I started with the usual brainstorming / sketching. However, since I am already very familiar with the group I didn’t stay in this stage very long. I had quite a few ideas swimming around so I really felt comfortable getting into Illustrator a little earlier than normal.

My first concept was based on strength and grit. These ideas describe such groups very well. The kids work very hard and dedicate much of their time / life to the activity. Also since it was the first year of the indoor group, I wanted to make sure that the logo didn’t portray them as amateurs. Also, another level of imagery is shown with the letter ‘I’ inside ‘C’ to show the idea of the group being indoor.

The second concept (which was the chosen concept) focuses a lot on modern and futuristic ideals. I used gradients and shadows to give the concept depth and used clean lines for that modern look. The overall impression of the logo shows an indoor arena (floor). The letter ‘C’ looks like a tenor drum mallet striking a drum. Example can be seen HERE.

Concept 3 is the one that I pulled out all the abstract imagery. When you immediately look at the logo you see “OCi”. This is true, but there are so many other things hidden inside the logo itself. The first idea you might see is the tip of a drumstick inside the letter “C”. Another thing is the 45 degree angle going into the letter ‘i’ using negative space. Inside this you can envision a bass drum mallet in playing position. If you tilt your head 90 degrees to the left you might see a person (O is the head, C is the torso and arm, i is the hand). This person has good posture and is in playing position. There are probably other things inside this concept that I haven’t even caught yet. If you see something, please let me know by leaving a comment.

They looked over the concepts and chose number 2 to move forward. From here they told me some of the things that they were concerned about. They thought that it might be good to have the web address included since “OCI” is fairly obscure and not everyone might know what it means. They also said that even though the figure above the ‘I’ looks cool, they wanted to see the Oregon Crusaders emblem there instead. So I got to work and came up with 3 revisions based on their suggestions. Revision Set 1 can be seen HERE.

We were on the right track but it didn’t quite feel right and they agreed. You couldn’t really read the web address on smaller variations of the logo. Also, they decided that they would like to have the full name “OCIndoor” instead of “OCI”. Also, they liked the idea of the compass emblem but wanted to stick to the green color scheme and use a more accurate version of it. With those ideas, I came up with 4 more revisions. Revision Set 2 can be seen HERE.

It was almost ready, but there was still some more tweaking to be had. The next versions of the logo can be shown below.

From here we thought we were done. But there was 1 thing that occured that passed by everyone until later. For some reason, the shadow effect was gone if there was a background used other than white. I had to manually add the effects using colored layers. It was a crude fix but a permanent one. Final versions of the logo can be seen below. Please support the organization by going to their website(s): OCIndoor.org and OregonCusaders.org

First of all… if you feel overwhelmed with incoming work, you probably shouldn’t be reading this article. But now that you are, let’s make the most of it by figuring out a way that will help you finish it with the highest quality and in a timely manner. Every freelancer is faced with this dilemma at some point and I will mention some tools that will help you and your client feel better about the situation.

- Take a deep breathe and think things through. Unless you plan on canceling the project and refunding the deposit, you are in it for the long haul so you might as well make the most of it.

- Write daily tasks for yourself at the beginning of the day. Get the easiest things done quickly so that you can create momentum for yourself and end the day strong. Check off the items as they are completed.

- Wake up an hour earlier or stay up an hour later (for you night owls). The extra hour can be an extremely valuable tool. More time = More work done = Less Stress.

- If it looks like you aren’t going to be able to meet a deadline, tell a client AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Most clients are going to understand a short delay and will appreciate knowing. The less a client knows, the more they begin to worry. This can get really dangerous because it is really easy to push work back further and further until something pops. If you use this, don’t make it a habit either because then you are just making excuses for unfinished work.

- Don’t take any more work! No need to make matters worse by adding more work to your plate. Get a couple of projects out of the way quickly and you can begin taking clients again.

- Outsource! This is a great time for you to find someone to help with the overflow of work. Find a local designer on a craigslist or find one online at a site like Elance, Guru or oDesk. This is a good way to take some stress off your shoulders and find a business contact that you can use later.

- Have you tried all of these methods and still feel like there just isn’t time? Contact the latest client and let them know that you don’t have the time to complete the project now. There are two things a client can say. Ok, please give me back my deposit and I will find another designer. Or they might just be ok with it and give you a longer deadline and/or later start time.

