changing is good

Wood Plank Wine Rack by Claire [via Camille Styles]

So, designing dreams is facing some changes. I want this blog to have a more professional look and to be more organized. To gain more readers too, it really needs that. To achieve this objectives, I created #10 category posts, each one attributed to a specific day of the week. I know we only have 7 days a week but some of them are random, as you'll see.

Let me introduce you to the new designing dreams' posts. If you'd like to see other kind of posts let me know and I'll find a way to include them as well:

♠ Since Mondays are the first day of work, and we feel lazy (so lazy), I'll give you a push with some inspirational images, videos and/or quotes to make you feel better. It will be the day of breathing. Wanna breath with me?

 ♦ Featuring will happen at Tuesdays. In this day I'll present you works of artists I admire. It could be fashion, packaging design, illustration or any other work of art. Nothing new, right?

♣ You know I care about this world and that I feel that design should be sustainable. That's why eco design will bright your Wednesdays. I'll give you tips about sustainable objects and how you can save the world through design. Go green with me!

♥ And here come Thursdays! I bet you're already thinking of the weekend so I'll go easy on you, so easy that you'll have the word. I took the idea from Reader Appreciation Monday by Profresh Style. The thing is: you e-mail me your suggestions and I feature them in my blog and of course I'll give you the credit. This one will be called knock on my door. But since my blog has still a few readers, Thursdays needs a double post. That's when trial and error comes. A selection of tutorials regarding Photoshop and Illustrator. Are you excited about this?

♠ And at Fridays... my treasured inner-view! Why? Because I get to know the work "behind-the-scenes" and the artists themselves. It's pretty cool!

♦ Now we get to the weekend. Finally! I'll post on weekends as well. Yeah, with me there's no rest. But since I like to have time for myself and my loved ones weekends will be full of random posts (the here and there): stuff I think it's funny or anything like that. Sometimes I'll post about nature as well (named as by nature). It's a great passion of mine so you'll have to deal with it. ;)

♣ Love works was created so I can post my own works and build a portfolio in my own blog, whenever I'll have a new work it will be posted. No matter the day of the week.

♥ Once a month I would love to have a guest post (be my guest). Don't know if anyone will be interest, though. Will see.

What do you think about these changes?

your new dress

Your boyfriend's shirts are more useful than you think. Go buy him some more. ;)

This video was made by Ira Zvidrina (the designer and model) and Kati Turkina (the director) for Colour Heels Diary, a blog about fashion and colour. I'm a follower and you should know why. Oh! Go and subscribe too! ♥

my new ID

I know it's similar, but this one was made entirely by me (on the other one I used free vectors). I'm also sharing with you a new freebie! And I'm already thinking in developing something for Christmas either. ♥

Card deck symbols by ~BlackLuna on deviantART

You can download the AI file here. Enjoy!

Card deck symbols by Nícia Cruz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

let's play!

You like gaming, right? And if you're here I'm sure you like design either. So I'll list here some cool games graphic design related. Hope you enjoy them!

                                ♠ Kern Type by Marc MacKay (for Method of Action)

                                ♥ Munsell Hue Test by Color Munki

                                ♣ Logo Quiz by Yeah It Is

                                ♦  The Font Game by I Love Typography

I'm no queen

I'm reading another book of one of my favourite authors, Jostein Gaarder. The book is called The Solitaire Mystery. I'm loving the story so much that it did inspire me to do a post about one of the characters: the Joker.

A joker is a little fool who is different from everyone else. He's not a club, diamond, heart, or spade. He's not an eight or a nine, a king or a jack. He is an outsider. He is placed in the same pack as the other cards, but he doesn't belong there. Therefore, he can be removed without anybody missing him. (Jostein Gaarder, The Solitaire Mystery)

I feel a little bit like a Joker, as you see in my signature I'm not entirely a club and not completely an heart. I'm a mix of the two: creative and emotional and I'm always wondering about who I am and where this world comes from. A Joker isn't lonely, he enjoys life to the limit.

But enough talking. I have for you a little collection of Jokers I found on deviantArt:




Joker reloaded by ~Manarama on deviantART




RR PROJECT: 007 Black Joker by `ravenskar on deviantART



Augen Auf: Joker 1 by `yuumei on deviantART

Alacrity Joker Card Animated by *mrpranny on deviantART

Kennel Club - Joker by ~kenket on deviantART



Joker Card by *anry on deviantART


Which type of card are you?

inside is cozy

One of my favourite blogs about design, seesaw, is closing it's doors. I was sad at first, but then I get to know the personal blogs of each author. One that caught my attention was raneytown, by Raquel Raney.

Raneytown is filled with great art, full of inspiring posts and beauty all around. In one of it's posts I found another blog that I also want to share with you. Well, if you are an aficionado about interior design like me. It's name is Ema design blogg and it's now my top resource in what comes to interior design inspiration.

