The Face of Type “G”

Jake Blog Post Design, Download, For the Taking, Free, Graphic Design, The Face of Type, Typography, Wallpaper 1382 Views

Can you believe we’re already into the second month of the year? It feels like it’s taken us this long just to get back into our regular routine since Christmas. Dont tell anyone, but we didn’t even take our Christmas tree down until last weekend! 
In case you hadn’t noticed, we kind of dropped the ball last month with the Face of Type for January. We just got caught up in being in Michigan for Christmas, and didn’t get around to finishing it. But this month we came through with a new wallpaper for you to download!
Font Fun Fact: Gotham was used in Barack Obama’s memorable 2008 presidential campaign (most notably his “Hope” poster by Shepard Fairey).
Below are links to download images based on your screen’s resolution. If your resolution isn’t available just leave a comment with your desired resolution and we would be happy to add another size to our list.

Please read the Conditions of Use before downloading files from A Pair of Pears.

City Scout

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Food, LA, Los Angeles, Shop, Travel 1158 Views

I’ll admit Jake and I aren’t the most adventurous people when it comes to exploring the city we live in. It’s such a huge city, and can be a little overwhelming at times. All the options make it so hard to choose. But we did end up finding a really good sushi place the other day! 
Recently I came across this website called City Scout. It’s a site where designers recommend places to visit in that city. There are only 4 major cities, but luckily one of those is Los Angeles. They recommend places like restaurants, shops and even where to find supplies! I think I’ll make a list of all the places I want to go. Then when the weekends roll around we can better explore our city. 

Essential to Creativity

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Design, Inspiration, Quote 1483 Views

Source: Marius Roosendaal

Isn’t it funny how you can have a little lull in life, and just when everything has slowed down and you feel you’ve caught your breath, a million and one things are added to your to do list? I’m not trying to complain; I would definitely rather be busy designing rather than twiddling my thumbs. It’s just funny how life is sometimes.

Since last week we picked up three more clients! We are really excited about the new projects, one of which is another wedding! We just finished the save the dates for the other wedding we are working on right now, and they are suposed to be ready to pick up from the printers today. I can’t wait to see how they turned out.

There is a quote by Hal Riney (thanks to my blog friend Katherine for finding it for me) that says, “The frightening and most difficult thing about being what somebody calls a creative person is that you have absolutely no idea where any of your thoughts come from, really. And especially, you don’t have any idea about where they’re going to come from tomorrow.” I can completely relate to that. I’m always a little worried that I’ll have a creative block I can’t break through. Or that I’ll just be uninspired. That quote goes hand it hand with the one above. Creativity isn’t about perfection and efficiency. It’s about exploration and then perfecting what you come up with. Most of the time the first ideas aren’t the best ideas anyway.

Very Vague Sneak Peak

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Design, Identity, Website 1263 Views

Have you noticed how many sites have changed their design once the new year hit? For a while now Jake and I have wanted to do the same. If you remember, one of our goals for the new year was to consolidate our identity for A Pair of Pears; and with that a new updated design for our website. Well we have been working on it day and night, designing and coding. Most of it is already finished. Maybe only a few more late nights to go. I can’t wait to show you, but for now here is a very vague sneak peek!

Mini Valentine Cards: Free Printable

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post, Printables Design, Download, For the Taking, Free, Graphic Design, Printable, Valentines 10727 Views

I didn’t know what to post this morning; but then I had an idea to design something for Valentine’s Day. There have been a lot of cute Valentine cards floating around the internet lately so I was inspired to design some of my own. I spent the morning designing and photographing them to share with you. Spread the love around this Valentine’s Day by sending sweet notes to a friend in these mini cards. I hope you like them!

Please read the Conditions of Use before downloading files from A Pair of Pears.

Twelve Before Twelve Update

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Inspiration, Office, work space 2429 Views

It’s almost February and I still have not updated you on my 12 Before 12 list. Looking back I would probably have not done half of these things if I didn’t make the list. Having it was a constant reminder and motivator for me. There is nothing quite like being able to check something off.

Here is a reminder of what was on my list along with an explanation of how we accomplished it.

1. Design our Christmas card – We did design and print our Christmas card. If you missed that post you can see it here

2. Make Christmas decorations – We spent an entire evening watching Christmas movies and cutting out snowflakes to hang around the house. We also used them for our Hot Chocolate Christmas Party.

3. Organize/create an inspiring work space – It’s so nice to have a space to call my own. Here is how it turned out. What do you think? The art prints on the shelf are from Made By Girl, Fifi du Vie, and Hammerpress. Notice the Creative Inc. book on my desk. I just got it over the weekend and so far I’m loving it! It’s very informative.

4. Advertise our design work – We were in Discover Paper’s Holiday Guide and in Poppytalk’s Handmade Christmas Market!

5. Get outside more – We walked more instead of driving to places like the grocery store and The Grove.

6. Organize our closet…this is long overdue – My mom didn’t have much faith in me getting this one done but…I DID IT!

7. Make these picture frames – All of the art on the shelf above my desk was framed using that DIY.

8. Learn a Christmas song on my Ukelele – I learned Silver Bells (She & Him version) Jake even played along with me on his guitar! Needless to say it was pretty magical.

9. Finish and develop the roll of film in my Grandpa’s old Leica camera – The roll is finished and we are just waiting on it to get developed. I can’t wait see how these turn out.

10. Go to Disneyland when it’s all decorated for Christmas – We never made it to Disney land during Christmas. The day we had planned on going ended up being closed for an employee party. At least we tried, right?

11. Make an apple pie – I made my mom’s recipe and boy was it yummy.

12. Build a snowman – Jake and I built a cute litte snow man while we were back home in Michigan for Christmas. We even found a carrot in the garden that had managed to survive the freezing temperatures. We gave it a new home as the nose of our snowman.

Even though we couldn’t cross all twelve things off our list, I still feel pretty good about what we accomplished.

Neon & Neutral

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Color, Design, Inspiration, Shop 1234 Views

Donut Cake | Neon Wedding Invitations | TOMS Shoes | The New Domestic Bag 
Spray Painted Cutlery | Ampersand Screen Print | Yarn

I woke up this morning to the sound of cars driving by on wet asphalt–it was raining. I love that sound. Though it sure does make it hard to get up and leave the comfort of your cozy bed behind. So I thought it most appropriate to brighten our day with some color.

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I am loving this neon trend that has been going a round. As long as it’s not on an 80’s style windbreaker or an entire outfit of neon colors I’m fine with it. I think the key is to pair it with a neutral color. I already own the yellow TOMS and it’s just the right amount of yellow. What do you think?

MIA For a Day

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Design, Letterpress, Poster, Typography 1051 Views

Source: Ian Coyle

What a week. I just realized that I never posted anything on our blog yesterday. I was so busy designing stuff for clients I didn’t even realize it. Sometime (most times) I start designing and the time just flies by. Once I get going there is really nothing to stop me. If Jake didn’t come home for lunch everyday I would probably forget to eat. I guess when inspiration strikes you’ve just got to go with it.

I’m hoping this weekend I can catch up on some of our more personal design stuff. Our new blog design is almost done (not including coding) and I would love to think up some more products for our shop. We’ll see what this weekend holds. See you Monday!

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