...sparks of inspiration...

painting selena beaudry, green skirt gal here, flamingo pattern here, necklace venessa arizaga, quote here, follow me on pinterest here. happy monday! x mvg

...julia marco...

...how cute are these handmade bags for summer by Spanish designer Julia Marco?!?!  I'm also LOVING the print below by her of the Balearic Islands...

...creative services update...

We've just updated our creative services!  So here's the breakdown...we're also now available for print specific design services (see below).

Root Design Studio offers both personal & corporate design services- with it's primary focus being surface pattern & graphic design....

corporate design services  include pattern trend direction, custom pattern/artwork creation, CAD services (design modifications, repeats, colorway creation, & color separations) with a side of branding & website design....

personal design services include custom wedding invite suites & baby announcements

Please contact mvg@rootdesignstudio.com for further information & pricing...

...portugal...

...the Portugal post is here....finally!  We embarked on a grand roadtrip with my brother & his girlfriend to Portugal while they were here a couple weeks ago....venturing down to the very southwest tip to Lagos & then up to Lisbon....what a magical country with tons of inspiration!

I was totally in awe with all the tiles, which were everywhere...mostly on the exterior facades of buildings in both Lagos & Lisbon.

I found some great type & old doors- obsessed!  If you ever get to Portugal you must try some of the regional specialties...my favs were the patatas bravas, vino verde, & the piri-piri sauce.  And if you make it to Lagos eat at Cafe Xpreitaqui, it's an awesome local tapas & wine bar with a great vibe.

...I had to take away some souveniers of course....There were some great street vendors in Lagos selling all sorts of fun seed bead jewelry- I walked away with handfuls for gifts...as well as a tile cheese plate & a boucherouite style rug & mini soaps (fell in love with the patterned packaging)...x mvg

...CCEvents...

...LOTS of creative updates & posts are owed right now!  There has been a lot going on lately so I apologize!  So we just (my husband & I) wrapped up an ongoing project for an event planning company called CC Events in sunny California that I'd like to share- I provided both branding & web design services while my husband did what he does best with the back end programing to make the magic happen....

...& of course I started with a surface pattern...ha! BUT what better way to define a brand image than with pattern?!?!  They're eye catching & can be used on everything- from your website background to your business cards...kinda genius!

The design direction was modern yet playful & at this point the client was not  positive which company of they would be using the branding for (they have two) so they wanted something that would translate easily from an event planning company to an ice cream parlor....

I chose triangles as the main design element- representative of movement, celebration, confetti, sprinkles, or bunting flags, which was also meant to have a slight nautical interpretation for their coastal location in Newport Beach.

This was the evolution of the branding...which eventually ended up being quite simple & different, & even the name changed in the process- but it's fun to show anyways....here was the final...

...you can view the full website design here....& if you need any business or life event planning- Cat is your gal!  She's doing everything from weddings to corporate shindigs for clients like Kobe Bryant.  Check out her list of services here too! x mvg