Freelance Graphic Designer: Logo Design, Print Design, Website Design | Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh (the Triangle), North Carolina » website design

Syntiant website design

adrial — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:21:46 +0000

This website design wanted to be futuristic and exciting, embracing technology in a clean and unencumbered way. Syntiant is an up-and-coming company that I don’t think I can discuss yet under penalty of death or at least a mean talking-to. Just trust me when I say that it’s going to be a game-changer for the way we interact with our world. I know, sounds hyperbolic, but I guess I tend to take on the hyperbolic kind of projects. Stay tuned for the amazing things that this new company will be uncovering …

Citrine Salon website design

adrial — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:00:55 +0000

Citrine Salon is a brand new salon concept opening in Chapel Hill, NC, that will be completely green. Aside from their great salon services, they will also be a completely paperless office. The owner is a great woman and has so much excitement and energy for this store that there’s no doubt in my mind that she will be an amazing success. A cutting edge, world-loving salon. Refreshing. They wanted a logo design that is simple and clean with the colors of the citrine crystal, which signifies healing energy.

Website design is like desserts

adrial — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:08:33 +0000

I’m currently on vacation in Peru and had one of those moments that translated from my world of graphic design to the real world. I’ve always heard the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principal and how it should apply to graphic design, and now I have proof on how it applies to other things as well.

After enjoying a sumptuous meal at a Chinese restaurant a block away from our hostel in Cusco (sidenote: I know, why eat Chinese food in Peru, right?), we decided to go grab some dessert. There was a local bakery shop with a wide array of options: a layered sandwichlike dessert with chocolate, creme and coconut sprinkles; a cone with crunchy sweet outside and gooey inside; a rolled up dessert with some sort of seasoned apple filling and sprinkles on the top; another with crazy colors … and yet another that just looked like a normal puffy bread. We bought one of each (they were all around $0.30 apiece, so why not). The absolute best dessert was the most normal looking one. The normal puffy bread had some simple not-too-sweet creme filling and it was absolutely delectable in its simplicity. The rest were just trying to do too much. We’ve gone back multiple times and gotten many the puffy desserts. Big fans. What ultimately worked was the basics. Stick with the basics and you’ll have satisfied customers. Get out of the way of the great flavors that don’t need to be jazzed up in order for people to enjoy them.

So yes, this circles back to website design (and logo design, print design, all design ultimately); so many graphic designers try to do too much: they throw on the sprinkles and fancy colors and extra flavors when ultimately all they need to do is to get out of the way and let the light, fluffy pastry and creme do all the work. The trick to design is to find what works for each project and remove everything that doesn’t.

SWAPSOL website design

admin — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:22:05 +0000

SWAPSOL is the name of an amazing group of scientists out to change the world as we know it. No, really. They have developed a process that divides all the pollutants spewed from smokestacks into their raw components that can be sold for profit. They wanted a website design that simply showed the before and after: before, global warming and pollution; after, a pristine wonderland where the spewing of smokestacks can truly be recycled.

PS International website design

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:41:10 +0000

PS International provides the world with food stuffs, from rice to grains to dairy to tomato sauce. They needed a website design that they were able to update themselves whenever new products came about.

I also developed the Flash intro movie to give a nice, simple overview of where all of their products come from.

Laurus Foundation website design

adrial — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:11:04 +0000

The Laurus Foundation seeks to “advance the lives of individuals with disabilities.” Based in Illinois, their ongoing mission is to link up with other like-minded businesses and individuals in order to promote their mission to help the disabled in whatever way they can. They wanted their website design to be engaging and beautiful, yet simple and accessible for their prospective disabled users.

I also developed a cool Flash-based navigation system for the homepage to really be able to put impactful imagery front-and-center.

