Previously in our invitation design series, we have featured some of our lovely designers’ work that showcased the latest trends of vintage or retro styles in the invitation design world.

Then we got a sneak peek of what goes on behind the curtain by asking the designers to share the process and show us how their designs were born. Lisa Barbero showed her deep appreciation for hand-drawn typography, while Erin from Simple te Design emphasized the importance of how “the use of textures, shadows, and even handle lettering can really bring a design to life”.

Now that we have covered some of the basics of the vintage and retro style, it’s time for us to get our hands dirty and start designing! Yet before we do so, pingg has decided to share with you some of the websites that will provide you the tools that you’ll need to get started.

For Inspiration:

It’s always a good idea to expose your eyes to wide range of graphic design. You never know where you will find happy accidents!

1. Pinterest:

3. Behance

4. Design Less Better

5. Graphic Exchange

For Textures:

You can easily find textures online. Here are some of the websites we’ve found.

1. Bittbox

2. Lost and Taken

3. Noupe

4. Abduzeedo

5. Tripwire Magazine

Tutorials:

It’s always fun to learn new tricks!

1. Vector Tuts

2. PSD Tuts

If you have any website that you would like to share with us or that we should know of, please let us know! Do you have any website that you regularly visit to get tools and tips on how to jazz up your design?

Previously in the first part of the Invitation Design Series we have discussed about the ongoing popularity or the trend of vintage and retro designs. And we asked few of our designers how they arrived to the subject matter and the detailed stylistic choices that they have made that we saw were prevalent in the ongoing design trend.

So, now we are curious about the alchemy behind their eye capturing designs.

1) Renee Pulve of Smudge Design Co.

Please check out Renee’s Pinterest Board »




2) Erin Lish of Simple Te Design

So designers, what inspires you the most during your design process? Please share with us!

My grandfather would always say, “In 10 years even a mountain can change.” He passed away way before anyone knew anything about the word “digital” and especially how much and how fast it would change our lives today.

“In 10 years grandpa, everything will change!”

With the digital realm rapidly advancing, we find ourselves living in a world where it’s no longer “can we?” but “we can!”. In this fast lane where we can see everything changing, we can’t help but to look back on times when things weren’t as fast paced as they are now. This nostalgic movement of longing for lost values of older times has been very well portrayed through successful sites like Etsy, where hand made items flourish or “apps” like Instagram, a photo editing mobile application that freezes any moment from our daily lives and puts them in a vintage setting where my grandpa would have belonged.

Invitation designs have definitely been influenced by such nostalgia, as seen by some of our top designers’ work. Their designs tend to look anything but “digital” that traditionally was sterile and technical. The subtle details that they use like paper textures give tangible feelings to their designs, and the appearances of the elements from the old times add timeless and priceless values to their designs.

Yet It is important for us as designers to design for reasons more than “oh that looks nice” and to ask ourselves why we do it. So, for the first part of the Invitation Design blog series, we have asked our designers the following questions:

How & Why?

1) Fenderskirts Vintage

 2) Lisa Barbero

3) RUCHI

So, now we turn the questions to YOU! How does this popular design trend of revisiting retro and vintage periods speak to you? How do realistic renderings of invitations enhance our user’s experience?