October | 2012 | Andrea Jaggs

THE BLOGCADEMY: BLACK, WHITE, TEAL AND A WHOLE LOTTA ‘TUDE!

Oct 27, 2012

As mentioned earlier, I attended The Blogcademy in New York City last weekend to get my newly blogging butt kicked! I HAD SO MUCH FUN!

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: THE BLOGCADEMY BALLOONS, GALA DARLING, SHAUNA HAIDER AND KAT WILLIAMS SHARING THEIR WISDOM. BOTTOM IMAGE COURTESY OF DARA SKOLNICK. STAMPS ADDED FROM SHAUNA’S BRANDING, FOUND ON THE BACK OF OUR REPORT CARDS.

Highly seasoned bloggers and Blogcademy founders, Shauna Haider, Kat Williams and Gala Darling strut their stuff and welcomed us with open arms. 30 attendees packed the NOHO’s Silk Studio from several countries like the US, Canada, Belgium and New Zealand. The studio was buzzing with great energy, an eagerness to learn and a whole lotta style and ‘tude! Teal, white and silver decorations filled the room and echoed the Blogcademy branding. In person, Shauna, Kat and Gala were just as animated, quirky and tons of fun. And the headgear could not be missed! Over the weekend, they rocked rabbit ears, sparkly bows, floral head pieces like no other!

The headmistresses offered up advice and inspiration on a huge range of topics, showing us the blogging ropes from their own unique perspectives. They were very honest with their opinions and made no apologies for why they do certain things. I quite enjoyed the fact that like that in many areas of blogging, they take different approaches, and explained why it works for them. It showed me that there is not one perfect way to do something. They opened up my mind to the possibilities of what a blog could be. I especially enjoyed Shauna’s talks on branding strategy and how she applied it to Rock N Roll Bride and The Blogcademy. British wedding photographer, Lisa Devlin joined for the weekend as well and presented her own photography and editing lesson. That was such a treat! She was lovely to chat with and absolutely hilarious.

CELLPHONES ALLOWED IN THIS CLASS!

BOTTOM RIGHT IMAGE COURTESY OF KAT WILLIAMS.

My friend and co-worker Jamie Franklin also attended the workshop, which was AWESOME! Of course, everyone was snapping photos, instagramming and tweeting all weekend. Above are some examples of Jamie and I practicing our #bloggerface which was encouraged. See what everyone was instagramming that weekend. On the first day, Shauna and I noticed we had matching neon orange nails! Same nail polish brand: Pop Nail Glam. Love it!

SWAG BAG

Check out the awesome goodies that we walked away with!

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are so many memorable things that happened over the weekend. It was great to meet so many other fascinating girls. I love the community that has been formed and have walked away with many new friends!

I can honestly say that I am so thankful that I did this workshop; it really was the push that I needed. I could have easily NOT have signed up and though it was unrealistic to go to New York—especially since I’d been there twice already in the last 4 months! I could also have though it was unrealistic to start a blog so close to the workshop. But instead, I threw myself into it for a challenge. I believe that it’s important to be spontaneous, and jump on an opportunity when it presents itself. These three women are proof that anything is possible with persistence, dedication and hard work. I definitely walked away fulfilled, with tons of ideas and inspiration that I can apply to my own blog as it begins to shape itself.

ON THE LAST DAY WE GOT GROUP SHOTS WITH THE GIRLS ON POLAROID! EVERYONE GOT THEIR WON SPARKLY HEART RING—LOVE! PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA MIFSUD-SWEENEY. GROUP IMAGE, COURTESY OF DARA SKOLNICK.

THANK YOU Shauna, Kat, Gala, Lisa and all The Blogcademy attendees for inspiring me to no end! You are all AMAZING! I look forward to keeping in touch.

Is there something you have done lately where you’ve really put yourself out there, challenged yourself, and grown from it? I’d love to hear!

