Isaiah 40:31

A fun fathers day gift commission from a friend.

I haven't had a good excuse to draw type for a while, it was fun to work on!

Isaiah 40:31

2012 Steelcase Foundation Annual Report

The annual report that Rachel Hyde (of Hyde Creative) and I made for the Steelcase Foundation last year won a Silver Addy, so we needed to come up with something even more fantastic this year.

The report includes 5 stories highlighting some of the programs funded by the foundation. The stories chosen this year highlight each of the foundations guiding principals, and we chose to illustrate each of these principals with 3 dimensional stitched letters pulling together lots of brightly patterned new and vintage fabrics.

I love letters, I love fabric, I love stitching, I love tangible objects incorporated into graphic design, I love beautiful, well made things. Needless to say, this was SO MUCH FUN to work on and I am more than happy with the result. Check it out for yourself, but I think we succeeded in surpassing the high bar we set last year.


Stitched fabric letters by me, art direction and design by Rachel Hyde.

See the complete report on Steelcase's website HERE.

cover

Story headline / guiding principal

Story page

Worlds awesomest pie chart. :)

back cover

Look at the color reflected on the paper, so beautiful!

at the photo shoot.

And of course, the necessary cat photo. And some in progress letters.

emruth in color

I've been working on a pretty awesome invite that I decided I needed to play with in color.

It'll get to emruth.com at some point, but I'm still working on rvsp and receptions cards and I may never get there if I just keep designing more color palettes...

Photos + M&C Wedding Suite

A few exciting things happening over at emruth.com (at least I think they're exciting!)


1.

The lovely Bridget Earnshaw helped me with a few photos for showing off my programs, menus, table numbers and place cards. They turned out awesome!

emruth.com

2. 

I have a new invite set! I've been playing around with the little ring and bowtie thing for forever, sometimes the simplest solutions are the hardest to get to. I'm liking where it went, and I think it'd look awesome printed on a bright paper like coral or something... lots of things to play with!

Invitation

Invite + RSVP

Program

Table Numbers

Place Cards

Menu

Thank You Card

Trinity Mag!

I'm pretty much famous now. :)

Trinity Mag,  Spring 2013

The text is below:

The artist leans over her paper in the studio space she also calls home in Chicago. She is a self-proclaimed “maker of things” and “perpetual paper folder” who likes to keep her hands occupied with creating art. As she works on a new wedding invitation design, her cat Laszlo curls up in the pile of scrap paper to provide quality control.

Alumna Emily Van Hoff ’11 graduated from Trinity with a degree in Studio Art with a concentration in graphic design, a major she found to be especially beneficial because of the variety of art classes required. Her Trinity art education was also formational in the mentorship relationships she had with professors; the opportunity to work with professional artists on installations in the College’s Seerveld Gallery; the proximity of Chicago’s art scene; and the time spent working with fellow art students in the Art and Communication Center studios.

Now a freelance designer, Van Hoff was recently awarded a 2013 West Michigan Silver ADDY award. The American Advertising Federation’s ADDY Awards are the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition, recognizing and rewarding creative excellence.

Van Hoff, collaborating with a team from Hyde Creative,* received the award for her work on the Steelcase Foundation Annual Report. The original artwork, later photographed for the report, involved an intricate design of highly structured cuts and folds and represented the ways each organization had used its funding to make an impact on its community.                   

Van Hoff explains the process on her blog:

Each story starts with a single sheet of paper to represent the funding from Steelcase. A series of highly structured cuts and folds reveals an intricate design through shape and shadow to show the ways each organization has taken the funding and used it to make an impact on their communities. The entire sheet of paper remains intact, leaving no waste just as every bit of the funding is used to its fullest extent. Although the art is mostly abstract, I worked hard to make sure there was a connection to each story.

Early influences for the design began in Van Hoff’s sculpture classes at Trinity.  “I feel so honored to be recognized for my work,” said Van Hoff. “Receiving this award has affirmed my decision to pursue my passion for design and sculpture at Trinity.”

To view Van Hoff’s work, visit www.emilyvanhoff.com.

                 

*Sherrie Wilson, writer. Emily Van Hoff, cut paper art. Rachel Hyde, concept, art direction and design.

And here are a few of the photos from the photoshoot for the article.

Photo credit: Sam Mahtani. Check out more of his work here.

This is the cave I work in.  :)

Lots of work!

Hi all!

My etsy store has been steadily growing over the last few months, and I've finally finished and posted all the matching thank you cards and programs/menus/table numbers/name cards for each of my wedding invitation designs! 11 complete sets of printable wedding paper paraphernalia are now yours for the browsing.

I'm excited to go back to the drawing board and start some new designs and maybe expand past weddings to other stationary. We'll see what the summer brings!

Check out emruth.com for the whole shebang, here are just a few of my favorites!

A&T full set here

D&M full set here

M&A full set here

S&W full set here

I&L full set here

E&L full set here

R&C full set here

O&L full set here

L&R full set here

New Invite: Flourishes

The latest invite at emruth.com!

The I&L invite takes its inspiration from a book of borders, frames and decorative motifs from 1862. I love taking elements from designs of hundreds of years ago and updating them to a more clean and modern look. The perfection and delicacy of design from the 19th century is amazing (see the last photo) - especially when you think about the technology that was available to those designers. So gorgeous! 

For the photoshoot, I added a paper band of wedding wrapping paper from the 1950's, a lovely piece of lace, and 'pool' blue paper from Paper Source. The envelope is Paper Source's 'cement' and the invite is printed on French Paper's Construction Grout Gray.

www.etsy.com/listing/121000972

One of the reference pages.