How to celebrate the Royal Wedding... and the Union Flag!

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton next week has created a bit of a come back for all things British, particularly the trusted Union Flag... which goes through eras of being in and out fashion. Coupled with the 60 year anniversary of The Festival of Britain, and the London Olympics just around the corner it's a time to celebrate all things British...

I've always been a fan of the Union Flag and even wrote my final year dissertation all about it - the rise and fall through history, politics, the punk era and right up until Geri Halliwell and THAT DRESS!

The flag, sadly, has no reference to Wales (due to the fact that at the time the flag was designed in 1606 Wales was part of the Kingdom of England). But out of all the world flags this one is surely up there as one of the most iconic and memorable.

So here's your guide on how to celebrate the Royal Wedding in a very British fashion.

Step 1

Take your seats early (wedding starts at 11am) and place your butt on your very own throne from Made With Love... for extra support use a Jan Constantine cushion.

Step 2

Make sure any young guests are suitably attired in a baby sleepsuit designed by Powell Craft and available to buy from Snugg.

Step 3

Serve cupcakes decorated with Hunkydory Home's beautiful toppers...

Step 4

Don't forget the plates - for extra impact go for these original designs from KK Outlet.

Step 5

If the wedding gets a little boring make sure you have some nice prints to look at on the walls, go for a typographic map of Britain by Bold and Noble...

...or perhaps a little twist on the now infamous Keep Calm and Carry On posters by The Contemporary Home. The original posters were designed in 1939 under the threat of war and although a few million were printed they remained in storage through-out the war years and beyond. For more on the history of the poster, click here.

Step 6

Time to wash up some of those many Union Jack and Royal Wedding mugs. There were too many to feature so instead opted for this splendid tea towel by Betsy Bean.

Step 7

The wedding is almost over, time to pack it all away and save all the Union Jack designs for next summers olympics or just kick back and put your feet up on one of these John Lewis trunks...

Step 8

Did it all get a bit much? no fear, make sure you have these Lydia Leith sick bags to hand!

See you on the big day! or if you miss it you can always check out the highlights here...

Love Design - special feature

As promised, That's Nice Design is all about the love today to celebrate Valentine's Day... here's a small selection of LOVELY designs and art. Please feel free to post links to anything else that has captured your heart today...

Print - Johanna Basford

That's Nice Design favourite Johanna Basford has so many fabulous designs to choose from but it's Valentines Day and Love is the word for the day. So let's kick off our celebration with this gorgeous print... Love...

Fashion - Lovebirds

Such a simple design that works so well... two lovebirds kissing in the shape of a heart. And this guy goes to prove it's not just a girls t-shirt. Available as a print or t-shirt from Threadless designed by sockneck (aka Paul Vizzari).

Greeting cards - Kate Jones

The shops are awash with Valentines cards, it was so hard to pick. But these are a little different... designed by Kate Jones for Camden Graphics the range is called 'mishmash' and made from vintage scarves, her grandma's hankies, old maps and a few extra prints of her own. And if greeting cards, patterns and textiles are your thing make sure you visit the Print Pattern blog.

Woodwork - Rob Ryan

Rob Ryan is another That's Nice Design favourite. There were endless examples of Rob's wonderfully whimsical work that could have been selected for this Valentines special but I decided to go for something a little different. The Key to My Heart with little messages of love - how can you resisit?

Film - Blue Valentine

From the reviews I've read this is a brilliant film but not exactly the happiest! The titles are quite beautiful, and shows what you can do just using stills from the film. It's like an understated explosion which I am guessing reflects the film - the ups and downs of love, the highs, the lows and the fireworks which aren't always a cause for celebration. To watch the full video click here to go to Art of the Title website.

Print - Life is Beautiful

I love the simplicity of this print in design and message. Available to purchase from Culture Label for a bargain price of £20.

Branding - Coo

Hofstede Design, based in Australia produced this playful, stylish design for Coo, a company that makes products for young children.

Hopefully this has spread a little design love your way... please post your comments or links to other lovely designs...

beautifultype.net

beautifultype.net is a great blog with lots of inspirational typographic approaches bought to us by two web designers with a shared passion for typography. It's already given me some ideas for wedding invites!

Make It Better - animated type

This is a really nice piece of animated type, different to the norm... The idea and design were conceived by Climent Canal with animation by Sebastian Baptista. And not forgetting the very effective audio by Aimar Molero.

MAKE IT BETTER from Clim on Vimeo.

15 Pretty Cool Typographic Film Posters (part 1)

I saw a very cool typographic film poster the other day, so cool I can't remember the name of the film(!) I should have posted it on here straight away. Whilst trawling the world wide web trying to find it I came across some other examples of great typography in film posters. So here's a few of them... I'm planning to do a Part 2 to this post so please pass on any suggestions and in the meantime I will try to find the original poster I was after!

Martin Wilson contact sheets

Check out photography blog, PetaPixel - useful reviews and fabulous links to interesting photography projects like this one...

UK based photographer, Martin Wilson makes clever works of arts from contact sheets.

Hannes von Döhren

Interesting interview with German typographer Hannes von Döhren on myfonts.com talking about his background in advertising, his inspiration, design heroes and love for type.

Read full interview on myfonts.com

World Cup Poster

If you are fed up with those everyday newspaper pull out wall charts helping you record every score from the World Cup then purchase one of these, quickly... we are already 5 days into the finals. Designed by David Watson of Trebleseven, these colourful typographic posters are only £7 from Magma. And all proceeds go to Soccer Aid UNICEF. How can you resist?

http://www.magmabooks.com/content/bookshop/book.asp?disp=0&id=6713&page=1&c=PRO&sc=86

Added note: it's also available to buy from the Trebleseven website directly (thanks David)

www.trebleseven.com

Rob Ryan

If you ever get a chance to see Rob Ryan's studio you must go. From the 23rd April to 3rd May he had his studio set up in Somerset House as part of the Pick Me Up festival. Seeing the intricate nature of the work and the cut outs so close up just makes you appreciate the work even more.

http://www.misterrob.co.uk/

Heydays - Norway

Here's another cool design company from Scandinavia, Norway this time. Some nice clean branding and typographic work.

http://www.krop.com/heydays

Julien Vallée - that's nice!

You know when you say WOW to something that it must be good. Check out Julien Vallée's extraordinary work!

http://www.jvallee.com

Chevychase Sweden

I'm a big fan of Swedish company, Chevychase. Great branding projects, great typography, great use of colour and a great name!

http://chevychase.se/