thanksgiving [swiss style]

last night we chowed down on some raclette for thanksgiving. because thanksgiving is not celebrated here [which i was asked more than once how the day was celebrated in switzy!]lori and jon decided to cook us a traditional swiss dinner. it was amazing! i thought i loved fondue, but raclette may have taken the cake on my favorite swiss dish. partially because there was garlic cheese. it's like combining my two favorite things and saying 'hey, go pour this on your favorite starch'. it is literally a thick slice of cheese that is heated in these little trays [everyone gets one tray] until it bubbles and then it is scraped off onto a boiled potato that you can slice, mash, add meat [traditionally horse, but they got just normal thinly sliced beef for us], pickles, pickled onions, spices, anything you want! after stuffing ourselves on the fabulous food steffan took us home and we were down for the count!

today at work [being that christmas officially starts the day after thanksgiving] i got to make a few versions of christmas cards for one of our clients! they wanted their heads to appear in the christmas ornaments, so i created two versions. one that was pretty straightforward and what they had asked for, and my own take that is a little more cheerful [and i think americanized] and animated. i hope they enjoy both and i cannot wait to see which they choose!

the card on the left is the original one they requested, and the card on the right is the one that i came up with as am alternative [but i thought the wreaths were similar to ornaments since they both hang!] i also get to start working on a new project for rare disease day, creating their fliers/posters that will be used to attract visitors and build the brand of the event. definitely looking forward to working on that project. christmas rush come and get us!!

st.gallen

the ad train is moving once again! only this time they have decided that they want a bunch of professors without head shots to be silhouetted against the white background! luckily my photoshop skills are not too rusty and i have been able to put some heads on some bodies and make them fairly believable [oh did i mention these are being printed on friday and still have to be approved?]

hopefully we can get this ad and the next wrapped up and off to print perfect and as soon as possible!

the coldest weekend of my life!

this weekend we took basically the coolest adventure known to any of us. first we popped into interlaken, to check out junfrau [the virgin] and stayed at this pretty awesome hostel called balmers. it was adorable and had some pretty fun nightlife going on.. jen, chris and i [being our charming selves] naturally made friends as soon as we arrived.

after a fun evening of interlaken fun we  headed out to zermatt to meet up with jen's friends jess and dac.  zermatt was absolutely gorgeous. everyone there was all bundled up, and rightly so, it was freeeezing! once we found our hostel we set out for fondue, but noone was serving it until dinner, so we went to this restaurant that some girls at the hostel recommended and had some snackage, then we shopped around a bit and returned to the hostel so we could check in. after we unloaded and changed into more layers of clothing out we went for dinner! [since we had been craving fondue for hours at this point] we found a great place that had awesome fondue and had a tremendously long and filling dinner. on the way back we stopped by a cute little pub that some people from the hostel had told us about and had a beer with them before deciding that we needed a good nights sleep to get up early to see the ice palace!

we all got up before 8 to get ready and check out. then it was go time. we first got our tickets to the halfway point because it was too windy at the very top to ascend. then as son as we turn around the board lights up green and we can now go to the top top [which is where the palace it]. first we jump into these tiny moving pods that hold about six people and they sway as the take you up the mountain. i won't lie. i was terrified. next came a larger car that held a ton of people and their skis. this one was the car that was originally closed. it was freaky but took us basically to the top of the world! we first checked out the ice palace, you take an elevator down and it opens up into a tunnel in the ice. ridiculous. then we walked around the different sections.. this little kitchen table area, the chandelier,  the buddah, what appeared to be a nativity scene, and a very awkward assortment of people, animals, and frozen flowers that has plaques about glacier bugs and how they lived and grew. it was very interesting and pretty amazing. we then went to warm up in the gift shop at the top. it had a few of the ticket items we had been wanting but for cheaper! go figure. so after jen made a pretty awesome purchase we decided to head to the top. we took and elevator up and opened into white. all white. we were inside a cloud. after rushing up the stairs through the coldest wind imaginable [my face and ears are cold just thinking about it!] we reached the very top! we were equal with the top of the clouds, which blew my mind, and there was a giant crucifix and a plaque with some info about the peak. once we had take enough awesome photos we scurried down into the relative "warmth" of the inside of the mountain.