I'll feature some of the photos not yet presented on Raquel's post (I like her name a lot), because I'm not a copy/paste person and it will be just boring for you. Enjoy!

via  Ema design blogg 

via  Ema design blogg 

via  Ema design blogg 

via  Ema design blogg 

What's your favourite design interior blog?

if you wish it

You know girls are always looking for the best tips on fashion. That's how I bumped in Wendy's YouTube videos, and later in her amazing blog.

She's such a fresh  breeze in this stylish world: creative, bold, sweet, funny and with all those tricks we all want to know. If you don't believe me, see for yourself:











And now some of her outfits:

via Wendy's Lookbook 

via Wendy's Lookbook 

via Wendy's Lookbook 

via Wendy's Lookbook 

via Wendy's Lookbook 

What are your favourite fashion gurus?

Note: The title is a reference from Peter Pan's film. Why, you ask? That's where Wendy's name come from.

i'm happy

Hi!

I'm here just to tell you that Barbara from Momographica interviewed me and here's the result!

let's be friends

I'm here to show you one of the best video clips that are out there. No naked girls or hot boys. No fancy outfits or paradisal images. Just this:


I always wanted to learn sign language. It's beautiful! The music is from The White Stripes and it's called "We're Going To Be Friends" and it was produced by D-PAN (Deaf Professional Arts Network). Check out their Vimeo page to see more music videos.

10 steps to a better you

When it comes to achieving our goals, motivation is the deal. Not self-esteem or desire. But motivation. And some days we're not motivated at all to even do the things we love.

So I'll share with you some tips to get your motivation up, in no particular order and based in my own experience. No guaranteed results, but they work with me.

1. -Passion- First of all ask yourself why are you passionate about what you're doing. Write it down and put it in a place where you can read it everyday.

2. -Little by little- Your goal/dream will only be achieved if you break it in small steps. Go on, make a list of what you need to do to achieve it and convert them in small tasks. Don't forget to do at least one task a day.

3. -Compare- But not yourself with others, that will have the reverse effect. Compare you with yourself! See how much you have improved and ask yourself how can you be better.

4. -Read- A lot. You always learn when you read, may it be romances or sci-fi.  Technical books doesn't have all the answers. The more genres you read, the more inspiration you'll get.

5. -Tell others about your goal- They'll certainly have their own ideas and advises. That might help you in your journey.

6. -Have fun!- If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you'll never end that task. Add something that amuses you to your work.

7. -Kick your stress- Do something else: take a walk, go to the cinema, eat chocolate. Too much things in your mind and you won't be able to do a thing.

8. -Don't be afraid- If you fail that's a good thing. You've learned something and you won't do that mistake again.

9. -Be creative- I know your box is safe and cosy, but go for something spicy. It's almost a cliché, but before that: it's true.

10. -Close yourself- behind four walls and a locked door. Yes, sometimes you can play seek-and-hide. A couple of minutes all alone is the key to reorganize your thoughts and find out what you were missing.

10+1. Your bonus: -Be you- In every step. And don't let others tell you otherwise. Or all the fun will be lost and you'll get frustrated. Truth is always simpler and cleaner.

If that doesn't work take a look at these videos, they will give you something to work on for sure even if you already know them:

My baby blog is now one year-old! October, 30th was his birthday. :)

feel safe

Another day, another work. Thursday is Thor's day, the god of Thunder. This is one of my favourite norse gods, along with Loki, Freyja, Bragi and Idun. And why? Because I love thunders and lightnings and scary skies. :)
Yesterday was one of those days where I could feel, with my whole body, the power of nature. I can't explain the sensation, but I adore it. Thurizas is the rune for health and strength, so I hope during this winter-feel time you'll have both.


Thor's day by ~BlackLuna on deviantART

be inspiring

My newest work project is about the days of the week. I didn't finished the flavours yet, but I'm working on that.

I like to think on the origins of things and the week days were always present on my mind, because they vary so much from country to country. Wednesday in English, mercredi in French, quarta-feira in Portuguese. 

Wednesday comes from the word Wōdnesdæg (Old English) and means "Day of Wodanaz" and it could also means "Mercury's day". I prefer the Nordic mythology to the Roman. Vikings are so cute.

Wodanaz (in Proto-Germanic) is Odin, the major god in the Norse mythology and the principal member of the Æsir (the major group of the Norse pantheon).

In futhark (or runic alphabet is an ancient Germanic and it is used for writing, divination and magic) , Odin is represented by the rune Othala //sorry, it's Ansuz!(the 4th rune; rune means secret) that represents intelligence, communication and inspiration. And today is a good day to stay at home, it's so cold outside!



