I’d have to say that pretty much 80% of our business comes from the youth industry.  A lot of eco-friendly, natural parenting businesses use our services and we’ve made a name for ourselves in that field.  That’s great!  But it’s also refreshing to do “other” things as well isn’t it?  :)

This website is a bit on the personal side for myself.  The website I designed here was for my personal trainer.  I’m a little biased, BUT, he is the absolute best personal trainer around.  You’ll find my story on his website if you have a free moment to read it.  Hopefully it inspires you if you are in the same situation that I was in.

So back to the design – this site was built on a WordPress platform to maximize the client’s ability to edit the site himself, if he ever decides to do so.  Wordpress is beautifully built on the back-end to be very friendly to clients that may not have time to “learn a new program” and it’s great because it’s absolutely FREE.  Umm…yes…beautiful!  ;)  You do have to keep up with the updates to protect your site’s integrity, however, it’s a fab CMS and what we primarily use for all of our non-ecommerce website clients.

Client link:  The Sterling Effect

Project completed: May 4, 2012

Are you completely happy with your logo?  Shouldn’t you be?  I mean, it IS your company’s identity isn’t it?  Well guess what….we weren’t 100% happy with our logo / branding either so we made the leap and rebranded iCreativeMedia!  Woohoo!  Here’s our snazzy new logo:

So let’s see how long we stay happy with it!  I’d say we’re going to like this one for a long time.  We do NOT plan on rebranding again as it does take some effort to get all aspects redone such as your business cards, print media items and web graphics.  As designers our projects usually sit on the back burner for months, sometimes years, just as the shoemaker that has holes in his soles, we too have waited on this redesign for a long time.

We hope you like our new signature!  Simple.  Creative.  Modern.  Love it!

– iCreativeMedia Team

AMP Diapers is one of our clients that we work with daily.  They are based in Winnipeg, Canada and we must say, we absolutely adore them!  This week we designed two new packaging labels for the new AMP Diapers release.  One Swim Diaper hang tag and a Belly Band Wrap Design for the new All-in-One Diaper.  The owner of AMP Diapers wanted to keep the design very simple and to the point.

Swim Diaper Hang Tag Design - Front side in English - Back side in French

Packaging design in Canada is a bit different as they must have the same size lettering for the English language as well as the French.  IF you use both languages on the package of course.  This can be a little challenging on the clutter-side of things if you have to have all of the information on one side like we do in the belly band design here.  It’s much easier to “keep it clean” on the hang tag design since we have two sides to place each language on.

Client Link: AMP Diapers  |  AMP Diapers on Facebook

Project completed: April 3, 2012

First let me just say that these folks are GREAT to work with!  Very quick to respond to designs and they come prepared with enough information for each project!  The key to a great client / designer relationship is knowing what you want, or at least having an idea, and hiring a designer that you know can deliver the type of work that you’re looking for.

As I said in my last business card post:  When you’re dealing with business cards you really should keep things simple.  Remember, you’re not writing a novel here, you’re just wanting the other person to CALL or EMAIL you, right?  You can explain anything you need to on the phone or via email rather than caking it all on your business card and making it look:

1. Cluttered
2. Overwhelming
3. Ugly – no nice way to say it!

Depending on what your company has set up already will depend on what you put on your card.  If you have a website then most definitely add the web address.  Your website should contain most of the information your business contacts will need to hire you for the service you’re soliciting.  In a nutshell you should include the following so you can be contacted:

• Name
• Website (adding a qr code can be quite handy here)
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• BRIEF blurb about your service offered

One of my biggest pet peeves is receiving a business card from someone that has tried to cram every little bit of information on the card that they possibly can.  I take one look at it and think, do I really want to read all of this?  I just want to call the guy….do I really need to know everything he can do all on one card?  I typically get a feeling of being overwhelmed by the card and lay it down – never to be picked up again.

Just remember – keep it simple.  Give them the contact info they need and let your website tell them everything they need to know.  If you don’t have a website – they probably just need to call you and you can fill them in on everything you can do for them.

Client Link: My Baby Experts  |  ShariCriso.com

Project completed: Feb. 28, 2012

This was a fun little project for Calley over at The Eco Chic.  Over the past 5 years The Eco Chic blog has evolved and improved and this year Calley wanted to take it to the next level.  We upgraded her WordPress blog and fixed some issues that had been going on with her site for the past couple of years.  While doing that we also gave her site a fresh new look featuring her favorite color, tiffany blue, and threw in an earthy twist to make The Eco Chic feel more at home.