Website design glossary of terms

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:53:23 +0000

At first it’s always daunting when trying to find out information about an industry in order to reach that pinnacle of being a knowledgeable consumer. That’s why I’m trying to flatten the learning curve for you by offering you a list of the most common website design terms and their definitions. If you’ve heard any others floating around, please email them to me and I will add them to this list!

backend	The server process that happens behind the scenes of a website. The backend is the process that serves the information to the end user and interacts with a shopping cart, for example.
broken link	Occurs when the target page that the link is referring to has been moved or renamed. Also called a dead link. Search engines don’t like to see broken links and it ends up reflecting poorly on the quality of information offered by the site, and therefore lowers your relevance in the search engine results.
browser based	When a web application is supplied to users without having to download software. All the necessary software is hosted on a remote server. Browser-based software is the wave of the future, especially because people are increasingly cautious of downloading applications from the internet that could contain viruses. A good example is Google’s Picasa.
cloaking	First of all, this is a big no-no. Never request this of a web designer. It is when a page is designed in such a way to make search engines think it contains certain content when in reality the end user sees different content. Search engines will ban websites for this type of intentional deceit.
database	A database is an accessible warehouse of information, much like the records of an excel file. There are columns and records within those columns. This makes it so an infinite amount of data can be stored in an organized way and retrieved via humans or computer applications.
dialup	An Internet connection that uses telephone lines to access the World Wide Web. Also referred to as “slow speed” for good reason. When designing websites, this is the lowest common denominator that has to be taken into consideration with page weight.
e-commerce	The buying and selling of goods on the Internet. Certainly the most cost-effective way of doing business because it represents the lowest overhead possible: no building to rent, no products to stockpile and the lowest cost form of advertising in the world (other than word of mouth, of course). This cheapest form of Internet advertising (free!) includes optimizing your site for organic search results in google and link trading with popular sites.
Flash	A popular authoring software made by Macromedia (recently bought out by Adobe Systems) that enables website developers to create rich applications with motion that are all vector-based. The opposite of Flash is static sites that are created with html. Keep in mind that Flash and html aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, though. You can build hybrid sites that are a mixture of the two. The major drawback with sites that are built entirely in Flash is that they cannot be optimized for search engines such as Google and Yahoo since they cannot actually read the text that is involved in Flash applications.
front end	The part of a website that the end user interacts with. You are interacting with the frontend of Adrial Designs right now. A site’s backend is the part behind the scenes that takes care of interactions with a database or shopping cart.
FTP	Stands for “File Transfer Protocall.” This is a method by which files are exchanged between computers or between computers and servers. See also sFTP.
high-speed	Refers to an internet connection that is cable or DSL. The opposite of a slow-speed connection or dialup.
HTML	Stands for “HyperText Markup Language.” This is the universal base language for most of the websites on the World Wide Web. HTML is what search engines read through to gather information for your search results. Web pages that are designed with HTML are referred to as “static pages” as opposed to “dynamic pages” that are authored by Flash.
hyperlink	A link on a webpage that is either attached to an image or a word or piece of text that, when clicked, takes the user to another page. Usually, links are underlined to show that they are clickable bridges to other webpages.
javascript	A programming language that integrates with HTML to enhance the user experience. However, most search engines are unable to properly index information supplied within the scripts.
keyword	In website design, this refers to a word that is vital to describing your specific industry. For example, Adrial Designs could not be described without using words such as “graphic designer, website design, print design, logo design” and so on. The more keywords used on a site that is properly optimized, the more opportunity users will be able to find your site on the web by use of search engines.
library item	In website design, this is a re-usable item that can be placed as multiple instances in multiple locations. The convenience of library items is that the main item can be changed, which in turn updates its multiple instances sitewide. For example, if you build a website with 1,000 pages and each page has your business’ phone number on it, what if your number changes? Normally, you would have to manually copy and paste the new number 1,000 times. If you use a library item in those 1,000 places, you only have to change your phone number in the library item and it will automatically update the other 1,000 pages to match.
