Years ago I stumbled upon a book by Guy Kawasaki called Rules For Revolutionaries.  An extraordinary book on many levels, but I guess it only confirmed that I was indeed a fan of his writing – then later is was The Art Of The Start.  His writing style and common sense approach have left an impact on me, stuck in my head for all these years.

So today, someone approached me about his new freelance endeavor and asked me to consider the name he had chosen.  The first thing that jumped into my head was an article from Mr. Kawasaki about naming a company:

1. Begin with letters early in the alphabet.
2. Avoid names starting with X and Z.
3. Embody verb potential – A great name has the potential to turn into a verb.
4. Sound different.
5. Embody logic.
6. Avoid the trendy.

Here’s a test:  If you told your company or product name to ten strangers, would at least half of them guess what business you’re in?

Sounding different + spelling different + embodying logic = a memorable name.

Genius Guy, pure genius.

Our client has given us one of the highest of compliments – they’ve asked us to refresh their website with a completly new web design! Not only did we give her a refreshed look and feel, but we also included a number of upgrades such as a content management system, a java-scripted search engine, a lightbox install for photo displays and an encrypted email address (to keep the spammers from grabbing her email address).

All in all it was a fun project – but aren’t they all? Check it out and let us know what you think.  << See Their Website

I really enjoy Hugh MacLeod’s cartoons as well as him as a person. I get his Tweets from Twitter and they’re almost better than his usual shtick! Today I stumbled upon an old post of his called, “How To Be Creative” Probably the best pieces of advice anyone could give a person are found in and around this article. Give it a read – maybe two. He’s nailed it on the head with this one.

I have an iPhone. Call me a sucker. It’s pretty and shiny, so who could help themselves?

So I ordered a new shield to protect said iPhone. It was super cheap. So cheap in fact, that it must not have been proofread at all.

Click Here to see what I mean.

Every once in a while, I get requests to help with landing pages for commercial emailers. It’s always of interest to me to see how people react to these pages, for example, do they sign up be because it’s a pretty site?

Would they be more inclined to sign up if the page had a more “corporate” appeal?

Hmm . . . Always interesting.

<< see website

Announcing the opening of Citizen Desk – Wausau’s very own co-working space. We’re in high gear preparing the workspace with new desks, fresh paint and all kinds of niceties — see for yourself at Washington Square, 300 Third Street suite 400, Wausau. Our space is on the fourth floor overlooking Downtown Wausau and Rib Mountain.

For more information, please contact us at (408) 888-2657 or info@citizendesk.com

<< see web design

One of my oldest clients asked if we could create a campaign for their fund raiser- we had free reign to develop the event name, logo, website and branding. We also developed a mailer, advertising and wrote some copy in conjunction with one of our favorite partners in Santa Barbara. This is the kind of project creative people dream about!

<< see web design

<< see logo detail

Created a logo, business cards and brochure for a new salon in town. The owner is an old family friend, so I was inclined to go the extra mile for her. She wanted a modern, yet edgy image with a younger appeal. I think we nailed it pretty well – at least one person a day stops in to tell the owner they love her new logo.

And that my friends, is what it’s all about!

<< see logo detail

<< see brochure

My sister-in-law is getting married, and like every good brother-in-law with a design firm — I volunteered to do their website. It was a very high pressure project actually, since if was a major family event and all – it had to be “just right.”

We incorporated some interesting technology utilizing Flickr.com’s toolset to display photos at a gallery that came out really nice.  I also embedded a Google Map with directions as well as a custom PHP script for questions and song requests.

<< see website

Our client needed a new image and website — and it had to be done quickly. We were able to design a complete package in relatively short order as well as compress the entire site to one page. Pretty clever, huh? Yeah, that’s how we like to “roll” here!

Utilizing a javascript library called Lightbox, we were able to access all of our photos and text from nifty roll-overs clicks. It’s a little unorthodox, but the result is effective.

<< see website