THE BLOGCADEMY: A SHORT NOTE

Oct 24, 2012

The Blogcademy

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Monday night I flew back to Toronto from New York City—eyes wide with excitement and ideas flowing. I attended The Blogcademy over the weekend. This is the first ever blogging workshop founded by Shauna Haider, Gala Darling and Kat Williams (the Headmistresses). What a weekend!

I had been following graphic designer, Shauna Haider and absolutely admire her as a designer and blogger. She is a major inspiration behind me wanting to start blogging. I was done with my website being a static portfolio and unsatisfied with only micro-blogging—Twitter, I still love you! I wanted another medium to express myself more in-depth. All summer I had been contemplating the idea.

Through Shauna, I had learned about Kat Williams of Rock n Roll Bride and Gala Darling—both kickass, inspiring women! Back in August when Shauna posted about the Blogcademy, I knew that I needed to be part of it. First, I danced around the room and jumped about. Then, I signed up almost immediately. I was eager—but did not have a blog yet! It would be the momentum I needed to get started. I love throwing myself into challenging situations.

The Silk Studio in NOHO, Manhattan was full of enthusiasm. 30 Blogcademy attendees packed the room along with a bunch of helpers, decorations and tons of swag! The days to follow were full of insight and big laughs. Shauna, Gala and Kat offered their blogging insight, inspiration and tons of humour.

That’s all for now. More details and eye candy to come later this week! //

LOGO RE-DESIGN: ANDREA JAGGS

Oct 19, 2012

Design

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I recently did a brand update. I had been itching to refresh my logo and overall brand for a while. In the summer I finally got around to doing so!

This my old logo above. My last logo was all line, but was more broken up. I knew that I wanted change the feel of the line flow and simplify the colour palette. I take inspiration from hand drawn type and the idea of type as image.

MY PROCESS

Over a few weeks, I gathered and carefully curated print materials and items that I had collected over time for inspiration. These are items that I really connect with in terms of design, trend, palette and overall aesthetic. I spread them out on a table in my studio. A visual style emerged.

As you can see I have an orange crush! Hot orange, neon and coral—there is energy to the colour that draws me in. If only neon orange could be created in RGB (like green pink and purple), I’d be in heaven! Black and white is also a classic that I can’t ignore. I’ve always loved simple lines, but with an edge and geometric shapes. I am loving the geometric trend right now. I can honestly say these photos bring me lots of excitement!

I liked the idea of making the letters one continuous line. My logo is also very much a copy of how I had been drawing it out in my sketchbook—Moleskine! This I drew out on the computer based on my sketch. It was done with the pen tool in illustrator, quickly as test. I didn’t think about it much. But the first try was the one I stuck with. I went back and drew over scans from my sketchbook, but did not like them as much. I find the first instinct usually is the right one. My best work happens when I don’t overthink it. I went back later and adjusted the “S” to my liking and done!

This is final logo with a graphic icon.

I knocked out the shapes to create my icon. Above are some variations I had played around with. I feel strongly about process creating the final outcome. This all came together fairly quickly and instinctively. I had been planning to start this blog, so the addition of “art / design / inspire” made sense.

Here are my current business cards. I’ve been using this Jimi Wallet as my business card case for years. I love how the design shows through from the inside.

To personalize my iPad case, I added a strip of neon orange duct tape. I’m currently working on additional collateral pieces to extend my brand vision, which I’ll share later!

JAGGS – WHAT’S IN A NAME?

A quick note on my last name; the long version is Jagodzinski (Polish!), but I go by Jaggs.

Growing up I was referred to as “jags”. The second “g” was added only a few years ago. For a while, I had the URL: http://jag.gs, thanks to my friend Jason Hargrove, who got me the URL. This was after not being able to find “andreajags.com”. The .gs (instead of .com) referred to the territory South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It spelt out “jaggs” and the name just stuck! However, I found people would get confused with the URL and would spell it incorrectly, so got rid of it.

