when it comes to deanne cheuk, there is no way to put it other than: this. girl. rules. deanne is a ny based art director, illustrator and artist (originally from perth, australia) that has consistently blown my mind with her work since 2004, when she was one of the first people i wrote about on design*sponge.

so i was thrilled to hear from her this week about a beautiful new website she launched showcasing her work over the years. i first heard of deanne when she was working at tokion and have been following her design work every since- her new site has a great selection of collage work, t-shirts, magazine layouts, lettering- all sorts of incredible artwork that is more than enough for a quick jolt of friday morning creativity. click here to check it out….

CLICK HERE for more images of deanne’s work and a preview of abigail’s neisha crosland post on the d*s guest blog!

read more …

when ac and i were on long beach island this weekend we grabbed a few beers to take with us to the harvey cedars shellfish co (byob). when we were in the store deciding between drinks, i stumbled upon this display (sorry, these are cruddy phone pictures) for landshark lager and thought the packaging was really nice. it’s one part jimmy buffet, and one part weathered, cool graphic design. normally when it comes to beer packaging i gravitate towards cute owls, but this packaging definitely tempted me to try one. we ended up with an old favorite instead, but the next time i’m at the store i’m definitely going to see if the beer lives up to the fun packaging.

love packaging? click here to check out my favorite packaging site, the dieline.

a little friday morning eye-candy, courtesy of illustrator katie kirk. i love her playful compositions and her “eli” dog series. eli, no!

this morning i rediscovered my once obsessive love of the dieline. if you like packaging design, there’s really no better site. the team at dieline does such an incredible job of covering great packaging (and student designers working in the packaging field) that i’m almost always blown away when i run through their archives. and today, i’m all about this fun packaging from mallard tea rooms (created by sarah walsh). i want one of those takeaway coffee cups so badly. oh dieline, i love you. (check out their before & after section- so fun)

i find it only fitting that i should end the day (and the design show week) with a booth that turned out to not only be one of my favorites from the show, but turned out to be a distant relative! designer hannah bureau, along with her sisters rebeccah and sarah, run three sisters ink, a fantastic pattern-design firm based in massachusetts. my great aunt midge told me to stop by hannah’s booth and i’m so glad i did- three sisters was the most exciting part of surtex for me, and i found myself instantly taken with the playful, colorful that three sisters ink create. there are so many designs to enjoy on their site, and you can also pick up their work in print form right here on etsy. [thanks aunt midge for the suggestion!]

i’m off to pack and prep for our honeymoon in the great outdoors, but d*s will be back on monday with a regular week of content (including a whole HEAP of sneak peeks!). until then, here’s a summary of this week’s highlights:

ps: thanks so much for canadian house & home for featuring d*s this month! the online companion piece is right here.

• new sneak peek: lucy allen gillis
• biz ladies 09: organizing your business income and expenses
• diy project: kate’s decoupage lamp
• before and after: skinny laminx’s chairs
• icff 2009 coverage: the british are coming- part one, part two, part three, part four and part five, jaime hayon for baccarat, 10 designers to remember, great lighting at icff, i heart wood (wood furniture theme), 10 more designers to remember, japan by design, the designboom mart, adler, ochre and more, risd and pratt students (must-see), the final 11
• national stationery show 2009 coverage: kamal (my best in show pick), old school stationers and sycamore street press, five stationery favorites, enormous champion, twig & fig and fugu fugu, 8 designers to remember, hello lucky, yellow owl workshop and eieio, ilee, albertine, pie bird and linea carta, dutch door, maginating and more, final three posts: part one, part two, and part three.
• new guest blogger: paige russell at the d*s guest blog

i’ve got a little bit of a cold this morning so i’ve been looking for something bright and colorful to wake me up. after reading julia rothman’s interview on pattern pulp i was reminded to check in with grain edit and instantly fell for these gorgeous designer desktop wallpapers. they’re beautiful, colorful and free- how can you beat that? thanks, grain edit!

i’m finishing up a new city guide for today but wanted to post these beautiful pieces from briana feola + jason snyder at brainstorm print and design. i love their hand silkscreened posters and their design work for clients like bonnaroo. click here to check out their work and shop online. [thanks, briana!]