Emily's Junk

Luck 'o the Irish

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:49:45 -0500

The day before our wedding, my husband, Tom, found a 4-leaf clover. It seemed pretty auspicious. Tom pressed the lucky clover in between the pages of a heavy book to keep it safe. On our first anniversary (which is the paper year) Tom gave me a home letterpress kit and the neatly pressed 4-leaf clover, thinking that I could design and print something that we could use to display our good luck charm. It took me over a year to get around to it, but I’ve finally done just that!

Printed on my L Letterpress on French Paper.

And if you’re interested in reading about how awesome our wedding was, we were featured on the blog Off-Beat Bride. Check it out!

Catching up

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:00:06 -0500

Ever since I started working at Ailey a year and a half ago I have been work, work, working and go, go, going pretty much non-stop. Designing for this prolific and popular dance company has really kept me on my toes M-F, and the bit of freelance work I do on the side has kept me busy on the weekends. I really haven’t had a moment to consider collecting some of this work and preparing it for display to the public.

But now, in the midst of my second trimester, I found this burst of energy. (It’s probably due to the knowledge that once the baby arrives in the spring there is NO WAY I will have time to do this kind of organization.) I spent this past weekend combing through a year and a half of work, picked out a few favorites and (finally) updating my website! You can check it out here: www.emilywilburdesign.com.

One piece that didn’t make it to the site, but I kind of wanted to share with the world anyway, is the postcard I did for the Tiny Steps class at The Ailey Extension. (It’s an adorable class for 2 year olds). This postcard makes me happy every time I see it.

This looks like so much fun!

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:09:09 -0400

Check it out….

Someone buy this for me please!!

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:14:37 -0400

Found here

Winter is coming.

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 11:44:37 -0400

Tonight the new series Game of Thrones, based on the AMAZING Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, premieres on HBO. In honor of this I thought I’d post the redesign of this series that I did as a project last year.

These books fall pretty squarely into the “Fantasy” genre, and it shows in their packaging. However, they are also REALLY well written and not your typical dorky fantasy. I wanted to give these books covers that would appeal to a more literary audience and make them slightly less embarrassing to read in public.

The long awaited next book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, (ok, yes, this is kind of dorky fantasy) comes out this July. I was hoping that with this new release we might see a redesign of the series, maybe something that didn’t include beveled type, gradients and other “effects.” No dice. Oh well!

Come ON, Spring!

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:58:19 -0400

In at attempt to remind Spring that it’s time to arrive already (I am sick of wearing my ski hat every day) here are some lovely Bulgarian stamps designed by Stefan Kanchev in 1971.

via Design:Related

Everyone should have a symbol.

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 10:58:58 -0500

That was what I thought as the stage lit up for Prince last night at Madison Square Garden. His really is lovely.

The show was transcendent, definitely in my top 5 of all time, in part due to the stunning Miss Janelle Monáe (below). If you have a chance to see her live, DO IT! She’s so strange and wonderful. It’s like really funky performance art.

Top photo by me and my iPhone. Bottom photo by Zach Wolfe

Infographic Wednesday

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:10:23 -0500

I was looking for inspiration for an infographic project I’m starting at work when I stumbled upon this gem by Pop Chart Lab. Love!!

Penguin 75

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 10:48:00 -0400

While unemployed over the summer I created lists and lists of things I was going to buy myself when I finally got a job. At the very top of the list was this book:

Penguin’s Art Director, Paul Buckley, chose 75 covers from the last 10 years to be featured in this book, along with comments from the authors, designers, agents, editors, etc. There are also some rejected covers that made it in, and some of the comments are brutally honest. (I was a little taken aback by Garrison Keillor’s pure hatred of the cover for his Love Me.) It’s a real insiders look and has been totally worth the wait.

Two of my favorite covers from this collection are these by Jen Wang:

You can read a great interview with Paul Buckley about this book here. Fun stuff!

Love it.

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:12:10 -0400

Sculpture by Jason Freeny.

Goodbye, summer.

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:17:11 -0400

Last night I said goodbye to what has truly been a fantastic summer by going to see the Pavement reunion show at the Central Park Summerstage.

I was totally in LOVE with the light design—specifically the strings of lights draped across the stage. Gorgeous!

