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Spring Showers

Another minted.com competition! Please check out our latest designs and vote for us (it is easy and entertaining: just create a free profile and you can browse and vote for designs in the "design challenge" tab).

This multi-purpose shower invitation is composed with delicate raining umbrellas.

This invitation would be perfect for an afternoon tea shower.

And this playful invitation is perfect for a sassy wedding shower or bachelorette party.

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Jenny's Desk

Jenny's desk reflects the most personality of our Studio desk photos. At the end of the day her desk is usually clear of these objects, but during the day she embraces a bit of creative chaos.

Desk highlights?

Two monitors: designers need ample screen real estate.
Pantone 388C mug with rulers and pencils inside. If you look really close you can also see a tiny cut-out paper silhouette taped to the mug. This is actually a little photo of Jenny that Julie took when Jenny was "posing" for hand-drawn illustrations for a client project.
Reference book: this particular book is all about typography, though Jenny grabs different books to refer to depending on what project we are working on.
Coffee: to keep Jenny energetic and attentive to detail.
Baked treats: Julie's husband likes to spoil the Studio with his cooking... this photo shows a "homemade oreo" with milk.
Two seat cushions because Jenny is petite and wanted to sit higher up.
A hat (or sometimes a scarf): contrary to what you might think, we do keep the Studio well-heated, but Jenny likes to work with a hat or hood on (thinking cap?).
Laser cat toy: this random laser pointer device keeps Oscar & Greta (our faithful feline mascots) entertained while we work. And watching them scramble after the laser red dot is quite amusing.
Oscar (chasing the laser dot).

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Kelly's Desk

Kelly is a minimalist and her spartan, but efficient, workspace is no exception in her efforts to keep clutter-free. While she occasionally has another item or two on her desk--a cup of tea or her curious cat--she keeps her small desk clear by relying on digital resources for calendars and notes and by keeping infrequently-used items in containers stored nearby.

Desk highlights?

Two monitors: the large monitor for design work and the MacBook Pro monitor for email and other reference windows. The large monitor moonlights as a "television" screen since Kelly's desk is in her living room.
Dry erase board: Nope, that's not an empty picture frame. It's simply a pretty way to keep a small dry erase board handy for taking quick notes or sketching without wasting paper. Clutter-free and environmentally friendly!

What's missing?

MP3 Player/Speaker: Hidden beneath my desk, it makes listening to music or client calls via computer much nicer.
A chair: Kelly stands at her desk, though she'll pull up a stool if she has to Skype to better align herself with the MacBook's built-in camera.

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Julie's Desk

What does my desk look like? I try to keep it clean (that was my resolution when we moved to the new studio). Each day, as I work and multitask it gets cluttered, but I make a point to put things away at the end of the day so I can start the next day fresh.

Today (a quiet Sunday in February) this is my desk! Thankfully not too chaotic, but it is the weekend after all!

Desk highlights?

Two monitors: the iMac for design work and the smaller monitor for email and other reference windows.
Two phones... for no good reason at all (but it comes in handy when I misplace one under a pile of papers or wander downstairs with it and forget to bring it back).
The QWERTY label maker: this little gadget is my best friend. I keep one upstairs in the studio and one down in the kitchen. I would like to label everything in sight (or at least everything that the labels will adhere to), from file folders to leftovers in the kitchen.
Magic mouse: I never adapted to using this, but it is so pretty so I gaze at it every day while I use a regular old-school corded mouse (wireless mice have been problematic).
Pantone 130C mug: a gift from a close friend and client... not only is it designer-chic, but it makes me smile.
Wireless doorbell: after missing several UPS deliveries we realized we needed to get a separate doorbell for the studio, which now sits on my desk and makes me jump anytime it is rung.
Paper Source's perpetual calendar: I just love this, sometimes I use it in a very organized methodical fashion and write my to-do list for each day, other times it just becomes a messy notepad for a chaotic week.
Rulers: we try to print things to check layout size and font size, but before we waste paper we often grab a ruler to visualize the size. I could not function without a ruler handy!
Pantone swatch wands: we have the swatch books and the swatch wands and I have to say I grab the wand more often because it is just so easy to fan out and find colors.
Paper Source's swatch book: they just make it so easy! And they have a reference sheet in the swatch book with information on envelope and card sizes. I am impatiently waiting for them to update the swatch book to include new colors like fig (yum!).

So what is on your desk?

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Belated Valentine

Valentine's day can be celebrated for a whole week, right!? For clients, friends, and the general public who missed our happy e-card on Monday (February 14th), here it is again. Happy Valentine's Day! We heart type.

Yes, we thought it was funny to put the word "serif" in a sans-serif font... only a bit dorky but it did make us smile at our own silly rebellion.

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Let's Get Started

We understand contracting professional services (especially design) can be confusing. We hope to take some of the frustration and mystery out of the process by sharing a "welcome letter" with serious prospective and current clients. This little document helps clarify how we work and can be used as a helpful reference tool as we work together.

Are you interested in working with us? Or are you a current client who wants a bit of a refresher on how we work?

Please email info@jshermanstudio.com, tell us a bit about yourself and what you are looking for and we will share our welcome letter along with any other information that might be helpful.

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Favorites Icon

We try not to use perplexing lingo or wonky jargon, but every once in a while we are delighted by a design-related word. Today's word is "favicon," short for favorites icon. This is a small icon that is associated with a website.

A favicon is the extra level of finish every site deserves. It is s a small, subtle enhancement that contributes to the site's visual brand. At first you might not notice a missing favicon, but if you use tabbed browsing in Firefox or many other browsers (as we do), you will quickly see the benefit of favicons for multiple open tabs. Even on a single web page seeing the favicon displayed next to the URL helps create a sense of place and welcomes people to your website.

It is our favorite icon!

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Stay in Touch!

After having so much fun with the first minted.com design competition we entered more designs in their "Stay in Touch Business Card" competition. We really had fun playing with new designs, drawing birds, scissors, and cooking instruments.

This is a personal calling card with playful birds on the back and and area to include your own chirpy message.

Check out this crisp, energetic business card with the option to include scheduling information on the back.

And of course, we had to design a card for the crafters. We titled this card "running with scissors" and are getting a lot of great feedback on this design.

Finally, for our foodie-friends we designed a delicious card for food professionals, with modern but engaging colors and a subtle background pattern of cooking instruments.

The competition is closed to voting now, but we would love your feedback!

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Get Minted!

Help get us minted! We decided to dip our toes in the waters of minted.com and submitted four designs for the Getting Hitched Save the Date contest. We were surprised by how much fun we had designing these submissions and reviewing other designs. It was refreshing… dare we say “minty?”

Please check out our designs. We designed three vineyard inspired designs, and one hand drawn rustic design. We’d be ever-so-pleased if you rated us and shared feedback.

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Allure of the Seas

New carpet photos! We designed these with Wilson Butler Architects for Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas. It is such a thrill to see them installed in the beautiful spaces!

carpet pattern