Sergio Membrillas has a clutch of really beautiful, folky editorial + personal illustrations on his site and they’re begging for you to waste your afternoon on them.

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Awesomely irreverent design + illustration by Rami Niemi, self-proclaimed designer to the stars. I buy it.

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Welcome to Craig & Karl, the home of big ass, bright colors. Craig is Craig Redman, a designer + illustrator living in NYC and Karl is Karl Maier, a designer and illustrator in Sydney, Australia. They work together across oceans and continents (WHOA, THE INTERNET TUBES) for clients like Nike SB, Vogue and the New York Times.

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¡Oh! ¡Un zig-zag! is a new little book by Spanish designer and illustrator Antonio Ladrillo. Twelve double page illustrations talking about the color and the shape. Basic color and simple geometrical shapes turned into characters that reflect through a simple text about their condition. ‘We are lines!’, ‘We are curves!’

You can pick up a copy for cheap @ Antonio’s shop!

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I was blessed with a magical gift over the holidays. The gift of beer. I’ve been wanting to take a stab at home brewing for a while, but it just always ended up lower on the list than every other project that sprung to mind. Since Santa was able to cram a seven gallon brew kit down the chimney this December, the time has come to brew!

I’m kicking off my first batch this weekend, but up until now, since high school really, I’ve been done an extensive amount of field research to help ‘refine’ my palette. Lately, I’ve been frequenting Sams Quick Shop in Durham, and Tasty Beverage in Raleigh for an assortment of brewery tastings.

Something I’ve come to realize during my time at these two fine establishments is that there is potentially a huge opportunity for designers in the form of craft beer labels. It seems small/craft brewers are producing seasonal & specialty beers more frequently than ever these days. I think breweries should treat the labels on these specialty beers like book covers, and let the label truly reflect the uniqueness of the beer itself. This could mean a complete divergence from the brand style of the brewery & their main beers, but that’s ok. I think the target audience involved would be particularly forgiving in this instance, and as long as there is some visual thread among the entire line of beers, I think unique (well designed) labels for specialty/seasonals are the way to go.

Yes. That’s correct. We’ve started a new business. A year after we opened Haigh & Martino in our bedroom and a few years after we became internet friends with Brainstorm (remember the rad giveaway we did with them!!??) we combined forces and have opened Industry Standard, a screen printing shop with the greatest intentions. We’ll be working with talented artists whether they’re a big name already or waiting to be discovered by readers or kids with crisp bills at craft shows.

Things have been moving fast, to say the least. The pic above is from a recent open house for important people at 3S Artspace, where our studio (both HAM, Brainstorm and IN/ST combined workspace) is located. We’ve been lucky to become friends with the founder of 3S, all around amazing dude, Chris Greiner (he sings and surfs!!) and we’re ecstatic to be housed in the next hub of all things creative in Portsmouth, NH. 3S will be turning into a music venue, an art gallery and a farm to table restaurant. Not a bad place for us to be. I can just imagine working all day in the studio and walking downstairs to check out the band and grab a beer at the bar. WHAAAT?!!? Dreams, people. Dreams. They sometimes surprise you and come true.

3S was kind enough to offer us a ginormous (albeit real raw) space and with a little elbow grease, some pallets and a lot of love for what we do, we’ve got it into working condition with enough room for every-thang. And then some.

The greatest thing about Industry Standard so far? If it’s not the lunchtime frisbee/skateboarding breaks, the bobby bottleservice jokes, serious shop talk about paper stock or the sheer thrill of walking into a space that looks and feels like who we all are and want to be – then it’s definitely being in business with great people who love to work hard and play even harder.

If you’re an artists who needs screen printing, give us a holler.

If you’re a bright young thing looking to make your life truly yours, I hope this post inspires you to jump into it. Fully. We have and it’s the best thing we’ve ever done. So far.

I am sure most of you guys are aware of the brilliant artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon. You must have seen her 2010 “Collection a Day” series… She just came to Portland to show some of  her amazing work (at Land Gallery)—and it continues to be nothing short of RAAAAAAAAAD.

As per usual, take this Monday to get inspired for the week.

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Texas based Graphic Designer + Illustrator Aaron Eiland makes some pretty sweet posters. I enjoy how each of his designs have so much texture yet their lines and shapes are quite clean. Aaron’s style definitely has a Vintage Modernist feel. Check out more of his work at his etsy store.

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Justin Pervorse is a talented designer + illustrator from Hotlanta… (cough) Atlanta. I found his work while trolling on dribbble and really liked his style. Plus, he gets extra bonus points for working on vintage motorcycles in his spare time.

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I’m really digging the punchy, handmade work from Ayaka Ito. Born in Japan & now residing in Brooklyn, Ayaka is an interactive designer at Big Spaceship. Awesome to see interactive creatives with a healthy portfolio of hand-crafted work.