Barbara Quast was voted the Best Loudoun County Interior Designer of 2012. To leverage this distinguished award, she chose to conduct a marketing campaign to further increase awareness of her fine designer skills. She contacted Wicked Design to create print advertising and sales cards for this effort.

The sales card would be distributed in various ways, including direct mail. The multipurpose card needed to be designed for flexibility in mind.

The final note card design incorporates three photos of her Interior Design projects, blanked with a light taupe and appropriate font choices. Her distinctive logo brandishes the lower right portion of the card design.  The attractive front design is elegant to view and simple to understand the message.

Barbara resides in Purcellville and offers free consulting. She can be reached at 703 431 2031, or q [@] beesequast . com.

Learn more about the Graphic and Print design services that we offer: Wicked Design Graphics and Print Media. Loudoun Graphic Design services for all.

As with most website design projects, a full understanding of the clients needs are required. Being that the end goal is high client satisfaction (coupled with increased business), understanding these goals should be a designers first initiative.

In this case, Jennifer wanted an elegant online presentation that portrayed the beauty and grace of the service she provides. She had a vision for a taupe, white, and brown palette. She needed the navigation and menu system to be simple and easy to understand. Lastly, photographs representing the type of design service that she offers were to be presented in clean manner.

Taking these requirements into account, we began using these elements in Photoshop to create mock designs. These designs were then shared with the client to being an interactive process of deciding upon a final design. This process of creating bitmap art not only allows for rapid prototyping, but also solidifies the website design before any code is slung.

The final website concept, meant for WordPress development, was then passed along the to web artist who began building the website components. The Bummer Lamb example only required the development of five pages, so the overall project was simple, following the design process. As the pages came to life, Jennifer had the ability to review each, and respond with comments.

Sometimes, creating something simple and elegant can be a difficult challenge. We web technicians are fond of using the latest technology because it delivers new and exciting features. We often need to step back and think from the bottom up, rather than starting with “glossy” ways to represents word and images. Getting back to the basic of design is often called for.

Drawing comparisons between interior design, and web design, is highly relevant in this case. Both artisans are required to identify client goals, evaluate the landscape and then paint their canvases using the tools of their respective trade. The Bummer Lamb design firm is happy with their new website, and we are honored to have designed it.

It is generally not legal to download and use images, photos and artwork that you happen to find using online search. Even if a piece of content had no copyright information, it does not mean it can be used. In this day and age of ever increasing technical prowess, a copyright owner can quickly search the internet to locate where their property resides, especially in places where it should be.

For example, Google Image search allows you to simply drag a photo onto the search page and discover where else it resides. If you the individual can do this, image what a Fortune 500 could do. However, this is not the real reason not to “borrow” content from the web without permission. It is simply illegal. Even if an image or photo is marked as Creative Commons, it does not explicitly allow you to use it on your site, or in your printed media.

Being a content creator myself, I have a full understanding of the hard work involved in website design, logo creation and the construction of print media. My livelihood depends on my ability to create unique pieces of art and design. The same can be said about your livelihood. We all work hard to be productive and pursue happiness at the same time. However, we certainly don’t want others taking credit for our work.

Even if you are not using someone else’s image, or design, for commercial benefit, it likely still cannot be used for your organization, group or personal endeavor. Using copyrighted material on Facebook remains a gray area at the moment. However, the laws are starting to change.

The rule of thumb to follow is:

1. You created the image or design media being used.

2. You hired an artist or photographer to produce content for you. This assumes you have the right to use the work they produced. Always check.

3. You licensed a photograph or image and have the legal right to present it within the copyright agreement.

These words of advice also flow into use of fonts, background images, cropped photos and other forms of media. Content that is explicitly marked as public domain can be used without having any agreement, but read the fine print. Material and content produced prior to 1923 can be used, and media prior to 1977 without a copyright notice can also be used. However, we are only Wicked artists and not lawyers. Do confirm your rights to be sure.

In summary, you should strive to protect yourself, but also pay for the things you use in life (though the best things are free :).

Places to obtain stock photography, artwork and images include the following:

http://www.istockphoto.com

http://www.shutterstock.com

http://www.gettyimages.com

Needless to say, Wicked Design also provides photography services in the Loudoun County and mid-Atlantic regions.

Part of Shamrock’s charm is the historic building that houses the store. The floors are wood, the ceiling is covered with classic tin and the second floor is accessed with a set of creaky stairs. Combine these warm, historic features with a friendly, knowledgeable staff and you have a meaningful shopping experience that harks back to childhood days (mine anyway).

The goal of this new website design was to provide the web visitor with these special qualities while helping to set the shop apart from others in the area. Using the colors of the Shamrock logo, the site was design to carry the palette and brand forward in a meaningful way.

Design began with a custom illustrated banner that presents the shape of a guitar at the top of the page, also known as the header. The guitar design was blended into the header background using several graphic design techniques (Photoshop is an amazing design tool). It was then surrounded by a white glow to make the faded design standout. Essentially, it needed to be visible but not overpowering. Layered on top of the guitar header design you the menu webpage choices, the logo and store information.

Below the header graphic appears a slideshow gallery of images reflecting the warmth and ambiance of the shop. This area of the website serves up a rotating selection of photos taken within the shop; Shamrock events and photographic portraits of the music instructors and various musical instruments for sale, whether new or offered on consignment.

Because Shamrock Music Shoppe is a full service store, the website needed to present all of their services in a clean and simple manner. Below the photo slideshow area is a grid of information boxes that each described various services offered. These include music lessons, specials, products, instrument rentals and an interactive calendar of events.