just the matterhorn making an appearance!

 
by this time it was after noon and we had to start getting ready to head back home, so off we headed in the ski lifts down the mountain and into thicker air and "warmth". we headed home and attempted to be productive but really all we did was make some dinner and watch glee! it was basically an amazing weekend :)

check out all my photos!

eighty whattt

so the last two days have been consumed by st.gallen! there was originally a catalog, made up of about 8-10 brochures called sol... it has transformed to slf and now sfl and contains 14 brochures. unfortunately the brochures are all just a bit different and needed to be completely re-layed out. it was a bit hectic, but it looks pretty print-fab now! hopefully monday it will all go off without a hitch and print consistent and well!

tonight after work we are going to interlaken, hanging out for the night and checking out the area in the morning, then jumping train to visp to meet jen's friends jess and dac and heading to zermatt to check out the matterhorn! we are pretty pumped about the experience so make sure to check back on sunday for photos and stories!

the falken

so the card actually turned out pretty well.. the combination of jen and i working on it got rave reviews from the client! they actually thought we had forgotten the additions! yay us!

i think it is still beign worked on, but i have to begin fixing up an 80 page brochure for print monday!

last night after a nice long day at work and the gym jen and i met chris at the falken for some pre-made dinner and drinks... we split a pizza, gnocchi, and lasagna and had a few  glasses of vino with our apps and dinner... then dessert came fresh glace [gelato, but i swear better!] with a cookie. it was great! the waiter spoke basically every language in the book except english, and was very amused at our attempt to learn snippets of different languages. to show his approval at our poor foreign language skills he brought us over a surprise.. straight amaretto! after our little dessert drink we all retired upstairs and just crashed for the night... so appealing!

photoshop madness!

morgan and i have been quite amused today. we have been attempting to create a photo of a group of st.gallen teachers for a 'thank you' card of some sort. the assignment was simple.. to throw a few people into the photo... either by floating ovals of their heads off tot he side, or by attempting to add them into the image [and make them look natural of course]

as you can see it was pretty hilarious...

color addict

so in keeping with my addiction to anything to do with color i have found something that i find perfectly amusing for any time a splash of color is needed! it is the color hunter. you type in what sort of colors you want to appear and anywhere from one to 100 pages of possible palettes show up! it gives you five colors and an image.. pretty fun if you ask me! yesterday we went over the designs we began for sgad and discussed what direction we wanted to go in.. check out my designs!

after our meeting we decided on a few different directions to go in... check back later for those designs!

fondue part two!

today was absolutely beautiful. after jen and i hit up the gym to fulfill some project pretty time we literally just basked in the sun at the train station. it was great! we got back and showered and then sporting some of my awesome new salvation purchases i went to go hang out int he dorfplatz on a bench that the sun was just beating down on! people kept starring at my sandaled feet, but i was so close to home and it was seriously gorgeous out so i couldn't pass up the opportunity to hang around without shoes!

 

after jen joined my reading session on the bench we went inside to find chris as she finished up her showering and the three of us headed off into the natural world of switzerland! the walk to appenzell was absolutely gorgeous. it is ridiculous that we get to just live and experience this all!

when we got to the city it was already dark, but that was fine, we were on a mission. fondue. part two. when we found an open restaurant with the fondue poster outside we jumped on the opportunity and sat in the non-smoking section... then the fun began!

