Artist Journal 7/10/14

Tons of projects this week so I figured I’d write about it. Thought it might be interesting to take a look into the life of a full time freelance artist/designer. Remember if you see anything you like as gift idea, or need something to help grow your business, please contact me! No job is too small.

Embrace Salon

Quick stop in to change my pricing sheet talk to owner TJ Jaskolka about some future marketing for ryanburdzinski.com in his monthly newsletter. Check out Embrace Salon’s website or stop in and see the 5 paintings I have hanging there!

Personalized Children’s Chairs

A request from an old friend, and one of my best customers, Katie Karwoski. Two personalized stools painted in sports motif. I still have to finish the “personalized” part, lettering is not my specialty. I will post the finished product in a few days.

Sunny in CLE Logo

Cleveland-based mobile spray tanning company. Gotta get moving on this we are trying to get business cards done in 4 weeks! More to come on this.

Red Amore Travel

Quick history on RED Amore Travel: I have been providing graphics and branding support for founder Cyndi Hansen and RED Amore Travel for 3 years now. Together we created the logo, tagline and branding for this award winning Medina County travel agency. This continues to be one of my favorite projects to work on, because I was part of the creation.

The thank-you notes came back from the printer. Looking great!

HTML Email Template for Mac Mail

This task was difficult, but I’m really glad I’m learning how HTML email works with mail clients like Outlook, Mac mail and Thunderbird. We were having major trouble with her outgoing emails not sending, but only when using my HTML email template (shown above). Finally I realized that the email’s code had too many links, and was getting caught in her server’s spam filters. To solve the problem, A.) simply take links away until the spam filters allowed the email to slip through, or B.) switch email servers. Still troubleshooting this one- I think we might do the latter.

Travel Incentives Brochure

This is an 8 page brochure that owner Cyndi and I dreamt up. Just finished the 3rd round of changes and need to find some better photos. But thanks to the iPad, searching for photos can be a couch job- one of the perks of freelance graphic design! Once finished, this will be a full bleed 8×10″ booklet.

Travel Incentives Powerpoint

This will be a sister piece to the brochure, and I have not started it yet. My plan is to make it mirror the brochure but with animations and transitions to liven it up.

Contact me if you need a very special gift for someone, a logo, or just marketing advice! Don’t forget to comment below.