One of our website customers contacted us recently to inquire about extending my services from being his web development team to producing a personal wedding slide show for the rehearsal dinner night, before the big day.

I’ve produced a few slide shows before, clipping photos and video footage together with a soundtrack for events I’ve attended or just to show off a vacation or humorous misadventure, involving my dog or male family member, but I’ve never been asked to produce a professional slideshow with multiple tracks blended together, smooth yet varying transitions, all pulled together to celebrate the developing relationship of the betrothed couple.  This was a pretty cool challenge.

I received the photos via dropbox, email or in person… yes, real photos with age marks and discoloration and everything!  I scanned all the originals in, cropped and color-corrected in Photoshop and put them together in the proposed timeline from my customer and his fiancée.  This alone was quite a absorbing work: seeing the pair grow up from babies though the same phases of their lives that I too have experienced, with (at times) the same bad clothing choices, and eventually meeting and continuing to grow together.

The couple asked for 3 songs which I strung together into the slide show with smooth fades and transitions (and no inexplicable quiet parts between the tracks).  I was pretty pleased with the final version, which I not only made sure they had access to on dropbox, but also supplied them in various formats on DVD to cover any on-the-day unexpected events.

The end result?  Here’s what Darrell emailed me, while still on his honeymoon: “Everything went great! You’re the absolute best!”.  And later, a few weeks later, he sent this along:

As my wife and I prepared for our wedding, we decided that we wanted to present at our rehearsal dinner a slideshow of pictures from the various stages in our lives. Not knowing how to do this, but knowing Amanda at Documentopia, we turned to her for some help and technical expertise. With the aid of only a brief description of the slideshow we wanted, our photos, and a general idea our music preferences, Amanda put together on the first try exactly what we were looking for! It was as if she had taken from our minds exactly what we had in mind and recreated it in the form of a slideshow. Thanks to Amanda, the slideshow we had only imagined came to life, and was one of the many highlights of our rehearsal dinner.

 

One of our favorite clients got back in touch with us late last year to talk about BLUE RHINO EXPEDITIONS.  Fortunately, we didn’t have to climb to the top of Kilimanjaro to help this explorer-cum-entrepreneur develop his new website.

After running through an extensive list with Bill, our client and idea-man behind the wiki-based Adventure Chatter website for travelers, we all agreed on the rather cool “Blue Rhino Expeditions” as a company name and then all began to fall into place.

Bill and I played with various Rhino designs (from cutesy to serious meat-head rhino) and then developed a logo from a photo Bill had taken on one of his expeditions, a mother-child rhino scene in front of the traditional Acacia tree, popular throughout the Serengeti National Park and other Safari destinations in Tanzania.

One issue upon which we focused early on, is that Blue Rhino Expeditions doesn’t just specialize in Safaris, but also trekking tours up the rather tall Mount Kilimanjaro (its the tallest free-standing mountain in the world!!). So our home page became dedicated to providing potential web visitors with this clear cut choice… learn about SAFARIS or TREKKING.  We felt pretty confident that most people would have a preference, even if they decided to tailor a vacation package to include both.  Our home page design showcased both in a large and visual way.

Each of the 2 key Travel Sections had their own landing page.  Trekking Kilimanjaro and Tanzania Safaris.  And each landing page had a wide format series of images looping to demonstrate some of the cool sights and achievements possible on future travels, linking to pages of interest within that section.

We also created a series of web graphics for the Blue Rhino Website, including custom icons (left), Kilimanjaro trekking routes and a Tanzania destination map.  We intentionally veered away from the boring old contact form design, and converted our contact page design into a nice old-style postcard design (albeit with an image-based submit capcha – to protect Bill’s email from unwarranted spam).

As with all our websites, we tested it across browsers and various devices, as well as ensuring it was search engine optimized, and the site map was submitted to the search engines that battle for world dominance.

Check out the Blue Rhino Expeditions website (just launched, and still warm!) and be one of the first to like the Blue Rhino Expeditions Facebook Page!

