Scouting locations in the San Juan Mountains

A week long snowshoe photoshoot in southwest Colorado – what could be more perfect? High peaks, rocky crags, icy creeks and just plain endless scenery.

Like every outdoor company, Kahtoola needed great lifestyle photos of their products for marketing. Website, catalog, trade shows – you name it – this growing Flagtaff, Arizona company was ready for it. When Dayzign spoke with them last year, we suggested southwest Colorado as the perfect fit. They went for it, and the planning began…

Photographer John Burcham in action

Models, location scouting, shot lists, clothing lists, and budgets. Dayzign teamed with Jen Saunders Design of Flagstaff and put together the perfect team. Photographer John Burcham, with his years of outdoor adventure photography experience, was the ideal person for the job. Dayzign began preliminary location scouting.

The shoot began with two days of final location scouting with John and his Assistant Ken Hamilton. Products to be shot were the fabulous Kahtoola Mountain Snowshoe, Running Snowshoe, Microspikes and Crampons.

Day two Art Director Jen Saunders arrived with the wardrobe. Jackets, shoes, hats gloves and products were organized to model sizes and shoot days.

Shooting snowshoes between 25 walls of avalanche debris

Day three our first models arrived looking fit and fantastic! We actually shot this day in the middle of a gigantic pile of avalanche debris – it formed a twenty five foot snow wall on either side of the road for 300 feet. It was an amazing feature, and a true photo opportunity.

The rest of the week we shot product close ups, big mountain views, hut photos, crampons on icy terrain and ski town views of models walking dogs in Microspikes. (Thanks to Dawn Glanc for loaning us her beautiful chocolate lab Lucy for the shoot!)

It was amazing to watch John, our pro photographer and his assistant Keny work through all the outdoor conditions, from warm and sunny to full-on 60mph winds at 12,000 feet on a snowy ridge. They were able to produce amazing work the entire week.

Professional photographers Kenny Hamilton and John Burcham shooting in a high mountain hut

Thanks to the entire crew for an amazing, fun and professional experience. We can’t wait to use John’s photos in Kahtoola’s marketing materials and website for 2012.

If you’re in the market for snowshoes or approach crampons or Microspikes, be sure to check out Kahtoola and their super high quality products. Be sure to check out John Burcham‘s photography as well.

If you have a product you’d like Dayzign to organize a photoshoot for, contact kellie@dayzigngraphics.com or (970) 626-4437.

For many personal, service based businesses such as health care – the question that’s often asked is: what makes a client choose to work with you over someone else? Answer: They have to feel comfortable with you, personally.

How do you instill this trust in a potential client before a personal contact is made?

For CoreBalance’s practice, the goal was to create the feeling of warmth and personal service through the new website design. Because today’s sophisticated market uses your website as a way to decide if they feel comfortable working with you,  CoreBalance made their website update a priority.

Here are a few things Dayzign and CoreBalance used to create a effective website and marketing tool:

We wanted to give potential patients a sense of what it feels like to be at the practice. So we designed a trustworthy, professional look and feel. Dayzign used CoreBalance’s website to strengthen their branding further by featuring their logo, company colors and graphic elements into a warm, inviting site. We also created a “header graphic” at the top of each page that reflects CoreBalance’s clients. The visual brand includes:

• A professionally designed brand and graphics
• Inviting, high-quality photos
• A user-friendly site organization

We backed up the design with substantial content. Dayzign built a blog into CoreBalance’s site where they published researched articles and physical therapy advice that address the concerns of their clientele. The site includes:

• Professional quality writing
• Informative writing, oriented toward what the VIEWER is looking for
• Showing their credentials and future testimonials

Lead every viewer to your site goal. Dayzign built the phone number and “Call to Action” at the top of each page, and additionally at the bottom of each page. A “Join our Mailing List” form was placed on every page as well, encouraging folks to share their email address for marketing purposes. To use your website as a effective marketing tool, be sure to include:

• A clear “Call to Action” to make a sale, educate or get a phone call, depending on what your site goal is
• Have a “Join Our Mailing List” form to collect emails for marketing
• Include your contact information in an obvious location

There are so many features that can be included in your website, depending on your goals, your market and your brand.

