Check out their review of her Fashion Bites Back invitations and the Sunshine and Moonlight prints she created for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

There were so many interesting entries from the world of graphics that it was difficult to choose a favourite piece, so I’ll share my top three.

Flipboard

Flipboard is introduced as the world’s first social magazine, aiming to improve the way information is accessed and shared across social networks. Readers create their own content, based on their own interests, and digest information from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Google Reader quickly and effectively.

At a time when information is moving so quickly it’s not surprising that Flipboard has received recognition. If like us you’ve got a passion for sharing and collaborating this app will appeal to you. Download Flipboard.

Unit Editions by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaugnessy

I’ve been a fan of Adrian Shaugnessy since my good friend Alan gave me a copy of ‘How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul’. (I’ll let you in on whether I’ve lost my soul or not another time.) Tony Brook recently spoke at the Design Museum’s Designer Night with Alain de Botton and GraphicDesign& so I was aware of his work. The combined efforts of these prolific designers has resulted in the publication of Unit Editions, a series of books for graphic designers.

Beautifully crafted and collaborative in nature, this publishing venture will appeal to anyone who’s interested in quality design and production standards. Their creative take on texts and commentaries reminded me of how some of today’s design magazines used to be, you know those ones that have lost their edge and given in to everything there is to know about the world of design in general.

I Wonder by Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes beautifully and intelligently decorated book, I Wonder, was the highlight of the exhibition for me. The cover is hardbound with a black satin finish, with a gold, embossed pattern and silver writing. The book examines the role of wonder in design and the typography on the inner pages has been crafted in a really smart way. If you’re into foiling and typography it’ll be right up your street.

I’m yet to read the book, but look forward to receiving my copy, which you can get your mitts on here.

The quality of the graphics award entries was top notch and the winner of the graphics award was Homemade is Best, by Forsman & Bodenfors for IKEA. I didn’t think it was the strongest entry but loved the concept. What’s not to like if you love baking?!

The exhibition finishes on 7 August so this is your last chance to check it out if you happen to be in London!

Creative Times is an online magazine and a great source of inspiration for the creative community. Recently, I was asked to contribute to their Design Top Five series, which take a close look at people from the design industry and their favourite things.

We set up our profile on their directory today, and were pleased to see that a piece of news we shared was immediately posted to the community. It makes a change from the censorship we see on most sites, and the difficulty there is in sharing news unless you’re a paid member of some online creative communities.

Creative Times is produced by and for people working in the creative sector, and provides coverage through a range of mediums including video, articles and regular profiles. Like us, companies can also register on their online directory and benefit from the opportunity to have your news and events featured as lead articles, so hop on over.

Julia Goodfellow-Smith, leader of the One Calendar One Life project, commented: “I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to lead the One Calendar One Life project. It brought together a large proportion of JCI Leeds’membership to work on something for the benefit of others. We’ve raised enough funds from the project to protect over 1100 families from malaria,which is phenomenal.

Along the way, we produced something that was quite stunning, raised awareness of the Nothing But Nets campaign and JCI Leeds, and had a lot of fun. I’m proud to have been part of the team and thrilled that we’ve won a European award for our efforts to combat malaria.

Creative State really brought the calendar to life. First of all, they came up with the ‘One Calendar One Life’ title for the project, and then created a stunning design, aimed at a young professional audience. Sarah has a strong business-like streak, worked to agreed deadlines and consulted with me well. She’s also very personable, put the models at ease when working with them, both during the shoot and when choosing and editing the photos.”

Find out more about the calendar.

Working with Haiku poets Alan Summers, founder of With Words, and Hidenori Hiruta, Secretary General of the Akita International Haiku Network, I’m illustrating two mandala prints to sit alongside the beautiful Haiku they’ve kindly created. The prints will be auctioned as a pair.

So far, more than 40 artists from the UK, Ireland, USA, France, Norway and Japan have pledged to donate existing work or create new pieces. The artists range from photographers and illustrators to writers, ceramic artists and jewellery designers.

