@nicolablack.bsky.social
Design, history, knitting, genealogy, gardening, hiking, self-employment, cooking, baking, outdoors. 👩🏻💻Ethical Creative Director & Design Strategist: https://nicolablack.com 🚀Community: https://joinwip.com
I needed chips, so I made these. Hit the spot! 😋
this is usually the part where I post a Morning Monty but you guys we have SNOW and Lucy is HERE FOR IT
I guess it's fitting since this is the feeling associated with car troubles. 😅
The Apple Maps icon for auto shops always makes me laugh. It reminds me of this: 😫
Down to just THREE copies left in the first print run of BRAINS, so snag one while you can!
In ~3 months, I've sold 100 print copies of the comic and over 100 digital sales (+ more than 150 downloads, it was pay what you want a few times), I cannot say thank you enough for the support of my comic.
Oodles of good stuff here. 😍 An archived history of illustration/design work from 1950-1975 curated by Zara Picken. www.modernillustration.org
“Why do you want to shit on entire swathes of human endeavor and wreck the planet while you’re doing it? Why are you so determined to be awful and amoral? Everything about your priorities is messed up, and you should all be heartily ashamed, abashed and embarrassed.”
Here's a common question I get: "I just need a logo. Can you design it for me?" Sounds harmless, right? BUT you probably wouldn't start building your dream house by buying a door first. Inspiration is one thing, but buying it before having blueprints is premature. 😉
nicolablack.com/a-door-witho...
There's a broken cuneiform tablet from the Old Babylonian period, nearly 4,000 years ago, which preserves a tiny portion of a dialogue between two friends.
It feels a bit like the conversations I've been having for the past week, so I wanted to share it.
...letting that sink in... 18 years. Whoa. My biz is officially an adult.
Oh hey! Just realized today is my business anniversary! 18 years ago, today, I officially opened my doors as a full-time self-employed biz and never looked back. 😄 It's been an interesting adventure. Ebbs and flows. A few pivots along the way (like now), but proud of myself for making it this far!
“Scale.” This word…😖
Wouldn’t it be great if more businesses were interested in sustaining and realistically improving the good thing they’ve built? Every time “scale” is uttered, I’m actually hearing, “we need to line pockets of people who’ll never actually use or enjoy the thing.” But okay.
I know this is our false Spring, BUT it's glorious outside! Windows are open and there's a light breeze. Ollie is loving the warmer walks the past couple of days as well. Which makes my heart happiest. 🐕🚶♀️☀️
If you're interested in working with a designer whose methods integrate the important foundation that informs robust Visual Brand Identities that work with intention, visit my site and set up a free 30-minute call to chat! 😉 www.nicolablack.com
Strategy is everything when uncovering how to display your product or business visually. Color and style of imagery, and other visual elements, are powerful in how your message is received. Going into design execution with intention, backed by research/data, lets you build with confidence.
There's SO MUCH good stuff to dig into before design execution begins. Important foundational stuff that informs design. Without it, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Without any rhyme or reason to justify design choices, you're just making something random and hoping for the best. 🤷🏻♀️
Here's a common question I get: "I just need a logo. Can you design it for me?" Sounds harmless, right? BUT you probably wouldn't start building your dream house by buying a door first. Inspiration is one thing, but buying it before having blueprints is premature. 😉
nicolablack.com/a-door-witho...
Book Cover of the Day:
Can’t talk, woods time.
A few more:
One of my favorite parts of these issues were the Philip Burke illustrations. They inspired the hell out of me! Here’s one he did of Kate Bush:
Turned up the music and danced it out. Felt good. Needed that. 🪩
I love everything about this! The conviction that a major figure was not struck by a bolt of lightning but worked to understand the system he would ultimately critique and help dismantle. The scholarly sleuthing rare books — all of it. 😎🤓
www.science.org/content/arti...
Hello, friends.
We’ve just been alerted to the above email being circulated; it’s absolutely PHISHING SCAM
In the email, they announce hotel rooms for SPX are now available.
THIS. IS. FALSE. And not at all sent from us.
Cover to a booklet for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (1956). No artist credit was given, but I think it's J.P. Miller. It's pretty much his style. This scan is from my own collection.
#wardsmorguefile
"Make people dependent enough, and then make it shitty"
Still giggling at this hilarious video from the Norwegian Consumer Council "A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator" which seems a perfect embodiment of Silicon Valley and tech generally these days
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...
Some really fantastic design history in this thread!
I’ve been enjoying signalhill.fm stories this evening. A very interesting online magazine in audio format. 🎧🗣️
THREAD.
A collection of excellent dogs I have met on my adventures in the British countryside.
You will find the all-important captions to the photos in the alt text.
