Web Design Company That’s Making a Difference

I have been busy lately, with family over and what not. Rest assured it was a great time! Family always is, never a dull moment.

Last week I came across Electric Current. Who is Electric Current? They are the guys that did my church website and a whole bunch of other ones. Straight from their ‘about us’ section,

Electricurrent is a strategic communications firm that focuses on branding initiatives, design campaigns, websites and information technology. In its twelve-year span, Electricurrent has risen to every occasion, achieving over 40 awards from a multitude of companies and organizations. Electricurrent was honored for two straight years as one of the “Top 10 Christian Places to Work in Canada” by The Bridgeway Foundation and the Canadian Council of Christian Charities (“CCCC”).

They really impressed me with what they stand for and the quality of design. (They also seem to be currently hiring a web developer!) Electric Current has produced work for some high-profile ministries all across the globe (Missions Canada, Alpha Canada and many more).

They also have something called (I love this part!)Advanced Ministry.

…an affordable web and communications solution that enables churches and ministries to build and maintain an effective website, without having to compromise on quality or design.

Some amazing packages for churches or ministries on a budget. Their quality of design is nothing short of Excellent!

I only hope to be at least half of what they are, one day!

Useful Resources for Web and Graphic Designers

It’s friday again, summer seems to be passing swiftly. Had a pretty good week, mostly listening to Eddie Izzard’s ‘Death Star Canteen’, its soooo funny (some swearing involved). “Do you know who I am?” lol

Anyways, below is a list of useful websites that can help generate some backgrounds for websites.

1. Background Image Maker
2. Stripmania
3. Ajaxload

This is a blog that has some templates to display your artwork on (i.e. stationary templates, packaging templates), all with a simple Layer Options > Multiply.

Clear images for Identity Design

Cute Vector Badges

Cute Vector Badge Buttons by www.claricegomesdesigns.com

And so the vector frenzy continues. Feel free to download, use and link back. Not available for commercial use, resale or re-posting.

To Pick a Logo

I had to do a few logo concepts for a valve company. Which one makes more sense? The one with the valve you think? Hmmm…

valve logo by claricegomes.com

For Cool Photoshop, Illustrator or Css Ideas Go Here

This is a rave. A rave about Veerle’s blog. For cool photoshop, illustrator or css ideas go here.

I’ve been frequenting her blog on many a occasion and I always come away with a new trick or lesson learnt. A little background on Veerle…

Veerle is a graphic/web designer living in Belgium. Her career began in 1992 as a freelance graphic designer under the name of Duoh!. The first 3 years were mainly filled with print orientated work such as logos, stationery and brochures.

From 1995 she broadened her horizons and started designing websites and user interfaces for intranets together with multimedia development. In 2003 she discovered CSS and since then has been promoting it through her blog.

There are quite a few neat tutorials and articles even on various topics and artists. Veerle, is a true inspiration to me and I really like her flair for design.

BlueprintCSS by Google

Google has come up with a prettty handy tool…

Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your CSS development time. It gives you a solid CSS foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, and even a stylesheet for printing.

Features:

• An easily customizable grid
• Sensible typography
• Relative font-sizes everywhere
• A typographic baseline
• An extendable plugin system
• Perfected CSS reset
• A stylesheet for printing
• Powerful scripts for customizing your layout
• No bloat of any kind

To read more click here

Rat Race: Quit or Die Trying

“The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” – Lily Tomlin

It’s Friday afternoon, another week gone by, another weekend beginning. And so it seems the cycle continues week after week. The rat race must go on. As much as I like being a part of it, I want more. I want to reach out of of my comfort zone and achieve more…oh and be able to take 3 month vacas without having to check with someone. Seems like you only become more of a salve after school, much to my dismay. I want to be free.

I read somewhere,
”Your mind is your first and biggest stumbling block when you consider breaking free of your comfort zone. Add fear, insecurity and painful experiences of past failures, and it all becomes one humongous frightful monster of a vicious cycle. You end up pushing your dreams aside because not doing anything means you won’t fail!”

The mind is a strong weapon. We can only go as far as we picture in our minds.
So here’s a few things I deem important on a journey to being a successful freelancer. Mind you I haven’t ‘arrived’ to my success point as yet, so you can either take this or skip to read some articles below.

1. Change your mindset to believe you can get there. Make goals and set dates.

2. There’s a lot of blogs and such online with really good advice on these topics. Google them, search them, read them, soak them.

3. Avoid talking about your goals or strategies to people who aren’t optimistic about it. You need encouragement, not the opposite (i think we get enough of that on the news).

4. Get yourself out there. People cant hire you if they don’t know you exist. Invest in some advertising. Put yourself up on free classifieds like Craigslist or Kijiji. Send out a mass email to everyone on your contact list, so they can forward to their friends and so on (6 degrees of separation does work). Most of your clients will be a friend of a friend of a cousin of a sister….you get my drift.

5. Granted you are starting out, but be ready to invest into your business. Marketing, printing, websites or whatever else you need. You get what you pay for, so don’t cheese out on this. Get it done right the first time, so you don’t have to keep investing.

6. Remember there will be down times, but remember your goals and keep moving ahead. If one strategy doesn’t work, try another and another…

Here are a few articles I came across in my daily browsings,

Breaking Free Of A Salaried Existence – Being Your Own Boss

A Comprehensive Guide to Starting Your Freelance Career

The Secret to Landing Clients Nearly 100% of the Time

Wedding in Blue

Absolutely love the blue dress…

Red Calla Lily Vector

To download, click here

Please note this is a free vector for non-commerical use. This is not available for resale! Should you happen to use this image online, please send me a link, I would love to see how it was used or please leave a comment, letting me know how it was used! Thanks guys!

A Wedding in Pink

I reallly like pink, yes.
What a great idea to hand out sparklers instead of confetti or noisemakers etc.
The pink iced drinks with the flower, could be a specialty drink offered, instead of champagne or wine.
These would really be unique to have and I’m sure the guests would remember it…