To celebrate the upcoming release of the iPhone 5, Epik is offering $200 off on all projects of $1200 and up for iPhone in Canada users! Just contact Epik to request a quote, and mention that you saw my ad on iphoneincanada.ca. This is a limited-time offer (for as long as the ad runs).

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of working with Gary at iPad in Canada to develop a new logo for his site. Gary runs both ipadincanada.ca and iphoneincanada.ca, two sites which have become the go-to source for everything iPhone and iPad (in Canada, of course!). From release info to app reviews to where you can find the latest device when it’s just been released and EVERYWHERE is sold out, these two sites have got you covered.

It’s finally getting warm out, I’m finally getting some sun and my skin is finally starting to lose it’s ghostly Vancouver-winter pallor. I’m in a good mood and feel like giving away some free stuff. How about logos??

If you book a website design project with Epik before August 30, 2011, you’ll get a free logo design package for your business or organization (value approx $450). If you already have a logo and don’t want to change it, you can share it with a friend, co-worker, pet, neighbour, acupuncturist or whoever needs it!

The package includes 3 initial concepts, the development of one final logo, and delivery of the logo in whatever file formats you require.

Ok, I have to add a bit of fine print, but I promise it’s not that bad:

• In order to get the free logo package, you need to confirm a website design project with Epik before August 30, 2011, and we need to receive a 50% retainer from you for the cost of the project (as per standard project procedure) by that date as well.
• The quoted price for your web project must be $1500 CAD or more
• You can decide if you want to use the logo package before or after the website creation – although before would probably be best!
  
• The free logo package must be used before August 30, 2012.
• If you decide to give the logo package to a friend, we’ll give you a voucher to give to that person.

Check out this video we created for Conasys, provider of custom-made online homeowner manuals. They had the idea of using coffee mugs to illustrate the idea of “more information is better”, as their manuals feature approximately 15x more information than standard builder-provided home manuals. I took the idea and ran with it – and had a lot of fun in the process

Why should you use Drupal for you site, you ask?

Well, let’s start out with a quick summary of what Drupal is. Drupal is an open-source content management system (CMS) framework for websites. Put simply, it’s a system that gives us a bunch of powerful tools to build a website on. Drupal is at it’s most basic a way for site owners to log in to their site and add, update and edit content on their own, without needing a web designer’s help. The fact that it’s open-source, however, means that it’s extremely versatile and easy for web developers to modify and program in any way they choose. Drupal isn’t just a content management system – it can be the framework for an online store, blog, user account system, and lots more. In a nutshell, if you want your website to do something, we can make it happen with Drupal!

Drupal gives site owners a huge advantage, because they can easily log in to their site and change content, pictures, and whatever else needs changing. This allows you to keep your site fresh and up-to-date, which will keep your customers coming back for more and put you head-and-shoulders above other companies whose websites stay the same day after week after month after…you get the idea.

The other awesome feature of Drupal is that it can be modified to fit pretty much any design. While there are templates you can use to build your Drupal site, Epik specializes in creating completely custom Drupal designs – so your site will be one-of-a-kind. We will go over your site needs for both looks and functionality and produce a final product that you’ll be excited to tell your friends about.

Below are some sites Epik has built using Drupal. Most of the content on these sites can be directly edited and added to by the site owners:

www.rocksake.com
www.sher-lok.com
www.soupgalaxy.com
www.statesmancapital.ca

Want your own Drupal-based site? Contact us to get things rolling! Want to learn more about Drupal? Check out drupal.org.

Epik’s latest site launch, Rock Saké, is now up and running and looking pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself. Rock Saké’s existing site was Flash-based, and they needed an updated look, more SEO-friendliness and a way to add and edit cocktail recipes on the site.

We took the existing design, updated it to look cleaner and more polished, and re-created the fading Flash transitions using jQuery. The new site is built on Drupal, so the clients can now easily log in to update content and add new cocktails (including photos) to the cocktail library. The cocktail library is searchable and sortable by date and by name. The clients can also upload PDFs to the trade document section, and add news items and video links.

The final result is a site that keeps Rock Saké’s visual identity intact, but adds loads of functionality that will allow the company to keep the site up to date, current, and encourage visitors to spend more time browsing. For more info on this site, or if you’re looking for help with your own site, please contact Epik directly or leave a comment below!

Epik’s latest site for Statesman Capital Corporation is now live. Statesman Capital is a private mortage lending firm based in Vancouver, BC. Check out the site»

The site features a Drupal CMS with blog and custom “investor area” that allows to client to upload financial information and PDFs to a password-protected area for their investors to review.

All design (except the logo, which was pre-existing) and front-end coding was done by yours truly, and back-end programming and CMS implementation was handled by Epik’s fantastic contract programmer, Mikhail Fedorov. The site was needed on short notice, so we had 4 weeks to get everything up and running smoothly.

Epik also designed a letterhead and business cards for Statesman, as well as a custom PDF form term sheet for their mortgage projects.

