www.reflectingthedesigner.com

Impressive Sites

There are several new prospects on the horizon for my husband and I that require my utmost attention right now, so I’ll be taking a break from any new design projects for a while. You can feel free to ask me questions, but I will not be able to take on any new customers until further notice. I have a couple of projects to finish up for some current customers, and I’ll keep you posted when I’m ready to start-up in full force again. I will still be writing the occasional blog post, and you can always feel free to comment on previous posts or ask a design question.

Take care!

No, I’m not posting about an actual scrapbook, but about my updated blogger blog called Blogger Scrapbook. Click on the image to check out this blog. After finishing my recent design project, I finally had the brainstorm I needed on how to use my recently created blogspot blogs. I gave this one a fresh, scrabook feel and it is designed to give information on how to personalize and customize your own blog. It already has a lot of great tips, and I will continue to add more on a regular basis. It will also feature free blogger themes and graphics.

Some of the tips you’ll find on this blog are the following:

- How to add a favicon to your blog

- How to add a signature to your blog (to all posts past and future)

- How to add post dividers to your blog

- How to get rid of unwanted text like “Showing all posts from…”

- How to customize your Profile Widget or make a brand new one

- How to add more widgets to every part of your blog

- How to create and manipulate scrolling and fixed buttons on your blog

And those are just the starters. So, please stay posted to Blogger Scrapbook if you use Blogspot, and make sure to leave comments or your own tips, too!

Well, I just finished one of my favorite design projects of all time! Ashley was so much fun to work with and our sense of style really are almost identical. I completely redesigned Ashley’s blog and web presence from head-to-toe. I designed and customized each element of this blog to carry through the complete theme. In fact the only parts that are not original to me is the vector girl at the top, and even that I edited and customized. Also, the background pattern is available through Artisteer, but the colors I tweaked. So what did Ashely get when she asked me to help her design and streamline her blog and make a Twitter page for her?

1. Color scheme and layout to fit her individual needs
2. Original and unique Header Image
3. Original and unique Logo Design
4. Original and unique Block Header Images and Icons
5. Original and unique Post Divider Image
6. Original and unique Signature Graphic
7. Original and unique Customized Web Button (I have one on my site, too)
8. Original and unique Widget for Under the Menu
9. Original and unique Back-to-Top Button
10. Horizontal Menu
11. Help with Organization and Streamlining the look and information flow on the blog
12. Complete Theme Set-Up (including widgets and making extra widgets accessible)
13. Original and unique Twitter Background Graphic Images to use for other applications such as Facebook, etc.
14. A complete uniform and professional look for every aspect of her web presence
15. A design that not only looks nice but validates in multiple browsers
16. A turn around time of just a few short days
17. And the entire package for an unbeatable price!

Click on the image to visit Beauty 4 Moms.

So, are you looking for a site Blogger or Wordpress refresher? Feel free to contact me to discuss options and prices. I had so much fun doing site, I feel the need to redesign my own site and blogs which have been sadly lacking due to time constraints. Let’s face it, I’d rather be designing for you!

Click on the image to view this animated e-card.

If you love sending e-cards but are tired of the same old ones that every one sends, you will love Jacquie Lawson’s site! It does require a small, yearly membership fee, but it is well worth it to have access to hand made (yes, I do mean hand made) e-cards, screen-savers, etc. I’ve had a membership for a year now which was given to me originally as a birthday gift, and I just signed up for automatic renewals myself.

These cards, backgrounds, and screen savers are all meticulously hand painted designs that are scanned in to a computer and turned into incredible animations designs tied together with beautiful music. They are continuously putting out new designs, and the image seen here is one of their newest cards. So, check them out, and if you are a friend or family member of mine, you’ll probably be getting one of these cards from me some time.

This was the Craig’s Watch and Learn site of the day. It’s too cute! Instead of showing you a portfolio of their work, you get to play this adorable game (which is rather addictive). This is a very creative yet professional site, and I would definitely recommend you check it out just for the fun of it, if for no other reason. Click on the picture to visit their site.

Hooky Interactive Design Site

Click here to see a website designed for Ford Mustang that is full of great video footage and design techniques. Since I’m a subscriber to Craig’s Watch and Learn site, they send me their “site of the day” every so often, and this particular site has a lot of interesting features in it. It looks like another Flash site. This site is so eye-catching, though, because of the great videography and photography. The designer has tied it all together, but without good footage to work with what kind of site would it be?

I especially like the 360 review of the car where it allows you to use your mouse to glide around the exterior of the car after choosing the color you want to view it in. Very nice touch.

Note: if you click on Craig’s Watch and Learn site, make sure to scroll to the bottom to see other sites he’s done on other products and software. He’s very helpful and often sends out freebies.

This is just a taste of what you can do using Photoshop and Flash. My dear friend, Marie who has been a graphic designer for many years put this children’s story out recently. Check out how she so creatively turned real photographs into beautiful, and whimsical illustrations by using a pressure tablet to “paint” layers over the photographs. Of course, putting it all into flash to create the allusion of a real book turning pages and adding the audio just added the finishing touches to make this a true masterpiece!

The Princess & the Pea

Now, this didn’t happen overnight. In order to produce something of this quality, you have to spend a good amount of  TIME and pay close attention to details. That is why artwork and truly great design work can be so expensive.

If you have young girls at home still, I would definitely recommend checking this out. I’m sure they will love this sweet rendition of  the classic fairytale of the Princess and the Pea. This will be published in hard copy version, Lord willing, shortly as well. Right now, you can watch and listen to the story being read, and you can download a pdf version of the story from the link given above.