Happy Friday, dear readers! Can you believe we are in December? I certainly can’t. November, well, November has been a bit more of a wild ride than I was expecting and I’ve been busy with lots of design projects so there hasn’t been as much posting here as I was hoping. But here’s hoping the last month of the year provides some good fodder for the design posts. Today, I’m sharing some design inspiration and fun that will hopefully help inspire you as you race towards the holiday finish line of the year.

I know we are already a day into December, but if you need a refresh for your wallpaper, check out the lovely December desktop wallpaper designs over at Smashing Magazine. I’m rather fond of the little penguin in the Santa hat. Adorable!

I’m rather fond of gift-giving and of all things related to stationery, so The Well-Appointed Desk’s Holiday Buying Guide is like a catalog to a candy store for me. Now if only everyone on my gifting list felt the same…

Brush lettering is absolutely everywhere it seems and on everything. If you want to learn more and perhaps practice it yourself, this article from Smashing Magazine is a good place to start.

Finally, I had to share this blog post from The Blabbermouth Blog because it sums up a lot of my feelings at the moment, especially in regards to incorporating important things other than design and libraries on my blog. But I do believe that libraries are still important, so important, and that creating great graphic design for libraries is not a trivial matter–it can help us communicate and welcome everyone into our spaces, programs, and events. So I’ll continue writing and sharing here and in my other work as a librarian.

Finally, I didn’t forget about looking for autumnal inspiration for our work and our designs. We went to Japan (lots of inspiration for design, which I’ll be sharing at later dates) at the end of October and the leaves were just changing so this photo is from Kyoto. The maple leaves changing colors has inspired my work this fall and I look forward to seeing what inspiration I can glean from the coming winter as it brings its changes to the landscape around me.

I hope you have a lovely weekend full of good reads, good design, and good relaxation. I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!