Phoenix graphic designer Lindsay Tingstrom isn't just making a list of New Year's resolutions this year -- she's hanging them on her walls.
Tingstrom, formerly one-third of SeeSaw Designs, launched her new letterpress project Acorn & Whale earlier this month with a series of minimalist prints inspired by New Year's resolutions.
Tingstrom's resolutions stray from the typical "Learn to Knit" and "Go to the Gym," and instead explore broader self-improvement tactics. She says "Live Every Day" was the first print she designed as a reminder to herself to take life as it came.
"It's really personal for me," she says. "I was coming out of SeeSaw and trying to figure out what came next."
SeeSaw was a design firm, letterpress studio, and vintage Etsy shop run by local creatives including Tingstrom, Angela Hardison and Raquel Raney. The three gained national attention from the likes of Martha Stewart and Print magazine, but decided to call it splits over the summer. Tingstrom says they still share a vintage letterpress that's housed in a friend's garage in south Scottsdale.
After "Live Every Day," Tingstrom's resolution collection expanded and now includes prints "Be Curious," "Keep it Simple," "Be Kind," and "Do the Work," which she keeps near her desk at home.
Tingstrom says she's drawn to short phrases and quotes, like the one she recently heard from legendary designer Charles Eames in Eames: The Architect and Painter: "Eventually, everything connects."
She's keeping busy as a freelance designer and ASU instructor, but says she's is also interested in pursuing more branches of design, especially food styling.
The Acorn & Whale resolution prints are for sale ($20 each, or $50 for three) on Etsy, where Tingstrom also provides some photo-inspiration for styling the prints. Framing is nice, she says, but you lose the texture of the letterpress. She recommends vintage hangers, sold at nearly every Goodwill for about 50 cents.
