an easy way to get out of a creative rut...

I gotta admit…every few months, I will find myself in a creative rut. I love my job, and I love all the different things I get to do. But I’m always challenging my brain to think of new ideas and new designs that sometimes the ideas just don’t come out. When you’re stuck in a creative rut, my biggest advice to others (and what I try and practice myself) is to try something different—go workout, visit a new place, or take a fun class! These are all things I try and do but these things also involve having extra free time to myself (away from work and away from my family) that it does become harder to find time to really fit them in.

Recently, I’ve been getting my creative juices flowing again by taking cool classes online through Skillshare. With little free time, I love that it’s something I can do in the evenings after my kids go to bed on my own schedule and at my leisure. I can just sit in my bed with my laptop or phone and learn some new and fun! So I’ve partnered with Skillshare today to show you some of my recent favorites classes that I think you might enjoy too….

The Perfect Grilled Cheese - There are some things in life worth mastering, and I really feel that knowing how to make a really good grilled cheese sandwich is one of them. The head chef at Plated goes through the nuances of making this incredibly satisfying carb fest of a sandwich. On a rainy or snowy day, when you just want some comfort food, you'll be glad you watched this.

Travel the World - Traveling has always been one of those things I feel like I didn't do enough of when I was younger. Traveling internationally always seemed like a daunting thing to do that needed a lot of savings. This class follows the travel bloggers How Far from Home as they teach how to travel the world on a budget. It inspired me to take a chance and go on more faraway adventures with my family, and it's always fun and inspiring to see how other people live in a way that is so different from how you go about your day.

Basic Watercolors with Paper Fashion - I love the work of Katie Rodgers so to get an inside look at her process was really fun. Watercolor has always seemed so intimidating to me as a medium because it's harder to hide any mistakes than with other kids of paint. I enjoyed learning some simple tips on how to add texture and shadow in watercolor...and I love that she uses shows as an example here.

Make Ahead Breakfasts That Will Change your Day - The morning rush is one of the biggest stressors of my day. I loved learned about these easy "make ahead" breakfasts to help save time during those weekday mornings that are just go go go!

Creating Hand-Drawn Wallpaper - I often get asked how one can turn their drawing or artwork into a pattern. And I love the way that Julia Rothman (one of my favorite illustrators) demonstrates how to do it in a very tactile and understandable way.

Getting inspiration wherever and whenever you can is always my best fix for being in a creative rut. For me, I enjoy learning about things in my world (and and design) but it's also sometimes even better to learn about things I'm not as familiar with (cooking and travel tips). I hope this will inspire you to learn about some new things in your world, too!

For Oh Joy readers, Skillshare is offering this incredible deal of 3 months of Skillshare Premium for only $0.99 (it's usually $96!) through March 31, 2016. Click here to sign up!

{Top photo by Casey Brodley and styled by Julia Wester, other images are stills from videos}

creating a photo series...

Earlier this year, I shared how I archive my digital photos and memories, and since then, I've been doing my best to continue archiving family photos that we capture throughout the year. One of my favorite series that we've shot for this blog has been my Dressing the Babe series which started at the beginning of this year. It was started as a fun way to share of my favorite stylish pieces for your little ones, but it's also turned into a series of photos of me and my kids that I cherish and will be so happy to have for the future. I recently put together the first six months of our Dressing the Babe photos into a beautiful lay flat photo album by Artifact Uprising and it turned our simple series into a family treasure I'll pass down to my kids.

There's something about a series that feels so meaningful and special when you look back on how all the images connect with some consistency over time. And to see the change in the people within the photos is what makes it truly priceless. Whether you're capturing a monthly baby photo or annual family portraits, here are a few tips for creating a series to capture with your kids or family...

1) Look at the camera! Especially when we take photos with our kids—I, too, am guilty of looking at my kids (instead of the camera) when we take photos together because I am concerned with how they are doing and making sure they are happy. But one thing a lot of photographers tell you is not to worry about what the kids are doing (because the photographer will engage them) and make sure to look at the camera yourself. That's the only way that you have a chance of getting the parent's face in the photo, too. And, it's your face that your kids want to see and look back on someday.

2) Have someone who knows how to engage kids take the photos. Whether it's your husband, wife, a family member, friend, or professional photographer, kids are happier in photos when the person behind the camera is fun and engaging. I have been on shoots before for work where the photographer treats the kids like an adult and doesn't know how to talk to them in a fun and engaging way. And then it just feels like pulling teeth for everyone. Casey, our staff photographer, knows how to make my kids laugh, smile, and be silly so they always feel comfortable with her when we take photos.

