There are several reasons to love summer: warm weather, long holidays, family time…
Summer finally gives me the opportunity to create, unaccompanied by the pressure of deadlines. To make, just for the sake of making, without distractions and time restraints.
The stage and season of life we’re in impacts our capacity for creativity. Burnout and tiredness often hinders. It’s interesting to note that negative circumstances can still be an excellent source of creative inspiration. A balanced lifestyle can preserve time and fuel energy for passion projects.
Below are a few small projects I worked on these past few months.
HOLIDAY IG STORIES
I enjoyed experimenting with the UNFOLD app to capture the beauty of a New Zealand summer. It’s free to download though I have bought a few of the templates. This years adventures included photos from Northland (Ocean Beach and Tutukaka) and Coromandel (Hahei and Te Pare Point). I like to limit my social media time when I’m away. Because of this, I often design the story on the app, collect content over a few days and then upload it to Instagram in one go.
COLLAGE MORNINGS
This involved a mess of paper all over the bedroom floor and losing track of time = bliss.
I had collected interesting papers, type and images throughout the year so it was good to finally turn them into collages.
A few people have asked about my process so I might film or write a tutorial at some point.
WEEKLY CONTENT
Content creation has become one of my favourite forms of design. This summer I tried to make diverse and tactile posts; combining nature, hand-lettering and photography. My struggle has always been trying to incorporate the varying styles and creative mediums I enjoy working with into one feed. I am not a minimalist and I have never really been able to stick to a strict colour palette. That’s just the way it is (at this point anyways).
A few beautiful Instagram feeds:
REST GRAPHIC
A little design I did for a church newsletter. It includes photos from my trips to Tongariro, Wharekaho and Piha. The caption simply reads, ‘rest.’ To me, nature carries a clear sense of stillness and rest.
NEWSLETTERS
In November, I started a newsletter including blog posts, links to articles and videos and devotional writing. It turned out to be far more time intensive than I expected. I might not be able to keep up monthly emails but will ensure there is still quality content being sent to your inbox. If you would like to join flick me your email address or sign up on the home page.
Very soon my personal projects will be put to one side as I dive back into university projects. I hope to share the process with you as I complete this final year of study.
Keep creating!
- L x