Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Head of the Class!

I have done some fun little jobs lately, like immediate gratification for a designer.
As much as I love the big jobs, sometimes the little ones are just, well, refreshing!
Both were to design new website headers.
The first was for the adorable and talented Nicole Cohen of www.sketch42blog.com
She was a dream client, really knew what she wanted and could communicate it beautifully (sounds like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how hard it can be for some clients to tell you what they want!).
Plus, I was using her gorgeous painting as the header's backdrop...hello?, again, makes my job easy. She told me what she was thinking, I proposed some ideas and, as she is so adept at doing (read her blog!) she took it to the streets for opinions...In the end, chose the typography that she liked the best. I think she chose very well and am proud to say that I helped her design her new header. I am a fan of her blog and her work, take my advice, spend some time on her site.

sketch42blog.com

The next header was for my fabulous friend, writer (can't-believe-we-met-through-twitter-because-she-feels-like-freaking-family!) www.nataliekarneef.com  She, knew a little less, what she wanted, but,  she did know what she liked, again, a good starting point (read on). My challenge was to find the thread that brought all the things she liked together (or some of them). Here are some examples of what she liked; vintage-ish, turquoise, red, brown, green, granny wallpaper, flowers, black and white photographs, good humor, drinking humor (she'll appreciate me sharing that!)  and naturally, as you'd suspect... old maps, typewriters, motorbikes and scooters... (this was not the entire list) but, let's face it,  it's pretty obvious, right?
Here's what she got,

Ok, it might not have been that simple, we went back and forth a few times, hey, I am a designer, not a psychic, but seriously, want to know how much fun is it to go back and forth and throw around ideas about headers until the cows come home with someone you adore?...you can't even put a price on that kind of fun!
Would I sound super cocky saying that I freaking love the result?..oh well.
Oh, and, get familiar with Natalie, and her writing, you will be happy you did!
Need a header? get in touch. Headers make me happy. (that sounds wrong)