(Photos via Pitchfork and Limewire)

October Wedding Invitations.

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 13:20:42 -0400

Finally! The invites for my dear friends Nick and Brenna’s wedding are all done. I had wanted to print them with my Gocco printer, but time restraints made that impossible. These were, instead, printed on my Epson 1400. I can get really fabulous bright colors with my Epson which worked well for the bright and cheerful orange I was using. And this orange matched perfectly to French Paper’s Glo-Tone Orange envelopes! Hurray.

The porcupine on the RSVP card…well, he just felt right. He’s fun and quirky yet dignified and, ahem, a little prickly. Just like the happy couple themselves! :)

Employment.

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:16:54 -0400

Tomorrow is my first day at my new job as the Graphic Designer at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. It was three month, slightly harrowing job search, but I couldn’t be happier with the result! I’m thrilled to be working with such a fantastic organization and can’t wait to help make all their things look pretty.

I want them all.

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:37:23 -0400

This just a small sample of the new Penguin hardcover classics. So gorgeous!

A Sure Cure for the Kidneys

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:31:13 -0400

When my very good friends Nick and Brenna announced their engagement to me last February, the first thing I said to them, after “Yay!” was “I’m designing your invitations.” They didn’t have any kind of a say in it.

When it came time to make the Save the Date cards, Brenna sent me an email describing what they were thinking. “We want to convey that it’ll be a fun, non-fancy but nice event. Other than that, we like old-timey stuff. And Nick likes the idea of it being a ‘stomp.’” Well then. Add that to some some turn of the century advertising research and voila!

Printed on French Paper Speckletone (Madero Beach) with my brand new (used) Gocco printer and Brown Gocco Ink.

Stop. Babytime.

Mon, 24 May 2010 13:35:00 -0400

My husband is in a great Brooklyn country band called The Flanks. On top of being a huge fan and a Flanks wife, I also have become their resident designer. A few years ago I designed and screen printed the original Flanks t-shirt, which you can see here, modeled by the fabulous Marty Capodice:

Recently, the band welcomed it’s first Flanks baby! This joyous news, coupled with the fact that I am soon to be an aunt (my brother-in-law, who was the original Flanks bass player, is expecting), made it clear to me that it was time to make some Flanks onesies!!

I printed these on American Apparel’s “Sustainable Edition” 100% organic cotton baby onesies. Only the best for the littlest Flanks fans.

A Six-Pack of Color.

Fri, 21 May 2010 10:18:14 -0400

Post-graduation I went on a cleaning/reorganizing binge. In the midst of this madness, as I was packing up the paper recycling, I noticed how GORGEOUS the color combinations on the Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer Ale and East India Pale Ale six-pack cartons are. It felt like a shame to waste them. So, voila! I have a new art supplies bin.

Pratt Show 2010

Thu, 13 May 2010 15:00:00 -0400

Last night was the Friends and Family Reception for the much anticipated (well, anticipated by my classmates and myself, anyway) Pratt Show! Free wine + good friends + finally being done with school = A FANTASTIC TIME! Thank you to everyone who came out…

This is what my panel looked like:

Kat and Cormac

Steve, Cory and Margaret

My Publication Design professor Nancy Stamatopoulos

Mr. Chris Kam

Mr. Brewer and Ms. Switser

Mamma Wilbur

Lady Maureen

And, of course, my dear, dear husband.

Phew. I’m glad that’s over.

Now what?

Handmade Cavalcade

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:00:48 -0400

On Saturday I went with my friends Katy and Chris to check out the Spring Handmade Cavalcade in the ‘hood. Some of my favorites were:

1) The embroidered photography from Aperature Agog:

2) The “Clue” inspired jewelry of Jenny Topolski (This one is Mrs. White with the revolver):

AND, last but not least, the super delicious sea salt chocolate (and gorgeous package design) from Fine and Raw:

Letterpress

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:37:00 -0400

Yesterday my Pre-Press and Print Production class went to The Arm in Williamsburg to learn about letterpress AND to make posters advertising the Pratt Show, which is fast arriving. (Yikes!) We could only work about 3 people at a time, so we all got to see different parts of the process. I was part of the group that set the type for all of our names. It was a blast!

Photos courtesy of Steven Mallia