Actually, this is no normal restaurant, at Red Gate Restaurant in Guangdong, China, you can cook all your food yourself! And of course, Documentopia designed the new website.

Our clients, the visionaries who conceived of the Red Gate Restaurant in the first place, had already designed their menus with a local graphic company in Guangdong, but wanted to make sure that the restaurant’s online presence appealed not just to those who already knew about their unique fare, but to the online world as well, in both English and Chinese.

With potential clients checking out the new website from China, from outside while planning a trip, or from elsewhere, we tried to make the website navigation as simple as possible.  Each major page has its Chinese characters, its English translation, and a representative icon.

The Red Gate menu, also presented in both written Chinese and English, is available to download as a PDF or view in a regular web browser. Its common place nowadays for a company to simply upload their menu as a PDF but this can create numerous problems for the user, depending on their web connection speed and the device they are using.  We created the option where you can choose: PDF or Web.

In this case, with distance between client and designer being such a factor, our clients sent us all the photography and other materials they had created, we spoke briefly about their website goals, and in very short time frame, Documentopia returned a fully designed website.  In addition, we helped them improve the English translations to suit the style and theme of the restaurant to appeal to their traveler-based audience.

Check out the Redgate Restaurant website and let us know what you think!

The owner of the Midtown Tavern in Atlanta, contacted us recently to design a website to match their soon-to-launch NEW restaurant and pub in downtown Atlanta

 

The Documentopia team met up with the management team behind Atlanta’s newest restaurant/pub coming to the Downtown area, The Drafting Table, located in the Pencil Factory Lofts.   The management team members, composed of local Atlanta restaurant and bar experts, came together to create this unique new pub that specializes in local and seasonal food with a class-A bar that hosts local brews and cocktails designed to complement the spectacular dishes served up from the kitchen.  We talked in depth with the Drafting Table team to fully understand the direction and scope of their vision.

We then worked close in developing a logo that tied into the interior design and decor themes and ideas the team had mind for the new pub.  Their slogan, Good Food by Design, ties into the restaurant name, based on the owner’s desire to use an architect’s drafting table as a feature within the restaurant, to showcase the menu and certain dishes when guests first arrive.  Our logo design takes a drafting / architectural look and feel, displaying a butcher’s table with chef knife wedged in its top surface.

The font used in the logo, as well as having a look and feel to suit the restaurant’s essence, also forms the shape of a table (note the raised letters of A, B, L in Table).

Once we had a logo, the website just came together easily.  Working with the clients’ photos, we laid out a home page design that showcases the features of the restaurant and continues to tie in with the overall theme of The Drafting Table.  We use straight “pencil-thin” lines to create layout that looks as though it was drafted on a raised wooden platform.

We took into account pet peeves written about by designers and techies who discussed features of bad websites, by keeping the menu in HTML (and not as a PDF), by providing clear directions and details on the parking situation (a frustrating fact often omitted from restaurant websites in Atlanta).  Every page has the restaurant address and phone number, and there’s a way to contact the restaurant via e-mail.  View the Drafting Table website now.

We also set up the Facebook and G+ pages for the new foodie hotspot.  We hope you like what we did, and soon we’ll be working further with these guys to generate a blog and more menu additions.

RenovoData, in Atlanta, contacted us recently to develop an eye-catching graphic that aided  them in succinctly explain to their clients how they can help with their disaster recovery planning and strategy.

After talking to RenovoData’s marketing and development team, we helped them hone in on what it is that separates them from regular web-based cloud hosting companies, purporting to do the same as Renovo.  They were thrilled with the final design and decided to create a new brochure to email to their clients using the graphic as the central theme.  We are now continuing to develop our relationship with the data protection specialists at Renovo by sprucing up their website and developing other company graphics and ads.

The newly designed graphic:

 

You can also view our Trade show advert (PDF) and brochure design (PDF).  We love web design, but its great to help a client with all their marketing needs.

