Hairlapeno Hair Salon

This pic taken by James cracks me up, so I'm posting it cause it makes me smile.

Camping '09 Polaroid Photobook

In complete contrast to the two beautiful, clean-styled books I have completed in the last month, this little camping memoir is small and grungy. Chris and I took the dogs camping this weekend and I brought along one of my favorite toys, my polaroid camera. We managed to become incredibly filthy so I thought this book should reflect that. It turned out pretty cool especially since polaroids also have the reputation for being mucky, perfect!

Gorgeous Portfolio Book

I started working on this book back in January, so six months of consulting with the client, gathering images and copy, it's finally completed and printed! Kim at Good-Stock.com was a pleasure to work with and crafted a gorgeous portfolio. The leather cover is so soft, I want to take a nap on it. 

The printing turned out fantastic, the divider pages, which are Tizziano hand-made italian paper with debossed foil stamping are a highlight of the craftsmanship of the book. It really turned out nice. 

Animated GIFs

Animated GIFs making a comeback? I dunno, just something fun on a Friday afternoon.








Created by:
Jaime Martinez (Mexico)





by Brandon Jan Blommaert

Pie Chart of Experience

Over the last 7 years or so, I have gathered a variety of skills. Here is a little pie chart of what my experience looks like.

Looks like I may need to update my pie chart to include furniture restoration.

Wedding Book Design

FedEx just dropped off my latest book and I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out! Blurb.com had contacted me a few weeks ago about a beta test they are doing specifically for graphic designers. They asked me to custom design a book using InDesign and then output a pdf to them (instead of using their online pre-made templates), in return I get a free book. What better way to use the 400+ images I have from our wedding?

I just submitted another book design to a printshop in Seattle today, they do old-school hand-binding, so I'm really excited to see how that one will turn out. Stay tuned!

I created another book a couple months ago using Blurb, that time I chose the softcover, I was a little disappointed in the quality so this time I chose the hardcover image-wrap and it has a much better feel.

My favorite new cookbook

I was at Barnes and Nobel the other day looking for a baking book and while searching through the aisles of cookbooks, this one caught my attention. I picked it up, loved the feel of it, it is a lot lighter than you would think. The cover is a creamy linen, so it makes it feel really down home. I love the layout, styling and the way it's organized by seasons. The content it really nice as well, he not only gives you recipes, but explains how to grow some of the ingredients. The wood-cut graphics add to the organic feel of the book and the photography fits in perfectly.

By the way, the book was $40 at BnN, but I found it on Amazon for 15 bucks.