I'm Julia Allen, a designer in
Napa, California.
This blog is my place for
gathering and sharing inspiration.
It's also where I can
share ideas and processes for
my design & letterpress work.
(and sometimes, you might just see a posting for the rant, of just because a moment needed to be shared.)
Please feel free to say hello &
share your tendencies at
foliadesign{at}gmail.com
There will be cheer, spirits, good eats, family and friends. The memories of this year will keep me full for a while, but I am ready to make new ones.
Wishing everyone a much-anticpated, positively-charged 2012! Let's stand tall, with smiles, some tears ok... knowing that we have learned to embrace life for all it's beauty and tragedy.
Deep gratitute to all who have been my steady, my rock: as clients, friends and fellow members of what we call humanity!
Feeling loads of gratitude for the work I receive and especially when the end product is met with praise... like awards.
Some nice mentions came in the last few weeks. Helping me to remember what I love doing everyday... being a designer. So, here are some of the mentions.....
As always, a tip of my hat to all my clients and supporters out there. Without you, I wouldn't have an aim for where to target my goals!
• A GOLD ASTER Award for the 2009 St. Helena Hopsital Foundation Annual Report (without the beautiful photography of Megan Reeves, this project would not have stood on it's own. Thank you Megan!) the details... The Aster Awards, one of the largest national competitions of its kind, is hosted by Marketing Healthcare Today Magazine and Creative Images, Inc.. This elite program recognizes outstanding healthcare professionals for excellence in their advertising/marketing efforts for the calendar year 2010.
The 2011 Aster Awards received approximately 3,000 entries from across the United States as well as Canada and South America. Participant’s entries competed against similar-sized organizations in their category. Entries must score at least in the top 85% to receive an award. Judging criteria includes creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality and overall appeal.
2 American Graphic Design Awards for: • "Breath Love" CD & Packaging Design for Dr. Rhea Zimmerman (photography by me) • Stony Hill Vineyards Company Brochure (yours truly designed the website as well, partnering with Camaleo who managed and built the site. A big thanks to Robb McDonough for his beautiful bottle shots in this piece!) the details... For nearly 5 decades, Graphic Design USA has presented national design competitions that spotlight areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals. It honors outstanding works across all media: print and collateral, advertising and sales promotion, corporate identity and logos, websites, packaging, broadcast and motion graphics. The 2011 American Graphics Awards attracted 8,000+ entries in which a very select 15% were selected with Award Certificates of Excellence, with Folia Design winning 2 of them.
Hmm. Oct. 13th. Last posting. Of course, the question posed is: should I close the blog? Undecided. But, for what's it's worth, a desire to post moved me today.
As I type, I can see a glorious beam of sunlight coming through my west-facing window, the warmth of light hitting my fingers. Ahhh, mother nature, you tease! It's February 5th, a Saturday, and the weather here in Napa is 79 degrees. No joke. This is not normal. I'm sure the rest of this town is out and about enjoying the weather... it's ok.... I'm enjoying it working. No interruptions. Music blaring. My own time: My own space: to be creative.
Loving this tune right now by Local Natives. A song about the sun, or maybe someone like the sun.
I climbed to the top of a hill But I had just missed the sun And although the descending arc was gone Left behind were the traces that always follow along
The most beautiful colors chase the sun They wrap her trail in a taunting gesture That seems to sing out loud, "this is what you're missing"
Nice to be thought of as "beautiful colors" chasing the sun.
Speaking of colors... currently working on new packaging for Bodhichitta Botanicals additional products. I love what's to come, for this project and 2011.
What a great way to start the week with official notice from the American Graphic Design USA that 5 projects I worked on won awards! Wahoo!!! Of course what makes it even better is I get to share the limelight with my fellow clients and colleagues who helped to bring such recognition and praise!
A little about this award...
For more than five decades, Graphic Design USA has sponsored this popular national design competition, open to all segments of the creative community. Selected from over 8,000+ entries nationwide this year, Folia Design's winning pieces were selected as the top 15%.
I still need to photograph the actual pieces, but for now, the awarded projects are sampled below as taken from PDFs (partial pages on some of the larger projects). To see larger, simply click for higher resolution version.
