Rachel M. Murray Design | compendium of previous designs

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I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I am not a graphic designer nor a web developer - I design and analyze information and systems. I've always been interested in visual art, taking it up until college (where I then focused more on my analytical abilities), and the Web gives me a chance to explore digital art for a change. Someday I may even share some of the traditional art I've done, but for now, this is my portfolio.

I've dabbled in different designs (at least 4) in the past, so here's a brief look back at some previous designs and the work that's inspired them.

	Theme: "Origami" Inspiration: My love of origami, theart of paper folding (which I do). Layout: Myself Source: Myself
Comments: The first design was inspired by origami. I frequently make these inexpensive yet startlingly beautiful small gifts for friends and co-workers for years. Creating origami forms is both a healthy stress-reliever and a source of pride for me - there's no greater feeling one can have than to create something so complex yet so fragile through 15 minutes of intricate folding. It is this philosophy that also inspires my work that the most beautiful and effective systems and designs can be created by starting from a simple plan, and can finish off as something beautiful, usable, and inspirational.
	Theme: "California Blue" Inspiration: Modern and moving Layout: myself Source: myself
Comments: This redesign was born out of a change in locale and a desire to strip elements down to the core - the essential elements of minimalist beauty. Both of my major redesigns are reminders that beauty can be found in the simplest of things. As I moved to California I realized I wanted something new to reflect a new chapter in my life. I became a convert of the idea of clean design with this, my second design. That philosophy of 'clean and clear' was inspired by a silver ball from Michael D. Knight's portfolio. Simple, clean, clear and blue, much like the beautiful istockphoto site itself. That ball influenced the colour scheme, the selection of fonts, the content of this entire site. Even when I migrated to another theme, that ball would follow me around from design to design ("look, an opportunity for a list. Send in the Shiny Blue Ball in the list tag..."). It may be a metaphor for what I love most about good information design - it's simple, clean and clear.
	Theme: "Orange" Inspiration: Clean, clear and simple. Layout: Anthony Yeung at SmallPark Industries Source: Open Source Web Design Comments: Not much to say about this, other than simplicity itself.
	Theme:"England" Inspiration: This design is inspired by England and tea - I've always been an anglophile, and being an ex-patriate Canadian means being homesick for the colonies. Layout: basic 2 column template design slightly modified from Minimalistic Designs, originally posted to the Open Source Web Design Community site.
Source and comments: Look and feel: Background pattern and swirly banner are the 'Vector paisley background and banner' courtesy Taiga; complimentary color palette inspired by the 'L.A. Lady' swatch originally posted to Colour Lovers Brand, mood and inspiration: This design is inspired by England and tea - I've always been an anglophile, and being an ex-patriate Canadian means being homesick for the colonies.

I have used the work of the following artists in some of my previous designs. All links open in a new window.

layout: Rob at Blue Robot, inspired by a revised version of 'static width and centered' CSS layout courtesy Eric Costello at glish.com
images: Travis Beckham at Squidfingers, Michael D. Knight at Visual Redemption, Kemi Guaida from Monolinea, Björn Kindleroff at Lechner Media, Bruce Harms at Radical State and Tom Murphy, 'Vector paisley background and banner' courtesy Taigapopup; complimentary color palette inspired by the 'L.A. Lady' swatch originally posted to Colour Lovers.

I encourage you to look at any of their work to find inspirational aesthetic choices.