Graphic Web Design

I’ve been working on a 38 page document for a Business Plan. The difficulties in creating a large document of this nature is finding a printer that can print it in a timely manner with good quality. What I find in creating these documents is that it really helps to know who the printer is before I start production. That way I can create the artwork to their specifications. We ended up having to add 2 more pages to the end of the document to fit within the printer spreads. Originally this document was going to be printed as 8.5″ x 11″ with no bleeds and spiral bound. But after a few conversations with the client we decided to go with a saddlestitch 11×17 with bleeds format.

I worked on a 320 page Year Book and we had many planning meetings and discussions with the printer before we even started design and layout. That project took about 9 months to complete.

I found a great link that explains “Printers Spreads”. Read more about it by clicking here.

The project is now at the printer and I’m awaiting a final print to see the results. Needless to say the client is thrilled with the design and quality!

I am consistantly asking clients “What Browser are you using” when they are experiencing problems with the graphics on websites I design. They struggle to give me the answer so luckily I found this cool link that gives you the information.

http://www.thismachine.info/

So just copy the information that is generated in the little white box and email it to me and I’m enlightened.

And for those who are challenged with how to “Copy and Paste” you can get that lesson at this link:

http://www.webmasternow.com/copyandpaste.html

How do I stop it from doing that?

When you either drag in an image or attach it to an email you should see a little box in the bottom right of the email window. Your’s probably says “small”. Change that to what I have:  Actual Size. See enclosed screen shot. I think once you change it it will stay that way for future images. The good thing is that you can enclose large photos and indicate small to resize them automatically. Nice HIDDEN feature, I guess.

Lately I’ve been attracting clients that want their websites to produce rankings with major search engines like Google. Over the past several months I have been researching and having conversations with several industry experts regarding this “need”. One of my best kept secrets, Terry Hall, has be most informative on this subject and he’s a solid believer and can support his results with proof regarding this need. I have since been taking his advice and putting it to action. Thus creating this blog and another one on my own website to draw traffic and inform my customers.

One of the questions that has popped up recently is how important is WordPress and what about Moveable Type as a form of creating websites. The pros and cons are there and it really depends on the clients needs weather one is better than the other. Here is a link to an article that sheds some light on the difference between the two. There is much more to know regarding WordPress and as I learn more I will share these tips with you.

We assisted Susan Shaner of Sage Leadership Strategies to post her first newsletter that was emailed to her clients. We got to work with her to design and produce a layout that fits with her corporate brand identity and be easily editable using Constant Contact. You can view the post  at this link.

One or our “secret” assets within our design company is that we can create  3 dimensional or 3D renderings of our cleints products. These are graphic illustrations created for marketing and advertising purposes to best showcase a product design and their packaging. There is great benefits of having a 3D illustration made of your product because once it’s created you can produce a high resolution version if you need it for large format graphics like posters or a trade show back drop or if you have a new product label that is wrapped on the same type of bottle as a current product an exact photo with the exact same lighting can be generated in as little as 30 minutes! Here is a link to the full portfolio:

http://www.babilonarts.com/3D/index.html

Several months ago we completed a new website design for ITI Company. We upgraded their website presence with a  flash animation for the top navigation, some nifty javascript code to showcase the numerous photos on their products page and links to many of their PDF flyers. This website was redesigned and produced in 6 weeks. The intention of the redesign was to upgrade the company’s corporate image and to streamline their growing product line. Our client, Derek was very pleased with the results and is using our services to maintain his website on an ongoing basis.

When designing a website for a client I will often send them a temporary link to view the design in progress. If they are having issues with seeing the work I would ask them what browser they are using. Most don’t know how to answer this question. Therefore I found this great link. It’s a website to figure out what browser you are using: http://www.thismachine.info

It will also give you your operating system.

Welcome to my blog: Graphic Web Design. My name is Brigette and I’m a graphic designer. My business is called Babilon Arts, Inc. I am creating this blog to share my thoughts and expertise in the realm of graphic design and working in this industry for almost 30 years! I love learning new things. And I love to pass on my knowledge to whomever can benefit. I find myself many times walking my clients through their computer issues, or troubleshooting a particular software program and I do this all in side of customer service. Now I can put my “training” into words and share it with a wider audience. If you’re interested in inquiring more about my industry feel free to ask a question. If you are looking for someone to help you start or improve  a website or any other marketing materials that will help bring your business to the next level feel free to contact me or drop by my website to get a peek at what we do.