jet set

These prints (spotted on Grain Edit yesterday) from uber-talented designer/illustrator Neil Stevens had me swooning. They are all based on vintage airline baggage tags. I love information graphics as art. They are available to buy here!

the skinny la minx story

I love Heather Moore and everything about her gorgeous print business Skinny la Minx.
But I'd never seen this little promo film she'd made before. It's delightful. Sit back and watch!

say hello to a new bird

Have you noticed any changes around here of late? I've spent an awful long time pondering over what to do about my 'brand'. Having just come out of a year long hiatus (last year involved a lot of moving around) I felt the need for a fresh look and fresh work (coming soon-ish). I have to admit that One Little Bird is not a name I particularly like. I chose it on a whim in about five seconds flat as I knew that if I spent a long time thinking about it, it would never get done. And there's far too many birds on things, aren't there? I've been toying with the idea of just using my own name, but I've finally made up my mind (thank the heavens) to stick with One Little Bird as it's a name I've come to be associated with and I've already spent this long building things up. But something needed to change. I felt the old bird was a bit 'lifeless' (am I the only one who feels like that on a daily basis). I needed something with a little more personality. So here he is. My new yellow birdy.

 He's based upon the old logo, with a few tweaks here and there...

...and I discovered (didn't take a genius) that if I rotate his body on his legs by 45 degrees he looks either ahead or down. His eye can turn in any direction too - watch the header at the top of the blog for a few seconds for the whole shebang. Just these tiny little movements bring him to life and I now feel I have a logo that can be applied to many different things in a myriad of ways (I've already got a germ of any idea for a children's book featuring him). He's starting to appear around the web on my various social media sites and shops.

Anyway, I do hope you like him. I'd love to hear what you think of him and the rest of the changes I've made to the place (another change I've made is that I've shortened my blog name to olbstudio - it's a bit snappier and less stuff to type in). I've got some plans in the pipeline for a new website, but that's turning out to be more of a challenge than I first thought, so not for a while just yet. In the meantime, if you'd like to put a bird on your desktop with a handy reminder of the new blog URL, I've made a desktop wallpaper for you all. Just follow the links for your size and download.

2560x1440 // 1680x1050 // 1440x900 // 1280x800 // iPad // iPhone

make a map

links

Not like I haven't got enough to do already or anything, but I couldn't resist signing up for this course called Map Design: Learn to Communicate Places Beautifully from Anne Ditmeyer on Skillshare. Anne is a graphic designer, consultant, published writer and a longtime contributing editor for Design*Sponge. I've always loved maps; I remember the pleasure I used to take in colouring maps for geography class in school. Although I've made plenty of maps within the course of my design career I was attracted to the course for the challenge of creating a personal hand-drawn map (I don't do enough drawing) within a short space of time whilst at the same time making new contacts around the net. I believe there is always something to be gained from these quick, fun challenges, seasoned designer or not (especially if, like me, you work alone and need a bit of creative social interaction and feedback). There's still time to sign up before the course starts on Tuesday. It's very much aimed at busy people who want to work at their own pace and at just $20 you can't lose!