Dayzign additionally incorporated media pages with CoreBalance videos and podcasts, along with social networking logos and twitter feed. Through all of these interactive elements, CoreBalance can easily keep their site current, and develop their community following online by providing great content to their viewers.

Of the new website, Owner Amy Flory says,”Kellie has that amazing ability to translate your esoteric ideas into something better than you imagined. She was a dream to work with during the design process, very patient and  informative.  She is uniquely capable of making you feel quite smart while firmly guiding you in the right direction! We are very pleased with the end result and will definitely seek her services in the future!”

Thanks Amy, we loved working with you too! Visit the new CoreBalance website for great information on physical therapy.

For recommendations on your site, contact Dayzign Graphics for  today: (970) 626-4437 or kellie@dayzigngraphics.com .

Mountain Trip is growing fast! This year they were ready to update their website design, and create a more sophisticated website tool that functions as a client management system. They also wanted to capture their “family” style business environment within their online community. Here’s how we did it:

Dayzign updated the website design and added MANY new features, including these:

• Stellar photos and slide shows (Thanks to all our photographers!)
• A Home page slide show that doubles as a marketing tool by highlighting key trips and directing viewers straight to these pages
• Online community development features: Mountain Trip’s a family. We created media pages with videos, and incorporated their podcasts and social networking links throughout the site and blog, so fans can keep up on this adventure community. More planned for the future – stay tuned on this one!
• Of course it’s the details that make a site, so we added lots of classy design touches along the way

Simultaneously we developed a database behind the scenes that is two sided:

1. Clients can sign up for a trip online and their application goes directly into the database
2. Mountain Trip staff can access the database from an Administrative side and enter client data, do searches and export mailing lists for marketing purposes – more development to come!

Content is King

• Content is king in the web world, so Mountain Trip owners Todd and Bill put LOTS of personal touches in their writing.
• They’re also big on Giving Back, and the website features the charities they support, including climbing trips organized exclusively for fundraising
• Dayzign imported MT’s “Trip Reports” blogs from various expeditions, where families can follow their loved ones on their expeditions.  MT guides now update their trips, FROM THE FIELD, all into one website platform. So families have the latest news at their fingertips.

Finally, because the site is built on a WordPress platform, it’s easy for Mountain Trip to update, including adding photos to slide shows, creating new content, adding videos, and even adding Trip Reports remotely from Mt. Everest!

Hats off to Mountain Trip – they walk the walk and are a true role model for a business that does GOOD things. Visit their site for your next adventure!

Here are some website tips and inspirations that have come across our desk this year.

Blogging Tips:

• Be dynamic: No one likes a static site, and a quick and easy way to make sure you don’t have a static site is to add a blog to it. A blog is a superb way to keep your site content fresh. You can use it as a News column, Events column, Tips, and  much more!
• Before writing a new blog post, write down the main thing you want your blog to accomplish. Think about this each time you write a post.
• Add a photo to your blog post – It’s more likely to be read.
• Add Share buttons – Give folks a chance to share your blog post with one easy click to their facebook, twitter or preferred social network.
• Break up big chunks of text. Blog readers skim. Make sure your posts and pages are easy to digest.
• Comment on your favorite 5 blogs. This brings traffic back to your blog when folks click on your name to see who you are. It also develops your blogging community.

Website Tips:

1. Understand your viewers: Make sure you have Google Analytics built into your site and get to know your stats. If you aren’t sure how to read your site analytics, ask Dayzign to help you. Google Analytics shows you where your web traffic is coming from – be it search engines, referral sites or direct traffic. AND it shows you which pages folks are going to, how long they stay, where on the globe they’re from and more. Put your marketing money in a researched direction by getting to know your site analytics.

Social Networking Tips:

Branding has reached social networking. Now you can customize a Facebook Welcome page. You can also setup your own backgrounds on your Youtube Channel. Barack Obama did it. Chipotle did it. It’s cool and here’s how:

1. How to customize your business Facebook page with a Welcome page: http://thesocialskinny.com/how-to-create-a-facebook-welcome-page-and-get-more-fans/
2. How to customize your Youtube Channel: http://www.squidoo.com/how_to_customize_your_YouTube_channel#module11166617

And Finally, Some Inspiration from Steve Jobs:

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on … – Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech

Here’s to you finding great inspiration in your work this fall and winter … don’t settle.