menu	A listing of options or paths for the user to take in a graphical interface. A website’s navigational scheme will use a menu system as part of its way to help users through the site in a meaningful and organized way. The repetition of a menu in the same area of a website helps a user feel comfortable navigating through the site.
meta tags	Information placed on webpages not intended for human users to see. It is data that is meant for search engines and other internet applications to interpret and use.
mirror site	Another no-no in website design. When two sites exist on the Internet that are exactly the same as each other: same content, same images, same look, same everything. The original intent of creating mirror sites was to redirect users to the parallel site once the traffic to the first site became too heavy, but then it became a way for a website to get twice the attention from search engines.
navigation	Just like properly navigating a boat from one shore, across the ocean and then getting safely to the other shore, a well-planned out and executed navigation scheme to a website guides its user through the site to usher them to the goal (contacting the business, making a purchase, downloading a white paper, etc.). Navigation is probably one of the most important pieces to web design. It includes menu structure, where elements are placed on a page, what size every element is in relation to every other element, and on and on. After all, how can someone get to where they (or you) want to go without some proper (and hopefully easy and intuitive) guidance?
organic	The “natural” way to get free search results. Organic search results are those that come up thanks to spiders who search the Internet for relevant content.
page weight	The amount of Kilobytes of information each page of a website contains. The higher the page weight, the more time it takes to download the page’s information to show to the end user. As a rule of thumb, a page shouldn’t weigh more than 100KB, on average. Page weight includes image weight, Flash weight, text weight and script weight. Anything on a website’s page contributes to the page weight, however minutely.
RGB	Stands for “Red, Green, Blue.” These three colors of light all combine in varying degrees to create all the colors of the rainbow. RGB is the color language used by computer monitors and digital cameras. See also CMYK for the main colors used in inks.
script	A term used in programming to define an action or set of actions that is executed by a third party application instead of the computer itself. This allows your experience to be much richer because it is no longer confined to the abilities of your own software, within reason.
search engine	Any software (usually browser-based) that spiders the web and catalogs every page based on certain keywords so that when users interact with it by inputting keywords, the software returns the most relevant results possible. See also SEO.
SEO	The methodical and purposeful building of a website to enhance your chances of being listed higher in search engine results for the top keywords in your industry. For example, if you own a pizza shop in Chapel Hill, NC, your website should be designed in such a way to get you listed high for keywords such as “pizza, food, fast food, Chapel Hill, NC.” Depending upon your industry and how your competitors position themselves, your keyword set focus can change.
server	A computer that handles requests from other clients and programs on a network. The World Wide Web – the entire Internet – is just a huge web of servers all linked together across a worldwide network.
server-side script	A program that runs directly on the web server instead of having to be downloaded to the computer that is benefiting from the script. This enhances security on the web and increases efficiency.
sFTP	Stands for “secure File Transfer Protocall.” Just like FTP, but with more safety measures so that information is not compromised as it is being uploaded to the server.
shopping cart	A special form of software online that keeps tracks of the items customers would like to buy until they proceed to the checkout to make their final bulk purchase of all the items at once.
sidebar	In web design, it refers to information that is set apart from the main body of information, usually in a box that is on the left or right of the page.
sitemap	A sitemap is a page that tells visitors and spiders all the links to every page on a website. It is helpful for both humans and robot spiders to have an overview of the site and how all the different sections fit together as one entity.
slow speed	Synonym for dialup internet connection.
spider	No need for arachnophobia here. Spiders on the web are your friends. In the context of website design, it is a simple computer program that searches and catalogs every page on the World Wide Web. Each search engine has its own spider that searches the web’s trillions of pages. These spiders are what you are trying to appease when you build your site for SEO purposes.
template	A powerful tool in website design that allows you to use the same look for all your pages while switching out content for the main portions of the page. Most websites need to maintain the consistency of having the same information at the top and mostly on the sidebar, so templates are very important since they allow web designers to create an entire website containing however many pages and can update the entire website’s template just by changing one file. A website template is much like a library item, but is for the entire page layout instead of just applying to an individual item on a page.
website	A location on the World Wide Web that contains a homepage, other pages that relate to the homepage, and text and images that support the central focus and purpose of the website’s existence on the Internet. Every website should have a central theme, focus and graphical look.

Website design frequently asked questions

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:43:13 +0000

Is server space included in your website design quote?

No. Server cost is not included in any quote I provide. I can assist you in finding a provider and the amount of server space your specific website calls for.

How is my website information updated?

Adrial Designs offers a convenient monthly fee to keep your website updated. You will either send me changes/updates in email or Word format or set up a common change log for common scheduled changes. This helps with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) since it keeps your website fresh in the search engine’s eyes.

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process by which each page of your site is created and maintained in such a way that search engines pay more attention to them. The most important aspect of SEO is page focus and freshness of content.

Do I need SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

If your business is primarily on the web to draw traffic, then SEO is necessary. If your business already has a primary business base offline that is funneled to the website, then SEO is less necessary. But overall, SEO certainly can’t hurt.

Are you able to integrate my website with a shopping cart and a backend database?

Anything you need functionality-wise, I can provide for you. We can work out exactly what functionality your website requires for your specific marketing purposes and get it custom-built for you.

What other services do you provide other than website design?

I can create banner advertising, email promotions, targeted email list rental, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Flash development and more. If you have a specific idea in mind, just run it by me and I’m sure I can provide you with what you need that will make you successful.

Organize thyself!

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:41:16 +0000

Remember in English class when the teacher would tell you to make an outline of your paper? You needed to understand your own purpose of writing the paper before you could convince your audience of anything. As boring as it sounds, there are many parallels between writing an English paper and creating a website: mainly, that organization is key.

Create an outline: What is the purpose of this website?

Even if you hire a website graphic designer, it will always be true that you are the one who knows your business best. This activity really helps to boil down the main concepts of your business and what you see — and ultimately what your customer will see — as important.

Sit down in front of your computer and crank up Microsoft Word. Yes, Word. Start to really think about your website and what work you expect it to do. Is the purpose to get sales calls? Is the purpose to sell flibberty-gibbets? Is the purpose to get information to the masses? Websites may well have multiple purposes (and probably should), but these purposes all have to be ranked by importance. Find your most important purpose and make sure your website hollers that from the rooftops in a meaningful way. Type these purposes out at the beginning of your document to remind you throughout this process.

During this process, in order to really hone your thoughts, try to think from your potential or current customers’ perspective; what is important to them? This will help craft your message and how you deliver it.

Sample outline of a website design

So what does an outline look like? Just a few pages in Word with bullets and sub-bullets. We will be using a simple example of a sales-driven company selling, ah yes, the beloved Flibberty-Gibbet. Each bullet represents a distinct section — a page — of your website:

Purpose: www.flibberty-gibbets.com is the secondary sales vehicle to bring customers into our brick-and-mortar Flibberty-Gibbet, Inc. stores.

1 Homepage

	• Homepage item 1
	• Homepage item 2
	• Homepage item 3

2 About Flibberty-Gibbets

	• Our history
	• Why you should care about Flibberty-Gibbets

3 Browse all of our Flibberty-Gibbets

• Collection page of thumbnail images showing our entire collection, paginated accordingly

4 Special offers

	• Buy 5 Flibberty-Gibbets, get 2 free! Ends Sept. 31
	• Get a free whos-a-whatsit with every purchase greater than $100

5 Contact us

	• Our address
	• Our main email addresses
	• Our phone number

This is the beginning of a simple 5-page website. As you can see, each of the pages has a distinct purpose that all funnel to the main purpose of selling Flibberty-Gibbets. From here, seeing what content must be written to fill these pages is much easier to see.

Akapella Health website design

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:58:37 +0000

Akapella Health has a new approach to health care, namely “the future of healthcare, empowering patients and physicians.” They approached Adrial Designs (that’s lil’ old me) to design their logo and website. This website design gives a healthcare feel with the soft blues while also giving us a future-facing feel with the cleanliness of the design. I also developed the Flash intro movie for the website.