we ordered a double order [since we were three hungry girls] and a glass of weine each. a small basket of bread came, which made us nervous at first, but we then discovered that they would continue to give us more until our käse was gone! this pot [which was decorated, just like the appenzell-wear you can see above] was just alive with boiling cheese! the chef came out and brought it to us and then continued to continuously check on us to make sure we were enjoying it. on one of these occasions he decided to being us each a shot glass full of schnapps [as if the weine and tooon of alcohol in the cheese weren't enough!]  to dip the bread in before we put it in the cheese. it was a very interesting taste. i wasn't really feeling it so chris was kind enough to finish my portion for me! my all-time favorite part of the fondue [and i think chris' as well] is scrapping off the well-done bits at the bottom of the pan. fantastical!! then we walked to the train station to hop the last train back and the machine wouldn't let us purchase our tickets! it literally would not accept any money! so the conductor ended up sticking his head out the window and telling us to just hop on anyway! so a quick free ride to gais and we were home sweet home with bellies full of hot melty cheese.. and to top things off lori promised to teach us how to make it so that when we go home the tradition can continue!

the day of the phoenix.

this morning jen and i woke up early to hit up the denner [so we don't starve tomorrow] and then we took the early train to st. gallen to check out the heils armee [salvation army] which happens to be out all-time favorite store. there were some pretty awesome purchases that took place. it was fantastical! so then after chris got her half tax card we decided to head out to munich. now the trains are under construction [which noone informed us of] so we ended up taking some bus when this couple took pity on us and told us we had to get off the train! so we end up in lindau. g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s.

it was completely unreal. more photos to come in the near future. just amazing! so after hangin out we went to munich, where the trains were set up like harry potter [the movie is playing here but only in german, and we took some staged wand fighting photos in the cabin].we met some cool people on the train and finalllly got to munchen! yaaaay! it was pretty awesome. we headed for the hofbräuhaus to get some maß and schnitzel. this large group of older women sat down at our table, and it turns out they have been friends for twenty years, were in a bowling league together, and they take day trips to places like munich [they're from heidelberg, pretty awesome in the printing world!] after they left some other people sat down, but they were just not as friendly. after our fantastical meal we decided to hop the early train just in case to be safe. when we got onto the train we met three awesome girls from füssen who taught us some hilarious little german phrases! then we met raphi who was pretty awesome as well! after our friends departed we realized one of the girls left all her new h&m purchases, so we're hoping to find her so we can return her clothes!

 when we got to lindau we checked the schedule. it was quite a shock to us that because of earlier construction all the schedules were crazy and messed up. we were stuck in lindau for the night because there were only five trains from lindau: one at 10am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm. so we learn about a hostel that is clean and cheap and hop a taxi to go check it out [keep in mind it is about 11pm at this point]. in the cab we met some very cool people, eddie and sven. eddie told us he hadn't spoken english in about five years. it was very fun talking to him, he said we were the first americans he had ever met! so we get to this hostel and it's closed, we cannot get anyone's attention inside. so we start getting nervous, meanwhile chris talks to the cabbie and he tells us he will drive us back to st. gallen for fifty euros! which seemed like a fabulous idea to us...

so he had one more group of people to pick up and drive before he could take us so he drops off eddie and sven at a place that looks creepily like bar that has adult entertainment inside. our driver tells us there are seven people in his next load and so we need to wait at the bar. he could tell we were very freaked out and went to talk to the police officers to tell them we were uncomfortable and to take care of us. so he pulls away and the one officer comes and basically escorts us into this bar. we are basically having heart attacks thinking this is a topless establishment. turns out. it's just a super cool bar having a rocking 90s night! great music [understatement] and hanging out with our new friends was pretty awesome. plus i ordered a coca-cola and it came in an old-school glass bottle [which i received a euro for when it was returned!] and that made me feel like it was pretty awesome. so as we were singing spice girls and chatting with our new friends we decided that this potentially terrifying/stranded evening turned into a fabulous evening! our cabbie came back in half an hour [as promised] and off we drove to st. gallen! through germany and austria and right to the city. the was telling us that he lives in germany on a farm, but doesn't have any animals because he has three children and a dog, which were a handful themselves. his oldest daughter was our age, so i think when we had told him how old we were in the beginning he must have compared us with her and proceeded in a fatherly way [phew!]. once we were there we knew how to get home, which took a while but was ultimately quicker that it usually is. overall everything from the salvation army to the 90s night was a super great experience! anything that seemed daunting or unpreferable at first, soon became perfect, just like a phoenix raises from the ashes!

