theFourthStar.com :: Professional Design & Web Portfolio of Cara McKinley

Custom Type Illustrations for Studio Mathewes

Cara McKinley — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:54:47 +0000

Studio Mathewes not only captures beautiful images for their clients, they also do a great job of following up with clients after the work is done.

In keeping with the flourishing-type motif established by the Studio Mathewes logo, I created these two hand-drawn type illustrations for use on greeting cards or in email correspondence.’Ever After’ belongs to a note celebrating the anniversary of a wedding, and ‘Many Thanks’…is pretty self-explanitory.

For now this word art is only in digital form, but in the future I’d love to see ‘Ever After’ as a letterpress printed card, and ‘Many Thanks’ as a foil on a dark paper card.

Anniversary greeting

Thank you note

Studio Mathewes Leave-Behind Cards

Cara McKinley — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:21:33 +0000

Studio Mathewes recently tasked me with creating a print piece to leave behind with potential clients that would be both a sample of work and provide pricing information. However, it was also important to Studio Mathewes that the materials be presented in a way that would be emotionally engaging, so that people would not be making hiring decisions based on prices alone. The talent, attitude, and style of Studio Mathewes should be the selling point.

After a few rounds of brainstorming, I decided to design a packet of 6 postcards, tied with a ribbon. A gorgeous photo is on the front of every card, with the exception of the pricing card. An evocative word/short phrase is on the back of each card, to accompany a related testimonial. Each word/phrase is embellished in a similar manner to the company logo, a motif which has been carried throughout other promotional materials.

Sealed packets

Photos can be viewed as individual pieces or as a whole group.

Custom type illustrations

Pricing card

Dont’ Call It ‘Expresso’

Cara McKinley — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:17:57 +0000

Several weeks ago Threadless, a Chicago-based company that prints t-shirts from community submitted artwork, posted a design challenge called ‘Threadless Loves Coffee‘. Every month or so they create these design challenges, which usually involve a specific topic and some financial/material incentive from a third company. I don’t normally participate in design competitions since they are a little too close to spec-work for my liking, but Threadless really supports its artistic community, and the participants are really getting a chance to make the artwork they enjoy and have a chance to get something for it, versus trying to provide services to a real client.

Since this design challenge was about loving coffee, I couldn’t pass it up, because… I really love coffee. It gave me a goal to work toward, and after coming up with some idea/sketches for an infograph, I went for it. I called on my 3 years’ experience as a barista while in college, and created a conversation piece about making coffee the right way.

Don't Call It 'Expresso'

Crochet Tweed Handbag

Cara McKinley — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:58:45 +0000

Just a little something that I finally pulled out of hibernation and finished, after starting a year ago. There is a pattern floating around on Ravelry.com called the ‘p.91 crochet bag’, which manages to make crochet into something really trendy (photo here of one made by Ravelry member Roko). Unfortunately, the pattern is from an out-of-print Japanese magazine and is unavailable to me. However, there is a similar pattern in Happy Hooker, the ‘Fat Bottom Bag’, that has a similar look. I used the fat bottom bag pattern as a guide, and guessing some modifications where I could to make the bag look more like the p.91 crochet bag. To give the bag a little more structure, I also added a cotton lining with a pocket, hand-sewed in after piecing it together. Finally, I added a crochet flower detail to one side to add some romanticism.

I think a lot of crochet items have a 70′s craft project look to them, but I was really happy with the way this bag turned out. It has a vintage feel without looking cheap and fad-ish. Faddy? Fad-like.

Finished bag

Flower detail and inner lining

Pillows To Heighten the Lounging Experience

Cara McKinley — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:30:57 +0000

When you live in a small loft apartment, the majority of surfaces are unsuitable for lounging – large expanses of concrete and brick and little space for such luxuries as recliners and large sofas. And in the case of Austin’s apartment, seating is limited to a single futon with wooden arm rests. Frequent were the occasions when I’d find myself trying to lean to one side of the futon to watch a movie or read a book, only to find no soft welcoming reception or warm cushy support. This, obviously, had to change. Fortunately, my new sewing machine has given me the power to heighten this lounging experience by making some pillows for Austin.

Pillows are so easy to make! Each one was done in a night, if not a couple hours. The first pillow (left) is a solid fabric cut into strips than sewed back into a rectangle, with a few strips replaced with a patterned fabric. The second pillow is a…pinwheel? design with a fabric button in the center. I mulled over the best strategy for sewing the triangles together, and had a eureka moment when I found this quilting tutorial – creating triangles is actually a piece of cake, and this pillow took me the least amount of time. The third pillow features a cool optical pattern framed by neutral stripes with mitered corners. Each pillow was planned as a single piece, so they don’t really work so well together as a set, and they’re pretty basic. On the next run I’ll probably get more ambitious with the planning and design.

Some Simple Pillows.

All fabrics came from Fat Quarter Shop, an online quilting fabric store which so far has been the best variety I have found (unfortunately for local shops, which I would love to give business to, but the St. Louis area shops I’ve been to are pretty lacking in variety and searchability, which becomes really limiting to your designs).