When a designer such as myself is asked to create a website for artworks as lovely as Phoebe Sophocles’ – who can say “no”? With such lovely textiles to work with, it was easy to make a beautiful site.

Phoebe first invited me to her amazing house on a local mesa to get a feel for her style. This alone was a treat for my senses, to see the taste, colors and textures used to build her home. Never mind the homemade bread and soup she offered for lunch!

But back to websites … Phoebe’s work was taking off in and she was ready to have an online presence. She wanted to be able to update the site herself, and most of all, to capture the fabrics, colors and products in the website design itself. Which, of course, is what we do best here at Dayzign. We also integrated the site look with a new logo.

Scarves, table runners, pillows, door hangings and custom textiles can all be viewed on Phoebe’s lovely new site, http://www.phoebesophoclestextiles.com/. Thanks for your trust and energy Phoebe, we love working with you!

Below are a few examples of identities from various business that are going strong with eye-catching website and logo creation.

Logo design and website design for Tommasi Public Relations

Business identity design for a financial management company.

Logo design and building sign design for a Telluride, CO law firm

The dZi Foundation logo and identity design

With the new decade, business facades are changing. San Juan Mountain Guides (SJMG), a southwestern Colorado tour company, understands that clients now expect fresh ideas. In order to catch a client’s eye, and become more profitable in 2010, they decided to adapt.

One great way to stay abreast of their field, SJMG decided, was to revitalize their corporate identity. They hired Dayzign Graphics to re-invent their image. A dynamite new logo was the keystone to SJMG’s marketing upgrades. Dayzign worked closely with SJMG to capture the precise look and feel of the company’s image and philosophy.

Dayzign then went on to rev up and redesign SJMG’s website in order to bolster the company’s online business appeal. Several templates were made to meet the needs of SJMG’s improved website including a home page (above), and a Program page with drop down menus that feature the top-of-the-line services:

Additionally, Dayzign created a Trip page template, using content from SJMG’s tours organized into attractive tabs:

As part of the package, SJMG received a corporate identity manual, including the new digital logo files, company colors and logo uses, so that all of their company’s promotional materials would be consistent and recognizable.

Says owner Clint Cook, “Dayzign Graphics offered a high level of professional logo and web design customized for our unique needs. Kellie has a good eye for both appealing visual design and practical navigation. I would recommend Dayzign to any small business thats need a polished identity.”

SJMG is taking the lead in their industry and becoming a highly profitable business in 2010. You can view the new site when it is launched in late February at www.ourayclimbing.com.

If you or your family is looking for an adventure in the San Juan Mountains this winter, I truly recommend San Juan Mountain Guides and their experienced staff.

Kahtoola is a warm company with a lot of heart and enthusiasm for making high performance snowshoe and crampon systems. Much like Danny Giovale, who founded the company on his own adventures and need for better equipment, many of Kahtoola’s employees are outdoor enthusiasts and equipment connoisseurs.

Giovale and staff work hard to develop great products with patented technology and they wanted their website to reflect just that. Dayzign Graphics, and its group of talented partners, collaborated with Giovale and staff to program and design a website that conveys Kahtoola’s commitment and vision.

Lots of great features now enhance the company’s site. Today, Kahtoola.com browsers can engage with interactive flash slide shows. The flash graphics allow viewers to rollover each product’s photos and read more about the company’s superior technology.

Additionally, video pop up windows show product how-to’s, and sophisticated shopping capabilities make it easy to purchase products.

Dayzign’s team effort ensures that specialists in web building and graphic design are on-hand with the expertise needed to create the ideal website. The result is a site that speaks to the market and lets the heart of the product shine.

“We’re loving the new site!” Says Danny.

Kahtoola is definitely the company you can trust. Learn more about their winter travel systems here.

Thanks to Jen Saunders, Paul Berg, Jesse Waitz and Jason Nelson for their incredible talent on this project.

How is that possible? Blog-style websites provide the platform that’s easy to update, have lots of add-ons like slide shows, forms, social networking feeds, and so much more. And, yes, you can access them from your phone!

Dayzign Graphics makes the transition simple. From crafting your company logo to customizing your blog-style site, we do it all. This is a great opportunity to update or revamp your business look, with all the latest cutting edge web features at your fingertips.

Skyward Mountaineering owner Vince Anderson did just that. Vince found his previous website was not simple enough to update, so he rarely did. Now, he easily posts information to his website from anywhere via his Blackberry. He uses his “twitter feed” to post current photos and to keep his clients abreast of opportunities.

If you really want to have fun, you can explore the plug-ins for blog-style sites, including shopping setups and even your favorite music playlists. We can’t recommend Anderson’s music playlist to you, however, we do recommend you visit his site to see how much fun he’s having.

“Thanks! It looks great!” Says Vince.

Vince Anderson is an internationally certified mountain guide and can take you anywhere in the world you want to go!

Housing Opportunities for Women (H.O.W.) is at the forefront of a national movement to end homelessness in Chicago. Last year they assisted over 900 people – nearly half of whom are children – in finding housing, education, nutrition and work opportunities. Their goal is to empower their clients toward lifelong self-sufficiency.

Despite tight economic times, this nonprofit continues to have greater fundraising and program success each year. How, you may ask? By going top-notch.