busy busy friday

so today i have worked on a littttle bit of everything [which is superfab of course] first was some st.gallen stuff, then aachen, then some more st.gallen, and now i am moving back onto the logos i started playing with yesterday. logo exploration [or any exploring in general] is the bomb. it really let's you discover new things as a designer. this sgad logo needs to portray the right message to the viewer, as does the text that accompanies it, so i was checking out the emotions that are associated with different fonts and discovered fontscape. not a super professional resource, but still very interesting and helpful! i checked out 'dependable', 'passionate', and 'dynamic' for ideas for the sgad logo font. the designs are very still work-in-progress, but jen, chris and i are sure to come up with something pretty awesome!

so today i am working on sgad [schweizerische gesellschaft für angst und depression] designs. this entails searching through their current site and information, and finding a way to convey the correct information through a logo and overall brand. to begin i decided to check out color theories, which there are a million of, naturally, but color is a major part of designs and needs to be addressed in the early stages, so that the logo and its colors can be coherent. in doing my research i have come across so many crazy website about colors, yoga, feng shui, and rgb/cmyk. so far my favorite site has been color worqx.  i think they have a great and easy site to navigate, plus some fun and helpful information! i love the color combination section that clearly shows you about relationships between colors.

also i enjoyed the palette picker... these are always fun to play around with to see what combinations you can create!

still pretty pumped

even though it's a bit obsolete at this point seeing as the day happened, i'm still pretty excited that i hit the 1111 mark! :) supa fuuuun

ashley.m.reinstein: 1111: "for those of you who know me, i am sort of into the whole coincidental number thing.. 627 [for my birthday!], 111, 1111, 1234 [for obvious r..."

week seven...

talk about a busy day. icon was bumping from morning to night! between aachen and a few st. gallen corrections, it's a good thing the new designer chris got here to take over the sigma trifold i had been working on! aachen [allllll those earlier posts!] conducts aluminum seminars/courses [okay i'm not 100% sure because it is all in german!] that we began to design the little bochure/flier that will be passed out to inform potential students on the happenings...

these are the two options that went out to the client this evening.. looking forward to getting their feedback and seeing what parts the liked and what parts they want to change. the major difference in the two designs is the schedule that is the program. it has come a long way from how it was originally set up, but i think with maybe a few more minds to look at it and comment it can become even better!

delicious dippage

today we managed to only miss the train twice.. quite a feat for us. when we finally made it to st. gallen we hopped the first train to zurich! on the way it naturally started raining. the one type of weather we hadn't planned on. so we get there and get lost [shocking i know, seeing as we are both navigational geniuses] and then have to go back and re-navigate to the city. the main boulevard was pretty awesome. especially since there were christmas decorations up already! also very cool was all the swans!

for some reason i have never really thought about swans in the wild so it surprised me to see them swimming around the river [in the cold rain] like it was normal. they were pretty awesome either way. we walked around and saw churches, jen bought a cool watch [that is currently not working] and then heaven happened. in the form of fondue.

now this was my first experience with fondue. we started off with some amazing salads and fabulous garlic bread. then the grand finale came. a massive basket of bread cubes and this yummy little pot of boiling cheeses/cherry brandy. we also got a side of pears to mix up the tastes a little. it was freaking amazing and i would eat it everyday if it was available to me! i want more soooo bad! zurich was basically awesome. i reallly want to go back when the weather isn't blah.. they had mexican restaurants, asian take-away places and of course lots of italian! next time we will have to try some of the other places in the old towne!

