Liz Andrade

This is the real deal, Ninja Turtles t-shirt, circa 1989! Jealous?

Jonathan Kong

Time waits for no man, Time finds you. The t-shirt label is a collaborative effort with two friends of mine. This particular design of mine depicts the prehistoric man as time and sometimes certain part of your own history comes back to haunt you.

Calee Himes

Vintage Blink*182 shirt (circa 1998)

I stole this shirt from my sister because she didn’t really like Blink*182 and I figured she wouldn’t care and I’d return it before she noticed anyway. BUT THEN I accidentally spilled bleach all over it, so I couldn’t return it. Luckily she didn’t really notice. After several years of wearing as a PJ shirt and washing, the bleach stains turned into holes. This shirt was in serious need of TLC. I loved it too much to part with it. I turned it into a reconned T, and now I wear it all the time in the summer.

It’s not really “designy”, but it fits my style of design. I do a lot of design with found objects. This t-shirt was a found object that I designed to fit my use.

Lee Munroe

Apple: The First 30 years

Converted to a Mac during the summer and now am a Mac fanboy so I love Mac related tees like this – Apple: The First 30 Years.

Carrie Siegel

Cheese!!!

Not my shirt, exactly…it’s one I bought for my husband. He loves cheese, so I couldn’t resist this cheese shirt by illustrator Lucy Knisley. I may as well dress my hubs in something I want to see, right?

Aaron Irizarry

Design by Humans

I love this freakin shirt – Cool colors, and depth.. got it from Design By Humans!

Jeff Garofalo

Helvetica Tee
T-shirt from the film Helvetica plus cat hair.

Holly Whitcomb

I heart color

I got this shirt because I wanted everyone to know that I love color. Everyone, that is, except colorblind people. Because really, that would be kind of a slap in the face for them, not being able to enjoy the glorious spectrum of colors that tickle my retinas and make my corneas dance with joy. I’m just not the kind of person who would rub that in someone’s face.

David Leininger

Who doesn’t love Benjamin Franklin? Old B Frank is the original print gangsta.

Evan Roper

This shirt reflects my commitment to the straight edge lifestyle. I got the shirt at a hardcore punk show in Atlanta, Georgia featuring Let Down and Have Heart. These bands share the straight edge commitment to abstain from alcohol and drugs. The big bold type matches my personality and conviction, plus big type it’s freak’n sweet.

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I had a chance to interview Liz Andrade of CMD+Shift+Design. Liz shares her ninja skills, her banana prefrences, and talks about making the jump into the freelance world.

1) Do you like bananas?
They’re my favorite potassium rich fruit!   I like buying the ones from Ecuador, cause I’m half-Ecuadorian.

I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. Design and more fine art stuff. When I was really young I would make my own  board games and comic books.. as I got to be a teenager, I made zines and eventually websites. I was born with that creative gene – but it wasn’t until college that I discovered how drawn i was to the problem solving aspect of graphic design.

The usual — like music and movies, but I also get inspired by the day to day. Being in Seattle is inspiring! I love this city and I love the people in the city. I’m big on people watching… ease dropping on the bus. I guess that could sound a little creepy, but humans are interesting, they inspire me.

4) Favorite design magazine?

As far as printed publications go, I have to admit – over the last 2 years, I have stopped paying attention for the most part. I read a lot of online magazines and blogs. Design (especially web design) changes so rapidly, I don’t want to wait an entire print cycle to hear about something, and you don’t have to anymore because of the web! Smashing Mag, Vandelay, A List Apart, WebCreme… to name a few of the biggies.

Dan Cederholm is a UI genius, Jina Bolton’s type skills are hot! The color and texture I see from Design Sensory out of Knoxville  inspires me.

I had a regular 9 to 5. I worked with a boutique firm here in Seattle doing web and print design for almost 4 years and I learned a lot. For most of those 4 years it was just me and the firms owner running the whole operation – so i really got on the fast track plan to learning the ins and outs of the industry — if not for that experience, I probably wouldn’t have made the freelance leap when I did.

About a year ago, I really felt like I had gotten all I could out of my old job. I broke out on my own and I have no regrets whatsoever! It’s one of the best decision I have ever made. Some people ask if I’m nervous because of the economic situation right now, but I’m not. I feel like I have more control over my career being out on my own than some of my friends and family who’re  getting hours cut…  or worse, getting laid off.

Advice I would give is — you’ve got to really want it. It’s not for everyone and it’s not easy. Even though I didn’t take this route, I’d advise anyone thinking of going freelance to first do it on the side of your 9 to 5 for a while to see how you handle it.

LOL. I dunno, a cat? I’m a crazy cat lady, so i have to say that. Maybe it’s true though? I know what I like and I’m not too concerned with what’s trendy at the moment or what isn’t. If it works, it works.

I don’t think of my design style in an aesthetic way, but more of my style of working. I try to be smart in my process, you have to be. Good design has to marry form and function… sacrificing usability is as offensive as bad kerning.

Do you have a preference for print or web work? Which one do you like more?

Since going freelance I have marketed myself more as a web designer, I enjoy the web design community a lot, you get the design geeks and internet nerds all in one pool — perfect place for me! I still do print work from time to time and I really enjoy it. In the past I’ve worked with clients on complete branding solutions, so I’d  get my hands in both their print and web marketing, that’s when it really gets exciting… developing and growing a whole package.

#252525 as a substitute for black.

10) Favorite font?

Avenir is my favorite San Serif, but my favorite San Serif numbers are Meta Plus. My favorite Serfied small cap is  Mrs. Eaves and I also adore the numbers in that typeface. My favorite puntuation is in AGaramond… The quotation marks, are to die for…

Thanks Liz!!!!!

50+ Kick Ass Logos for Inspiration (Fuel+Your Creativity)

Great post featuring my Tiny Mouse Design logo!

Excel Drawings (Today and Tomorow)

A friend sent this into me after being distracted by drawing in excel.

Shirts for Coders

I especialy like the “give me a fucking <br>” shirt

(via CSS-Tricks)

Designing for WordPress (CSS-Tricks)

Chris has been putting out  wonderful series of screencasts showing you how to build a website in wordpress – pretty freaking sweet! Check out the rest of his site as well – very useful resource if you are a nerd like me!

or this (thanks chris!)

or you can show people kerning with this:

Here’s some recent eye candy:

So heres a round of some cool hidden treasures I’ve found on the internets! And some how I only managed to buy two of them