I love color.
My fascination for color - every color, rainbows, bright, flashy, mismatched, everything - probably began with my love for Lisa Frank. I first discovered Lisa Frank products in Kindergarten or 1st grade. I got a Lisa Frank diary with a lock - it had the kitties in the sneaker on it. It was my favorite thing EVER. I joined the "Lisa Frank fan club" with a "lifetime" membership, received catalogs and magazines, and got every LF folder, notebook, pack of stickers, and item of clothing I could get my hands on. In the old magazines, girls would send in pictures of them sitting with their LF collection - piles and piles of the memorabilia - and I was so jealous.
I don't know what happened, but I'm no longer a "lifetime" member of the LF fan club. But I still like LF, and find that my penchant for everything colorful still exists. In my art and design, I find myself battling with the problem of too MUCH color - a balance must be found for things to look good. I'm not Ms. Frank: I can't get away with loading EVERYTHING i make with every color of the rainbow in the brightest hues I can find. Sometimes I try, but fail miserably in comparison to her (or, rather, the staff of men and women at Lisa Frank co.)
I actually just bought two Lisa Frank folders for school. She's made some new designs this year - patterns - along with her more traditional animals and (my least favorite) girls with big heads. I have to admit that I'm not as impressed with the choice of subject matter in more recent products, but I still enjoy looking at the merchandise in stores - it reminds me of my childhood and the colors still get me.
I would say that I owe my passion for color in my art and design to LF. For years, she has inspired me to live a fun and color-filled life and most importantly - to not be afraid of color. I hope that this will benefit me in my career of design. I don't want to be one of those stuffy conservative designers (is there such a thing?) that is scared of using bright colors. People love color! Especially me - thanks to Lisa.
lisafrank.com
I feel exactly how you do, i dont think i could ever hate Lisa Frank i just got back into it, i found my Bear Painter Diary with plastic lock lol, i had to go out and buy a few of the new folders(without the brat doll lookalikes) and buy them lol im 26 and im not ashamed...they make me happy :) i love the colors and most designs especially the old school ones :)
ReplyDeleteI'm 26 years old. I joined the Lisa Frank fan club in 1993, with the promise of lifetime membership. I'm not sure what happened with that "lifetime" bit, but I've decided that I need to hold them to it and send me a shipment of dolphin stamps ASAP.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Check out my original membership letter on this post: http://rubybows.blogspot.com/2012/02/club-lisa-frank-swag.html
ReplyDeleteI guess the catch is that you have to earn at least 25 "Lisa Frank Club Points" per year to keep your membership active. Bummer!