Working lately on my new website designs. It’s been fun – the colors, fonts, images … everything is making me happy (so it makes sense I chose the name I did) and it should, right? The more I work on it, the more real it’s becoming. My goal is to have these sites go live by the end of the month as well as have business cards and some postcards ordered (and a few other things for my face painting venture like a vinyl banner – can’t wait for that).

I started with a quick hand-drawn sketch of BeeHappyDesigns.com which isn’t really even clean enough to post here but it worked for my brainstorming purposes. Made a few minor changes from that to this digitized version as I researched the functionality of what I want to do. I am using Illustrator for these mock-ups and I really like the clean, bright look that software and vector images offer. The plan is to make these sites responsive so they can be viewed on multiple different devices – something I am not as experienced with in web coding but I will learn. I’m keeping the same basic structure for BeeHappyFaces.com but changing up the colors a bit and I want to have a grid of rotating pictures (in place of a carousel) with different images of my work and also text slides of the different things I can paint or venues I have worked. I’m debating keeping to just one blog between the two sites for simplicity’s sake. My first plans were to develop these two businesses separately but the more I do, the more I am realizing they can be more of a c0-brand of each other. They are both creative art services so, why not? And, I want all my design clients to know I face paint and all my face paint clients to know I design… I can get cross business! Now to pull these into Dreamweaver to fine tune…

Website design for Atticare Insulation, LLC. The goal was to highlight the services they provide while keeping the layout and graphics clean and the navigation simple. More of an online brochure with a few links to resources and a company contact form. I was also asked to replicate a few of the graphics in high resolution to be used in their print materials.

One of the most detailed but most enjoyable projects I have worked on to date. I wasn’t too particular about many of the details pertaining to my “Big Day” but I wasn’t going to settle for store bought invites – I am a Graphic Designer, after all!

First came the Save The Date magnets which set the theme and colors up perfectly (we also had a co-worker of mine at the time take the photos). The recipients loved that we sent them a calendar for the whole year and many still have the magnets on their fridge to this day. Our wedding date was highlighted both in the calendar layout and in the sub-heading.

The Invitation Kit was the most detailed piece but is the most important when it comes to this type of event. I had these nice photos and thought it would be a great thing to somehow give my family and friends a photo of us together as a keepsake. I determined a 5×7 would be a good size and would fit well into the silver envelopes I subsequently ordered. The outside gate fold served as the actual invitation with all the details of the ceremony. The inside gate fold was the tear-off RSVP card which was perforated for easy tearing and self stamped so my invitees could simply fill it out and drop it back to me in the mail. This worked fantastically and eliminated the need for a second envelope and the postage required for that. I ensured the RSVP portion would fit under the USPS guidelines for postcard pricing. The perforation cost was minimal in comparison to the extra postage and paper fees. I also wanted to not have this piece fold equally down the middle since the RSVP card needed to be smaller and the information side larger. The wax seal (while tricky at first to implement) gave it a perfectly off-centered accent and special feel.

The programs are simply a tri-fold 8.5×11 piece. Printed on matte 80# paper, they are simple in layout but not in the design. These carry over the same elements from the other pieces to complete the theme. This was a great way to not only guide our guests through the ceremony but also give a little background about our wedding party and give a thank you on the back.

I also created a small website that contained information about the wedding such as hotels in the area, the reception menu, and vendors we used, a page about how we met, and a photo gallery where I uploaded photos both from the wedding and from our childhood.