If you’re in the market for cloth diapers, eco related topics and things of that sort – head on over to the Eco Chic blog and you’ll find a wealth of information on these topics.

Client link:  The Eco Chic Blog

Project completed: February 21, 2012

When you’re dealing with business cards you really should keep things simple.  Remember, you’re not writing a novel here, you’re just wanting the other person to CALL or EMAIL you, right?  You can explain anything you need to on the phone or via email rather than caking it all on your business card and making it look:

1. Cluttered
2. Overwhelming
3. Ugly – no nice way to say it!

Depending on what your company has set up already will depend on what you put on your card.  If you have a website then most definitely add the web address.  Your website should contain most of the information your business contacts will need to hire you for the service you’re soliciting.  In a nutshell you should include the following so you can be contacted:

• Name
• Website (adding a qr code can be quite handy here)
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• BRIEF blurb about your service offered

One of my biggest pet peeves is receiving a business card from someone that has tried to cram every little bit of information on the card that they possibly can.  I take one look at it and think, do I really want to read all of this?  I just want to call the guy….do I really need to know everything he can do all on one card?  I typically get a feeling of being overwhelmed by the card and lay it down – never to be picked up again.

Just remember – keep it simple.  Give them the contact info they need and let your website tell them everything they need to know.  If you don’t have a website – they probably just need to call you and you can fill them in on everything you can do for them.

This morning I completed an ad that will appear in the next issue of Niagara Baby, a canadian baby magazine.  The ad is for Lisa over at The Cloth Diaper Shop.  This is a full page ad and although I do quite a few ads per month, this one I especially like because it’s not cluttered.

Here’s a tip: you have just a couple of seconds to catch your reader’s eye.  Do you think they’re going to read the novel you write on your ad or be more apt to check out your website if they see a cute pic and a few key details about your business?  I know myself, when I’m flipping through a magazine the pictures catch my eye and if they have some services I might be interested in, I scan their QR code or type in their site on my iPhone for later viewing if I don’t have time at the moment to fully look at their site.  Have your novel on your website….not on your ad!

~ Stacey ~

Did you know we make welcome pages for your facebook page?  Well we do!

What is a Facebook welcome page?  It’s the page that your visitors land on before they LIKE your page.  You want to get them to LIKE your facebook page so you can have more followers.  More followers = more possible sales / exposure for your company.

You’ll have two main elements on your facebook page:

• The Profile Image (pictured below on the left)
• The Welcome Page (pictured below on the right)

Can you get to your wall without clicking the LIKE button?  Sure…even though some people design their welcome page to say something like “click LIKE if you want to view our page”.  You can still view it by clicking on the WALL tab over on the bottom left under their profile image.  It’s just a marketing tactic they use when they say you must like them first.

To see more of our client welcome pages click here: Social Media Graphics

A couple of long time clients of ours wrote a book called 1001 Things to LOVE About Military Life and came to us for informational website design and development.  After working with these ladies for the past few years I can honestly say they live and breathe military life and are without a doubt an amazing support group and wealth of knowledge for families that may just be entering into the military world as well as those that have been in the service for a while.  I would recommend this book to all who are currently serving our wonderful country and those that may be getting ready to enlist!

One of the authors, Tara Crooks, came to us a few years back to develop Army Wife Network along with several army characters representing their Household 6 troop.  This website is geared towards helping Army Wives through their daily lives.  They can network with other wives in similar situations and really have a great support group to help them through the ups and downs of military life.

Client link:  Love Military Life  • Purchase 1001 Things to LOVE About Military Life on Amazon

Project completed: October 29, 2011

Last week we designed a new logo for Diapers and Dandelions.  A company that is already established under another name.  With their name change came a new logo.  Here’s the final logo they selected.

Ever wonder how we get to the final version?  I’m not sure how other designers do this but what we do is get a few notes from you once you place your order for a logo design.  We’ll ask for your color preference, maybe a logo or two that you’ve seen and like, a style preference for your font and so on….  Once we get all of that information we submit a few ideas to you to narrow down to what you want for your company.  On this particular logo we submitted these samples.

The client liked the bottom right logo. the most and asked for a few more tweaks to make it just what they wanted.  Hopefully that helps on what to expect and how the process works for logo design orders.