Each year, H.O.W.’s fundraising event is billed as a sophisticated, high-class program. The gala dinner includes caterers, entertainment and speakers. With professional invitations, Save the Date cards and dinner programs – all designed to match by Dayzign Graphics –  H.O.W. attracts a bigger and more generous audience each year.

Nonprofits historically are cautious about spending too much on promotions, understandably. However, H.O.W. found that by presenting themselves as a first class organization, they attracted a more supportive following. Their image helps to re-assure investors that their donations are truly being used to make a difference, by a truly effective organization.

Director of Development & Communications for H.O.W. Jen Patterson said of last year’s invitation, “The invitation looks wonderful … It was a joy to work with you, and I hope that we will have an opportunity to do so again in the future.”

If you’re interested in learning more about this fabulous organization, please watch the video of their work here.

Not everybody has the confidence to start completely anew on their dream business vision, but Lynn and Roger Beach did.

After a fun filled shopping spree to Vegas, they had all the inventory and nowhere to sell. They were ready to start their new business immediately, and thus Madison Boutique, and entirely online shopping “department store”, was born.

Dayzign Graphics was brought in at the start to create the entire business image, and pull in key players for programming the website. Dayzign walked the Beaches through website basics, and together they came up with the vision Lynn wanted.

Finally the site programming was coordinated, including an interactive online “Flip” catalog on the home page, which allows viewers to turn pages of a catalog online.

Early in February the site was launched and Lynn and Roger are able to update their own site with new inventory and photos as products come and go. A back-end data base keeps track of what’s in stock.

“My husband and I… enjoyed working with you and were pleased with our choice having selected you to pull off a professional and classy website for us. We were also impressed by your knowledge of the services we were seeking which made it a smooth and painless process… You provided us with a wonderful service and much more. Your professionalism exuded every step along the process.” Says Lynn.

Time for champagne! And congratulations to the two most learned website entrepreneurs we know!

For great online clothing shopping, please visit www.themadisonboutique.com.

Having a lot to offer your clients can be magnetic. Your energy and enthusiasm for the product or service you offer can be a genuine selling point. Included in this realm is staying fresh with new ideas, information and resources for your market.

Sometimes it’s hard to feel energy and innovation in our business. This can be due to tough economic times, too much time in the office (“All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy!”), frustration in your field or in your world, or just plain mid-winter blahs. The American ideal of hard work is important, but there is also a time when a new perspective can be more valuable.

Doing something you love and taking a step away from the office can be just the thing you need to feel renewed energy towards your business. Travel and new experiences (or old ones we don’t do much anymore) can bring you home with fresh ideas – perhaps just enough to keep your clients interested and give you an edge over the competition.

Especially this time of year, consider taking a step away to do something that you love. Not for your kids, not for your partner (though we love them), but something that really lights YOUR fire. Perhaps it’s taking a boat out somewhere warm. Or the skiing trip you never find time for. Even a day at the spa or a weekend trip with good friends can do wonders for elevating your enthusiasm in general.

If your “getaway” happens to be related to your field, all the better for business. Spend the money on the conference you’ve always wanted to attend. It may be a short term drain, but most likely it’s a long term  investment. Or consider taking time for something RELATED to your field, that hits more closely to why you originally found yourself in this business. For example, if you manufacture outdoor gear, perhaps taking time for the outdoor adventure that you love.

This February Dayzign will be seeking creative inspiration in week long, mixed media art class in Baja, Mexico with Susan Billings. I’ll be exploring painting and drawing techniques that will greatly enhance my creative sphere for design, and my creative vision in general. I’ll be back in mid February if you want to catch me when the creative juices are flowing!

Good luck finding YOUR muse!

Mountain Trip is a well-known mountain guiding business, best known for leading trips to the top of Denali. The company leads climbing expeditions around the globe, and runs a successful business with a large following around the world. Their previous website did not reflect the caliber of the company, the reputation, and the quality of services they were offering. In order to establish an internet presence that reflected their growing business, the company undertook a complete redesign of their outdated website.

The new website includes an entirely new and exciting design, well-organized navigation, a media library, contact forms, rollover informational boxes, tabbed content for easier reading, slide shows and more. The company also maintains a large library of expedition dispatches, so family and friends can follow their loved ones’ trips. Mountain Trip’s main blog was “fed” into their home page, so that each time they write a new blog post, the home page is automatically updated with fresh content.

Says Todd Rutledge, co-owner, “Our mountain guiding business has tripled in the past five years and we needed a website that would better convey the highly personal attention we provide to our clients, as well as the momentum that our company currently has in the guiding industry.  Kellie worked closely with us to develop a completely new website that is packed with easy to access information and is visually engaging…we are thrilled to have found Dayzign Graphics.”

If you are looking for an adventure, call Todd or Bill, owners, for a good time. 970-369-1153

The business is a well-established, Telluride, Colorado company which previously marketed to their clients through word of mouth. The company decided to enter the web world to take advantage of further marketing opportunities to gain new clients.

“I see it as the next step in the growth in my business,” says owner, Jen Mann. “I’ve always wanted to do a website because it’s professional … I think it completes the whole advertising and networking plan.”

So far, Jen has kept nice and busy this year!