This Paper Ship

This Paper Ship (Joel & Ashley) are a husband and wife team that work together to create vintage inspired work. They design illustrations, graphics and typography that all look hand-drawn. They met at a 'fabric study' drawing class at college and both graduated from Shepard University with BFAs in Graphic Design. With the current decrease of jobs in the Creative Arts area, they decided to start their own business and create personal artwork for clients together, as a team. 

On their website, they say 'We take pride in keeping the old-school art of hand drawn alive while combining it with the current trends and technology of the digital world.'

This design to the right was created and designed to raise funds for the people affected by the hurricane Sandy in 2012. 

I like this design because of the mix of type and artwork. The pale blue strokes at the top are very harsh and contrasting with the darker blue, which could represent a storm, as a storm is strong, and harsh (especially the hurricane Sandy). The strokes remind me of rain, they are not all going in the same direction, but crossed over each other, kind of like when a storm is pouring down, with the wind - the rain changes direction every second. But as the colours move down towards the word 'warm' they get warmer. The rusty, brown colour at the bottom reminds me of a fire. When a fire is roaring, the flames move in and around each other, which is comforting when theres a storm outside. The little icon of the bonfire also reminds me of comfort. Not only the summer memories of spending time with friends with a BBQ, but the way the logs cross over each other reminds me of when you cross your arms over each other on your chest, a sign of hope and faith. 

The text also contrasts the message of a storm. The lettering at the top seems a lot more blowy and whispery than the type at the bottom. The words 'the' and 'me' are the most whispery than any other type on the design. The letter E is very elongated, and stretched out, like its been blown in the wind. The words 'storm' and 'warm' are the largest and boldest in the design, as they are the most important. They are separated with a line of wind, blowing to the right.  I like that they are separated  It's like the before, during and end of the storm. It makes me think that the storm is at night when its cold and scary. Then as the wind blows and the night turns to day, the wind stops and the sun comes up. Finally its warm again, and the sun exposes the land in golden light. 

These designs were done for a series of cards. I really like the effect of having hand drawn drawings on cards. It  makes it seems a lot more personal than a design from the computer. They are quite childish; the bubble font, and the bird with the speech bubble of a cake. I think that the card with the mug with the sky in it is clever. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy
http://thispapership.com/
http://dribbble.com/shots/814875-Hurricane-Sandy-donation-print