To discover how to implement any of these tips into your site, contact Dayzign Graphics.

That’s the philosophy the Ouray Ice Park took on with their new website design. “We’re selling Ouray, not just the Park”, one Board Member pointed out during an initial conceptual meeting. In other words – to sell Ouray brings in visitors, to bring in visitors, sells the Ice Park. Happily, this is a trend I am consistently seeing with clients.

The site design is – of course – a gorgeous new site design with the usual WordPress website benefits:

• Inspiring slide shows
• Organized blog feeds
• Current weather feeds
• Maps
• Online store
• and MORE!…

But it’s not just a pretty picture. As you walk through the beautiful photographs (Thanks to our generous Photographers!), you’ll find yourself appreciating Ouray itself, not just the Park. Photos of the backdrop, the San Juan Mountains, and photos of the town and local Hot Springs, along with Ice Climbers on steep blue falls, sell the complete picture.

You Scratch My Back …

Never has the “You scratch my back/I’ll scratch yours” philosophy been more perfect. I’m finding local Ouray businesses and organizations to be more community minded than ever. For example, on the Ouray Ice Park site, Travel Planner and Friends pages take viewers through the logistics of planning their Ouray Vacation. Thus selling local restaurants, hotels and activities along with The Park.

Says Ice Park Board Member Mike McLeod of the project, “We were already well acquainted with Dayzign Graphics by reputation.  In the visually-driven web world, Kellie’s awesome work speaks for itself.  We especially appreciate the fact that Kellie was so quickly able to capture the essence of our message in designing a web presence and promotional materials that tell our story.  Kellie worked as part of our team, but also played the important part of project manager by keeping us focused and on track. The result was a well run project with a fantastic final product.”

What was missing from the last economic boom?

We all love profit, let’s face it. But I’m a big fan of the localized, and even state and regional-wide teamwork I’m seeing come out of tougher times. Here’s to a greater Community profit in the future!

For your next winter vacation in paradise, check out Ouray and the Ice Park Website!

To discuss redesigning your website contact Dayzign Graphics for a complementary consultation.

One of the challenges of web design is to make a site more than 2 dimensional … so when Dayzign had the opportunity to create a website for custom textiles as colorful and brilliant as Phoebe Sophocles’ – how could we resist?

Our design process began with a visit to Phoebe’s home on a local mesa to get a feel for her style. This alone was a treat for the senses – to see the layout, materials and textures used to build her amazing home. Never mind the homemade bread and soup she offered for lunch!

Phoebe’s work was taking off 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 her fabrics, colors and products in the website design. Which, of course, is what we do best here at Dayzign.

We used close-up photos of Phoebe’s fabrics as design elements in the site to give the viewer a sense for how it would feel to be up close and personal with one of Phoebe’s pieces. Background fabric helps the site to stand out from the page and have depth. A color palette was created based on these design elements, and a logo incorporated.

Slide shows of scarves, table runners, pillows, door hangings and custom textiles give viewers a sense of the breadth of her work. And of course, the site is full of the brilliant colors of the fabrics themselves.

Dayzign set this site up as a custom wordpress website, so Phoebe can post her pieces as soon as they are created and they’re automatically highlighted on the Home page with a link to her built in blog. All at this lovely lady’s fingertips!

If you’re looking for a custom pillow or door hanging to set the style of your favorite room, we recommend you take a look at Phoebe’s custom textiles on her new website: http://www.phoebesophoclestextiles.com/. The right piece can really make a room!

PHASE I:

We gather information about your market, desired styles and business. We create the first round of rough designs based on this information:

Surf Betty logo designs, round one

PHASE II:

We refine the chosen logo concepts based on client feedback:

The process of refining a logo concept based on client feedback

PHASE III:

Once the final design is perfected, we design a company color palette and provide digital files to the client for all possible uses… WALA!

