a dab of fashion

At a very young age, i was bitten by the fashion bug. The word collection is a familiar one to me for as long as i can remember, my grandmother brought me to Ogilvy's in Montreal to choose a wardrobe for every upcoming season. She knew clothes and it was an instant nod of "Yes, looks adorable!" or "No, try the next one" that greeted me each time I timidly emerged from the changing room. She either liked to spoil me or wanted to instill her love of fashion in the next generation. Both are admirable. She had already done a good job with my mother so i was fittingly next.

Although my lifestyle is far from runway, I do enjoy following the collections. And here – for the first time – i decided to try capturing a few of my favourite looks from the recent fashion weeks in NY, London, Milan & Paris.

Whimsical Geommetries @ Christopher Kane
AW 2014

 Tony the Tiger It Bag
Anya Hindmarch AW 2014

Colour Blocking @ Burberry
AW 2014

Show-Stopping Buns @ Caroline Herrera
AW 2014

Neutral Sweetness @ Marc Jacobs
AW 2014

Swingin' 60s & Stylin' frames @ Gucci
AW2014 Milan Fashion Week

Fur Warriors @ Fendi
AW2104 Milan Fashion Week

A Red Fur Coat - Bam! @ Prada
AW2014 Milan Fashion Week

Babes Rockin' the Bias @ Versace
AW2014 Milan Fashion Week

Postscript: I have enjoyed so much positive feedback from my Instagram postings of these fashion follies that I decided to create a new blog, devoted to future doodling: www.fashionfreude.blogspot.de. Drop in and browse around sometime. – Heather

gather to grow

grow 2014
Virtual Identity (VI) Employee Retreat Branding

How often does your company have the chance to come together and solely focus on self- & community-development?

reach for the stars

As most of us are either busying about with our all-consuming Christmas shopping sprees, dreaming about what goodies may lie under the tree or scrolling the endless wishlists of family-members, a recent project redirected my gaze of greed-is-good to yet another possibility.

autumn moments

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world,
I feel like I can't take it,
and my heart is just going to cave in.

– American Beauty 


…………………

Isar Bridge

I have days when without a minute's notice, a clear graphic picture strikes me – while walking the dog, having breakfast, reaching over the front fence. Thought I'd share a few of them. May your week offer a few autumn moments of your own… ;-)

Morning Grapefruit

Venturing Ivy

silly gets serious

As a postscript to my true characters post, here's an example of a side-project turning into a real one.

summer doodles

As to the best possible shape to give to letters,
it is useless to write of it: 

it is a matter for the taste and discernment
of the cutter, and it is in this that he displays
his proficiency or his incapacity.

Pierre Simon Fournier

Manuel typographique (1764)

…………………

Every summer, I retreat to my family's cottage. There hasn't been a summer, in all my 47 years that I haven't been there.

true characters

I don't remember how this trend got started.

joyful challenge

birthdays bring out the best in me.

i seem to find as much joyful challenge in realizing personal as well as professional projects.
is it the child in me awakening? is it a warm-up exercise where anything is possible – no briefings. no rules. you are the client. limitless creativity of materials, form and media. sometimes the results prove surprising:

individual tea-light as party invitation
alternating semi-transparent lanterns were sent
to guests as colourful fairy-gathering summons.

something's brewing

naha tea goes live:
www.nahatea.de

naha tea – münchen
brand development

A Sri-Lankan import to Munich, Nadeeka Cyril-Corsten had been modestly selling her fabulous Ceylon tea to friends and a slow-growing, discerning customer base in a quiet, non-branded fashion.

retreat to meet

vi tag 2103: meet 2013
virtual identity employee event branding

Once again, I was asked by Virtual Identity to brand their annual employee retreat.

curating christmas

christmas windows
frauenhoferstrasse, münchen

the recent current events have stilled my christmas spirit.

smile though your heart is breaking

visual diaries
munich, germany

sometimes in life, no matter how old we think we are, we are still children inside.

today, i decided to turn a sad, wrenching moment into a creative one. this might be a fun thing to explore as a series. for now though, being in the flow lifted my heart a little.

lessons learned

found object
munich, germany

Every Friday, my daughter lugs an incredibly heavy school bag home with her for us to review her weekly progress over the weekend.

stellar achievement

best of 1942 birthday logo
Stern family, Zürich, CH

Before the summer break, I was asked by a client to create a logo for her father-in-law's upcoming 70th birthday.

schmata schrift

Unlike me, my mother is a pack-rat.

summer scenes

G L O R I O U S  G U M B A L L S 

enjoying holidays in Canada and decided to try to visually capture a few summer moments.

the company of choice

erstewahl
vi tag 2012 employee event branding

virtual identity approached me to brand their annual employee retreat in which they aimed to amplify their corporate qualities & culture, defining the German-based agency as the number one choice for both clients and employees.

good things come in drei(s)

I've been living in Germany for close to 8,5 years and thought it about time to start sharing a few of my favourite finds.

doing it for the kids

birthday invitation
personal

Every June I am faced with coming up with a birthday invitation for my youngest child (my oldest has long taken over this task herself).

on the upswing

Agricolis
corporate identity and business cards

Friends approached me recently to create an identity for their start-up consultancy, Agricolis.

piece of cake

cake fairy
brand identity and business cards

Some people cook. Some people bake. And some, like me, stick to… design.

what's in a name?

nameplates
personal project

A while ago I started fiddling around with type compositions having fun simply exploring graphic form, limits of legibility, and color schemes.

the spirit of giving: 2011

thank you begins with a “t“
lafleur design year-end promotion

Last year, it started with pralines…

looking further

weiterschauen_2012
virtual identity christmas card

Looking towards a new year, weiterschauen_2012 was developed in collaboration with a client who was looking for a more meaningful year-end gift.

a designer lurks in each and every one of us

This past week, fontshop asked its social media followers what, if any, good design had been seen over the holidays.

giving thanks

Although my youngest daughter is clearly not American, one can always give thanks…

coming full circle

Color theory was one of my favorite classes when I was an impressionable design student at RISD. We spent endless afternoon hours laboring over recreating numerous Itten excercises, the mama of them all, the 12-hue color circle.

testing the waters

Andrea Usher Jones | Creative Pool Identity
Montreal, Canada

This recent identity project supports Montreal-based copywriter, Andrea Usher-Jones, who had it in mind to set up a professional network of communication contacts as a new trial-venture, creative pool.

the geek factor

Seriously, not to date myself, but i can remember life before email.

all good things come to an end

It was one of those "where were you when Kennedy was shot" moments.

prolific idyll

My daughter's birthday is around the corner in October, which reminds me, that I have now been self-employed for almost eight years.

brand is where the heart is

branding talk. we read about branding's power over us. but can we buy into it? do we really believe in it?

sleeping with the enemy

I have read with much amusement the critique of Comic Sans trending the web this past year.

the KISS principle

paris pilates website
paris, france

when using my husband as a creative sounding board, he consistently blurts out the old adage: keep it short and simple. great in theory, hard in practice.