3) Shoot both horizontal and vertical photos. When taking photos, shoot both ways so that you have the flexibility to make them for work different formats later—whether a holiday card, baby announcement, framed print, or a bound book. It only takes a few extra minutes to shoot a few more photos in different orientations.

4) Take photos during a time of day when your kids are their most energetic. For example, we've realized that late afternoons are the worst for Ruby when she's just ready to crash for the day. And never take photos right before a baby's due for a nap or you'll just have a cranky, unhappy baby on your hands.

5) Be consistent. While you can certainly stick to some sort of consistent look or theme (like how we shot all these photos behind a cool wall or background)—more than anything, it's important to stick to a consistent frequency in order to have a solid series. We shoot these photos once or twice a month so that we have a representation of each of my kids each month, and it's been so fun to look back and see how much they've grown and changed even since the beginning of the year.

P.S. You can read more about my tips for archiving your photos right here!

{Photos by Casey Brodley for Oh Joy}

happy friday + pattern play...

Happy Friday! Lately, I've been wanting to make things just to make them. Like the way it felt in art school just to make something beautiful for no particular reason at all. And even though it's my job to make things, sometimes it's nice to not have a recipe or DIY attached to a project and just create a pretty image, ya know?

So in the studio, we've been playing around with patterns (per usual) and experimenting with 2-D and 3-D versions of patterns. It's fun to combine all our talents together, play with patterns, and make something (like this above and these from last week).

What are you guys up to this weekend? We're heading to the beach tomorrow with some friends and then celebrating Bob's birthday on Sunday! Have a great weekend, guys!

{Creative Direction by Joy Cho, photos by Casey Brodley, production and styling by Julia Wester. Pitcher is vintage enamel that was painted. Fabric is by Nani Iro available here.} 

oh joy for target / behind-the-scenes, part 3...

Since launching the Oh Joy for Target collection back in March, I've been sharing some behind-the-scenes peeks at the pieces and the photo shoots (see here and here) that helped bring our designs to life. I've shown you guys what some of our photo shoots are like, but one thing I always get asked is how the design process works. Did I really design everything? How did our designs go from ideation to actual product? And what's my role in the process vs. Target's? Well, here's a little look at how it all happens...

Before this collection came along, I personally designed every item with the Oh Joy name on it myself. But as this project approached and with hundreds of products to design on top of everything else I was working on last year, it became time to hire another designer to help me out. My designer, Angie, has been the perfect complement to help me create patterns, draw products, and make our ideas come to life.

Here's a look at our process using the current Fall 2014 collection as an example...

1. Mood Board—The first part of the process is making a mood board for our own internal use. I put together a secret board on Pinterest that Angie and I share where I'd add colors, images, types of products, and anything that I was thinking would inspire my vision for the fall collection. We'd talk about ideas as we keep adding to the board. We'd also create a real-life inspiration board in the studio that included materials, swatches, color chips, and anything else that we needed to see and touch in real life.

2. Colors and Patterns—From there, we created a color palette and a ton of patterns based on the mood board. We already create way more than will get used so that we have options to be able to show. When designing for a large retailer, like Target, you have to think about what trends will be relevant to their customer when the product is available. I didn't want the items to feel dated, but trends also take some time to get to the mass level. So we decided to mix in the geometrics that we saw becoming more popular but also added in some classic signature Oh Joy colors and details like shiny gold, pops of color, and quirky details.

3. Product Sketches—Once we narrowed down the colors and patterns, I'd sketch out all of our product ideas onto paper and then Angie would redraw them in Illustrator as flat 2-D drawings, apply the colors and patterns we discussed, and we'd specify the materials, size, and any other details of the item. This would be part of our presentation to Target so they could see exactly what I envisioned for every aspect of each item.

4. Meeting with Target—From there, Target gives us feedback on what they thought would resonate best with their customers, both from a surface design perspective and a product design perspective. We'd work together with them to discuss what changes needed to be made and ensure that we were all happy with the final selections. A lot of times changes to an item were purely from a production stand-point—maybe the material I wanted was too expensive. Or, there are certain finishes you can't apply to an item if you want it to be durable and long-term.

