ABSPD Module 4 / / Card Crazy Live Brief!

We are bursting with excitement about some of the incredible ***LIVE BRIEF'S*** that we have in store for you! Set by a hand-picked selection of ***TRULY AMAZING COMPANIES*** in Module 4 of 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design (the e-course)'! Module 4 is an advanced seven week course in which you will learn everything you need to know about building your professional portfolio. The course is crammed with masterclass video tutorials, regular live briefs from real companies, templates, tons of brilliant inspiration, invaluable content, a weekly Q&A with Rachael, & individual work reviews from either Rachael or another flourishing designer! PLUS you will get six months’ FREE access to the MOYO Directory, where you can create a bespoke profile, upload unlimited portfolios and attract potential clients. This is a rare opportunity to build your commercial portfolio in a structured way, with the support & guidance to boost your confidence & make you raring to go!

Card Crazy are a UK based, greetings card publisher with the focus of making designers stand out from the crowd! They invest a lot of time in designing beautiful greetings cards & providing a no-nonsense service that delivers at all times. They love to celebrate & showcase their designers ensuring that they share in the success of their designs! We love our own collection with Card Crazy & we are very excited for them to share their Live Brief! You can register here for March 2014, when Module 4 begins! This is an amazing opportunity to gain REAL design experience from a brilliant brief along with the chance to present your work to an innovative company. Rachael has worked with Card Crazy on her own illustration & pattern card ranges & loved designing for them!

Many of our graduates are now big players within the design industry & we're proud to say we have really nurtured some amazing talent! You can see more success stories from current students & Alumni in this Facebook album or read some of our lovely testimonials. We are so pleased that the course & our Alumni have received outstanding industry recognition, as we have been going from strength to strength since our intial launch at the end of 2011.

WE WILL BE REVEALING EACH WEEK THE COMPANIES THAT WE HAVE CONFIRMED SO FAR. STAY TUNED!

So far we have lined up wonderful textile company Dashwood Studio (see the announcement post here) & fantastic modern homewares company DENY Designs (see the reveal post here).

USA Work Trip / / ABSPD Alumni Meet Up

On a recent work trip to Boston, I was fortunate enough to meet up with a lovely group of the students & Alumni of 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design (the e-course)' (from left to right: Alik, Margaret, me, Hannah & Mary). It is always wonderful to to get to meet the students in person & chat about their experiences & successes during & after the course & I feel so grateful to be part of their journeys. We met at Wagamama & enjoyed a lovely meal together, it was such a fun evening & they were all such a fab group of talented ladies.

Are you having your own ABPSD meet-up? Let us know by leaving a comment or on the ABSPD Facebook page & we will share them with our fantastic community!

You can find out more about my trip to the USA on previous posts including my inspirational trips to the Boston Marina & Boston Aquarium, the Pumpkin Patch & getting to meet my agent Lilla Rogers for the first time!

Alik Arzoumanian is an illustrator & surface pattern designer living in Cambridge, MA, USA. She was trained as an illustrator at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Since graduating in 2004, Alik has mainly been illustrating picture books, until she decided to pursue my love of surface pattern design. Alik just loves making patterns & likes to think of her patterns as being simple, bold, & playful. If you want to know what about Alik visit her blog, website or find her on The MOYO Directory.

Margaret Applin is an artist/designer living in Lowell, Massachusetts. Born & raised in New England, Margaret's art is full of inspiration taken from the natural landscape & the changing seasons. Margaret explores various techniques such as stamp & stencil making, drawing, mono printing, screen printing, or straight digital design to develop the building blocks that define her artwork. Margaret's style is characterised by simple images that are transformed into quirky, casually elegant, fresh & modern design expressions. See more of Margaret's work on her website, blog or on The MOYO Directory.

Hannah Milkins is a lover of all things decorative, swirly and beautiful. Currently she is an aspiring pattern designer & illustrator based out of New York's Capital Region. Since taking the Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design course she has been having fun experimenting, refining her style & building a professional portfolio. She looks forward to continuing her pattern journey as she makes new friends & takes next steps into the wonderful world of design! Find more of Hannah's work on her website or her MOYO Directory profile.

Mary Tanana is a designer who is inspired by many things; art, photography, gardening, landscapes and nature. She’s had a life-long love affair with anything patterned, & after a long & successful career as an award winning jewellery designer, she has once again embraced her first love of surface pattern design. Mary originally studied fashion illustration, & has adapted her fascination with textures & patterns into a unique design style. Her style is influenced by the diverse art & architecture she observed while traveling & living overseas. Follow Mary on her blog or Facebook or take a look at her portfolio.

Beauty Breakdown / / Cheeky

Good morning creative people! 

Welcome to a Beauty morning with me, MaJo :) Every Thursday I'll delight you with gorgeously packed beauty products (and every now and then, I'll even throw you a beauty secret). 

The other day I was looking around when I found the image below. 

I was struck by the beautiful and trendy color palette, as well as for the simple but pretty silhouette illustrations. I did a little more digging and discovered it is Cowshed's new brand... or as they called it, it's "naughty little sister." Please meet Cheeky :) 

 

 

Images courtesy of cheeky and lovely package

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read. See you next week with more inspiring designs. Have a great day, MaJo.

Designer Charity Bauble Project!

Happy Friday! We are honoured to be part the worthwhile Designer Christmas Charity Bauble project run by the lovely Tamsin Seed of Studio Seed. A team of superstar designers have created their own unique bauble designs all in aid of NSPCC. Head over to the 'Designer Charity Baubles' Justgiving page and make a donation and you could win one of these little festive creations! You can even choose which fantastic bauble you wish to win! Winners will be selected at random on Tuesday 17th December.

Find out more about the project & the designers involved on the Studio Seed website. Please support this amazing cause & make a donation on the Justgiving page.

Our colourful bauble!

Rob Ryan

Abigail Warner

BerinMade

Jess Williams

The Salvage Project

Johanna Basford

Libby McMullin

Lisa Levis

Lucy Ledger

Mr Yen

Studio Seed

Tigerprint studio

DENY Designs / / New pet collection & offer!

We love to see our designs on such a diverse range of products at DENY Designs & we are so excited about our new pet collection! These cute pet beds, scarves, trays & bowls are available in 12 of our happy & bright designs. Below is a selection of our favourites! DENY Designs are also offering 20% off all of our new pet accessories with offer code: happy pet You can view my full collection online here!

'Shapes & Squares Green' pet scarf

'Shapes & Squares Blue' pet bed

'Shapes & Squares Blue' pet bed

'Abstract Border' tray

'Abstract Border' pet bowls

'Shapes & Squares Green' pet bed

'Shapes & Squares Green' pet bed

'Wheel of Wonder Turquoise' pet scarf

'Abstract Border' pet bed

'Abstract Border' pet bed

'Shapes & Squares Green' tray

'Shapes & Squares Green' pet bowls