The exhibition and auction will take place on Thursday 7 April at Studio Manchester, which has been provided courtesy of photographer Jonathan Oakes. Tickets are £10 each and include entry into a Prize Draw for one of the works of art, not to mention food courtesy of Samsi and drink. You can also buy raffle tickets in advance of the night and on the night itself for one of the works of art. Tickets are £5 each or 5 for £20. Email David Milligan-Croft of An Ideal World if you’d like to come along.

100% of proceeds will be donated to the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

Read more about Creative Times and view my Design Top Five, which included the Liteweit font family, blik wall decals, letterpress prints, time-lapse footage and yummy cook books.

We took the decision some time ago to focus on collaboration, and to keep the company small, agile and adaptable. Spreading the load and teaming up with specialists in web development and marketing has allowed us to be flexible and given us an opportunity to concentrate on what we’re good at; being creative, managing projects and delivering the right solutions.

These relationships have enabled us to achieve some fantastic results for our clients and continue to stay positive during challenging times.

Supporting the community in 2010

Getting along to various creative, digital and business events has played a big part in helping us to build relationships and this year we’ve supported the likes of Thinking Digital and TEDxNorth as well as Junior Chamber International (JCI) Leeds. Next year we’re hoping to do more of the same by helping to organise JCI Leeds’ Annual Business Lecture and through participation at a northern design conference.

Our work with the Junior Chamber also encouraged us to take part in a global campaign against malaria by creating JCI Leeds’ charity calendar in support of Nothing But Nets, a grassroots campaign created by the UN Foundation. You can buy a calendar or make a contribution on the campaign website.

Looking forward to 2011

The web changes, new media emerges, and there’s nothing like a fresh approach to prepare for the year ahead. Following our recent rebrand where we created a new identity, business cards and marketing material, we’re now concentrating on our new and improved website. It’s been two years since the launch of our last web presence so as you can imagine we’re making it our business to stay on trend.

We look forward to being in touch to share the results and to collaborating with you in 2011!

All the best

Sarah & Jonathan

Availability over the festive period
The studio is closed from Thursday 23 December – Monday 3 January. We will as ever be available to respond to critical website problems or server issues and these should be directed to hello@creativestate.co.uk or 07973 414 119.

It’s taken us a while to complete the first stage of the process; select the logotype and secondary typeface, add the circles, remove the circles, and add them again, then eventually introduce a third typestyle, and while the end result is pretty simple, our stark, bright and modern business cards really solidify the message we wanted to convey to customers; that we’re design professionals.

We opted for letterpress because of the value it adds to print projects and selected 700gsm GF Smith Pristine White Colorplan; the thickness ensured that the cards could be printed on both sides, and the sharpness of the white was a perfect accompaniment for the bright orange and blue hues in our brand identity.

We’re all about collaboration and it’s been a pleasure to work with Blush. Their time, care and attention to detail on this project has helped us to create an image that we’re proud of.

Next on the list – completing our website!

Find out more about the work we completed on their brand identity, print and website design project in our case study.

Together with Olivia Brabbs Photography, I worked with JCI Leeds (and even struck a pose myself…) to create a calendar that was bold and stylish, with a clear and simple message; that one calendar can save one life. In fact, a family of four can sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, safe from malaria, for four to five years, and because the insecticide kills and repels mosquitoes they can’t move on to infect other people, thus providing protection to whole communities.

Stephanie Kirk, JCI member and calendar model said: “By posing for the pictures in nothing but nets, we have created a really beautiful calendar that stands out from the crowd.” And the success of the calendar so far speaks for itself; around 70 guests attended the press briefing and initial launch of the calendar in Leeds and 100 were sold in the first 24 hours.

Emma Eastwood, the calendar’s cover girl commented: “The calendar was so well received at the launch we have decided to hold another event at City Inn on November 11 to promote it.”

Register your interest for the celebratory launch party where you will have the opportunity to view and purchase the calendars, meet the models and take part in an auction of an original oil on canvas painting worth £500 entitled ‘Insiders View’ by contemporary artist Victoria Horkan.

Nets are a simple, life-saving solution. By buying a calendar for just £10, you can do something incredible. You can save someone’s life. To find out more about the campaign and to buy a calendar visit the campaign website.