Spring is Almost Here!

 Spring type by Emily Laurel Harris

We are creeping up on my absolute favorite time of year. The time when we can finally open our windows, it stays light well after I have left work and we wake up to birds chirping in the morning. I can't wait.

Moonrise Kingdom

Jessica Hische, the lovely, SUPER talented lady that I was lucky enough to have lunch with at the HOW Conference, tweeted earlier today that she worked on the lettering for the new Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom. Um, DREAM PROJECT! The movie doesn't come out until the end of May and I just don't know how I will wait that long. From the trailer, it looks to be quintessential Wes Anderson (complete with Bill Murray-yes!). Oh my goodness, I am so excited. I am a hard-core Wes Anderson fan, as you may know, The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my all-time favorite films. I may just have to have a mini Wes Anderson movie marathon to tide me over until this one is in theaters.

A New Year, A New Drawing

Drawing by Emily Laurel Harris, 2012

It's the first day of the year, how exciting! I thought I would start off the new year with a new little doodle that I finished today. It finally feels like winter here in Minnesota, so the timing is appropriate. The weather for the past two months has been pretty incredible, although I did kind of miss having snow on Christmas. The new year began with a blast of cold air and a lovely ice/snow mix, so I guess winter has decided to arrive in 2012, just as I was getting used to, and loving, the above average temperatures.

Candy Cane Holidays

A peek at the letters I created for our holiday card, they are supposed to arrive this week from the printer, and I can hardly wait! I will post some photos when I get the final cards.

Hand Lettering Inspiration

While searching the interwebs for a few nice examples of hand lettering, I came across some fantastic images.

I am absolutely smitten with the work of Katie Daisy, a fellow MCAD alum, isn't her lettering beautiful?!

Another goodie I found is the work of Jay Roeder, I particularly love his Biggie Smalls "Juicy" set on Flickr.

Want more eye candy? The work of Mary Kate McDevitt is just fabulous.

Trick or Treat!

I hope you have a spectacularly spooky Halloween!

Animated Alphabet

The Alphabet 2 from n9ve on Vimeo.

I am in love with this animated alphabet by Italian creative firm n9ve.

Moveable Type Truck

Today on my way home from work I stopped by Open Book to check out the Moveable Type truck, a cool little studio set up in a 1982 Chevy Step Van. Funded through Kickstarter, the truck was converted into a fully functioning letterpress studio that travels around the country so people can learn more about the art of letterpress through demos, workshops, etc. It's a sweet little space, and a great project. Check out how an old linens van was converted into the workspace here. Thanks for stopping in Minneapolis, Moveable Type!

My Geek Out Moment at the HOW Conference

A definite highlight of the HOW Conference was having lunch with the ridiculously talented Jessica Hische. She is so sweet and her work is AH-mazing. I don't know how she does it all! Be sure to check out her wonderful project, Daily Drop Cap.

PS-I was SUPER nervous in this photo, can you tell?!

Follow Your Heart

Another random doodle as I challenge myself to create, create, create, as much as I can.

Inspired by the 80's

Photo by the Sartorialist

Image from UrbanOutfitters.com

I am kind of loving the 80's sunglasses paired with loud, colorful prints on shirts and dresses trend. I was inspired by the colors and music to create this sketch. Say what you want, but I loved Starship back in the day, and I still kind of do. Yup, I am a child of the 80's!

The Beauty of the Neon Sign

Aren't these old neon signs beautiful? When I first started taking photography classes in high school, I loved seeking them out. I came across this article on the idsgn blog, and apparently there is a neon museum in Vegas that looks AMAZING. It is a non-profit dedicated to preserving the iconic art form. Vegas isn't really my kind of place, but it would be so cool to see all of these old signs!

A Little Saturday Night Doodle

I love it when I have the time to just play around with Illustrator and Photoshop. Here are the results of some sketching on a quiet Saturday night.

30 Days of Creativity: Day #10

I didn't quite finish this yesterday, so I missed a day (again!), but so it goes. Keep on creating!

News and Some Inspiration

Hi! I'm still here, it's been a bit craaazy and I know that's always my excuse, but it really has. For real. I have been designing piles of books (32 this season to be exact), which has been quite fun. I bought a house, which is huge and scary and overwhelming, but also exciting. I will post photos soonish, but after some of the work gets done. And boy, is there work to do! We have wallpaper and carpet EVERYWHERE (yes, even carpet under the bathroom sink, convenient no?). But once we do these things, we essentially have a blank canvas which is really, really fun to think about. I'm already thinking paint colors, light fixtures, etc. And the best part? I get my own office/workspace/library/nook. YES.

Anyway, enough about me. I saw these lovely letters and had to share them with you because they are so, so beautiful. They were designed by Niamh Smith who has the website Little Red Treacle, which is just packed full of goodies!



More soon, I promise!

A Random List of Things That I Love at the Moment

Oh my, I have been horrible at posting! In between work, socializing, and the mid-winter blues, I have let the blog slide (again). Thanks for sticking with me, and I promise to make things a bit more interesting around here.

Some very random things that I heart this week...

This little portable green getaway, isn't it darling? It's called Window on the Stars, translated, and it's supposed to provide luxury accommodations with very little environmental impact. I can just imagine a perfect little weekend escape complete with stargazing, reading The House of Mirth and The Great Gatsby (two books I want to read this year) and sipping mimosas. Found via Apartment Therapy.



With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, I love seeing all of the festive card designs. I was drawn to the simple elegance of these from the UK company, the Art File. Found via Print and Pattern.
I know this is horrible, but I don't have the link for this image. However, I really like the lettering and the message.

All Work...No Play.

A quick hello in between cleaning glass, printing and putting my patterns into frames. I am in a show at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center next week, so if you are in the Twin Cities area and are in the mood for a little jaunt to a quaint neighboring borough, come check it out! The opening reception will take place September 3rd from 6-9pm and the show runs until November 8th. I will be posting photos on this here blog sometime next week as well.

In the meantime, a lovely friend of mine sent me this today and I loved it so much I thought I would share it with you. I am not quite sure where she found it, but type made out of shoes? That's like two of my favorite things put together! Heart! Thanks for sending this my way Katie!

Around the Internets

Some fun finds from around the web today...


I am loving these wooden (yes, that's right!) block books by Leanne Shapton. Found via Design Boom.

Google Map Typography-pretty incredible right? Created by designer Rhett Dashwood.

Found via Daily Discoveries on Design

Inspiration: Experimental Jetset

This week I was lucky enough to attend a design lecture featuring Experimental Jetset from Amsterdam. They are known for their strong, typographical work. Plus, they are simply adorable. Check out their website here. It's good stuff.

Quote the Raven, "Nevermore".

Found via Graphic Exchange, Poe book illustrations by Emmanuel Polanco. Beautiful.