They are: • St. Helena Hospital 2009 Annual Report • San Francisco 2010-11 Season Brochure • Land Trust Napa County Annual Membership Drive Collateral • California Veterans Support Foundation Branding • Y. Rousseau Wines: Label design for Colombard & Chardonnay
I love my job!
St. Helena Hospital 2009 Annual Report
San Francisco 2010-11 Season Brochure
Land Trust Napa County Annual Membership Drive Collateral
California Veterans Support Foundation Branding
Y. Rousseau Wines: Label design for Colombard & Chardonnay
What can I say but my "blogging" duties have been a bit off. Chalk it up to life, work, weeds, a child, husband, mole removal (yes, TMI) and a trip to NYC to see old friends and some planned gastronomical dining experiences. While in route on JetBlue, I decided to try my hand at going simple with design: a pad of vellum paper and one rapidograph pen. I've been admiring some illustrators and designers lately that has been eating away at me wanting to experiment. 2 hours later, (which on a 5 hour flight is a welcome), I came up for air. It's not anything to really boast about (being that it's sort of a knock off of another design I had seen) but more of a "intro" for me to get into the groove of trying my hand at something away from the computer. And you know what? I LOVED it! I am going to keep stretching my own wings to see where this will all take me, but truth be told, I am VERY excited. If all goes well, this new creative exploration (and first finished product) will literally live in a permanent place - in ink on me.
Waking up this morning had that special somethin' in the air.
Beautiful blue skies, birds chirping, warm weather, 7 hours of sleep (yay!), and receiving that email saying the 2008 St. Helena Hospital Foundation Annual Report I designed, won a GOLD ASTER AWARD! (The Aster Awards is a medical marketing awards program allowing healthcare organizations
and advertising agencies to compete against similarly sized competitors
from across the nation and world.) Talk about instant perk! I was smiling from cheek to cheek!
The link above takes you to the actual link at the hospital's site where you can preview it as single pages (easier to print out that way rather than as spreads), but I'll repost here some sample spreads for a demo. A BIG thank you to my clients at SHH Foundation for having confidence and faith in me to take them in a new direction on the 2008 annual report. It's hard to believe, but I've been designing this report since 2005. The '08 report was a big bold break from the previous versions. Gratitudes to Kirsten Bickford, an amazing writer and Megan Reeves for her ability to understand how my heart & mind works — capturing the vision in gorgeous photography.
And to think, I feel that the 2009 annual report (currently being coiffed and buffed before releasing to the printer next week) is even better!
While in the midst of waiting for the perfect lighting situation at dusk to capture a view of St. Helena Hospital from Mount Septique (where we were literally on top of the hospital's concrete septic tank — the only possible place to take in a photo of the entire hospital from afar), my colleague Megan noticed a peculiar choice of words blazoned on a nearby iron pipework.
Muffin Monster
Really? REALLY? I found myself trying to rationalize the name sake: perhaps the inventor of such a contraption had Muffin as a surname, but needed to "toughen" it up? And that's when Megan and Rachelle just shook their heads. Is it just me, but my mind couldn't help but go to the gutter! How can one come up with a name like that, which clearly had it's place in the workings of removing human waste. My designer mind was going into warp speed! How? Why? When? Who? Seriously?
So, here's where the iPhone comes in really handy. I googled it. Turns out, the name does have an origin of meaning. See here, a beautiful rendition by Andrew N.
I learn something new everyday. Muffin, more commonly known as an individual cup-shaped quick bread; is also known as a turd. I won't even go into it's other much more sexual and degrading connotation!
Happy moments, while clocking in some photoshoots for annual report season. I even get to hold my photographer by the belt straps so that she doesn't get muffin-fied over the steep edge!
Location: St. Helena, California - rooftop of St. Helena Hospital
Birds chirping, beautiful blue skies, still air, breathtaking views...what's not to like? (Maybe the fact that we were 6 stories high on St. Helena Hospital's roof, getting ready to do a photoshoot with the hospital president and board chairperson. AND, nothing to prevent one to take a killer (literal) mistep to a hard concrete pad below.)
Still it would be a gorgeous last view to take, right?
