Blog

eCommerce Website – The Ink Nest

The Ink Nest | Browse royalty-free clip art, illustrations , vector files, scrapbooking resources for your projects

My new shop The Ink Nest is up and running! It is an example of a new generation eCommerce websites that I offer as part of my services. Very important objective was to have a responsive design – this means that the website re-sizes automatically to fit smartphones and tablet (like iPhone and iPad).

Read more

  • 10/05/12
  • Comments: 0

Website Design – Amelia Lane Paper

Amelia Lane Paper Website Design

Chanel is the owner and designer of Amelia Lane Paper – a small studio in London, England. She contacted me for a website design and I was immediately inspired by her pretty calligraphy.

Chanel likes aqua, white, raspberry pink, blues and green colors. The style she prefers is modern, a little bit whimsical and feminine. I jumped on the word feminine to bring floral elements which I love to use in my designs. Hearts and birds completed the vision – all drawn by hand. We used Nelly Script font throughout her website – a very appropriate typography to match her calligraphy. In addition, she chose the font Gudea which brought some edge –  the website become modern and not all too sweet.

Visit the Amelia Lane Paper website!

Sabina was a joy to work with – quick and responsive to my (many) questions and I love the design she came up with! I strong recommend her for a beautiful and professional website!

Chanel White | Amelia Lane Paper
  • 10/05/12
  • Comments: 0

Logo and Website Design – Cake Nutrition

Cake Nutrition Website Design

Cake Nutrition Logo DesignCake Nutrition Branding Design

Vanessa is a nutrition consultant based in UK. I designed her logo and website recently and I am pleased to write about the project here. When I think of good nutrition I imagine apples and carrots. Cakes are somewhere in the list of forbidden food. This is why Cake Nutrition is such a curious name for a nutrition consultancy business.

Vanessa was certain that she does not want a logo with carrots and apples. She likes turquoise, light blue, white, red and pink colors. She prefers retro style to modern. Also she is a perfectionist, something I discovered in the process of work. I understood that her brand is about good, delicious food and about information presented in a fun creative way, not about the dry facts. With this in mind we worked together through several concepts till we found the right design for her. I became again convinced that generally clients knows best what design will work for them. We designers should not push our ideas at all cost but should truly listen to what the client is saying.

Visit the Cake Nutrition website!

I stumbled across Sabina whilst researching potential designers for my branding and website design, and I’m so glad I did. With her patience and creative flair, I think that she’s produced some brilliant work. I think that the final design is just perfect and so many people have complimented me on it. I’m hoping to work with Sabina again on future projects and would have no hesitation in recommending her services!

Vanessa Hattersley | Cake Nutrition Co.

Blog design – A Lovely Place To Land

A Lovely Place To Land Blog Design

Recently I posted about a banner design I created for the website of Amanda Hervey – a freelance writer, editor & stylist. I also designed her personal blog –  A Lovely Place To Land.

While the theme of the first banner was “Exploring backroads” and illustrated her experience of traveling through Kentucky, the theme of her personal blog is “An oasis in a busy world (my landing place)”. I really like this theme filled with childhood/motherhood symbols.

Amanda has a very personal and pretty style of writing. The blog design reflects this, setting the mood for a really wonderful place to land.

I have to admit, when I first reached out to Sabina, I was nervous that the physical distance between us would be a problem. I just couldn’t imagine how she would be able to create a look that expressed where my heart is without ever stepping foot in Kentucky, where I live and write. But once I started working with her, I quickly realized that she is one of those rare people who truly listen for the sound of your heartbeat and then works to create something so beautiful and deeply personal, you couldn’t have imagined it yourself! She created both my professional writing site and my blog and both are perfect representations of my home and heart and for that, I’m deeply grateful. People always say that business isn’t personal, which I don’t understand. You put everything you have into your work and Sabina understands that; luckily, she puts everything she has into her work as well so you can’t go wrong when you put your business in her hands.

Amanda Hervey | Amanda Hervey Creative

Missala Handmade Branding Set

Branding Items

Busy Beaver ButtonsI am really happy to see these designs in print! I most often only get to see the digital version of my designs. The real beauty I think is in the print – the paper texture, the inks, the tangible design.

Misala Handmade are one of my favorite clients – a really sweet couple, they are always friendly, encouraging and their fun products are so inspiring. Some time ago I created an Etsy set for their shop and a month ago a branding set including logo, business cards, tags, fabric labels and some cute Busy Beaver Button Co. Buttons to be given away as gifts.

Sabina was absolutely brilliant as she provided very valuable idea and direction upon seeing my Etsy store for the first time and come up with an absolutely fantastic design for my brand. The branding items had become the cornerstone of my little business to build and expand upon. A professional in the field with an unique hand-drawn illustrated style, she is recommended for anyone looking for something other than the boilerplate designs that floods the marketplace.

