CPE Event

Howard Home & Hardscape

This is a postcard marketing piece for a company that makes custom concrete counters/patios.

Pets Warehouse Affiliate Marketing

Loyalty and Passion

My sister works for a really great company called US Cellular. They treat their employees with respect, expect excellence and reward it. In return, they have loyal, happy employees that make loyal, happy customers. In my sister's free time, she carved their logo into this pumpkin. That's loyalty. That's passion.

Image how much would be accomplished if everyone implemented US Cellular's business model? U.S. Cellular's "Dynamic Organization" is a business model based on a simple concept: effective leaders create satisfied associates, who in turn deliver outstanding customer service that produces profitable business results.

Just treat people with respect. Be a decent human being. Why is that such a difficult concept in Baltimore?

DEWmocracy Challenge

Mountain Dew has this brilliant social marketing piece called "DewMocracy" and they put out a challenge for designers to submit a new Mtn Dew can design. I came across the contest this morning, it's due tonight, so my car died and I'm stranded... so I found the time to put something together. Now I'm trying to log into the site to upload it by midnight and the site isn't working... ??? ???? ugh????
???
??not much in this day is working...

So here it is. The concept would include other awesome sports like snowboarding. You might be the only people who get to see it.

SQL Update

SQL is so easy! I mean, conceptually once you get into large databases and complicated queries it is way more challenging, of course, but the syntax is surprisingly simple and not at all what I expected! For the fun of it, I've already gone ahead and set up my very own database to manipulate outside of the class and I'm going to start learning more complicated PHP so I can write to it from one of my website forms. This is very exciting. I didn't expect to take to SQL and PHP so easily.

Buzzz

I've been very busy lately, but nothing too post-worthy for a blog. Some powerpoint templates, CSS cleanup, some SEO, standard updates, marketing consulting... typical busy work. Sometimes I think I spend more time on emails and calls than I do on the actual physical action of creating or building.

SQL

I'm very excited to announce that this fall I'm taking a class at CCBC called Intro to SQL using Oracle. I also wanted to take a JSP class, but the two classes were scheduled at the same time. I decided to go with SQL because, as a visual person, basic JSP is pretty easy for me to understand since it has spacial associations, but SQL is requires a completely different thought process (I think) and I expect to need some guidance.

I'm very excited!

Van Decal

Business Cards

New Website

We just launched a new website for a blueberry picking farm in Maine. For now, it's only one page focusing on the blueberry season. The site will be expanded at a later date to include a photo slideshow and other products of the farm.

New Logo

New Logo

This new logo is for an auto glass repair company in Maryland. We're currently going through design reviews for business cards, marketing materials and a website so there will be more to come soon.

New-ish Logo

This was done about a year ago, but I’ve been hesitant to publish it for a variety of reasons. At the end of a long story and hundreds of opinions, this design was the result and touched on two branding messages important for the organization. 1. It wasn’t a complete departure from a brand that had sustained the organization for a decade 2. It tied together a concept specific to Baltimore and the mission of the organization: having a homey neighborhood inside the benefits of a city. The skyline is a silhouette that includes an iconic East and a West building with a foreground of neighborhood rooftops derived from the original logo.

New Website!

Warner-Robinson.com

FYI

Linux is case sensitive.

New Investment

In light of the increasing number of logos and print materials I've been doing in the past few months, I committed to investing in my very own Pantone Color Book set. I'd like to thank Margie at Curry Print for letting me borrow their Pantone Color Books, even when they weren't my client's printer. Thanks Margie!

New Logo

This is a clever logo I just finished for a ticket sales company in Maine, USA. The concept is intended to be anything but a generic ticket company with a typical typographic logo or "ticket" graphic. Part of the company's mission is that its service should provoke excitement in their customers. Customers should walk away with an excellent customer experience and be excited about the event they just got tickets to. The owner felt that the image of a customer jumping in the air in excitement was something that strongly resonated with the Maine Event Tickets vision. As part of Maine, the company colors are based on two icons familiar in the Maine landscape. It references the bright blue sky of a summer afternoon as it peeks through the swaying dark green needles of Maine's pine forests.

New Logo

I just finished this new logo for a Corporate Tax Consulting company in Virginia. I’m currently working on their website design and I’m really excited to share it with them and hopefully soon share with you too!

New Affiliate Marketing Campaign

I just finished a series of 17 online ads of this "Disgustingly Adorable" campaign for PetsWarehouse.com. The campaign is intended to be general enough to publish on any website and hit three selling points: 1. everything you need 2. for all kinds of pets 3. with the lowest price around.

New Website

www.RichardCleaverArtist.com

I just launched this website for a talented Baltimore City artist, Richard Cleaver. Richard Cleaver's sculpture is quite fascinating, the photos don't quite do the artwork justice. Please take a look at some of the detail shots; you'll be able to see the texture, patterns, colors, and all of the precious metals and jewels he incorporates.