Check out the site»

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Or, if you’re a card-carrying member of the “I Hate Valentines Day” club, that’s cool too – Happy Monday! I’m not really sure which camp I’m in. While I find the idea of compulsory chocolate and flower buying tiresome and purpose-defeating, I have no problem with celebrating the idea of love in general. My significant other and I usually use V-Day as an excuse to spend some time and money on ourselves and go for an extravagant dinner or a weekend getaway (that’s what we’re doing this year…although not on the actual Valentines weekend. Just to be original and rebellious. Maybe we have a little of the “I Hate” club in us, after all).

Despite all the worn-out, commercialized Valentine traditions (not to mention the buckets of tears shed by those who are reminded on this day of love that they themselves are alone and will receive no teddy bears or candy), I have a soft spot for photography. And scavenger hunts. The hashtag #2011hearts was started on Instagram a little while ago – the idea being that you snap photos of any hearts you can find in the world around you (they can be candy, drawn, clouds, actual real hearts, whatever) using your iPhone and then post them on the Instagram app with the tag #2011hearts. The goal was to to collect 2,011 heart pics by Valentines Day, but I think there’s somewhere around 2500 on there now, so good job heart-lovers! Love Valentines Day or hate it, whimsical heart-photo-hunting with an iPhone is not something I can resist. So I’m doing this post to celebrate the love of photos, and iPhones, and hearts everywhere. After all, hearts were around long before St. Valentine, whoever he was.

A few of the hearts I found, snapped and posted:

Steam on the windows + bright streetlights=love

Cupcakes at Vibrato coffee shop. Yum!

Our cat Sofie has a heart on her head. Dunno why. But it's cute.

There’s a lot of gorgeous photos that have come from this little event, so if you have an iPhone, download the free Instagram app and search up the #2011hearts tag to check it out. You can also try searching it on Twitter. There’s still a bit of time left before this event goes the way of wilted roses and day-old, half-eaten chocolates that you pretended to like but actually thought were gross – so why not go search out some hearts of your own?

P.S. My username on Instagram is devonanne, add me! I’ll add you! And we can ooh and ahh at each other’s photographic prowess!

I’ve provided a few “frequently asked questions” on the main pages of the site, but I thought it’d be a good idea to have a post dedicated to FAQ as well. These are questions that come up a lot when starting projects (and in the middle of them), so I hope these will give some insight into how Epik rolls.

I have a project that needed to be done yesterday. Can you help?

It depends on my current workload, but I do my best to acommodate tight timelines. Please contact me with details and I’ll let you know what I can do for you.

Is Epik Creative just Devon?

I handle most of the design and coding myself – however, sometimes a project is too big for one person. I have a small group of other designers and programmers who I call on to work with me if need be. This allows me to accept larger projects while also keeping costs down.

Do you only work with local clients?

Nope. In fact, the majority of my clients are out of province or in the US. As long as you have access to email so I can send you proofs, it doesn’t matter where you live.

Why should I hire you instead of a bigger design studio?

Working with a freelancer has a lot of advantages. For one, I have quick turnaround times and great availability that larger studios can’t always provide. My overhead is also much lower, so I’m able to offer lower rates without compromising the quality of the finished product. You’ll always be communicating directly with the person who is working on your project – no go-betweens.

Do you charge by the hour or by the project?

For most projects, I give a quote for the whole project based on my current hourly rate. If the project is open-ended, charging by the hour is usually the best way to go.

Do you provide SEO services?

We give all our websites the SEO basics, like properly formatted header tags and clean code, and can sumbit your site to search engines if you request it. If you need something more advanced, we can refer you to an expert who specializes in SEO.

Do you provide printing services?

No, Epik is a design studio only. However, we’ll provide you with print-ready files for your project, and can point you in the right direction if you have questions about getting things printed.

How long does a logo/website/magazine/whatever usually take to produce?

It depends on a few things: 1) The complexity and requirements of the projects. For example, a custom online store with a blog will take significantly longer than a simple 3 page website. 2) How quickly you are able to review proofs and provide feedback. The design process depends largely on communication! 3) The extent of revisions required. Sometimes a design looks great right out of the box, and sometimes it requires a lot more tweaking and perfecting.

As a very general estimate, you can expect a typical web project to be under construction from 4-8 weeks from start to finish. Logo projects usually take a few weeks.

Do you do Flash websites?

No, we don’t. In the past, I have done Flash intros for websites, but these days animated intros are going the way of the dinosaur. I made the decision to focus on HTML and CSS based sites, which provide better optimization for search engines and are much more versatile in terms of design and layout.

I’m very excited about the relaunch of the Epik website, which is finally live! After several years of freelancing, the old site was in dire need of a do-over – my web design knowledge has expanded a great deal since I started out on this adventure, and the old site wasn’t reflecting my skills very well.

The new site is brighter, cleaner (both the visual style and the coding), and a lot more current-looking than the old one. I spent a lot of time improving the portfolio section, and also just finished the integrated blog (you’re reading it right now!), which uses WordPress and Thesis 1.8 as a framework.

Below are some screenshots comparing the old and new style.

Old…

Old Epik home page

Old Epik portfolio page

…and new

New Epik home page

New Epik portfolio page

I’ll be making tweaks and edits for the next little while (and also creating a mobile-friendly version of the site) so I’d appreciate you letting me know if you come across any bugs (please describe the issue and what browser you’re using). Comments and feedback are also welcome!