TAKE A BAU

With working as an assistant for the cookbook shoot these holidays (still loving it- have I mentioned that?) I haven't really had any time to do uni work, apart from shaky train trips. During these commutes I've been drawing & redrawing some letters for a typography assignment for which we have to design our own display font. Sounds like a lot less work than it actually is, trust me.

I started with doing a typeface inspired by Ikea catalogues (I only have a slight obsession) but quickly realised how bad it really is by the less-than-enthusiastic reactions I was getting ( "uhh..it could work..."). It eventually evolved into something more inspired by Bauhaus architecture (note: not actual Bauhaus ideologies -ie. circle, triangle, square- I know it's been overdone). Pretty happy with the direction it's taking, still have to draw and work on a lot of letters (not to mention numerals and signs) before even considering rendering it on Illustrator. I must say I like the un-filled in characters more but in the words of my lecturer, "all outlined letters look sexy as hell" and I've got to make sure they work filled in as well.

Here's to a long weekend of catching up on two weeks' worth of assignments...

AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S COMPLETE HOUSEHOLD GUIDE

"To describe a woman as a wonderful hostess is the highest compliment that can be paid, for it means that the person so described has a capacity for taking pains; that she has tact and charm and a genuine interest in other people."

This book is so funny. I'm really thankful I'm a woman in today's time and not 60 years ago, the deep down feminist in me gets slightly annoyed when reading this, poor mothers in the 1950's must have been such nervous wrecks if they had to read dozens of pages in a guide with just on dinner party etiquette. But this book is also great just for lighthearted reading and some of the content is just so ridiculous, get your hands on a copy if you see it because I'm sure this book is fast becoming a collector's item. I just love the out of focus picture of the creepy-looking lady so proud of her pink and blue cake.

It literally took me DAYS to upload these pictures; going back and forth between Photoshop, Photobucket and Blogger trying to make the images the same, decent size. As I'm studying graphic design I should probably know how to troubleshoot these seemingly basic things...but I don't. So anyway, sorry about the dodgy, uneven sizes of these. I have mild OCD so I probably won't even be able to sleep tonight.

Still seriously LOVING helping with the cookbook shoot, I found myself actually already looking forward to Monday as soon as I finished on Friday. I don't think that's ever been the case with me. Also currently looking into buying a decent camera; at the moment it's looking to be either a Nikon D90 or a Canon 550 or 600D. Still wasting time trailing through forums/researching which is better value.

1 YEAR

Today the girl I looked after last year turns 2, it definitely doesn't feel like a year ago that we celebrated her first birthday. Looking after a baby was such a peaceful time, even though so many people would tell you differently. Life was so uncomplicated, and even though I would get bored of it after a while, I really loved spending my days walking with the stroller through beautiful parks, cooking and meeting with friends in the evenings. Sorry for the nostalgia.

It's mid-semester break at the moment but I've been working as an assistant for a cookbook shoot. Just completed day 2 and it has been so great so far, the people I'm working with are just lovely and I feel that I've learnt so much about food styling already. I feel that this is definitely something that I'd like to do later; the perfect combination of food and design. Sorry for how vague I'm being- just not sure about how much I'm allowed to tell! All will be revealed in time...

A MEAL FOR THE...

vengeful

homesick

contemplative

awkward

brave

Some 'outtakes' from my small square book, sorry for the rather gruesome images! The teacher marking this is vegetarian, I hope he doesn't mark me down for all the dead animals in this assignment...

Sydney weather is so nice at the moment and I spent this weekend having picnics in the park and wandering around Sunday markets. As well as some chunky jewellery and a totally impractical (for summer) faux fur vest, I bought the 'Australian Women's Complete Household Guide', primarily for the great 1950's pictures and diagrams but now I've had a closer look the content is actually hilarious. It offers advice for the 'modern Australian woman' on everything from pre-natal exercises to 'careers for the adolescent' to recipes for salmon patties. A future post will have to be dedicated to this book...

SMALL SQUARE BOOK

Over the past few weeks I've been working on a 36 page 'small square book' for a uni assignment which I FINALLY finished last night. It was an extremely frustrating and painfully slow task because I hadn't worked with an SLR in years and had to teach myself so many things to do with editing, pagination, printing and binding. Not to mention coming up with 36 *strong* concepts. All in all I'm really happy with how it turned out and it's definitely one of the uni projects that I'm proudest of so far.

MAGIC MACHINE

Hello healthy packed lunches. Goodbye art of cooking. We got a Thermomix.

I must say I'm in two minds about this new addition to our household contraptions. Apart from how ridiculously expensive it is, I'm scared that I'll forget how to do basic things like chop onions or grate cheese. The horror! But I guess it'll help make healthy eating much easier during busy times (ie. all the time). Now I'm tempted to try one of those raw food diets which would be much easier to do with one of these magic machines.

20 MONTHS

This was taken exactly 20 months ago, my first day exploring Berlin since I arrived in Germany. I actually can't believe it was that long ago, it still seems crystal clear in my mind. On this particular day it was -18 degrees, the coldest I've ever experienced and I was still in a state of shock at the thought of being in a new country for a year, not knowing (at this point) anyone. I think some of my photos from last year will definitely creep their way onto the blog over the next ...however long I keep missing it.

In other news, I had a really fun time at Vogue's Fashion Night Out tonight! Have never been to anything like it and although I don't have a great knowledge of fashion as such (who am I kidding..no knowledge) it was still very interesting, even in my very plain uni clothes.

ALSO have super super exciting news that I have some pretty sweeeet work experience/mini internship/assistant position lined up for the upcoming mid semester uni break! It may or may not be with one of the most talented food stylists/photographers/bloggers in all of Australia/Ireland for their new cookbook...but not giving anything away.