I had a hard time with CSS element positioning and spacing across browsers. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have developed a design that required a fixed width because it's taken a long time to get the layout to work in all browsers, specifically IE versus Firefox. There is more content coming, including more artwork for the portfolio section and downloadable PDFs, so check back later this week for more.

Blast From the Past

It's amazing what pops up in search results...



This was my first time painting in Acrylic and my first official mural: History and art in the vegetable aisle, The Takoma Voice. That was back when I painted with a small brush, from my wrist as if paint behaved like graphite.

Two and a half years of painting as fast as possible in acrylic completely changed how I paint and quelled my affinity for oil.

Sub-Contracting

Sub-Contracting has always led to some of my most interesting experiences. It's a confusing dichotomy for a freelancer. On one hand, you as the creator have been relieved of the responsibility of selling the job, dealing with any difficulties with the client, or having to chase the client to fulfill their end of the contract. On the other hand, when you get to work directly with the client, you get the chance to understand exactly what they are looking for without the intent being convoluted by the project manager. Most importantly, you know what you need and you get the chance to ask for what you need up front. A designer always needs a style guide up front, if the client has one.

At the end of the day, I still have student loans to pay.

New Logo

You might recognize part of this design from another logo, AyakoFromJapan.com. AyakoFromJapan.com moved up in Alexa ranking, and in response to requests from numerous fans, Ayako launched an English version, branding100.com.

Whether you're just starting out or have been around for a while, this blog has a lot of helpful advice.

New Logo

Get ready for a good guffaw! Launching April Fools Day 2009 is ScrewballTees.com where you can get the latest in funny, sarcastic, and weird wear for your upper half.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with the designer/developer on this project. With our complimentary skills, this project has been a beneficial symbiotic process. I just completed the design of his vision for the logo and consulting on Search Engine Optimization.

eMarketing

Email Marketing is an effective and affordable marketing approach that is very successful for retail, small businesses, and business people who work by contract (artists, real estate agents...). There are a variety of services available for mass email marketing, each varying in cost of services comparable to services offered. I've used a few different systems and I have my favorite, but I always try to recommend the one that best suits the client and his/her comfort level with computers and learning new interfaces.

This a screen capture of an email for one of my favorite companies, Model City Models. They went with a publishing system that I had the chance to briefly work with when I set up an email template for BuyAt. Model City Models does really awesome work. Check out their portfolio section for the LED lit models.

Updated Logo

Large companies with millions of dollars and agencies with hundreds of people spend much more time and money on research before they create, share and launch a design. I don't have either, so when I created the AyakoFromJapan.com logo, my research focused mostly on anime styles, Japanese design and Japanese patterns, but I didn't look deeply into the history of the Kimono.

Some of AyakoFromJapan.com traditional Japanese readers loved the logo, but wanted to let us know that the direction of the character's kimono, with the right side wrapped over the left, is a funereal tradition; it is how the dead are dressed for burial. Ayako didn't favor this association (of course!) so I changed the kimono to show the left side over the right side. Since the header space is so small and you can't really see most of the detail, we also gave it a punch of gold for a waist band so it pops.

Anyanka!

Meet Anyanka!

A few months ago, I met with a client to go over a design and much to my horror, the color that displayed on his monitor versus the color that displayed on my dinosaur-pc-laptop was so drastically different I found myself apologizing and reassuring the client that that was absolutely not the shade I intended.

Last week, I got feedback to make my designs more dynamic by using more shadows and other styles. I wasn't willing to admit it, but the reason why I used mostly flat color was because my computer couldn't handle more than a drop shadow or two and even that would tie up my computer for a minute even if I just moved the object. I was in Maine, so I also couldn't go to work and quickly apply some filters to the design either. I ended up doing some more styles, but every time I did, I had to sit and wait for it. It took me twice as long to finish the project (I didn't bill for the extra time, of course.) and while I sat and waited for filters to apply, I suddenly realized how limited in design I've been simply because my computer can't handle it.

Alas! I have feared the commitment, but it is done. I went all the way and I love her! Her name is Anyanka, a direct reference to one of my favorite Joss Whedon characters. She has two (two!!!!) NVIDIA graphics processors!!!!!!! Isn't she shiny!?

Commission Completed

I am always very excited to get the chance to create something really fun! I had the wonderful opportunity to turn the blogger Ayako into a cartoon for a personal brand of AyakoFromJapan.com. If you can read Japanese, check out AyakoFromJapan.com.

eMarketing

This is a new eMail Marketing Template for a local Baltimore City small business.

New Website

"Follies, Predicaments, and Other Conundrums: The Works of Laure Drogoul invites visitors to immerse themselves in a paradoxical, absurdist world of darkness, wonder, and beauty. Drogoul's sculptural follies, roving performances, and interactive works draw upon B-movie imagery, science fiction, psychoanalytic theory, and pop culture - particularly roadside Americana. Along the way she explores and exploits the symbiotic relationships and tensions between humanity and nature, creating works that have a uniquely accessible Baltimore aesthetic..."

Website Design & Development:
www.mica.edu/drogoul