I have noticed there being a real “Jag” trend out in the world these days. There is:

•Jagger (as in Mick)
•pop song “Moves Like Jagger”
•WagJag
•JAGJAGUWAR

Basically, Jaggs has stuck and it’s easy! //

IN-HOUSE DESIGN

Oct 16, 2012

Design

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For over 5 years, I have been working as an in-house designer for two different companies. Here is a bit of insight into what I do/have done:

SCHAWK CREATIVE STUDIO, IN-HOUSE AT KELLOGG’S CANADA

I began my career as an intern in university for Schawk Canada. This is an international company that specializes in pre-press services and food packaging. Conveniently, Schawk has a creative studio located right inside the Kellogg’s Canada head office—yes, the famous cereal makers! Schawk designs and prints the packaging for Kellogg’s.

I worked with a vibrant, fun team: an art director, production coordinator, and four other senior designers. Th team was extremely talented and produced a very high calibre of work. I was lucky of enough to get hired into this studio after graduation and work for three years after. The team took me under their wing from the start and taught me the ropes of the industry—and inspired me to no end!

My role was to work with packaging and current promotions, designing signage and other print collateral for the various brands of Kellogg’s. The cool thing about being right in the Kellogg’s head office, aside from the free cereal and amazing gym, was to be able work directly with our client. There were daily interactions with the various brand managers for Kellogg’s. Since Kellogg’s has tons of brands under its name, I got to know Snap Crackle and Pop, Toucan Sam and the Mini-Wheats characters really well! Every day was different; one day I could be working on kids or snack brands, another day I was knee deep in All-Bran or Special K! It was a great experience to work with multiple brands for such a high profile company.

BLUENOTES MARKETING

For the past two years, I have been designing in-house for Bluenotes; a retail brand well known across Canada for their denim, graphic tees, hoodies and fashion items. It’s predominantly a youth brand, which means I get to have lots of fun with the design!

A few recent print jobs:

I redesigned the Bluenotes gift cards, with a new colour palette, packaging and overall look. The card is cobalt blue with a choice of neon pink, neon orange or lime green backer for the card, with a white envelope.

Reusable bags for Fall, in coral, lime and navy.

I am part of the marketing team in head office. My team includes a Marketing Director, Marketing Coordinator, E-commerce manager, Warehouse Manager, and Web Product Photographer. I am currently the sole graphic designer. My days are very fast-paced, where I’m juggling things like:

• seasonal campaigns: concepts + design
• coordinating seasonal photoshoots
• promotions: concepts + design
• store signage
• email marketing
• web graphics and assets

Needless to say, the time flies! I work with tight deadlines, so I’ve definitely honed my ability to design quickly on the spot, but always deliver quality work. That sounds cheesy, but it’s the truth! It’s a very hand-on, entrepreneurial environment, so I get to wear lots of hats. I also work among super talented apparel and graphic tee designers, clothing buyers and more. I’m constantly inspired by the creativity and style that surrounds me!

BLUENOTES SPRING 2012 PHOTOSHOOT: PROPS + SET

A particular photoshoot that I had tons of fun on was our Spring 2012 Campaign. I, along with our lovely and talented e-commerce manager Jamie Franklin, planned out the props and set. The campaign concept was a group of friends hanging out on March Break, listening to music, taking photos and pretending to be rock stars. It needed be playful and bright. We also wanted to add both analogue and digital elements, like cellphones vs. film cameras.

Lomography cameras were one of our key props. This shot has the Sprocket Rocket model. The Lomography Gallery Store in Toronto kindly lent us the prints stuck on the wall. So helpful!

