After all, my tastes are not necessarily their taste. And I can design something that is traditional OR contemporary, and all of the colors and textures of the rainbow are available. In fact, short quotes give you so much more flexibility with the design that it can be a real challenge! There's so much choice, that I do need some direction!
Sometimes I am blessed to have the type of customer who tells me: I like contemporary, these are my color preferences, and if you can put in something like...... Then I have such fun coming up with the design. I really want my customers to stretch - not do black writing on cream color paper. In fact, I WON'T do that - it's boring!
So, when I received this latest commission, I had such fun planning it out. And the designed evolved as I thought about it.
The quote was: Love cannot let you know music, but music can let you know love. Immediately I thought of the two words that if emphasized would give a big visual message that was obvious: Love and Music. If possible, I do the first layout of the words on my computer substituting different fonts and sizes. It's easier to move around the text that way than using and wasting paper. After all I am a "Green Scribe" : )
And of course, the most obvious symbols of Love and Music is a "heart" and "notes".
When you're doing a good design, you shouldn't do something that doesn't "hold together". For instance, if you could physically remove a part of the picture and it doesn't seem like something is missing, the design should be changed.
So, in the first printed by computer layout, you see parts of the quote that are necessarily integrated. Then I thought about what else could hold it together, and naturally, the idea of sheet music as a background popped into my mind. It was alright, but the background was white.
I felt like I wanted the sheet music to look a little aged, and I wanted it to relate to the color in the heart. So I tinted the music the color you see. And voila! A finished piece that reflects the sentiment, and artwork that supports the statement. Thank You L. for giving me free rein and trust to do your quote!
Have a favorite quote that you'd like to have made into Words To Live By: Words that you will see and remind you daily of how much that quote/poem means to you? Remember, Mother's Day is coming up, and your mother might really enjoy YOUR words of thanks and love!
