Project of the week: The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA (Book)

And now it's time to unleash the geek in me: This week's featured project is a cheery and entertaining comic that makes it easier for high school students to understand DNA.

Jargons, most of the time, discourage students to read topics further to understand the topic. It's like speaking Korean to Latin Americans. By presenting the complexity of DNA through a comic, it makes easier for students to grasp the concept of genes; it speaks in the language with which the students are familiar. That, in itself, makes the comic a success. 

Project of the week: "A Book of Sleep" (Illustrations)

In the spotlight this week is the American book debut of illustrator Il Sung Na (via Brainpickings).

A Book of Sleep features a rhythmic storytelling of the "watchful owl" who stays awake while everyone else gets a shut-eye, through lovely and textured illustrations.

Il Sung Na's "A Book of Sleep" (Photo from www.brainpickings.org)

Il Sung Na's "A Book of Sleep" (Photo from www.brainpickings.org)

Il Sung Na's "A Book of Sleep" (Photo from www.brainpickings.org)

I find how the illustrations appear flowing and fluid particularly pleasant. Notice that the illustrator brilliantly used shapes and added a blush of colors to help create a subtle contrast between the doves and the owl.

While drawing for children seem easy to some, it is admittedly harder than most illustrations, because ideally the message must be conveyed in the simplest and most interesting way possible to keep the readers glued to the page. Here, less is truly more but one has to strike a balance between keeping the illustrations simple yet making it interesting and attractive visually to encourage the reader to flip to the next page. This is why I find the Il's illustrations excellent.

Design collection: Best catering logo designs for ideas and inspiration

Have you seen my list of bad catering and food service design logos? If so, then read on to find out  my top choices for the well executed caterer and catering service logos.

Good catering logo designs and tips

Logo design tip: Use color and negative space for emphasis. Even a single or dual color logo design, with proper use of negative space, makes an interesting logo. Take this Food Creatives logo. Not only the utensil illustration but also the highlighted "EAT" in CREATIVES tell the looker at first glance what this company does. And it does so effectively. 

Baja Catering's logo also uses negative space smartly to add a visual element to its logo.

 Logo design tip: Use appropriate font to show and add character in your logo design.  Font use The handwritten font with its subtle or muted colors of gray and yellow green work well together. The stout letters exudes a relaxed and playful approach to catering.

Below is another logo that uses a script-style font. Look how it's easy to read the brand Ariawan and how fun and warm the logo looks. Brown, white and yellow are an excellent choice for a classy and timeless logo. You can read about the story behind the Ariawan logo here.

Logo design tip: Use non-traditional colors to set your brand apart. It's hip and young, it looks hot and it's different. Pink may not be a popular choice among in food service design, but it certainly makes Eat Ibiza stand out of the crowd. The color choice also tells the looker that the company uses a modern approach to its services. 

Logo design: When you're unsure, stick with safe color choices. While brown and pale flesh may not be the top color choices for food services, notice that with the gradient and font execution, Catering Services Unlimited's logo exudes elegance that clients seek. Serif font, as shown in the logo, work well with cursive initials to present an overall impressive logo design.

I hope you like my shortlist of catering logos! To better appreciate these logos, maybe you should check my shortlist of bad catering logo designs.

Keep on visiting Baneneng's Portfolio for more design news and content!