Graphic designers are lazy. We hate doing math, we look for shortcuts, and we steal—er... modify—ideas. I am no exception. Most of the time, it seems, I save time on a design by doing something fairly literal or expected.
For example, with this invite for a GOLD (Graduates Of the Last Decade) event, I was just going to create a coffee mug stain on a napkin and call it good. But then I saw this (I told you, we steal!) and decided to push myself further with more of a concept: spell something with stains. It proved to be quite the challenge, both in creating letterforms (somewhere between too obvious and just unclear) and making them look realistic. But I am quite pleased with the end result. And now I'm craving a granita...
-J. Gibb