September 2008
I met Bonnie McCann of Photography by Bonnie a long time ago through the Digital Painting Forum. She lives in paradise in Kaneohe, HI which is literally a hop, skip and a jump from Honolulu. Given her location, Bonnie does a lot of tropical themed art and her photography ranges through nautical, aquatic, tropical and cultural themes. Stunning work – in fact, so stunning that she recently won the Grand Prize in the Artful Home’s 2008 Portfolio Competition!
In conjunction with her accomplishments, Bonnie decided it was time to toss out the old Flash template website she had been using in favor of a more classy and elegant interface that she could update quickly and easily and also included a blog and shopping cart system to sell her products online. In her list of requests for the new look was the light cyan that makes an appearance as the main content background color, a slight tropical feel (but remaining elegant) and to keep things as open as possible.
Bill Keane, owner of Keane Studios, LCC, heard me speak at WPPI back in March of this year when Marilyn called me up on stage during her program in the Silver Ballroom at Bally’s (I should really write about that sometime – it was an awesome experience!). After the conference, Bill contacted me to totally revamp his online presence. Bill’s old site was very simple, and according to him, didn’t really suit the “look” he’d like to put forward for his studio. He also wanted to be able to take advantage of blogging, which he wasn’t able to on his old site.
Bill’s requirements were for customers to be able to order portrait sessions on the site and we were to make use of his “signature green” and current logo. Along with the signature green, we also introduced a brand new green – the lighter green that serves as the background (I believe it was called Wasabi). Bill was great during the design process, providing color swatches, paper design patterns and samples of other websites he liked. Combining this all together, the final look combines the colors, logo, textures, and all of the other provided suggestions into a designed based on layered arcs, stripes and slightly textured backgrounds.
I recently had the pleasure of working with local artist Alice Rambo on the starter site for her new venture, Splash Designs. This is my third project with Alice. Previously, I’ve helped her create her logo, business cards and and an identifying flyer. All of them, if I say so myself, have turned out great, and Alice has been thrilled.
For her beginning website, Alice didn’t need anything very complex. She basically wanted something that introduced her to the community along with a few samples of her paintings. With her love of color and spontaneity, we started with a vibrant background taken from one of Alice’s abstract paintings, which matches the styling of one of the accent walls in her studio. On top of it, we’ve added various design elements taken directly from her business cards and other marketing materials along with her splashy logo and several paintings chosen by Alice.
Business Cards
Before the website, as mentioned above, Alice commissioned her business cards with the idea that they should be “fun” and have some representation of a splash to accompany her business’ name. Sure, we could have done a traditional paint splat, but that wouldn’t fit Alice’s larger than life personality. During an in-person consultation, we came up with a conceptual “splash” that does bring in some specks of a normal paint splash, but adds so much more with swirls and modern flourishes.
The end result is a card designed in Adobe InDesign CS3 for traditional one-color printing. For her first round, Alice chose to use a lively aqua-cyan ink (which ties into the color of her website background), and they look fabulous printed on a double-sided glossy card! She really likes the fact that as the blue cards begin to run out, or if she’s ready for a quick change, she can just have another batch printed in another color to keep things nice and fresh.
↑ Logo Side | Information Side ↓
The much awaited Blogging with WordPress for Creative Professionals at the ASTA workshop is coming up very soon (October 3 & 4)! This is going to be an awesome two days all about online marketing through blogging – and with attendees flying in from all over the country, you can bet it is going to be good!
As part of a marathon of workshops in the beginning of October, the evening before the blogging workshop (October 2 – 6-9pm), Alyson B. Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach, and author of I’d Rather Be in the Studio!
Directly after the Blogging Workshop (October 5 – 7), Marilyn has scheduled a Beginner’s workshop for Corel Painter – the Fall Painter Blast. This one is going to be a lot of fun (and is already sold out).
Registration for both open events is available in the Digital Painting Shop – limited spots left, so run over and make your reservation before the seats run out!