swiss addictions

this weekend jen and i did some hanging out with our new swiss freunde.. they met us at the bahnhof and we walked to this bar that had a bunch of music videos playing on the screens. it was pretty cool. our work friend anina [who we have dubbed neenster] met us, but couldn't come in because she was too young. that was sad, but she didn't work this week so we were glad we got to see her a bit! after we had enough of that bar the group trouped over to the bierhof, the wonderful bar from last weekend! for some reason this particular establishment does a great job at getting the best of jen and i. all of a sudden it was 3:30 and we had missed the last train, and the next one wasn't until 5! so after futzing around for a while longer we ended up crashing on one of our new friends couches and having to bus/train back to gais in the morning. it was quite an adventure! while waiting in st. gallen for our train back to gais, we decided to make a quick stop into mcdonalds. i didn't even realize how much i missed those fries until i ate the first one. jen got this fabulous mcflurry with ovomaltine. which is ovaltine. they make chocolate bars that i have fallen addict to, and now my newest addiction is the mcflurry. it was heaven. we have already checked the mcdonalds site to make sure we can get one on our way home next time! [we also set an alarm for when the last train is that way we can stop having this timing issue!]

so once we finally made it back to good 'ole gais we were exhausted! we had planned on going to munich but we both really needed to get a few hours of sleep before anything was decided! by the time we got ourselves situated and hopped over to the denner so we wouldn't starve it was basically pointless to go all that was to just turn around, since we weren't planning to stay the night anyway. tomorrow after the gym we are going to day trip to lindau though. so after planning this [and a few other trips we're interested in taking that won't break the bank] i somehow managed to get pulled into modcloth. and i discovered they have a blog. except its like a super blog and is fabulous. chances are it will be entertaining me for years at this point! also it is making me very excited to hit up the salvation army again this week.. thursday hurry up and get here!!!!

more aachen.. just for fun

 just some more aachen compositions.. loving all the blue [after all, blue is my favorite color!] but enjoy.. the top are some quick brochure covers/backs/banners, and the bottom are the banner choices for the icon site!

aaaaaaaaaach aachen!!!!

so jen and i have been working hard on some aachen university! yesterday we both presented a million comps to lori and jon and morgan [our new work friend!] and then we picked and swapped around elements and jen and i each developed one comp a piece. they were very similar, but not exactly the same...
[check out my designs below]

after we looked at our two designs we decided it would be best to take her headings [they contained the important information about the courses such as date, location and price] and combine them with my boxy design at the bottom of the page [the box comes from the cover that aachen chose at the original presentation]

there is of course much more work to be done, and many changes will surely be made, but it is a good start to what will become a great series of brochures and educational literature! i hope aachen enjoys our work so we can keep moving everything along! next stop... logoooooos

i'll take you to foggy london town!

oh yes. that is correct. jen and i have officially booked our tickets to london! we are soooo excited. we also joined a gym called update fitness. i will not be walking well tomorrow. or lifting or reaching or anything that involves moving for that matter. i am basically exhausted at this point and super excited about london! today was also pretty busy at icon.. more to come on that tomorrow though.. after i get a good nights rest :)

abbasso il ré!
[did i mention we're learning italian haha!]

sial

sigma aldrich is one of our clients, and they are a company that is based internationally.. i have posted a few other projects i have worked on for them, but this one in particular i enjoyed. the people at sial are awesome to work with! many times a client can say "i want a poster [or flier, or brochure, etc] for this event and we want it to look good". well that just doesn't give a designer any direction as to what information needs to be included, or what is important and what is fluff. sometimes that's great and you can really get artsy and creative with it, but most of the time they end up wanting to simplify and  ruin what you believe to be your awesomely creative work! well sial tells you exactly what they need.. no more no less! they sent over this word document with each element they wanted to incorporate perfectly labeled and ready for me to manipulate! they provided the top graphic, the chart to superimpose, the image of the certificate and bottles, the symbols and logos [just in case we didn't have them]. it was a relief to be given everything in one nicely organized folder and asked "hey.. can you put this together for us?" so check out how i 'artfully' put together this sigma aldrich flier!