Happy Birthday, Arhoolie

One of my clients, Arhoolie Records, has been getting a lot of press lately as they celebrate their 50th birthday.  I got to update the look and function of the non-profit Arhoolie Foundation website a couple years ago, a fun project that involved not just making their site more visually appealing and easier to navigate and update, but sorting through lots of photos of their varied projects, from documentaries on accordion players and Cajun butchers to the Frontera Collection of early Mexican and Mexican-American recordings and images.

Read more:
Arhoolie Records’ roots showing on 50th birthday
SF Chronicle – January 25, 2011

Still the Address of Down-Home Sounds
New York Times – November 24, 2010

Make-over

Some things never go out of style. Other things need a little freshening up from time to time. This is often true of logos and websites, as fashions and color preferences and graphic design styles and even businesses themselves evolve over the years. That’s not to say you have to jump on every trend that comes along, but sometimes a little face-lift can brighten your day. Or, as the client put it, “G-d I love this logo! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!” :)

While there was nothing inherently wrong with the old logo, its purple and gold color scheme was a little dated. While sticking with the idea of the “C” and purple from the original logo, I brightened up the colors and updated the typeface. I like the fact that the sleek, modern letters in the new logo also evoke an old-fashioned typewriter key, since the client is a writer.

I also built a website to showcase her writing portfolio.

Facelift

With a busy schedule of client work, sometimes our own sites get short-shrift (as those of you who’ve seen my portfolio limping along toward greatness know).  Over the winter break, we finally got a chance to spiff up Sportability, our online registration and league management tool.  The site’s last redesign was in 2003, so it was long overdue for not just a cosmetic overhaul but some streamlining of workflow and behind-the-scenes processes as well.

I’m happy to say we made our 1/1/10 launch deadline (with minutes to spare!) and the new look is getting good reviews from users for its ease-of-use and sharp new orange logo.  To update the logo,  I changed the colors, the font, pretty much everything.  The orange circle motif resulted from playing around with different shapes in Illustrator, and I’m really pleased with how it contains a subtle “S” inside it and evokes various sports balls and a sense of motion and vibrancy.  In a tip-of-the-hat to the past, I customized the font to include a tail on the “y” reminiscent of the one in the old logo and make it unique.

You can read more about the redesign and see samples of the old look and logo here.

Mmm, coffee

We’re building a website and setting up e-commerce for Marin-based Palio Coffee roasting company, incorporating their retro packaging look into a website that looks both hand-made and thoroughly modern.

Building for the architect

We’ve just finished a site for architect Jeff Wood, including integrating a Flash-based viewer to showcase his extensive portfolio of remodels, modern designs and mountain homes.