We recently had the chance to create a fun ad design for a fellow creative, Cliff Marks Jr. Photography. Cliff is the exclusive photographer for the Treasure Valley Children’s Theater and this fun shot of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ that we used for the ad is perfect to show the fun side of photography. Cliff Marks Jr. Photography provides individual and family portraits, fashion, senior portraits, personal and professional headshots (Cliff got to photo the Romney campaign when they were in Idaho). Cliff also takes some wonderful natural and action/sports images, which you can check out by visiting his Facebook page at facebook.com/cliffmarksjrphotography. Thanks for allowing us to create this ad for you Cliff!
Graphic Design
Stand Up America
Are you ready to Stand Up America?
On December 7, 2012 one of our clients, Derrick Boles began a journey of more than 1800 miles. Derrick and his Stand Up America campaign is an inspiring journey. Using an Elliptigo cycle, Derrick will ride from San Diego to New Orleans, with stops along the way to promote “the underdogs”, the non-profits, organizations and individuals that make a difference in their community. Often these “underdogs” are limited in funds, volunteers, and resources, yet they continue to provide, mentor, and make that difference.
After building the website for Stand Up America, Graphic Zen continues to provide ongoing support to Derrick by uploading videos to his site from his YouTube Channel. If you are interested, we encourage you to follow Derrick’s journey, and if you really want to help – consider making a donation to Stand Up America.
As Derrick says: Take the challenge, make the change and Stand Up America.
Business card designs
I’m often asked if I design business cards. Of course! In fact, business cards these days need not be the typical rectangle shape. If you’re willing to spend a little more for design and printing, we can create an effective marketing tool for your business cards. Check out the samples here, for Scentsy Independent Consultant Jorene Batali. Jorene wanted something that featured her picture, info on her business and also stand out from other cards. We created these colorful two-sided cards (why you would only use one side of the card I’ll never know, must be a designer thing) that contain all the marketing and contact details for Jorene. It has her picture, contact info and the back features product images, the cost to join Scentsy and Jorene’s web address.
The cost to design these cards ran about $300 and printing 1,000 cards with a gloss front and back was around $90. I believe the cards have been effective for Jorene as she just ordered another 1,000 cards. In case you’re wondering, the $300 was for the initial setup, if Jorene had to make changes to the card (phone number, email) we would not charge for a simple change – that’s part of extending good customer service to our clients. It’s quick and easy to modify the file, and we don’t see the need to charge for a small change like this. If you’re interested in having us design some cards or other materials for you, or would like a quote, contact us.
Logo redesign: EZBC Computers
We were recently asked to review a logo and update it to a more modern and functional design. You can see the original design below:
This logo suffered from a lack of cohesion, poor type choice, and the unwarranted and often overused “swoosh” effects that have become common on too many logos. (I really think it’s a case of a designer trying to disguise a bad logo, or as they say “put lipstick on a pig”.)
Further, this logo would not lend itself to branding for company shirts and other promotional materials because by the time you reduced the size, the type would be rather small.
We took a look at the elements, agreed with the client that the color choices were fine, and began to process of creating a new logo for them. After a few prototypes we reached the final logo design, which is displayed below:
The result is a tight, well-defined logo that can be used on a variety of media, and most importantly, made the client very happy.
Logo redesign: GameTime International
We were contacted by GameTime International founder, Derrick Boles, in January of 2012 to discuss potential web and logo design projects. It was in a later meeting that Derrick presented his then-current logo, and asked if we could update it. Derrick was hesitant about doing a logo redesign, because he designed the original logo and as he phrased it, “It’s my baby!”
That’s understandable when clients are very close to the projects and design many of the beginning materials for their company.
We took Derrick’s vision for the future of his brand, and updated the logo with new colors and lettering, keeping in mind the variety of materials this would be used on: web, print materials, promotional materials, etc.
The result is a modern logo that will help brand GameTime International as it continues their mission of mentoring to children and young athletes.
Leadership 1st for America
Very happy to announce our working partnership with Derrick Boles and the L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P. 1st for America organization. Leadership 1st’s mission is to engage, empower, educate and mobilize community based organizations through training, technical assistance and fund raising opportunities. We recently completed the first phase of their fundraising division, located at www.leadership1st.org. We’re now working on new logo designs for another division, Game Time International and hope to have those up soon for your viewing pleasure. 😉
Share The Scents Website
Just finished up a website for Independent Scentsy Consultant, Lisa Nelson. This site will be used by Lisa as a marketing and lead generation tool for prospective consultants and customers. This was a great site to work on because it educated us about the fantastic products and the story of the Scentsy company. You can read more about it by visiting Lisa’s site –Â check out the site here. Want us to design a site for your Scentsy business? Contact us!