Erin E. Sullivan's Blog

I am a fan of wooden furniture. I am also a fan of beer. I recently purchased a new, wooden desk for myself because the previous one I had was falling apart after being moved to at least three different locations within the four years I have had it. With having a new item comes my O.C.D. of making sure it is well maintained. One way to help maintain the quality of a wooden desk is by using a coaster for my beverages. I know you can prevent things from happening all together just by simply not having food or beverages on or near the desk, but I like to have my coffee/tea/water/orange juice/beer while designing. It satisfies my thirst and my mood all together. Since I do not have any coasters lying around my apartment, I figured I would actually do some arts & crafts and make one myself by using my favorite can of beer! Continue reading

A very important design technique is using a grid as the foundation of your work, whether it’s print or web. According to Exploring Typography by Tova Rabinowitz, the book quotes:

Creating layouts can be made easier by using a grid, which is a framework of guidelines that form an underlying structure for the layout of a document or web site. Grids are used by designers to aid in the logical placement of design elements, to maintain consistency among related layouts, and to establish a sense of rhythm throughout a design. Using a grid streamlines the design process because it allows designers to reapply their design decisions to multiple layouts, rather than beginning a new one each time. Grids are especially helpful in saving time on large projects.

To give you several examples where we commonly see grids, they are used in websites, magazine layouts, calendars, and even term papers. When you look at a design, in most cases you do not see an actual grid, but you are definitely seeing it in the works. Continue reading

Ever since I created this blog about three weeks ago I have been approached by a couple of people who told me that they do not have much of a grasp in graphic design. However, they do have interest in learning about it. My previous post was based around typography which is a very important element of graphic design. With this post I would like to give you a little bit of a crash course on typography. Continue reading

I am currently taking a class that is labeled “Experimental and Illustrative Typography” which explores the creation of typefaces and using type to create dynamic work. For one of the assignments, I had to create a design concept that is influenced by a typographic style movement that dates before the year 1980. This was the perfect opportunity for me to explore a very difficult typographic style that I have always had interest in creating ever since reading Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons: Ambigrams. This project obviously was not easy. Continue reading

For many years I have blogged. I first started out at Blogger in middle school, then moved to LiveJournal in high school, then moved to MySpace in the beginning of college, and now I’m amongst the elite of bloggers: WordPress.

I plan to dedicate this blog for graphic design related articles only. No more life updates, no more rants (unless it’s related to graphic design, of course), and no more nonsense. This blog shall reflect myself as a graphic designer and hopefully help teach and/or inspire those that will be reading this. So for those of you who are now my followers, I welcome you to my little corner of my nerdy life.