Gathering Inspiration

Only looking ahead, 2012 and how to stand tall in it!

The holidays are upon us.

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!

Happy Holidays!
—Julia

Some nods to me: getting back my MOJO.

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.

Samples below.

 

 

a moment to share the limelight with others...

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!

     

It's all perspective, even from Mount Septique

Gorgeous views! (click to see it larger)

Megan Reeves has done it again!
St. Helena Hospital in all it's majesty positioned in the
mountainous St. Helena hills.

Glamorous? Yes.

Dead on with what I was envisioning? Absolutely!

All the while we were playing fashionistas in a septic yard
just a week before, while waiting for that "perfect" dusk light.

I love my job and the people I get to work with!

Rooftop photoshoot - can I just say "ahhhhh"

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?

(all completed successfully - thanks goodness!)

Bodhichitta Botanicals - welcomes you in

At long last! Has it really been a year long journey? Well, time seems to have brought me to the present moment again, and I'm thrilled to know I had a helping hand in the creation of Bodhichitta Botanicals and their new site launch! From logo design, to packaging and now to website design, it is truly a designer's dream project in every way!

Of course, it must be stated, that without the vision of my dear friend Anna Wingfield and her partners, Valerie McKnight and Ernest Gudel, this project couldn't have happened.

To my creative team: Megan Reeves, photographer extraordinaire that can make a patch of grass look like a nymph's effervescent garden for imagery, Deb Dynako and her savvy handle on poetic prose while still keeping in the duty of "marketing 101", and Brendan Murphy of Camaleo Web Intelligence, kick-ass web developer (who knows how to work every angle of code to make my design "work" as it should, and also nudge me as a better website designer in every way!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

nostalgic beauty: jeogori - captured by Kim Kyung Soo

...snap shots from Korean Vogue, beautifully captured by Kim Kyung Soo. Leaves me breathless and reminiscing on some of my own jeogori as a child...

(via bobbin talk)     

Bodhichitta Botanicals: a preview

Every once in a while, a special project comes my way where in an instant, I know it to be very special! Bodhichitta Botanicals is no exception! My lovely friend Anna has partnered with some amazing people to launch Bodhichittia Botanicals (the name bod-uh-chee-tah comes from a combination of two Sanskrit words bodhi and citta. Bodhi means "awakening" or "enlightenment". Citta is derived from the Sanskrit root cit, and denotes "that which is conscious" – mind or consciousness. Bodhicitta may be translated as "a noble and awakened heart".)

Anna asked me almost a year ago, to design her concept's new logo and labels (crazy to think how fast time has flown), which has now expanded to a full line of products with marketing collateral and website underway to support the company! It's been an amazing thrill to be part of something so exciting from the ground up and to see something so wonderfully inspiring and connected to the natural world be brought into the market! I partnered with Megan Reeves for photography (and might I add, GORGEOUS photography at that!), my partner in crime, Deb Dynako for copy writing and Camaleo for web development!

Bodhichitta Botanicals infuses wild-crafted flower, environmental & gem essences with essential oils–capturing the most primal elements available in the restorative & nourishing personal care products. The initial unveiling of new products include lotion, massage oil, body balm, shower gel, bubble bath, face elixir and perfume.

Can't wait to fill my bathrooms with the wonderful blends! Sign up at the presite to stay connected to site launch and be kept up-to-date with all things exciting to Bodhichitta Botanicals!

fall family frolic (fff)...

I am so overjoyed in the latest photos that Megan Reeves has unleashed of our family.

One word that fits how I'm feeling is:forte fortissimo (or spelled fff for those musically inclined).

I don't want to leave a long unnecessary trail of words which could never give justice to what these images do on their own - but only desire to make known the deepest heart-felt gratitude to Megan for being the eyes to the moment of what this wife, mother and woman feels in her heart.

Thank you Megan.

 
                       

Lost - in more ways than one

There are times when an image can completely melt away the worries and stresses of life. This is one of them.

Megan Reeves posted a preview (or should I say HUGE TEASE) for what's to come from a recent family portraiture session. My intention for a "shot" was based on another she did for a friend's family (which you can see if you go to Megan's gallery section under portrait two - last photo on the right). Of course, all that hope went down the tube when Liam decided it wasn't a good day for pictures (can we say TANTRUM!?) The only way we could get him to even step into the little patch of trees at Kennedy Park was for him to wrestle with Oliver and run all over the place, except for where I wanted for said-like-image.

And here, we have proof, that in the talent that Megan does with the lens, she was able to capture just one image to make me say "awww, it's all ok" and forget how much patience I had to succumb from my core. And supposedly, there's more to see! I just hope the scowl on my face isn't too noticeable, cause in the end - "it's all ok".

Thank you Megan, my friend.