Odin's Day by ~BlackLuna on deviantART Maybe you don't remember, but you all have seen these runes before At Lord Of The Rings, by Tolkien or in Nazi symbolism. I could say much more about the Nordic Lore, but it's mythology it's so complex it would take much time to write it here. but if you would like to know more about it, just ask me and in my next week-day work I'll give some more insight.
Note: Information taken from Wikipedia and Edred Thorssons' books, Futhark and Rune Lore.

welcome!

I was talking with Barbara from Momographica when this idea hit me. I never showed you where I come from and I know most of you don't know how Portugal look like. And it's a shame because I live in a such a beautiful country. I also offer you the challenge to do the same and share the wonders of your own country. ;)

This is Portugal:





Lisbon/Lisboa, the capital city (the music is a Fado from Carlos Carmo and it's called "Lisboa, menina e moça"):

Now the city I'm currently living in, Oporto/Porto (music from GNR, "A pronúncia do Norte"):

And my hometown, Viana do Castelo:




So, where will you go on your next vacations? I'll be at Viana do Castelo next week! :D

100 years of fashion in London

I don't know who made this, but if you do tell me so I can credit. I just know it was an ad for a shopping center in London. I wish this to become viral and see people all over the world do an animation like this about their own countries. How awesome would that be?

just be inspired

I'm here to show some animations I watched lately (or maybe not). Enjoy them!








I've watched this a thousand times and I still laugh like the first one. Abbot and Costello are genius!

 


Another kinetic typographic work, now with my favourite quote form my favourite movie: The Devil's advocate and with my favourite actor: Al Pacino. I watched the movie more times that I'm willing to admit. 

 

Do you want to know what I love about kinetic typographic works? When they're well done they enhance the qualities of what they're quoting. It's a marvellous thing to watch.

See you soon!

My classic letter

Classic Letters by Nícia Cruz

Everyone likes sales and free stuff: brands and clients. There's no better way to promote your work than by offering your product/service for free.

If you're tired of the lame designs available in words' documents and want something more fancy yet formal, this pack is for you. You can choose between 6 different designs and even have access to the original file, so you can give wings to your creativity and change everything as you please. Just don't use it for commercial purposes. You can share alike, but please give me credit.

Hope you like it!

Classic Letters by Nícia Cruz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Keep the apple alive

via Apple

Yesterday one of the most genius person in the world of today has passed away. He was an inspiration to a lot of people (and I'm sure that will remain in the future) and specially to design lovers. That way I couldn't help but to dedicate a post to Steve Jobs.

I know that the people who worked with him, or just followed his steps, will do their best to honor his memory and, that way, be inspiring people as well and create marvelous things for our delight.

And you, you can buy all his products to show your respect for his work or do something else. Something better. You can listen to his talks and do something with it. Get your hands dirt, your brain to hurt and do something good and beautiful for this world.

Keep the apple alive.

think of me

I keep my promises, even when they come a little bit late. I don't know if you remember this post, but I finally managed to do the typographic work I wanted. It took a while because I always seek perfection and things didn't come out the way I desired for some time.

Experience is the new thinking. Is that true for you?



experience is the new thinking by ~BlackLuna on deviantART Hope you like and please tell me what you think.

It's ticking!

Time is what we have the least, even with 86.400 seconds every day. The clock never stops and we see our life going on and on without notice and we can do nothing about it. Who invented the time, anyway? Let's backpedal a little...

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,

That all started with the Big Bang! (I know you sang too!) Well, time, as space, started with that big ba-da-boom, but its measuring is Jost Burgi all to blame. He made the minute hand in 1577 but the standard time was only invented in 1878 by Sir Sanford Flemming. The in-betweens you'll have to read here, because what I have for you is even more amazing than that.

It's not a collection of my favorite watches, I'm afraid. I know you would love that; noted for another time, ok? Even greater than some cool watches is one big clock made in Japan (I swear to you, these one is even better that the Swiss watches we love). Carved with water and light, the train station of Osaka has the most amazing and beautiful watch I've ever seen. If you know the author, please let me know.

Have a nice day/night!

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo & violet

Rainbow by ~Welody on deviantART

Hey, I'm back! (I hope you've missed me).

Yesterday was a very rainy day. It feels like winter, these last days, I even need to wear boots. But it was a very good 24h day (I know I'm repeating myself a lot, sorry). I was called for my first job interview after finishing my course and in my field (marketing/advertising). I also went to my first consultation with a dietist, a very funny one.

But you know how my day ended? With a beautiful rainbow when I was going back home. Don't you love rainbows? For me it's one of the more amazing miracles that nature have. That and lightnings (and bubbles!).

So today I'll present you some representations of that one-of-a-kind, special moments that we have in our lives. Get inspired and cross your fingers for me, ok?





Lake Rotorua Rainbow by *MisterDedication on deviantART









Rainbow.. by ~Donielle-Dee on deviantART


Rainbow by !Kikariz on deviantART

Double Rainbow over Morro Bay CA, by Mike Baird

In The Forest Where You Sleep, by Jared Nickerson and Marius Bauer