Michelle | Misala Handmade

Latest Design Projects

1. This branding set I designed for a pair of photographers – Adorn Photography. The girls insisted on having snowflakes as the central theme of their branding. Initially I thought that this may turn out too seasonal. After getting to know them, I think, in an abstract way, the branding fits with their unique style.

2. Logo design for Misala Handmade. The client was so excited by the Etsy set that I made before, that they ordered a branding set. I love when clients return to me and it makes me feel appreciated as a designer.

3. and 4. I designed two blogs in the last month and both are about cooking. It is interesting how two designs on the same topic can differ so much. The first is The Red Recipe Book for a client who wanted to surprise her mother and give her this blog as a gift (the modern way of making gifts to parents). The second blog I designed for Jennita Russo, an amazing woman who is a dancer, choreographer, private chef, florist and event/wedding planner.

Once again I wanted to thank you for amazing job you did on my website. You are a such a talented artist/designer and made the whole creative process a delight. I greatly appreciated your attention to detail, the quickness of completion, and your expertise and guidance through the whole process!

Jennita Russo | Sugar Plum Foodie

5. A website banner for Amanda Hervey – a freelance writer, editor & stylist. Amanda is the author of “Kentucky A to Z”. The theme of the banner is “Exploring backroads” and I was inspired by pictures of horses and scenery from Kentucky.

6. Blog banner for Mareike Murray – a wedding photographer based in Glasgow, Scotland. The theme of the banner is “Scottish Highland Vintage Romance”. Mareike likes scenery filled with light and also lochs and flowers.

Website Design – Bellallure

Bellallure website design

There is something wonderful about completing a website project. It is an enormous amount of work, hundreds of emails exchanged with the client, brainstorming, liters of coffee, disturbed night dreams and so on. And at the end the result of our effort is online and we are proud.

Betina is a jewellery artisan based in France. She is natively from Brazil which one can feel by looking at how interesting her jewelry is. With pictures of colorful precious stones set in gold or silver, pearls and diamonds, there was really no need for me to decorate much her website. We chose clean design with artistic pencil lines. I added some accents of watercolor flowers that resemble jewels for her Etsy banner. Also I painted some clouds on the slideshow pictures as the light reflections of the stones reminded me of sun rays.

I also designed the Bellallure Facebook page. Check it out for some interesting jots about jewelry and modern women. Betina is really worth following!

Visit Bellallure website

Sabina designed my brand package and website. I can’t say enough about the fabulous work she has done. She listened to my thoughts and surpassed my expectations with her wonderful ideas. Her attention to detail and design initiative are remarkable. It was an absolute pleasure to work with her. She is friendly, patient and talented. When you combine these highly valued elements with Sabina’s irreproachable expertise and creativity, you get an admirable result.

Betina Hoffmann | jewellery artisan, Bellallure owner

Geometric seamless patterns

I like the trending use of geometric patterns in design. And even more so since I started reading the August Empress blog. I think Jo Klima is fantastic and she often shares hand drawn watercolor patterns with the community as well as design inspirations. Check her blog for more such goodness.

My interpretation here is actually a digitally created pattern. The pattern was first created in illustrator and then I overlayed some home-made painted textures.

Download these patterns for personal use. [download id=”2″]

Latest Projects

1. Banner design for Avelaine Scyrup – wedding photographer, part of a branding project. The theme for the banner is “Glamour girl in the big city”. The city scape behind is Calgary in Canada. There are some nice personal details like the the car, which she drives (under the logo) and a number on the shop door (on the right side) which is the same as of a lottery ticket that her grandfather won once. Does this mean anything to her clients? No, but it does tell a story and has an intimate feeling, something that I am usually after in design.

2. Etsy set for Misala Handmade. The client makes fun little bags and purses. The style they wanted to capture is a mixture of shabby chic, polka dots, kawaii style. Many of the hand drawn elements in the banner are inspired by their products.

3. Logo design for Minikin Jewelry, part of a branding set. The client wants her designs to appeal to both her Japanese customers and also US customers. I like the freshness of the color scheme which she chose.

4. Logo design for Sew – modern fabric studio, part of a branding set.

5. Banner for Smitten by Carmen Weddings. The client is a wedding planner and the theme for this banner is ‘Love makes the world go round’. All elements are drawn by hand with ink and then digitally colored. I think the theme is clever and appeals to the adventurous, dreamy side of brides.

Work in progress

I am working on yet another website banner. The theme is “Oriental Garden”. My client is a creative young woman with a Japanese origin. This is just a work in progress and the final banner may look quite different.

Sometimes people ask about my creative process. This is basically how it goes:
– we brainstorm with the client on a theme for the banner. A theme is something that unites all elements in a design. The elements can be very different but the theme keeps them together and helps to elevate the design to something more than just a soup of graphics.
– I make the drawings on paper with pencil, then I trace them with an ink pen.
– the images are scanned and transferred to illustrator. In illustrator I color all images and arrange the composition.
– finally the banner image goes to Photoshop where I may add some elements with brushes or experiment with background colors and textures.

1 2 3 4
Categories