5. Deciding What Stays—Once we narrowed down the items to pieces that both Oh Joy and Target were happy with, we created spec sheets of every single product that spelled out in detail the materials, size, shape, colors, and any patterns in repeat that would be needed. Target creates the product, and from there comes the fun part...

6. Reviewing Samples—A few months later, we get to see the first round of samples that have been made. We usually review these samples in person at Target Headquarters in Minneapolis where we also look at the products on the shelves in a pretend store setting. Based on all the samples that were made and were successful, we decide what will stay, what will go, and what still needs tweaks. 

7. Finalizing Samples—Then, any samples that still need work will go back for another round, and I get to see it either in person or via photo before it gets produced. Once we both love a product, it's marked as final and goes off to production to be made into the final pieces that you see in stores. The Target team works on a layout of the shelf display with our finalized drawings so we can all envision how the display will look.

 

Here are a few before and afters, so you can see how our initial drawings turned into the real-life items and how some turned out exactly as drawn, whereas some got changed along the way. The process is really fun and interactive, and I learned more about how customers will eventually use the product which informs what is actually made. For example, there were times I wanted shiny gold on items (like those stackable mugs), but we had to remove the gold otherwise the mugs wouldn't be able to be microwaved (and most people like to be able to heat up their mugs in the microwave). So, we changed the handles to solid colors instead.

I always find it fascinating to see things come to life from your imagination to a real-life product, so I hope you guys enjoyed seeing a little bit about how it all happened for us!

P.S. The fall Oh Joy for Target collection is only in stores and online for a few more weeks before the holiday collection arrives so get it while you can. We get a lot of emails after the collections leave stores about where to find past pieces, so just a reminder that once they are gone, they are gone!

{All drawings by Oh Joy for Target}

um, those colors...

...just a few things my eyes are gravitating to right now...

{Photo credit, top to bottom: Red/pink dress is Chanel 2014 by Vogue.com via Man Repeller, caftan by Prism of Threads, poster by Laura Meseguer, stairs via Casa Chauca.}

the coolest pop-up book ever...

The other day, I took the Oh Joy team on an inspiration field trip to Little Tokyo in downtown L.A. While at the Japanese bookstore, I came across this little pop-up book that I had to get for Ruby. I'm a sucker for pop-ups, and it's seriously one of the best I have ever seen...

Ruby loves it so much that she has asked to read it as her bedtime story every night since I found it. I have no idea what it says so we just make up a story about these cute animals and their favorite foods. You know a book is good when you don't need the words to keep a child entertained!

P.S. The book is called: Tabemono (Food) by Kimika Warabe. Thanks for the translation, Joyce and Lindsay!

clusters of things...

Last week, while at a spring preview event for the Land of Nod, I was really inspired by how they used lots of simple objects in clusters for the decor. They'd make great party or room decor any time of year. How cute are these lawn flamingos grouped together on the wall? And those zebra balloons are just pure whimsy...

{iPhone photos by Oh Joy}

some fall things...

I'm home in Philly this week visiting family, so it finally feels like fall. I've missed the colorful leaves, the brisk weather, and the layering action that we don't get during this time of year in L.A. Here are just a few fall things around the web I'm loving...

Sources: painted leaves from Emily Isabella Journal, salted pumpkin caramels from PBS, parrot wallpaper via AB Chao, and cozy leopard from Happily Grey.

paper to petal...

I've long been a fan of Thuss + Farrell, an amazing husband and wife duo who design, style, photograph, and art direct. Their their newest book, Paper to Petal, is like eye candy full of the coolest projects showing how to make amazingly gorgeous flowers simply from paper. Here's a peek at some of my favorite projects from their new book which is now available for pre-order...

{Photos by Thuss + Farrell}

{field trip} hedley & bennett studio...

Recently, I've gotten to know Ellen Bennett, a talented chef who recently started her own apron-making business called Hedley & Bennett. And despite being in business for just a year, Ellen's aprons are now worn by some of the top chefs in L.A. and across the country. I spotted her work at Poketo a couple months ago and loved that her aprons combine function with a style that both men and women can wear. So Ruby and I went on a little field trip to the Hedley & Bennett studio to check out Ellen's process and to have a couple aprons made just for us!

We talked about our favorite fabrics, what kind of pockets we like, and Ruby pretty much went to ribbon heaven with all the supplies in Ellen's studio. And, we started dreaming up what our aprons would look like...