To pull our sets together, we do a mix of shopping, renting and lending. We did the majority of the props sourcing in the Queen West area of Toronto. Larger items like the couch and coffee table were outsourced. The marketing department also contributed some items. Here is where the above items are from:

1. Lomography poster: Lomography Gallery Store (free)
2. silk screened poster by Doublenaut: Telegramme Prints
3. wrapping paper: The Paper Place
4. silk screened poster by Jeff Kleinsmith/Patent Pending: Telegramme Prints
5. guitar case: Marketing Director’s own
6. mini posters (from tearout poster book): Sonic Boom
7. wrapping paper: The Paper Place
8. rug: Urban Outfitters
9. records: marketing department mix
10. table: mine
11. record player: Sonic Boom
12. vintage chair: mine (Junction thrift store)
13. collapsible wire basket: CB2

CAMPAIGN PHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDY NICHOLSON

I’m on set today for our upcoming Holiday campaign. Can’t wait to share! //

A BACKGROUND ON MYSELF

Oct 15, 2012

A Background On Myself

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Hi there! I am Andrea Jaggs, a graphic designer living in Toronto, Canada. My intention for this blog can be summed up with the words art/design/inspire. I live a creative life. Design is my passion—an obsession! I’ve been working professionally as graphic designer for over five years, for several brands in print and digital. I plan to talk about art, design, share current projects and other fun stuff. Thanks for joining me on this journey. A quick background on myself is a must.

STARTING WAY BACK

It seems I was always meant to be a designer. In the early ‘90s back in elementary school (growing up in St. Catharines, ON), I really cared about lettering and making signs. I always spent way more time on making title pages and signs for class units than I needed to. Drawing letters and creating interesting compositions was so much fun! Everything came very intuitively and I just loved it—but wasn’t sure why. I loved reading magazines about fashion, art and architecture. Being the Piscean collector that I am, I was always keeping clippings of beautiful type, graphics and layouts—and still do to this day.

I remember wandering around a used bookstore in downtown St. Catharines, only to purchase the book Magazine Design from 1999, written by Chris Foges. Here I discovered in-depth discussions on magazine structures and typography, along with examples from innovative publications from around the world. As well, I read interviews with established editorial designers and art directors like Fernando Gutiérrez, and Rudy VanderLans. I learned about cutting-edge, experimental magazines like Emigre, Blah Blah Blah, Ray Gun, and Colors, to name a few. That was back in high school.

UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE

It wasn’t until I was in university though, that I realized I wanted to be a graphic designer. My background out of high school had had been in drawing, painting and art history. Here I was introduced to design and photography. I quickly realized these were my real faves.

My schooling is both university and college-based. I studied jointly with the University of Toronto and Sheridan Institute of Technology in Oakville. My background is studio art, art history and digital communications. My focus was on design, photography. Having an art background has been a true asset to my career, from a conceptual and analytical standpoint. I’m incredibly thankful for it! Although I would not call myself a professional photographer, having the background is definitely helpful.

NOW

I’ve been working professionally as graphic designer for over five years and have worked on several brands in print and digital. I have a full-time day job and also freelance (more on that later). I live in the west end of Toronto near beautiful High Park, with my boyfriend Darcy and our two cats Deja and Dante.

Steps away from my house is Grenadier Pond, which is at the southern part of the park.

I feel pretty lucky to be surrounded by so much nature. Yet, I’m just a hop and a skip from transit, Roncesvalles Village, Queen Street West and Bloor West Village: all amazing neighbourhoods. I don’t like to be too far from the hustle and bustle of the city!

I’m also across the street from the waterfront of Lake Ontario. One of my favourite things to do is go out for walks, explore and collect my thoughts. It’s amazing what you can come across.

Some of my best ideas and revelations come to me at these times.

These photos were taking recently over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. //

THE BLOGCADEMY: BLACK, WHITE, TEAL AND A WHOLE LOTTA ‘TUDE!

CELLPHONES ALLOWED IN THIS CLASS!

SWAG BAG

FINAL THOUGHTS

OTHER BLOGCADEMY RECAPS

THE BLOGCADEMY HEADMISTRESSES

OTHER AWESOME PEOPLE

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