Polishing up the chosen logo and adding color

We love logo design!

Interested in having Dayzign create a logo for your business?

Call (970)626-4437 or email us today to discuss your business designs. We’ll interview you and provide you with a proposal based on your needs and budget. The process can take from one to two months. The results are final, digitized logos for your business that you can use for business cards, website, hats and more!

Colorado tourism designs by Dayzign Graphics

Now is the time to solidify your brand before the next guy comes along. You may be selling a fast car with the best engine that handles well on curves, but if you don’t vacuum and wash it, nobody’s going to buy it. We know your products are great, let’s take the public perception of them to that level:

1)   Solidify your business message –

What is your business the best at? What are you offering that other businesses are not? Don’t water it down by trying to be all things. A strong brand is created by reinforcing the one thing you excel in – particularly if no one else is doing it.

2)   Polish your marketing materials –

Does your website and logo design back up what you are saying? What image would you have of a small town hospital if their logo and website looked like it was from the 1970’s?  However, if the hospital claims, “All the latest high tech equipment” AND has a professional website and logo, the statement is a lot more believable. Reinforcing this company message over and over on all levels turns it into a belief in the public’s eye.

3)   Reinvent what you offer –

The band U2 reinvented themselves over and over. The result: they changed with the times and fans are still loving what they’re doing 20 years later. Times change, and so do the needs of your market. Customers want to know you understand the current crisis and are there to help them with their needs. Offer solutions that show them you care about their success, not just a quick buck. They’ll be more likely to return when the economy rebounds.

At Dayzign, we’re adapting to the times too.

If you’d like to hear about website solutions Dayzign is offering for tough economic times, give us a call at 970-626-4437. If you’d like to update your print or website designs but can’t afford it, ask about how to get a lower hourly rate by putting us on retainer. Contact kellie@dayzigngraphics.com

Dolores River Festival poster, artwork by Kellie Day

At Dayzign Graphics, we’re huge fans of great photography and other graphics, but we know that to catch eyes and stand out from the crowd takes something a little different at times. When Gareth Martins of Osprey Packs approached us to do the Dolores River Festival (DRF) poster and use artwork as the main design element, we jumped at the chance!

Adding hand-drawn graphics and art to your print and web designs can speak visually on a deeper level to your audience, and have a stronger draw with your market.

In the past, Dayzign has been know for our custom illustration style used on Chicks with Picks and The North Face tshirts. Two years ago Dayzign owner Kellie Day picked up the brush and began painting mixed media works on canvas (see more at www.kelliedayart.com).  Now we’re thrilled to be able to offer an even deeper level of creativity to our clients.

Dayzign isn’t the only one doing it:

The most recent Patagonia catalog cover featured a stunning Jeremy Collins illustration, several ski and snowboard magazines donned graffiti-style covers this winter, and Prana and Lulu Lemon are incorporating hand drawn doodles that further distinguish them from just another corporate website.

Speaking personally to your audience can increase customer loyalty. This is exactly what using hand drawn graphics does – it’s literally someone lending a personal hand.

In today’s world of corporate-looking websites, Dayzign can provide you with lot of ideas for customizing your visuals. Contact us today to begin distinguishing your marketing materials.

Finally, if you’re in southwest Colorado this June, we highly recommend stopping in at the Dolores River Festival June 4, for a sensational family event. Please visit their website for more information.

Rodney Yee, Colleen Saidman Yee, Kris Carr and  other all-stars will visit Colorado this July for Copper Mountain’s NEW “Mountain Pose” Yoga Festival.

The Festival is comprised of 3 days of music, yoga classes and speakers. Targeted for wellness enthusiasts and health care providers, the festival also offers 6 credits for Continuing Medical Education.

Kennedy Woods had worked with Dayzign Graphics in the past on Copper Mountain ad designs, and came to us to create the promotion designs for the yoga festival. Dayzign had the extremely fun pleasure of creating the festival identity through poster design, ad design, postcards and schedule design.

If you’re a yoga enthusiast, or a Rodney Yee enthusiast, be sure to join the festivities July 7 through 10 at Copper Mountain. You can find more information about the festival on Copper’s website.