Samantha Nelson and Michael Oborne, together run their business Magenta Lotus, a design studio based in Albany.

Samantha is originally form Denmark, she grew up in Perth and studied fine arts in Melbourne. I recently contacted sam via email to ask her a few questions.

After working in Karratha for 8 months Sam decided to return to Albany in 2009 to further her Design career. She enrolled in Cert 4 Graphic design at TAFE. This however didn't work out for Sam as she dropped out mid semester.  Despite this setback Sam continued on to from her business 'Magenta Lotus Design', together with Michael Oborne. 

"It may go to show that with the basics of design down, you can certainly go forth and make the most of it on your own terms. So far branching out alone has worked out for me, though I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone."

The above graphic, Sam created for a bridal expo using illustrator and photoshop programs. The Graphic below Sam created whilst at TAFE for a Psychedelic 60's poster.

This is my Mum's Art nouveau style teapot. I really like the intricate flower patterns, and the bright colours. It's from singapore, not that old and probably not worth very much but I still like it because of it's art nouveau influences.

I thought this t-shirt was completely wacky, I do not get the meaning or purpose of it at all and for that reason i think it's really cool. Obviously white helvetica text is used on a black background, to make it stand out. But still, the reason why someone would wear this, or even be able to come up with this design is completely out of my mind and thats why I really like it.

I think this is image is really cool, it looks like it's been done on a program similar to photoshop. I really like the way that the negative space on the butterfly shows the yellow petal underneath, the layers are interesting as well. The cutting out of the objects isn't neat, but it gives a really cool grungy look to an innocent butterfly. The black and yellow also really makes a statement.

This casino building is designed in really 'bad taste', the curvy design of the building reflects the Kitsch designers love of curves. There is also at least 5 different typefaces on the building. It's a really funky and bold design, it would be great to see this type of building around today.

I really like this Art Noveau image, the bold, organic flowing lines are typical of the Art Noveau design movement, I like it because of it's femininity and the draping, intricate patterns that the woman's hair make. The colors almost look purple and gold, complementary, however they work harmoniously together. Maybe an add for cigarettes?? It really makes smoking look feminine, beautiful and elegant. The total opposite of what you would see on a cigarette packet today.

I found these two cosmo magazines next to each other while looking up the magazine on google, it's interesting to compare the two magazines, the first from June 2009 and the Second from January 1969.

The first thing I noted was the use of colors, both use very feminine pinks and purples. The first magazine uses lots of different colors, whereas the second one uses mostly monochromatic tones of purple, and the woman's skin as an accent color. This clearly comes across that the older magazine is more 'stylish and conservative' the colors of the newer magazine come across as very sexual and more 'out-there', to coincide with the changing times.

The second thing I noticed was the use of typography and also the use of language, it's interesting to see how much more society accepts words like 'bitch, dirty, lying and sex' on the cover of a magazine, the older magazine says many of the same things in a conservative and feminine way.

 The first cover uses over four different types in a range of colors, again you can see that the second magazine is conservative as it uses only two different types, in only one color.

Overall the two magazines targeted the same audience in their era's, it's things like these magazine covers that give us an insight to how times and styles have changed.