There are other ways to make things easier, these are just some ways I help manage my work. They don’t take much time to do, but can save HOURS of work later. Have another method that I didn’t mention? Leave a comment and let me know!

First of all, CushyCMS isn’t a full-blown CMS application. It isn’t meant for someone to edit their entire site like most are. It is for those clients who have never tried their hands at html and the like (which for me is quite a few). It does, however, couple ease of use AND easy implementation. For the designer/developer, all you need to do is add class=”cushycms” and that area then becomes editable. It is even possible to add to the <head> tags or even embedded php. From there, the client would log in to their user account and edit the information just like they would in a Text Editor. If your worried about the client messing with the design, this is perfect since they won’t even see it. You can also set permissions to which pages you want the ‘editors’ to see.

Though the idea of this program is great, there are quite a few limitations that will keep this from being “the cms”.

- Weird HTML errors: The code is far from perfect, sometimes I noticed the functions doubling or setting ‘/’ tags where I didn’t want them. The only way to fix them was to use the HTML editor and fix it manually. Though this doesn’t happen this often and is fairly difficult to recreate, I am still worried that the client will be able to do it.

- Branding at $28/mo: As a business venture, this is very smart thing for them to do. However, it will turn away a lot of developers that have access to Open Source options that they are comfortable with and can brand for free. For a lot of designers that aren’t heavy on the developer side, this remains a pretty good option if you have a lot of clients that will use it.

- Hosted on their server: This is the potential deal breaker that turns most people away. There is no way to host the CMS locally and can be very unnerving since you have to provide FTP info for your site to edit files. Also, clients having to go to cushycms.com to log in (or site.clienteditor.com for the pro package) can be viewed as unprofessional by a lot of clients. They claim that it would be ultimately more expensive to make the remote hosting option available. Whether this is true or not who knows, but I know I would love it if they did. And what happens if CushyCMS.com falls through? Will we have dozens of clients contact us about it? That could be a lot more work in the long run.

Though not perfect, CushyCMS remains a good option for many. It’s an attractive solution for designers and users alike who are looking for ease of use. There requires almost no instruction for the client to use if they know how to use a word processor. It is something that I will continue to use on a case-by-case basis. Ultimately, it will be up to my clients and I as to what CMS solution will be best for them.

The project started with a logo.  I began by brainstorming ideas for the company. Obviously they worked with stone, so it had to be strong and precise. Granite is thick so I also wanted the font to have a thickness to it so that it would match the feel of the product they are selling. The client actually chose the first composition with practically no revisions:

The icon represents a block of granite tile with an ‘M’ abstractly set inside. This helps to give literal meaning as well as artistic meaning to their logo. I focused on the blues and greys because of the contrasting nature of the colors together. The client didn’t have any pre-conceived notions about the logo, so it was up to me to come up with something. I was very fortunate that they liked it.

Next, I moved on to the web design portion of the project. The client didn’t have any copy written out, or even a concrete idea of the information structure of the site. I had to do a lot of research on other similar sites to get an idea of the information that should be displayed. I ended up with a simple/ clean design layout that focused on the facts that I believe the client found important. Click Here to see the design.

The development phase was a fairly simple one, once the client knew what they wanted. I implemented the images using standardized XHTML and CSS. I also used an open source gallery program and implemented lightbox into it (similar to my blog). I also created and styled a simple contact form so clients can get in touch with them easily. Lastly, I found a CMS solution that the client was comfortable using and set up each page with the correct information. CushyCMS is the system I used for this particular site. It is easy to install and incredibly easy for a novice web user to edit.

After the site was complete and online, the client expressed intrest in a Flash header. I told him that it was not a problem and had it created and installed in less than 24 hours. To see the site live, please go to McLeodsSetInStone.com. This project was through the management of Barton Hosting & Design.

Don’t be mistaken, I have been designing for a long time and just felt the need to crossover to an easier platform for updates. Feel free to leave comments about my work or just say ‘hi’ if you are inclined to do so. I may just return the favor .

While your here, don’t forget to take a gander over at my gallery for some of the work I have done in the past few years. Also, if you would like to contact me, I have a page for that as well. And for those of you who are looking for a designer on your next project, please take a moment and fill out my design questionnaire form.

Other than that I don’t have much to say, I will continue by posting case-studies and other articles asap! Adios for now.