Posted: June 16th, 2010 | Author: Jennifer Farley
So I’ve decided to close down and dissolve Laughing Lion Design. It’s officially been a company since 2006. I’m doing this for a few reasons and it has nothing to do with a downturn or lack of business, there seems to be plenty of work out there if you’re willing to find it.
What ultimately prompted me to make the decision, is that my husband, who I’m completely bananas about has been sick and there is nothing that helps you prioritize faster than having a loved one not doing so well. Let me say he will be fine in time but it’s made me think that I’ve been spending far too long in front of a computer or with a laptop stuck on my knees. I can’t ever see myself looking back and thinking “I wish I’d spent more time on the internet.”
My second reason for shutting up shop is one that I’ve known for a long time and that is: I’m a really crap business woman. I’m good at design and making things look nice (and a few other things) but I quite literally agonize over talking about money, invoicing, forms and all that stuff. I have a great and patient accountant who speaks to me in baby language and I still don’t understand it. The “business end” of the business of design has always flummoxed me and I’ve never really come to terms with it, so I’m bowing out now while I still have my sanity.
I’m in a very lucky position in that I’ve had a steady job teaching design for nearly eight years now – Photoshop, illustrator, Indesign and web design – even while I was running (or attempting to run) the company so I’m not out of work and I also have my writing job for Sitepoint’s Design blog (so no need to send those food parcels and cheques just yet, although I do love food parcels).
So thanks to everyone who has hired (and paid) me to design websites, brochures, posters, business cards, logos and all the assorted bits and bobs over the past few years. It’s probably going to take a few weeks/months to wind the company up, apparently there are many forms to fill out and hoops to jump through, but I am no longer doing any more design work for the company.
I feel quite relieved now that I’ve finally made this decision and have no regrets about either starting or finishing it. I tried it and it wasn’t for me so now I can move on.
I would like to mention that I’m still interested in design and illustration collaboration projects for fun and doing things I really enjoy like photography as a hobby.
Finally this blog will continue with design news and tutorials. I started this before I started the company and it doesn’t really cause me any stress and I think people find the tutorials useful so that makes me happy too.
Till next time
Jennifer
Filed under: All, Miscellaneous | Tags: design | 18 Comments »
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Posted: April 30th, 2010 | Author: Jennifer Farley
Trumpet blowing time. I was delighted to receive an email from Megan at HOW Magazine’s blog telling me that Laughing Lion is listed in the May Top 10 websites for designers. So I’m very happy about that. It’s always nice to get a link but extra nice when it’s from an organisation like HOW that I’m a big fan of.
You can check out the other websites listed this month here.
Filed under: All, Design Stuff! | Tags: design, HOW Magazine | 5 Comments »
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Posted: April 27th, 2010 | Author: Jennifer Farley
I bought this little book a few weeks ago and have been intending to mention it here on the blog. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a massive archive of designs for textiles, decorations, wallpapers and prints. This book is a small collection of 70 patterns from that collection created during the 1950’s. Some of the artists included are Joan Miro, Paul Klee and Alexander Calder. It’s a small hardback book and each page is given over to one image with some info about the creator.
Masks furnishing fabric, by Robert Stewart (1924-95), for Liberty & Co. Screen-printed linen and cotton. London, England, 1954.
At the back of the book there is a CD which has high-resolution images of all the patterns featured. The images are copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London and are available for personal use but by contacting the museum it may be possible to use the images for commercial use. According to the V and A “our commitment to inspiring design means that securing permissions should be both reasonable and quick”, which sounds pretty good to me.
Filed under: All, Book Review, Design Stuff! | Tags: design, patterns | No Comments »
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Posted: February 23rd, 2010 | Author: Jennifer Farley
There’s a Flickr stream called Advertising that has tons of photographs of retro packaging. I just love looking at this stuff and graphic design from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. The packaging is generally brightly coloured, although often with a limited palette per item. The fonts and typography are very cool and the illustration quirky . The pictures in this stream are by Roadside Pictures and you should check out their cool American roadside photography too.
Here’s a couple of my favourites from the Advertising set.
Filed under: All, Graphic Design | Tags: design, Graphic Design, Retro | 4 Comments »
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Posted: February 2nd, 2010 | Author: Jennifer Farley
For your viewing pleasure and inspiration, here’s a few links to some beautiful and interesting type design. (All images in this post are copyright of the designers).
The Best in Custom Letters 2009, from Lettercult. 15 (yes fifteen) pages of beautiful hand done type.
Lovely website on graphic designer Lester Beall. The first graphic designer to have a one man show at the Museum Of Modern Art. The site includes a section on his surrealist typography.
Neue is an online magazine/project concerned with two things, type and cities. The entire site is based on typographic submissions from designers.
Designer Michael Paukner’s Flickr Photostream is filled with goodies, like this atheist Christmas card.
The wonderful work of Christian Northeast (what a cool name) found via the Jealous Curator.
Google before you tweet is the new think before you speak. (via We Love Typography)
What do you think of these?
Please feel free to add links to typography you love in the comments.
Filed under: All, Design Stuff!, Typography | Tags: design, typography | 2 Comments »
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