13 / INSPIRED BY : SUSAN BRINSON

title

I am beyond excited to have Susan Brinson on today’s Inspired By series. Susan and I go way back – I actually used to be her intern back in college during a summer internship in NYC! Since then we’ve remained email buddies and I have fell in love with her blog, House of Brinson. Susan and her husband are both super talented; between their skills in styling, photography and graphic design, their blog is hard to stay away from!

What inspired you to become a graphic designer/stylist/blogger? I have always loved design and art since I was in high school, so graphic design was very natural to me. After I was in the design industry for many years in NYC, I became more interested in design management and branding. I supplemented my need for hands on creativity by working on the blog with my husband, William. I am at a stage in my creative career where I don’t like labels to limit my creativity. With the blog, I can design it, be a stylist, a creative director, or style the food.

What do you do to continue to challenge yourself as a creative person? This might sounds critical but I always think things ‘could have’ been better. Not in a regretful way, but I am always ready to push a concept or idea to the next level and see what kinds of improvements we could have made. I’m also a ‘what if’ person. We might be shooting something for the blog and we’ll shoot in an additive manner, meaning we get a good shot and we keep saying ‘what if’ we did this or that. At the end we pick the best shot and often times the ‘what if’ shot is the winner.

What are you inspired by on a daily basis?

HouseOfBrinson_1

My husband / I love having a deep creative conversation, specifically creative strategy. I can talk William’s ear off and he still listens.

HouseOfBrinson_4

My dog Nero / I am 100% aware of the dorkiness that is attached to this statement. Nero challenges my everyday convention and has taught me how to chill out about the small stuff.

HouseOfBrinson_5

Food / I’m always baking or canning. I used to love crafting as a kid, and this is my new way of making something to share.

HouseOfBrinson_8

Light / I’m so inspired by the very bright or very moody light. I like the contrast and effect it can have on aesthetics.

HouseOfBrinson_7

Collecting / I’m driven by the hunt of finding new things and the hunter and gatherer in me goes wild.

Portfolio / Blog / Twitter

All photos taken by William Brinson

02 / WORK IN PROGRESS

logo design

I’m so excited to share Gina’s final logo with you, color and everything! After narrowing it down to 2, we landed on this geometric option as the final pick. We both felt like it reflected her business really well and had a lot of versatility. What she really enjoyed about the runner up is the fact that there was an initial version, so I designed that for her based off of this style as a secondary logo to use on certain materials.

As for the color, we chose gold as the primary choice to add a touch of chic to a very geometric design – a perfect balance of styles merging together. The soft neutrals compliment the bolder gold as secondary color choices. Now it’s time to get started on her business cards! We have some exciting ideas for printing and paper, I can’t wait to show you once they’re done!

12 / FRIDAY WORDS : SAYING NO

Friday-words-no

As a creative person, it’s easy to want to take on everything, but is everything the right fit for you? The ideal client should be appreciative of the creative process, enthusiastic, and most importantly, enjoyable to work with. Obviously this doesn’t happen 100% of the time, but it is something that we should strive for. At the end of the day, for me at least, it isn’t worth the few extra bucks to work with someone I don’t think is a good fit (and that can be the hardest part of saying no!). Things can end on a bad note and it’s not productive for either party. Anytime we take on a new venture, our excitement can sometimes outweigh the more practical side of things. It’s all part of the process – each new opportunity brings about a new experience to learn from. And I believe that the more we stay true to ourselves, the easier it will be to say yes to those amazing clients knocking at our door.

Do you have a hard time saying no?

03 / BOOKMARKED : MUSIC PHILOSOPHY

bookmarked - music philosophy

I stumbled across Music Philosophy years ago as I was browsing through inspiration. A creative at Mother London started this project where he posts regular typographic posters of different music quotes. It’s been really fun watching the progression of his work as he continues to explore typography in a really unique way. His posters have become quite popular, featured in the Creative Review, GQ Magazine and also available for purchase. Definitely worth checking out!

ENJOYING ALL THE GREEN

hike - NJ

For Memorial Day, our whole family went for a little hike in NJ before Nick and I headed back home. Because we don’t live on the east coast anymore, one thing that always grabs our attention when we’re home is how green and hilly it is. As much as we love living in Chicago, it’s very flat out here. You don’t realize you miss something until you don’t have it! Now every time we make it back, the first thing we want to do is go on a hike or bike ride. There are some great trails near my parent’s house – Bosco was in heaven. I think his calling in life is to hang out in the woods and play with an oversized stick or tree branch.

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Hopefully you got to spend some of it enjoying the outdoors!