Graphic Design

In such an image-driven time as ours, the importance of strong visual design cannot be overstated. After all, “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” right? Well, I think we can all agree the word count on that saying needs updating. Surely it’s increased a hundred-fold since the digital age dawned. Definitely something to keep in mind next time you go to design a website, create an HTML-newsletter, or lay out your company’s next brochure.

Approach
As for my approach to graphic design, the principles that guide me are quite similar to those I draw on when producing an event. First, I identify the core qualities of your brand and the key messages you want to convey. Take my website: with it, I wanted to convey my penchant for the creative, my passion for the Web, and my persona as that girl you always see out and about at all the conferences. The one who’s always on the go and seems to know everyone and who, last but not least, loves to write. With these qualities established, I went about mapping form to function: do I go with a splashy flash look or more of a content-driven one? I chose the latter. I did so because, by keeping the flash elements to a minimum, I could make my site more informational. There was also this consideration: flash-heavy sites represent an aesthetic not favored by the Web 2.0 community, one of my key constituencies.

But that’s my brand. What’s yours? Whatever it is, when it comes to translating into the visual who you are and what you’re about, I try to be as much of a ventriloquist in my graphic design as I am as a copyrighter. In other words, what I create for you will reflect your aesthetic rather than mine.

Background
You should know that Graphic Design is something I’ve only recently added to my tool kit. As such, I feel compelled to offer the following disclaimer: if you’re looking for someone who can put pencil to paper and draw you something by hand, I’m not the person you’re looking for. How can I put this? Let’s just say I’m the last person in the world you’d want as your Pictionary partner. Sadly, my handwriting belongs on a prescription pad and my stick figures have been known to make small children cry…

However, put me in front a laptop tricked out with Photoshop & lllustrator and that’s a whole different story! With the screen as my canvas and pixels and vectors for my brushes, I’m practically Grandma Moses. I exaggerate. But my point is this: in the course of my marketing career, I’d often have an exact picture in my head of how I’d want, say, a website to look, yet feel frustrated that I hadn’t the skills to create even the simplest of mockups. So, with all these design ideas held hostage in my head, I finally decided to do something about it. I signed up for a Photoshop class online at Lynda.com. And then one on Illustrator. Soon I was lapping up classes there like it was all-you-can-eat-night at Ponderosa.

Having taken these classes and completed several client projects, I’m proud to now offer this service and welcome the opportunity to build on my portfolio by creating something for you.