I love paper. There are so many wonderful options to print upon! And now there’s one more! Neehan Paper has introduced a new member to the linen family: pearl! It’s fabulous. It’s everything you want in a pearl paper plus more with the linen texture.

And now you can try before you buy. I went to DoYouLoveLinen.com and uploaded my own image (or you can choose their provided sample photo). On the site, you can play around with the different swatches of colored paper (both regular and pearl linen papers) to see how the paper color will affect image output. Then you can choose three papers to try. I tried white pearl, natural white pearl and gold pearl (because I LOVE pearl paper!) I sent it to checkout and about a week later I had a surprise in my mailbox! (Did I mention that I love getting mail?) Voila. My beautiful blooming flower printed on three lovely substrates!

More damp fall photos. These photos have a theme: yellow parking lot paint goes well with fall colors.

(see my other “rain, rain” fall post here)

When I was a Resident Assistant at Winona State University, I put on an award winning program at a regional conference called “Art Therapy.” The premise was that college students could relax and let loose through the process of creation with tactile materials like clay and finger paint. During the program, I played classical music in the background. For one of the sessions, I played slow, soothing music and the entire room was quiet, with each person fully immersed in their own project. I switched it up on the second session—I played classical music with a faster, upbeat tempo resulting in a more social, loud and collaborative group. The music made a huge difference.

At times, I listen to music while I work. Sometimes I need to drown out background noise. Sometimes I use music to try and focus. Most times I pick the wrong type of music for the work I’m doing. In my job as an designer, there are times when I need to focus all my energy on creative and innovative ideas. These are the times when music with lyrics is a no-no, because I’ll sing along to the words—not aloud, but in my mind—which is totally counter productive to coming up with ideas.

Here’s where you come in. Take the poll below. I want to know how many of us listen to music while we work (the poll is anonymous).

Also, I’m enlisting your help to formulate three playlists to use while working. Leave a comment with suggestions on artists or songs that will encourage creativity for the following three playlists:

1. Calming music—without lyrics
2. Energizing music—without lyrics
3. Crazy, fun music—for when you need to let loose and shake-out the stress—with or without lyrics

Next week I will publish complete playlists using your suggestions. Don’t be shy! Leave a comment!

Here is some great artwork created by Bakula Nayak, inspired by our time spent at Design Camp!

Bakula is an amazing designer, who specializes in packaging and branding. She works freelance and can be contacted via email for inquiries: bakulanayak@graphic-designer.com.

Thanks to Bakula for sharing her design on lisavalley.com!

I love to photograph shadows. The past couple weddings I’ve shot with Jesse, I’ve captured some really artsy bridal shadows:

And I shot these shadows last week:

So when it came to shadows, I thought I knew what’s up. That is until the day I saw this shadow at Jesse’s photography studio:

I was instantly enamored with the intricate, lacy shadow. I got up out of my chair to find the perfect angle at which to capture this shot. As I moved side to side, I noticed that the shadow was changing as I moved. And yes, there are a billion light sources in the studio lighting up the various collections and prints. And I’ve seen an object have more than one shadow at a time in the past, due to multiple light sources. But I’ve never seen shadows disappear and reappear differently as I circle an object. The only thing I can think of is that the color and finish of the table allow the light to be absorbed, never showing more than one shadow at a time, and the shadow changes based on the angle. See what I’m saying below:

Weird, right? If someone can explain this to me with science, leave a comment. I would greatly appreciate it!

Did today’s weather in Minnesota surprise anyone else? I can’t believe I woke up to a snow-blanketed yard this morning!

Snow in my yard.

Dragonfly on my sidewalk. I think the cold weather pushed him into hibernation unexpectedly. I know he's not dead because he was wiggling his legs very slowly. Hopefully when the weather warms tomorrow, he will awaken and find a better spot to hibernate!

As I was driving home from Nisswa, MN on Sunday afternoon, I was compelled to pull over my car at the sight of this tattered, old, rusted building. As you know, I love texture.

I think this building looks extra awesome and creepy with the ominous, cloudy sky. Royalton, MN

SLUG BUG!!! I love this dilapidated jalopy.

The name plate is missing yet Volkswagen's brand is etched forever into this hunk of metal.

This post wouldn't be complete without a chunk of pure rust.

It’s a rainy autumn day. Some people might find that depressing. They start to think about the wet, freezing winter days to come. Not me, not today.

When I left work it was raining and cold. But luckily I had a mini-umbrella stowed away in my purse and a scarf around my neck. I parked my car in the furthest parking stall this morning, so I had some time to appreciate my surroundings as I walked. I noticed the bright colors of the changing leaves and knew that if it had been a bright, sunshiny day, the leaves wouldn’t have been so saturated in color. The clouds diffused the sun, therefore allowing the colors to show more vividly versus when the sun is out, colors can get washed out by so much light.

When I got to my car there were two perfect, water-drop-covered leaves on the hood and roof. Their color shone vividly against my black Honda and the reflections on my water drenched car were too good to pass. I had to bust out my camera.

Awesome Design Camp materials created by Little & Co.

I just returned home from an amazing weekend—Design Camp at picturesque Grand View Lodge. I learned a lot and I slept very little. There is nothing like the camaraderie that exists among designers. The weekend was most excellent. Here are the highlights:

Aaron Draplin—Aaron is a designer based in Portland and owns his own studio called Draplin Design Company (DDC). Words to describe Aaron: down-to-earth, teddy bear, clever. Aaron started out his presentation by passing out free pens and “Field Notes” notebooks to the audience (smart). Aaron connected to the audience on a few levels:

1. The Nice Guy Level—for giving away free stuff
2. The Intellectual Level—for having interesting things to show and tell
3. The Emotional Level—by showing his softer side by sharing his love for his dog, girlfriend and parents.
4. Again with the Nice Guy—for showing design work he did for free (or little pay) because he was so passionate about the company/people/cause AND design.

