My goal has never been to follow the standard. I march to my own drummer, as they say. Things will be shaken up, I will design, design, design, design and grow as a designer. The goal is to create simple, beautiful design, but be different. Not different for the sake of being different, but different because the standard is not always best. I know I can help through design and I will prove this.

I’m already working on a new, simpler, more intelligent re-design of this website. I’m so excited to finish it up and show everyone. What a wondrous way to welcome a new year, launching a website refresh.

I will write MANY more blog posts. My aim is to write well-structured, intelligent articles. From time to time, however, I’ll write smaller posts.

Another project I am feverishly designing will soon be released to the world. It should be useful for many designers and developers. Plus it will be open-source. I’m not so stubborn to believe there’s a single, correct method to accomplish a goal. If people let me know something is amiss, I will fix it!

There are several personal websites that I am designing for friends and family. I couldn’t be happier to create these.

Also, I’m working with more clients now and I am free to take more work. If I am lucky, I’ll be able to collaborate with other talented designers & developers, too!

For me, 2010 will be a defining year. Professionally & personally I will grow and achieve my goals. On December 31, 2010, I will look back at the year and smile.

Happy new year everyone, and get ready for a wonderful experience.

My focus was beautiful typography and an alluring color scheme.

Though TTU IT provides Dreamweaver templates, these templates were insufficient for the scope of my redesign. Knowing this, I created a custom set of PHP templates which I used throughout the website. These custom PHP templates allow greater versatility and much easier access when editing content.

http://www.hirettubusiness.com/

My redesign focused on vibrant colors, readable type, and a strong visual grid.

Taking the descriptions presented, we developed a fully-functional website powered by WordPress.

In addition to the website, we produced four screencasts to provide instruction for the student ministry leaders.

Since the original document included an invoice, this was a goal for the re-design. A primary design constraint was the company’s low budget. This in mind, I created a graphics-free document design that would display large blocks of text, remain readable, and boldly display the final price.

I used the Hoefler & Frere-Jones typeface Gotham for the two mirrored Gs. My choice of Gotham was fueled by the confident and bold nature of the typeface. Also, the typeface is very approachable & maintains excellent readability at varying distances.

Finally, I enclosed the two Gs with a thick, black circle.

The final mark emerged as a strong, memorable, and identifiable symbol for myself and my design business.

The four circles are representative of the “four points” geographic region where the dermatology practice is located. The colored gradient circles with overlapping edges are representative of the open philosophy the practice embraces. Finally, the four circles form a four-pointed compass in the center, which is a detail associated with the “four points” geographic region.

A major portion of this project involved making use of the Lumina Content Management System. Prior to the project completion, I provided thorough instruction, to the Department Chair, regarding the LCMS.