We have produced a number of painted brush-stroked images for canvas printing or other uses and wanted to demonstrate some of our work. This all began when I returned from Ireland with a beautiful photo of 4 cows staring at me from a field. I wanted to print this photo on a canvas but I wanted the canvas to have the look of a real painting.  I began with the photo in Photoshop and working with the base image and building up layer upon layer of painted brushstrokes to reproduce the original image as though it had been painted.  After arranging the printing of the canvas, I also added oil paints to build up the final product to give it not just the look of an original painted piece, but the feel too.

Check out some of the other projects I have completed for friends and clients alike.  But first, here are the cows:

A memory-of-home canvas

This project was commissioned by a real estate agent who had successfully helped her clients find their new dream home.  However, the family children were going to be sad to leave their old home, filled with so many good memories.  Taking a photo from my client, I added some “fun” elements for each of the 2 children and then did my thing with the brushstrokes, layering up a Photoshop file to get that desired finished look.

From Dawn, the estate agent:

They both were almost speechless when I gave it to them they were so surprised.

From the new house owners who received the canvas:

Thank you again for your gift. That was one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. Seriously, it was really touching.

A memorial canvas for a much loved father

My best friend recently suffered the loss of her father.  At her memorial event, for his next birthday, she was proud to be able to present a painted canvas I had created for her, using one of the few photos we had of him, from her graduation a few years earlier.  I removed other people from the photo (in the background, as is normal at a busy event) and began taking a quite low-resolution image and developing a soft brushed painting with his name and dates added for the memorial.  The hardest part here was the “painting” of the eyes – in such an important painting, I was very intent on making sure his eyes had the exact kind, proud and fond look he had at the time the photo was taken.

My friend was broken apart by the painting, so thrilled and so emotional about what it meant all at once.  The canvas may not be hanging on her wall for a while, but I know when it does, she will remember her father on that great day with such love.

A fun painted canvas from a vacation photo

It was my own family who requested this painting.  We had returned from visiting England and spending a great time with my family over there, who we see so rarely.  The ice we stand on is covering a pond my family dug out in the summer months for their commercial fishery, Redwood Park, in York, England. While snow is pretty common in December, ice on water so strong you can stand on it is not a normal phenomena making this photograph a favorite with all the family.

Pet Painted Canvases are a Favorite

Smokey, beloved cat of Susan in sunny Florida, suffered the loss of his tail a couple of years ago.  When visiting Susan and her cat, we staged some photos of Smokey that showed his round tail-less rump but also his lovely, charismatic face.  In photoshop, I removed the background of stored goods, a trash can and cat food supplies, to focus on this amazing chap.  I used a soft brush to follow the contours of Smokey’s twisted body, making sure all the fur details were maintained, as well as the lighting cast on his smoke-colored body.  Finally, I added a rich painted red background and perched him on a bench, looking affectionately back at people who stop to look at him.

His owner, a whimsical character in the Apalachicola region of North Florida, has since commissioned a local taxidermist to stuff the saved tail and attach it to the canvas, making it our first multi-media painted canvas project.  Photos of the end product to come!

Our Own Beloved Spaz – a now 16 year old English Setter

I have been experimented with painting in Photoshop to take a regular old photo and give it that artist-worked-on look and appeal.  Fortunately I have many photos of my lovely English Setter to work on.  Below are a couple of past projects I developed of him.  These were never printed, but he is proud to display them on his Facebook page, along with a charcoal sketch an artist friend, Margaret Allstrom, drew of him.

Sometimes you need to work outside the box

I have put up a completely new version of the Stand Alone Active record library (based on CodeIgniter 2.1.0).  What this library allows you to do is use your normal CI-based active record – selects, wheres, etc, without having to use the complete CodeIgniter framework.

I usually use it when I am either writing importers or other utilities that will be thrown away, or when I am retrofitting an existing website with new functionality.   In this case I had to do some importing of records so instead I spent a few hours getting this all ready.   – It is also on Documentopia’s Github Account.

Previous versions of this had several hundred downloads so hopefully it is useful to somebody.

