UPPERCASE { Janine Vangool }

Hello Reader, Surface Design Immersion is open for enrollment! Bonnie Christine What's Immersion? It's Bonnie Christine's signature course, offered once a year—and fully reimagined for 2026—that takes you into the world of surface pattern design. Look inside with me at the incredible Immersion workbook and Mood Board Inspiration box that is included with every student's enrollment! The course takes you from inspiration to motif to digitizing your art in Adobe Illustrator and learning how to...

Dear Reader, A log cabin quilt block begins with a central square. Traditionally, a red centre represented the hearth of the home, with other strips of fabric—the logs—built around it. Starting from this simple concept, a log cabin quilt can be as unique as the person making it. Infinite variations of fabric, tonal value and proportion make the log cabin design an expressive and enduring pattern, even over a century and a half after it first became popular. This issue’s cover artist, Whitney...

Dear Reader, Enrolling in B-School is a big decision. The cost is likely one of the biggest factors in your decision to enroll. ($1,497 USD for B-School Core, $1,997 for B-School Pro for lifetime access.) In securing the success of your creative business, what are you willing to invest? What are you willing to invest in yourself? We're in business for the long term. So we need to think long term. When you enroll in B-School, you have access to the core program for life. Take it again and...

Hello Reader, Just a friendly reminder that Bonnie Christine's free Print & Pattern Revival is available—there's still time to binge the first three sessions and join her live on Monday! The replays will be up until February 24. If you're planning to take Immersion this year, use my affiliate link, and you'll get an UPPERCASE group pattern & portfolio review session with me! Immersion registration opens on February 17. p.s. Marie Forleo's B-School is now open for registration; you can learn...

Hello Reader, B-School is open for enrollment! If you've been thinking about B-School for a few years and haven't enrolled yet, just know that this is quite common! It's a big investment of time and money (though the price is reduced by $500 this year). But if there's something that has drawn you to B-School, why not make this your year? B-School will teach you how to build and market a profitable, fulfilling business. It's not going to happen overnight, but over 6 weeks of the course, you...

Dear Reader, For now, this is all I can show you of my progress on the next UPPERCASE. I'm busy designing, editing and finessing. I'm within the final stretch! Issue #69 (April-May-June) goes to the printer on Friday. This issue marks 17 years of UPPERCASE magazine!!! Speaking of upcoming birthdays, my son Finley has one coming up next month. I have an idea for a present: it's old-fashioned and experiential, and I think it could be surprising and fun! Among Finley's many interests is train...

Hello Reader, I'm happy to share that Marie Forleo's B-School will be open for registration from February 12 to 20, 2026, and classes will start on Monday, March 2nd. Since becoming a B-School affiliate in 2018, I’ve welcomed more than 200 creatives into B-School. First and foremost, being an affiliate is a position of trust, and I take it very seriously. If you don't know my B-School story yet—and how it got my business out of debt and onto the path to profitability—read and watch it here....

Becca Franks Hello Reader, Love these bendy pencils submitted by Becca Franks! (Share your pattern work for next month's edition of The Pattern Journal.) If you'd like to stretch your creative muscles or try a new direction in your artwork, check out Bonnie Christine's Print & Pattern Revival—it's a free event starting next week. ps If you're not already, please become an UPPERCASE magazine subscriber. Subscriptions keep all of this going! Use the code keepgoing for a discount at checkout....

Dear Reader, I became a graphic designer because I love looking at letterforms and playing with words. It is still a delight (and a lot of work) to design my own books and magazines—I'm designing the next issue right now. (50 pages done so far, yay!) But with an established template, page design, aesthetic, and font choices already selected for the quarterly magazine and my Encyclopedia of Inspiration series, there isn't much room to experiment. The designs for these publications have served...