Since Aaron did such a great job connecting with the audience, selling posters and self-branded tchotchke was not difficult. The audience became Aaron’s raving fans and wanted to support him! I even bought a $15 poster from him. I have no clue where I’m going to display it, it was an impulse buy. (You, too, can buy Aaron’s merch by visiting his site.)

I found his presentation of work interesting but my take-away is about sales—not design. As designers, being sales people is an important part of our jobs. Everything we create is made for a reason, and we have to be able to explain it to get buy-in from our account team and clients.

The Draplin Poster: Pretty much everything up to May 27, 2009

From Left: Myself, Aaron Draplin, Sarah Hoehn

DJ Stout—DJ works as a partner for Pentagram’s Austin, TX office. Pentagram has a very interesting set-up. The company is made up of 16 partners in offices around the world. All 16 partners are equal and there is no top dog. Pentagram doesn’t have account people. The partners take care of all aspects of the business, from pitches to concepts, the partners do it all. DJ’s office employs designers, interns and an office manager. Pentagram isn’t just a graphic design company. They offer design services in graphics, identity, architecture, interiors and products.

In his presentation, DJ shared magazine designs and logos. Through these projects he showed that the client doesn’t always know what they want (even if they think they know). We as designers need to take the time to tell our clients what is possible.

From Left: Myself, Sarah Hoehn, DJ Stout, Bakula Nayak

Ellen Lupton—Ellen works as a designer, educator, curator and writer. Her presentation was based on her book Design Your Life. (Click here to read my review of the book!) Ellen is adorable, witty and hilarious! Getting the content of her presentation is easier than you think—buy her book!!! Click here to buy on amazon.

From Left: Sarah Hoehn, Ellen Lupton, Myself, Bakula Nayak

Hush—David Schwarz and Erik Karasyk co-founded Hush, which creates design, animation and interactive content. Their presentation was a kind of “would you rather…” for the design world. But instead of, “Would you rather become ill with the swine flu or eat a live, fury, six-legged tarantula,” their presentation was about design:

1. Should you position a brand where it wants to be OR always be truthful to the brand?
2. Less is more versus more is always more.
3. Production constraints shouldn’t stifle creativity VS. don’t design what you can’t produce.
4. Should you do whatever the client wants OR challenge your clients?
5. Is it nothing without great execution or is it all about compelling ideas?
6. Is the process more important than the final product?
7. Find your own style VS. style is fleeting, design respects the brand.
8. God is in the details OR don’t sweat the small stuff?
9. Promise everything. OR Pick two: fast, cheap or good.
10. If you want to do it right, do it yourself versus two minds are better than one.
11. Take the time to prep OR just do it?
12. There’s creative opportunity in every project OR you’re defined by the projects you don’t take as much as the by the projects you do take.
13. Would you rather make it beautiful OR make it meaningful?

Detail shot of the beauty surrounding Grand View Lodge

Geek Girls—Nancy and Meghan did a workshop about social media. My biggest take-away? Don’t jump into a social media strategy unless you are ready to:

1. Continuously work on it (biggest mistake is to stop or be inconsistent)
2. Listen
3. Respond
4. Be real, genuine, authentic.

Visit Nancy and Meghan’s awesome blog called the Geek Girls Guide.

Lichens growing on a stick.

Jason Lindke—Jason is a designer for Aveda and did a workshop about sustainability. Here are his 12 Questions to ask before buying or designing:

1. Do I need it?
2. Can I do without it?
3. Can I borrow, rent or buy used?
4. Is it designed to minimize waste?
5. Can it be smaller, lighter or made from fewer materials?
6. Is it durable or multi-functional?
7. Does it use renewable resources?
8. Is it’s reuse practical or encouraged?
9. Is the product and/or packaging refillable, recyclable or repairable?
10. Is it made with post consumer recycled content?
11. Does it use toxic materials? If so, can it be used with less toxic materials?
12. Is it available from a socially and environmentally responsible company?

Chris Sheehan—Chris is a commercial photographer who gave a workshop on collaborating with photographers. The most important things to know when having a photo shoot are: get perfection in the camera instead of wasting time on post-production, communicate clearly with the photographer and set expectations (no one is a mind-reader), have pre-production meetings and art directors need to be on set.

Keith Gilbert—Keith is an Adobe Certified Instructor. He presented the top ten things every designer needs to know. My favorite tip is a collaboration feature that allows you to share your screen with up to two other people (similar to Go To Meeting except that it’s free!) To share your screen visit acrobat.com and use your Adobe ID to sign in (if you don’t have one, don’t worry—Adobe Ids are free, so sign up!). Click on the “Meet” button. Keith teaches seminars in the Twin Cities area all the time, so check out his site and sign-up for the next one.

Going to AIGA’s Design Camp was totally awesome. If you’re a designer who lives in the midwest, don’t miss it next year!

Pantone Bingo. Very important note: When playing Pantone Bingo, a winner may not simply yell "Bingo" but that winner must instead call out "Pantone Bingo" or the win is null and void.

Bonus Shot: I don't know why/how this leaf attained this white line pattern, I'm just glad I saw it.

I love the lettering on all the National Forest signs that I saw while I was up North.