Download Now

 

 

Electronics Engineering Specialists, Phoenix Designs, contacted us after a word-of-mouth recommendation from one of our many happy clients.  They had a website design that had hardly been touched in 8+ years and was showing some serious signs of age. You can still see their old website design at www.archive.org.

We didn’t want to change up their logo entirely as they have used it throughout their company, so instead we took its basic elements and recomposed them into a new configuration, different color scheme to suit the new website, and added a tagline that quickly clarified their company’s purpose.

We then developed a new look for the website: a cleaner, fresher look with easy, consistent navigation across the top.  We worked with the very busy small business owner to re-write content to maximize searchability on Google and other search engines and ensuring the new copy was up to date and provided easy to follow information on Phoenix Designs.

With small businesses, we often find the owners just don’t have the time to work on the website design.  We took on the task of selecting images throughout the website, editing and proof-reading content and developed a case study guideline document.  We understand not everything can be done up front, so we launched the website knowing that we can continue to develop the content in a future phase, as and when our client finds time to pursue the website content.

After last year where we launched a new look for our airsoft client, SS Airsoft, and new design and updated web coding for Storm-Lake, we are now on our third gun-based website!  This time we were approached by barrel mamanufacturing company, RFour, Inc, to design and  develop a website for their target rifle barrels.

The design process began with the development of a logo that represented the new line of 10/22 magnum and rifle barrels. Our client was thrilled with the initial concept and with a few tweaks we were soon on to the web design.

We presented a website design that was both modern and sleek, tying in with the product itself and target shooting audience.  Rfour were pleased with the design and ready to move forward immediately.  We took photos of the 3 main barrels they sell, showcasing their features so potential buyers could see the craftsmanship as well as various barrel features.

Working with Rfour to develop fresh and SEO-designed content, we fleshed out the information pages and laid out the buy page displaying the various barrels and associated options.  The customer then follows a step by step check out process with a clear guide advising them through the process and what steps are left.

The site launched today after a final run-through to verify the site worked across all browsers, including IE (7-9), Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Check out the site and let us know what you think! 10/22 Rifle Barrels.

When our client, Xtreme, said they wanted to revamp their website, I don’t think any of us really had in mind the complete revamp we would end up doing.

The new website, launched this weekend, has a bold new modern look that impresses on the site’s visitors just how much care and attention Xtreme puts into everything they do. we have re-taken the product photography, re-written every page of content, and designed a site to appeal to all different types of visitors.

As well as adding new features to help potential buyers get to the level of information they need to make an informed decision, we have created a smooth, seamless cart and check out system, completely customized to suit all our client’s wishes. Xtreme website visitors can add accessories to their cart when they add his main product, as well as get details of special offers available to them, in case they missed them at an earlier stage. We have hooked up the final purchase invoice into Xtreme’s own accounting system so they don’t have to waste time plugging in information from the website and they can tie that information directly into their shipping software. And of course its all database-driven, so can be easily updated when prices and discounts change, as well as new products being launched!

From a website visitor perspective, they can view the Xtreme Heater in a 3D photo rotation, as well as take a useful interactive overview tour of the many features of the star product. On the left side of every page, we have a 5-step program to help people learn everything they need to know about the heater and how it will help them, from choosing the right model for their boat to a thorough installation guides, detailed on a boat -by-boat basis. For happy customers, they can submit their testimonial to Xtreme for the chance to win free gear and show their heater installation in the testimonial showcase section.

Our support area goes way beyond a regular FAQ page, allowing customers to search the questions and answers by their choice of keyword as well as see the most popular searches other visitors have asked. The page is sourced by a regular database so Xtreme can update the information whenever they like.

Xtreme launched their site with an email flyer to all their past customers offering a 20% discount as well as new information and products available, all developed and designed by the Documentopia team.

Let us know what you think of our slick new website for Xtreme Heaters – a site that’s cross-browser compatible (tested in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and IE 7-9), as well as tested on all manner of devices from ipad2 to android phones and macs/pcs. Did we mention we did a bunch of new product photography as well? Can you tell we’re very proud of this latest achievement? Not too shabby!