Final stationary & proposed web design...

 In the end I went for the pale blue/green combination. It was between that and the brown/mint green.

 Putting it all together - colour decisions...

Type...

As you can see I'm really into these classic sans serif looking typefaces at the minute (with the exception of Adelle but it's always too nice to resist).

I have chosen these specifically because I think with the right colour palette, surrounding motifs/shapes they can look feminine but strong all at once. I think because Esther's blog revolves around the kitchen and cooking this is a good aspect to push through the design. The 'woman in the kitchen' role is played by the decoration, the frills but fundamentally underneath is a strong matriarchal figure. We've all known those women who stand in their kitchens, slaving over the stove- in tv, films, real life. And I think because thats quite a old fashioned way of looking at a woman who likes to cook, that sort of fits in with the kitsch retro feel of the design I am aiming for. That might not make sense but I hope you can understand what I'm getting at.

As a side note, I was in two minds about branding the blog or Esther as a blogger. Esther Walker Vs Recipe Rifle if you like. I think it's safer to go for Esther herself, but promote the blog within that.

Shape Making

After looking at some of the trends in retro style modern design, I set about making some shapes myself. 

I really like the banners, I think they are quite versatile. I'm quite conscious that these sort of motifs, shapes etc can been seen as a bit of a design cliche but it fits with what I'm doing and I like it.

Type next then it will all be pieced together....

Esther Walker - Background

Brief No. 3 is my second branding & Identity brief. This brief was a lot shorter than my first as I only proposed a website design instead of actually making it. 

Esther Walker is a journalist with a restaurant critic for a husband. She gave up her job working for a newspaper to become freelance (or as she calls it 'unemployed'). In light of her 'unemployment' Esther fills her time with cooking. She admits she's no Nigella hence why her blog is titled 'Getting recipes wrong so you don't have to'. With her foul mouth, cooking conunderums and brilliant sense of humor, Esther's food blog Recipe Rifle has become quite popular since it started in 2009. 

Esther hadn't asked me to design anything for her - but as a fan of her blog and her in general I decided to ask her permission to use her name etc. Luckily for me she said yes.

At the minute Esther's blog is hosted by blogger and (I'm sure she won't mind me saying) looks quite naff. Have a look;

Food blogging has quickly become popular over the past couple if years, a good example is smitten kitchen, run by Deb Perelman, a New York journalist who turned to food blogging when hit by the recession. Smitten Kitchen is wildly popular, and it's design shows that. Of course it helps that Deb is quite into CSS and is a part time professional photographer. 

I asked Esther why she hadn't made her blog a little swisher (without sounding too rude about what is despite it's hideous interface is actually a witty, well written brilliant blog). She told me thagt her blog had to match her personality - in her own words "part of my schtick is bring a bit shite and disorganised and if I suddenly had this flashy professional logo it would all fall apart like a house of cards..." Fair enough, and indeed it hasn't seemed to stop people flocking to her blog to read her most recent cookery escapades. 

So with Esther's approval I got designing...
Have a look on my context blog to see my proposed design direction

Updated four briefs: