Posts Tagged ‘Website design’
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
TWO MIX CREATIVE PROJECTS REPRESENTED IN DESIGN ANNUAL
This year’s Graphic Design USA American Graphic Design Awards Annual (November/December 2011 issue—in print and online) features roughly 1,000 pieces, selected from among nearly 9,000 entries, from design and advertising firms across the United States. Featured categories include: annual reports, advertising, announcements/invitations/cards, brochures/collateral, calendars, catalogs, direct mail/direct response, editorial design, identity/corporate identity/logo design, internet, multimedia/broadcast, packaging, POP signs/environmental graphics, posters, public services, sales promotion, and students.
Mix Creative is proud to be among the firms represented, with recognition for both Corporate Naming and Identity Design (Ditto & Co), and Internet Design (Halleland Habicht, PA). Credits include Katrina Hase (art direction), Rod Wilson (photography), Diane Autey and Barb Prindle (copywriting), and Steven Ray (web development).
This year’s judging panel included leaders in the graphic design community, including Walter Porras (Walmart), Jenn David Connolly (Jenn David Design), Steve Perry (Bailey Brand Consulting), Lee Gobbi (Daymon Design), and Martha Heath.
A big thank you to Gretchen Ditto from Ditto & Co and Katheryn Gettman/Natalie Wyatt-Brown from Halleland Habicht for their insight and collaboration in their respective projects. Each of these companies truly understand and appreciate the importance of visual branding for reaching their critical target audiences.
Tags:American Graphic Design Awards, corporate identity, design annual, GDUSA, graphic design, Graphic Design USA, internet design, Katrina Hase, mix creative, Website design
Posted in Awards and Honors, News from Mix | No Comments »
Friday, April 1st, 2011
Mix Creative is proud to announce the launch of our newest website design for the Minneapolis law firm, Halleland Habicht PA.
Rationale
The site design centers on the theme that Halleland Habicht is a part of their clients’ teams; Halleland Habicht staff go the extra mile, getting to know the client and their needs. The design expresses the team approach and a sense of going the extra mile with warm colors and dynamic images. Headlines emphasize the firm’s dedication to their clients, while the rest of the copy reinforces the underlying conviction that the client comes first. (more…)
Tags:graphic design, mix creative, new website, site launch, Website design
Posted in News from Mix | 5 Comments »
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
We at Mix Creative are pleased as punch to announce the launch of the new Management Education Group, Inc website! Our client, Marnie Green—owner and principal consultant for Management Education Group, Inc—contacted us last year to assist the company with a brand refresh and site design to help focus her emphasis on her target audiences and provide a look and feel that meshed with the high level of professionalism offered to their clients.
The project kicked off with a logo refresh, retaining recognizable elements of her previous mark, while presenting a cleaner, updated image and more energetic presence. See the before and after examples below:
For the new website design, we wanted to carry through the feeling of forward momentum suggested in the logo with type and layout that feels open and modern. The site design includes a nod to the public sector—the company’s primary audience—with an image of marble columns in the background. Built by Mix Creative entirely in WordPress, the site is readily update-able, both with content and images, and features a back-end dashboard with site statistics built in. The site also includes a rotating feature carousel on the homepage, an e-newsletter sign-up form on each page, a shopping cart for purchasing books and webinars, and a calendar to view where Marnie will be speaking and working in the coming year. The site is optimized for SEO using a 10-point checklist Mix Creative developed.
Mix Creative also had the opportunity to design and program a custom Facebook welcome tab and page badge for Management Education Group, Inc. As social media becomes more important in the overall marketing strategy for this company, they can be assured that their brand image is being carried through to their Facebook audiences as well.
Acknowledgments:
Marnie Green truly walks the walk when it comes to excellent management; she kept our team up-to-date at every step and perfectly synchronized our team at Mix Creative with her own team members. Mix Creative team members included Katrina Hase (Creative Direction), Steven Ray (website programming), and Diane Autey (copywriting). Thank you to all involved!
Tags:brand refresh, custom facebook tab, facebook badge design, logo refresh, management education group, Website design, website programming, wordpress site
Posted in News from Mix, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
This morning I’m thinking back on projects I’ve completed in the last few years, and it’s made me realize that part of being a graphic designer is constantly learning and adapting to accommodate the huge variety of media available for presenting our clients’ brands.
It wasn’t too long ago that a designer went to school and studied print, with maybe some schooling in television or animation. Then came this new-fangled category of new media, which largely meant websites and interactive CD-ROMS (remember those) and later, DVD interface design.
Today’s designer must understand the ins and outs of designing for ever-evolving printing presses, digital billboards, competing browsers, and do-it-yourself-ers, just to name a few. Some designers select to work within a single medium, while others—like Mix Creative—keep adding to their skillset. Here’s a sampling of the variety of projects we’ve worked on in the last couple of years:
PRINT
- Offset and Digitally-printed business cards
- Direct mail (including personalized pieces)
- Booklets, catalogs, and magazines
- Bookmarks
- Magnets
- Bag stuffers
- In-store and exterior signage
- Print billboards
- Brochures (offset and digital)
- POP
- Pocket folders and media kits
- Print ads
- Microsoft Word stationery, flier templates, forms, labels, etc.
- Printed address labels
- Envelopes
- Package design
- Tradeshow graphics
- Notecards
- Buttons
Social media avatars created for a client
An html e-blast template
A custom Twitter background
DIGITAL
- Desktop icons
- Avatars
- Email signatures
- Custom Facebook pages
- Custom Twitter backgrounds
- Digital billboards
- Profile images
- Browser window icons
- Websites
- Custom blogs
- Email stationery
- Email newsletters
- Fliers printed to pdf only
- Email fliers
- Email ads
- Powerpoint presentations
- Video graphics
- Animated gifs
I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but hopefully you’re getting the idea: today’s designers are VERSATILE!
So, for all of you designers out there: what’s the most unusual product you’ve created in the last two years?
Tags:CD-ROMS, changing technology, design media, DVD interface, graphic design, graphic design profession, new media, online media, print, print media, versatility, Website design
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Monday, October 5th, 2009
Mix Creative, a St. Paul, MN multi-disciplinary graphic design firm, announces the launch of the Minnesota Writers Hall of Fame web site, created to recognize Minnesota writers, past and present.
A project of the Minnesota Book Awards, coordinated by the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, Mix Creative was selected as agency of record. The site was established to recognize writers whose work distills the essence of the state; the people, the land and the spirit of Minnesota.
Katrina Hase, Creative Director of Mix Creative, sought to convey the spirit of the state through color; “Colors of the site represent sky, water and wheat; colors represented not only by the lakes and prairies throughout the state, but also in the palette of buildings standing tall in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”
Minnesota Writers Hall of Fame Website
Mix Creative researched dozens of hall of fame sites, writers’ resources and even the nominees’ works for inspiration. The firm also designed the site’s logo, a mix of elegant san serif and serif type, punctuated with a writer’s quill.
“The site manages to capture the historical aspect while still keeping it fresh and vital,” commented Alayne Hopkins, director of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. “We were quite pleased with the design. Katrina brought so much to the project and brought it alive.”
Programmer Brian Sutherland provided technical expertise, creating a database-driven website supported by cascading style sheets that allows the site owners to update content themselves, with a simple form.
While the first nominees were selected by a committee and the Minnesota Book Awards, future nominees will be determined from nominations from literature lovers. Site users can register and nominate a writer using a simple online form.
The site is supported with funds from the Minnesota Historical Society’s Sesquicentennial Commission. Visit the site at: http://www.mnwritershalloffame.com.
Tags:brian sutherland, Friends of the St Paul Public Library, graphic design, hall of fame, Katrina Hase, Minnesota, minnesota book awards, mix creative, Website design, writers
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Take a look at another website we recently launched for a full-service video editing and production firm called Pixelle8 Media:
Owner, Brenda Piekarski, has a wealth of experience in creating corporate videos, and wanted a site that would appeal to both her current market of corporate professionals with new markets, including small businesses. The site design merges playful and friendly with competent and experienced. Subtle film elements and pixels reflect the company’s name. Visit the site here.
Tags:new website, pixelle8 media, site design, video editing, website, Website design
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
We’ve just completed a fun web project that we’d like to share with you! The site is www.connectionconcierge.com. For this project, our client came to us with a strong vision for the homepage: she was looking for an animated “super-hero”-like person who’s sitting at her desk and offers to help you. She wanted the office itself to be clickable and interactive.
The challenge for this project was to create an interactive, animated homepage, without using Flash programming—which would have been the logical choice, but is cost prohibitive. Our solution was to create sections of the homepage as animated gifs that swap in when the cursor rolls over that portion of the image. While low-tech, it created the same feeling our client was going for, while sparing her the expense of hours and hours of Flash programming.
For the illustrations, we printed out a photo of Connection Concierge’s owner, Teresa, traced the contours and added our own details with a Sharpie marker on Graphics 360 marker paper. Then, we scanned the image and brought it into Illustrator. Using a combination of Live Trace and the pen tool, we created the vector art and added color. We repeated this process for the office (thanks, Beata Rydeen for letting me snap some photos of your space!), and the various objects within the office.
The back end of the site was built initially in html and will be converted to CMS shortly, so our client will be able to update the site herself.
We’re pleased with the results of the site so far, but better yet—our client is happy! We thank her for such a fun project.
Tags:connection concierge, illustration, recent work, Website design, website launch
Posted in Design Tricks and Tips, News from Mix | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Happy 1st year, Mix Creative! As we celebrate our first full year of business as Mix Creative, we’d like to say a big THANK YOU to our awesome clients who made it possible! It’s truly a pleasure to associate with such intelligent, driven, and creative people every day.
To mark our one-year milestone, I thought it would be fun to reflect on some accomplishments:
- We built our client list from one company to over twenty
- We added custom e-newsletters to the suite of print and web products we offer
- We produced our first content-managed web site
- We published advertisements in about a dozen different publications
- Our website design for GoFishCommercial.com appears in Forbes Magazine
- Our press release for Saint Paul Classic Cookie was picked up by the Star Tribune and featured on the cover of their business section
- We worked with some brilliant photographers to shoot food (catering and cookies), fashion, and interiors for our clients
- We created Flash presentations for web clients like the Semple Mansion and Chromis Fiberoptics
Thanks to everyone for a terrific year. We look forward to continuing our work as your partner in your marketing and design efforts in the years to come!
Sincerely,
Katrina
Tags:advertisements, business anniversary, CMS, commercial photography, e-newsletters, press release, Website design
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