Big Ideas for Small Business

January 4, 2010

New Year, New Phone, New Address

Filed under: The Daily Slug — meridiandesign @ 8:26 pm

Hello and Happy New Year!

I am starting 2010 with a new phone number. I was a lucky girl and have been issued a Google Voice number.  Please be sure to update your records with this new number:

(919) 627-1172

It has also come to my attention that many of my clients failed to receive my newsletters about my move to Durham way back in May/June of 2009. After tracking down the issue, I realized that it coincided with my switch to using Vertical Response to send my newsletters. After speaking with tech support, I found out that to conform to spam laws, their servers do not send to generic email prefixes as a default. These prefixes include info@, mail@, admin@, etc. To remedy the problem, one has to speak with a tech support agent who will unlock these prefixes. That was a big lesson to me and one I hope will help any of you who use Vertical Response and/or have customers saying they don’t receive your newsletters.

So, in case you did not receive my previous newsletter about my move to Durham, I offer a link to you here and now: http://www.meridiandesign.net/newsletters/May-31-09.html

My new mailing address is:
Heather Gordon
903 W. Maynard Ave.
Durham, NC 27704

What’s Happened Since the Move?
GBstudioI have taken a studio at Golden Belt here in Durham and now have a proper office/studio away from home. It’s a revelation to me after working at home for so many years. I have standard 9-5 work hours and share the building with 47 other visual artists.

We are a diverse and motley crew who come and go as we please, however, we do have 3 public events per month that draw hundreds of people. If you’re interested to know more about the Artists at Golden Belt, check out our Facebook fan page. Otherwise, you may want to see some photos of this beautifully renovated building where they used to manufacture cloth bags for the tobacco industry.

DAWposter-bitwiseIn the fall of 2009, I was fortunate to have designed the posters, postcards, t-shirts and other print materials for the Durham Art Walk which is a 2-day art event in downtown Durham organized by the Durham Arts Council and is the largest studio stroll in North Carolina. This design will be used for the spring Durham Art Walk with a change to the color palette and a limited run of silkscreened t-shirts.

And most recently, I won 2nd place at the Durham Art Guild’s 55th Annual Juried Art Show with juror, Maria Magdelena Compos-Pons. I was pleased to have my most recent work with binary visualizations get a nod at this locally prestigious competition. There is a brief video of the awards reception posted on YouTube.

If you’d like to see the Durham Art Walk poster and see my winning artwork, please see my art website.

I’m currently working on a site design for a local Durham small business called Cozy, and a redesign project for Meadowbrook Nursery in Marion, NC.

I hope once February comes, I’ll be able to resume my regular newsletters, so please keep me updated with your latest news so I can spread the word.

Happy Belated Holidays and Best Wishes for 2010

Heather Gordon

December 15, 2009

Graphite Objects

Filed under: Digital Diversions — meridiandesign @ 2:36 pm

Graphite Objects from Agelio Batle

San Francisco artist Agelio Batle has created dozens of graphite objects by casting everyday items in pencil lead or graphite. They are not only functional mark-making tools, but are quite beautiful. My thanks to Diane Ericson for turning me on to these.

You can view his work here:
http://www.asbworkshop.com/home1.html

December 7, 2009

Asheville Tileworks launched

Filed under: The Daily Slug — meridiandesign @ 10:40 am

screenshot-atwI’ve recently launched a website for Asheville Tileworks. ATW makes tiles for gifts and display, creates and installs custom installations, and produces commemorative tiles. My thanks to Diana, Michael, and Celeste for being such great clients to work with.

www.ashevilletileworks.com

December 3, 2009

Storyline Visualization

Filed under: Digital Diversions — meridiandesign @ 8:52 am

visualBookDo you remember those Create Your Own Adventure storybooks? You could choose your storyline along the way, flipping back and forth through the book to unfold the storyline in your own unique way.

Christian Swinehart has created a set of  beautiful visualizations for 12 CYOA books. To begin his process, he divides each book into narrative and ending pages. Then applies a color coding system. Each book reveals its own unique branching decisions and frequencies which ultimately form the final visualization.

Be sure to see his website for a detailed explanation and don’t forget to see one of these visualizations in action.

August 12, 2009

Sew WOW Magazine Project Launched

Filed under: The Daily Slug — meridiandesign @ 9:00 am

Sew WOW Magazine CoverA few days ago, the owner of Waechter’s, Joyce Yarling, and I unveiled our latest project…Sew WOW Magazine.  The idea was to create a digital magazine with flipping capability and linking features that would showcase children’s clothing kits that are fun to sew and wear. It’s a virtual catalog where all the content is clickable and leads you to the product purchase on a storefront site.

To make this idea a reality, we combined our efforts with Joyce developing the content (features, hiring a photographer, creating clothing designs, writing the articles), while I handled the programming, design, and implementation. I developed the flipbook magazine in Flash using ActionScript to customize our functionality. The product links lead to a fully customized MIVA Merchant Storefront with all the bells and whistles.

Please take a peek and see what we’ve done –> www.sewwow.com

July 3, 2009

ToneMatrix

Filed under: Digital Diversions — meridiandesign @ 10:21 am

ToneMatrixIt’s a grid. It has audio tones. The beat moves left to right. The tones move up and down. Click a box and it makes a sound. Fun, addictive, simple, and beautiful. Go play with it.

Here’s how Andre Michelle (the creator)  describes ToneMatrix:

Simple sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16step sequencer. Each triggered step causes a force on the underlaying wave-map, which makes it more cute.

May 31, 2009

David Lynch Presents : Interview Project

Filed under: Digital Diversions — meridiandesign @ 9:00 pm

20,000 mile road trip across the US, 121 strangers, 4-5 minute interviews. This is a must see. Starts Monday, June 1st at the David Lynch website.

Visit the Interview Project website >>

Poster Design for UNC

Filed under: The Daily Slug — meridiandesign @ 8:57 pm

MEMS posterI had the pleasure of designing an 11″ x 17″ poster for the Medieval & Early Modern Studies department at UNC in Chapel Hill. My design made use of a portion of a Theodore De Bry engraving which was then digitally hand-colored using a graphic tablet. Big fun.

See a larger version >>

Liz Aiello website launched

Filed under: The Daily Slug — meridiandesign @ 8:53 pm

liz aiello screenshotVoiceover is a fascinating field of work I knew nothing about before handling the redesign of Liz Aiello’s website. Liz offers voiceover services and comes equipped with an ISDN-ready studio for quick file delivery. Her website offers video and audio demos along with an extensive photo gallery of her acting experience.

See the website >>

February 20, 2009

Using Flickr to Socialize Your Products

Filed under: SEO & Marketing — meridiandesign @ 10:01 am

Sarah Worsham has written a nice article on using Flickr to create a social community through posting product pictures. If you’re a retailer with a website, give this article a read.

from Practical Ecommerce by Sarah Worsham

Flickr, a photo sharing site, can be a powerful tool for promoting your products. Not only can you upload images of your products, where they can be seen throughout the Flickr website, but you can encourage your customers to participate and socialize with your company and products by uploading and sharing their own images of your products.

Included in the article:

  • The Action Shot
  • Social Hour
  • Tag, You’re It
  • Kick Start
  • Rewards
  • Who Uses Flickr on Their Site?
  • Related Articles

Read the full article

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