FormFiftyFive     5th Nov 2009

Next week I'll be touting my wares (so to speak) on the pages of super cool design blog, FormFiftyFive. I've created a series of 7 pen and ink illustrations which will be displayed on the FFF homepage next week, starting Monday. Be sure to pop along each day for a tasty monochrome fix.

Loved by creatives across the globe, FFF is a big deal. How did I land such an honour? Like this:

"Dear FormFiftyFive,

Further to my tweet tonight, I would like to offer my illustrative services to you and design some mastheads...

So here's 10 reasons why I should do some drawings for you:

1. My intricate, old school style depends heavily on pen and ink, with just a touch of Photoshop - this means the images are individual, characteristic and have a little bit of charm which your average vector-gram will not possess. You can see more at http://www.johannabasford.com

2. You've featured my on FFF before - and as we all know, you have high standards, so I must be ok...

3. FFF is the 3rd bookmark on my bookmark bar (squeezed between Google (always a crowd pleaser) and Radio 4 (I'm a closet geek and like to listen to shipping forecast)). What I'm trying to say is, I'm a fan. And no one will represent you more creatively and beautifully, than someone who is passionate about what you do.

4. I have never used Comic Sans.

5. My pretty unique black and white style has caught the eye of Dazed and Confused, Channel 4, Elle Decoration, The Body Shop, Hendricks Gin, The V&A, DKNY and Yamaha to name but a few - not bad for girl who studied textiles?

6. I've had E-coli and survived.

7. I create images which enchant and delight - something a little bit special which will charm the pants of any lucky bugger who clicks on FFF. Think of it as a public service, bringing a smile to the creative industries in a time of deep dark recession and redundancies.

8. I bake mean chocolate brownies.

9. In a big boring world of PDF's and attachments, its nice to do something a little different, for example, my Creative Review cover ( http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/157 ) I'd like to use the same principles to create some images for FFF, something which has a real story behind it,

10. I'm emailing you on a Friday night - one word: dedication.

So, that's my pitch.

I await your response with bated breath....

Johanna Basford"

And how did this somewhat cheeky little pitch go down?

Well, 18 minutes later this appeared in my inbox:

"Haha, You had me at Ecoli ;)

Will send you brief over the weekend.

Have a good one,

Glenn

FFF Team"

Job done! Be sure to check out my little 7-day showcase all next week on the super cool and ever so lovely, FormFiftyFive.