Archive for November, 2010
Web Design – Now offering full-service web design services with social network integration
I am proud to announce that I will be offering full-service web design services to my clients in the Phoenixville area and beyond. For those that don’t know me, I started my career in the IT sector as a web application developer. HTML & CSS has always been a friend of mine. Of course, in the private sector I was limited creatively as to what I could design. Now that I am freelancing, the doors are wide open.
I hope to offer my services across all industries and disciplines, from real estate agents, to musicians, to artists and soccer mom bloggers. I will be designing browser compatible web sites using the latest CSS/HTML techniques, put together elegantly using my eye for design and creativity.
I will also be creating sites driven by the WordPress blogging platform, to act as a Content Management System ( CMS ), so that my clients can update their sites on their own. All sites will be heavily focused on usability, as well as creativity. I hope to integrate real world elements and illustrations, textures, and other things to give my sites a truly ‘hand crafted’ aesthetic.
This is something I have been considering offering for quite a while. There are a lot of web “designers” in the area, but very few I feel actually do good work. I hope to change that and to elevate the local market to a better looking and functional level.
Now, you may notice my portfolio does not have any examples of web design in it ( other than the fact my site was completely designed and coded by me ). As I mentioned, I worked the majority of my career in the IT sector. In doing so, the sites I did make are not mine to show due to various non-compete and confidentiality agreements. So to make up for this and make potential new clients feel at ease with working with somebody new to the freelance market, I will be offering 25% off my usual rates for the first 3 clients who sign up with me for web design services.
For more details, click here to view my pdf brochure. As always, feel free to contact me anytime to discuss how I can help you and your web needs. Email me ed@edroper.com for a free consultation.
Share on FacebookHow to lose thousands of dollars, in one fell swoop.
Recently, a colleague of mine from another agency told me a story about a client who just wasted a large amount of money on printing. How did they do it? Well it’s a funny story.
You see, the client in question was using multiple creative agencies to fufill their printing needs. In this case, they were using my colleague for printing and some design, and an ad agency for other aspects of design. In this example, they used the ad agency for their envelope design and printing.
So, as the story goes, they had the ad agency design them a mailing envelope. The envelope of course, looks amazing. Nobody expected it not to. But there was one small problem. There was a large branding design, in the envelope “clear zone”. Meaning, it was inelligible for postal discounts since this area of the envelope needs to be completely clear from any printing or marks. Since this customer has a need to mail at a volume high enough to receive automated mail discounts, all these envelopes were rendered useless. They are now out a couple grand in printing costs.
Now you may wonder, how could this of been avoided? Simple. They could of ensured that the design agency was aware of their business requirements, and had the knowledge to design for those requirements.
If you are designing an envelope for bulk mail discounts, you should ensure that you use a USPS Notice 67 template, available from most bulk mail entry units. This will show you a distinct ‘barcode clear zone’ where no printing can occur.
Because of a lack of knowledge on the design agencies part, this simply wasn’t done. And that my friends, is how you can lose thousands of dollars, by not doing something that could of taken 30 seconds to figure out.
Luckily for my clients, I have experience in designing mailpieces and have worked in the print & mail industry. If a customer comes to me needing envelopes designed around their brand, I scope out the work, and determine if these will be bulk mailed or have postage affixed. Just another example of how experience and knowledge can save, or lose, you money.
Ed Roper is a freelance graphic and web designer from the Philadelphia suburban area who specializes in print, identity, and web design. He caters to small to medium sized businesses and non-profits. His web site can be found at http://www.edroper.com.
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