Each of these website information areas offer their own level of interactivity. Some feature small image galleries of photo in motion, while other offer video of events. This website design demonstrates that visitors can obtain a wide array of information about this Loudoun based music shop without leaving the main page. This encourages a high level of interactivity and exploration, which every website owner wants. The longer a web visitor reviews a website, the more likely they are to visit the store. The design helps to encourage this behavior in a fun and interesting way.

Along the left side of the site, you will find a set of guitar strings that run vertically. Also designed in Photoshop, they help to carry the eye down the site and reinforcing strong design. They were created only a few pixels high, and are duplicated in the Y direction (up and down). The advantage of using this technique (of copying) is that only a small image is required, which makes the loading of the website faster. In the end, the website visitor enjoys a fasted page loading experience.

Along the bottom of the design are the footer widgets. These are small modules of interactive information found at the bottom of all the pages. Again, offering a wealth of information in small places delivers a more enjoyable experience to the visitor. They are not required to drill into every page of the site to locate pertinent information.

Finally, Wicked Design developed ecommerce pages that allow the shop to sell their products directly through the website. Products are offered in three categories; Wimpy Kid autographed books (Jeff Kinney is the brother of the Shamrock store owner, Scott), instruments and branded apparel. All of the items listed on these purchasing pages can be bought online. Therefore, the new website delivers to Shamrock a terrific branding experience, access to products and valuable information to the business.

We thoroughly enjoyed designing and building this website for Shamrock Music. They allowed Wicked Design to have creative license in developing the site. The customer is happy, we’re happy and the website visitors are happy. It’s a win-win for all. If your business, or organization, seeks to develop a creative website experience such as this, then contact us for a free consultation. It’s our job to make you look good. Learn more about our web design services on this page: Wickedesign.com/website-design

This holiday graphic design features a likeness of 21st Street in Purcellville, Virginia. Located in western Loudoun County, our small town is an ideal place to spend the holidays.

The goal of this Loudoun project was to present a bedroom with all aspect of interior design before any furniture or accessories were purchased. The project began with a photography shoot of the actual bedroom. Various angles were captured to obtain the best presentation, allowing the room design to show in the best manner possible. Once a photo was chosen, it was imported into a 3D modeling and rendering program. The captured image was then used as a backdrop to ensure proper alignment when designing the 3D objects. The photo below is the chosen angle for this purpose.

The 3D modeling began using a specific list of furniture, the rug and room accessories selected by the Interior Designer. The objects were recreated in 3D. Photos of the chosen materials were then applied to the 3D objects, to provide the most realistic result possible. In this case, a photo of the rug was applied to a square plane object that rest beneath the bed. The wood bed frame uses a particular type of wood, while the pillows and cover are represented with specific materials. Special attention was paid to the colors to ensure that the whole room flowed. The vases on shelves match the end table lamps, and carry forward the warm quality of the beautiful wood floor.

After the 3D scene was modeled, it was exactly matched to the perspective of the photograph. This was critical for making the final rendering look as realistic as possible. While doing so, the lighting factors in the modeling program had to match that of the photograph. The example below does not yet feature the proper perspective. To accomplish this, the 3D camera field of view was calibrated with that of the original photograph, seen in the final presentation (see image 3 below).

The image below shows an overlay of the raw 3D objects, presented in wireframe mode, combined with the rendered version. This further highlights the 3D design process for the purpose of demonstration.

The final rendering below shows how all of the steps came together. Note the difference in perspective of the bedroom set. The image above is somewhat isometric, while the image below features proper viewpoint registration with the room photo. Proper lighting has been applied to increase the realistic feel of the rendering. The vases and planters were modeled and placed into the final piece as part of the original interior design. The plants themselves were cut into place using Photoshop, as a final touch.

The benefits of this approach to interior design, or remodeling, is that many types of scenarios can be addressed before any real world object is purchased. The design can be reviewed from any angle, or time of day. Using 3D is a cost effective means to flesh out ideas well before large sums of money are spend to change a room.

Are you interested to learn how your project can benefit from this design approach? Wicked Design would love to hear from you. Contact us for a consultation and we’ll bring your vision to life: info [@] wickedesign.com or 703 470 6029. Whether you live in Loudoun County, or Hong Kong, we’d love to hear from you. Learn more about the Graphic Design services offered by Wicked Design here: Graphic Design and 3D Modeling.

Artistic renderings of a family member were rendered and designed to reflect soft and comfortable feelings that support the goal representing an approachable wine. The female profile is representing with flowing lines that have a likeness of the wind. The color red is a hue known to capture the attention of wine shelve shoppers.

This red table wine is currently for sale at their western Loudoun location on Main Street, in Purcellville. Wicked Design appreciates the trust afforded by Above Ground Winery in representing their brand with design care.

January 2013 update: We continue to design wine labels for Above Ground, and hope to share these online soon. Above Ground is in the process of bottling several new wines, which they are eager to share with the Loudoun community. Learn more about the Graphic Design services offered by Wicked Design: Loudoun Graphic and Label Design.

A snapshot of the article appearing in the Blue Ridge Leader.

Below is the original version of the 21st Street rendition. It printed much lighter in the newspaper article.

Designed using Photoshop, the Chakra chart indicates the power associated with the symbols. Laid out on top of a female body figure, the placement of each symbol portrays the appropriate influence. The background swirling colors were created and designed using a 3D modeling application. This process was used because of the smooth, blended colors that can be graphically generated with little effort.

Learn more about the Graphic Design services offered by Wicked Design: Wickedesign.com/graphic-design.

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