth finish. If you purchase one from a skate shop, the holes will already be drilled.
1. Start with a base coat of spraypaint (we used white) and let it dry for a full day to make sure it isn’t tacky.
2. Cover the entire bottom surface of the skate deck in ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape.
3. This is the surface that the stencil will be cut out of.
4. Cover the entire taped surface of the skate deck in spray adhesive.
5. Next, affix the stencil to the tacky surface and cut off the excess.
6. Cut out the black portions of the stencil using an X-acto knife. Remember to cut through both the stencil AND the painter’s tape. The stencil and tape are affixed together so peel both off to reveal the painted surface.
7. All black portions of the stencil should be removed EXCEPT for the A.
8. The first coat of black spraypaint is applied. The A was masked over with ScotchBlue Tape because we were going to apply a different color to it later in the process.
9. Remove the rest of the stencil.
10. This is the result.
11. Peel off the A section of the stencil and SAVE IT!
12. Create a fresh, inverted circle stencil.
13. Use paper and ScotchBlue Tape to mask the entire skate deck with exception of the circle and a single stripe (these are the areas we want to make yellow).
14. Spraypaint the yellow sections. Let this dry for a few hours to ensure nice, crisp edges.
15. Remove all paper and tape to reveal the yellow. Then, replace with the A that was set aside earlier. Mask off everything that should NOT be black. Apply one final coat of black paint and let this dry for a few hours.
16. Once surface is dry, remove all masking to reveal your final design!
Joey wasn’t quite finished yet, though. Before I took my deck out for a spin, he applied grip tape to the surface and sliced out my trademark cross symbol. The perfect finishing touch! Get creative here — you can cut out anything in the grip tape you can dream up!
I loved my finished design so much I put it on display in my office. Nothing beats a piece of functional art! If you have any questions at all about the process, please let me know in the comments and we’ll do our best to respond! And if you make your own skate deck design, let us know — we’d love to see it!
This post is a collaboration with ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape. Visit Scotch Blue Tape on Facebook to learn how to win rad stuff and check out the other participants’ projects in the gallery. All concepts and designs within this post were created in partnership with Joey Maas.
When Summer hits, I trade in my reds for even brighter shades including tangerine. I love the vibrance and I love the energy. A few months back, I also tried full-on tangerine lipstick which proved to be too overpowering — I think I’ll stick to apparel and nail polish for now! Here’s a few of my favorite tangerine-hued finds:
1. Wearing an Asos dress in Las Vegas (photo by David McNeil). 2. Vintage Romanian Book. 3. Alexander Girard Mug. 4. Canary. 5. Bottega Veneta Dress. 6. Olympics Poster. 7. Screenprinted Alphabet Set by JP Boneyard. 8. MAC Lipstick & Nails in Morange.
These were just too good not to share — Herman Miller just released 10 free wallpaper downloads with sizes included for your desktop, iPhone and iPad! I love the variety of colors and patterns! Which is your favorite?
I have always admired the aesthetic of Anthropologie but beyond the occasional wardrobe splurge, the overall vibe felt a little too romantic and bohemian for my structured, modern tastes. That changed though when Gala and I were in Santa Monica last month. Maybe because I was in full-on vacation mode and in a city where people wear A LOT more color, I fell in love with what I saw inside the store — it wasn’t just the clothing but moreso the overall presentation and visual merchandising.
Even if you’re not an Anthropologie fan, there’s no denying that they design window displays like no other. I used to work with a girl at a design studio who left her career to do the windows for Anthro instead and she loves it. I was browsing through the Anthro site and these are a few of my favorite finds:
1. Feline Karma Dress 2. Dear Parsy Tote 3. Dorian Vest Dress 4. Two-Toned Cocktail Forks.
5. Mod Swathe Heels 6. Literary Correspondence Napkins 7. Barr-Co. Soap 8. Dice Notation Skirt.
I also thought this chair featuring a beach scene upstairs was really, really cool. The whole Anthropologie vibe makes me want to go back on vacation and I’ll be close enough to that feeling, BBQ-ing and relaxing today for the 4th. Hope you have a great one full of relaxation as well.
I have close to 10 years’ worth of magazine clippings amassed in my flat files and here’s a small sampling. Even with the abundance of reading materials online and on the iPad, I am still a diehard connoisseur of print. I do have an iPad (and subscribe to some magazines that are more interactive) but I’m still keeping my print magazine subscriptions as well. All you hear these days is, “Print is dead!” But it’s really not dead, it’s just changing. You may see less printed materials but the quality of what you do see is higher overall. I love my iPad but still equally enjoy the feeling of digging through stacks of clippings and pooling together inspiration. What about you?
I still have some of my 90s clippings too stuffed into a folder (though those mostly revolve around Kurt & Courtney, some Versace ads and a healthy dose of Marilyn Manson). My poor, poor parents had to deal with my bedroom walls covered in this stuff! And maybe that’s where my nostalgia for print and holding onto my magazine subscriptions comes from — that’s all I had before a steady internet connection and the iPad.
Readers: What iPad publications do you subscribe to? Any recommendations? My favorite so far has been Project Magazine.
I’ve been oddly inspired by all things yellow lately. It’s odd because up until a few short years ago, I loathed the color and wouldn’t go anywhere near it. My dad disliked the color when I was growing up and it definitely rubbed off on me! One of the turning points was two years ago when I came across these insanely cool architectural Margiela heels. I told myself that if I wore these blazing lemon beauties with all black, it would be okay…I’d just dip my toes into the pool of yellow. Wearing shoes like this with a monochromatic ensemble really inspired me; they felt like an explanation point at the end of my outfits. I began embracing more things yellow in my wardrobe but the first addition to my house was this light from Schoolhouse. Our all black and white house felt somber and lifeless and I wanted a touch of color for the dining room. Even my dad, a hater of all things yellow helped me pick it out! This goes to prove that it’s good to keep an open mind, even with the tiniest things. Hello, yellow!
1. Yellow Cross in the kitchen, 2. 3.1 Phillip Lim Double Layer Floating Kit Tail Top, 3. My Margiela Heels, 4. “Roma” by Arian Behzadi, 5. 6 Building (source unknown), 6. Fall 2010 A.F. Vandevorst Dress, 7. Pretty Blue Guns & The Revelators Poster by Adam Hill, 8. Those Shoes Again, and 9. Remix Magazine.
Over the weekend, I decided that it was time to order some rubber stamps featuring my branding. I set up vector files for my wordmark and square ‘Nubby Script’ logo but wanted a third option as well (when you’re on a roll with these types of projects, you might as well go all out). I wasn’t exactly sure what the third option should be but then I remembered a really great window installation that Belgian fashion line A.F. Vandevorst had done a few years back. In a way, the logo reminded me of the round stamps that were common at the post office though that is now sadly history. Inspired by A.F. Vandevorst and the old school round post office stamps, I’m working on that third option. The other two custom stamps have been ordered and I’ll be reviewing them on my blog as soon as they arrive! Inspiration is everywhere. It’s all connected.
Hello! I'm Shauna, a graphic designer, blogger and co-founder of The Blogcademy. Oh, and I love shoes. Read more…
