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Archive for June, 2009

Case Study for M Productions – Website, Logo, Business Cards

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

The Summary: In collaboration with Michael Miller of M Productions, Halogen Designs designed a site with a simple interface and music based theme.

The Background: M Productions had outgrown their current online home at myspace.com.  They needed a new way to convey their passion for music while adding an additional layer of credibility through having an established online presence.

The Goal: To create and establish a web identity with emphasis on beat sales, services, and artist recognition.  Promoting M Productions as a business and its managing partner, Michael Miller, as a producer.

The Challenge: Merging the corporate front of M Productions and the individual persona of Michael Miller the artist  into one design without changing his established image.

The Tools:  Javascript, xml, php, flash, paypal integration, and google maps integration

The Solution:   A website with a simple to navigate interface, a services showcase, and a paypal e commerce plugin.  Redesigning Michael Miller’s business cards and logo accentuated the shift to a new business presence.

Words from Alex Shaffer on the design: I created something that defined M Productions as a reflection of Michael Miller’s clean style and character. I focused on presenting his services in a manner that would identify each with a banner to establish a visual representation that connects the user with each services uniqueness.  The redesign of the M Productions logo and business card was essential to identifying the caliber of talent that is found at M Productions. This project was enjoyable because I applied my artistic talent to exhibit another artist.

Words from myself, James George, on the development: There were many developmental aspects and challenges that went into developing mproco.com.  We choose paypal integration as a low cost, secure, and familiar way to allow M Productions to sell beats online while cutting out the 30% overhead he was paying to beat sale websites.  We use a flash player to play both his background music and showcase his beats.  This leads to reduced cost for backend development and simpler administration.  Our goal for the backend was creating something very easy to administer and keep on with on a day to day basis.  This can be demonstrated by the ease of adding a youtube video.

Adding a youtube video is easy

Adding a youtube video is easy

Testimonial: Working with Halogen Designs has been great investment for my business. The staff takes care of every little detail and makes sure everything in your design is to your expectations and above. They move swiftly yet don’t overlook quality while working on your project. The pricing at Halogen Designs is very reasonable for the amount of creativity and the caliber of work that they put out. For all of these reasons, Halogen Designs will always be my go-to company for all of my design needs.

Michael Miller
M Productions
http://www.mproco.com

http://blog.mproco.com/?p=3

Emotion reflected in album cover design

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

emotion1 300x190 Emotion reflected in album cover designI recently designed an album cover for P. Hardy an upcoming rapper and client of M Productions. Our client Michael Miller of M Productions recorded and produced the song nose in the sky. The album cover design was inspired by the combination of vocal talent and the soothing sound heard in the song. I wanted to create something that had a futuristic appearance to support the melody. My goal was to visually capture the harmony that I hear when I listen to the song.

There is a common trend in album cover designs; I wanted to break the cycle and design something unique. Album cover art is the visual reflection of the harmony heard in the music. When designing an album cover, it is important to understand that music expresses the emotion of the artist. When you listen to music it isn’t something you just hear, you feel it. There is reason why people dance or physically express what they feel when listening to music. An album cover must visually capture the passion felt in the lyrics and melody. When I listening to nose in the sky I feel like I am standing in a cool breeze on foggy night. The emotion I feel is peace like calm after the storm. I visually expressed the temperature by the use of a gradient. I added light effects to express the positive aura felt when I first listened to the song. I used a black background to create curiosity on a subconscious level; so people will listen to the song and want understand the sensation I feel what the artist was conveying.

In the future I hope to design more album covers because I love to display the emotion felt when I listen to music. Download nose in the sky here.

Nose in the Sky Album Cover

Nose in the Sky Album Cover

The process of setting up a Website

Friday, June 19th, 2009

process1 The process of setting up a WebsiteThe Approach: Ask yourself what information is the most vital to display to the audience. What age range, ethnicity, sex, background, economic class, geographical location, and religion of your audience are some key factors that should be determined before considering the design. A strong approach will lead to a strong design. When choosing a design company make sure to look at how they guide your approach, not just how they do the design. Generally speaking the approach will be outlined in the proposal. If you are designing the website yourself use excel or an idea map to document any ideas and background information needed to start the site. This takes us to the next section: the process.

The Process: Design, Code and Publish.

1st DESIGN: de⋅sign [di-zahyn] –verb (used with object) to intend for a definite purpose
–noun organization or structure of formal elements in a work of art; composition.

A good design should include:
1. Graphic appeal: Create interest by use of colors, photos, objects, etc…
2. Efficient information delivery: Don’t smother your audience with words keep it simple.
3. Hook: Give people a reason to come back to your site.

2nd CODE: [kohd] noun- Computers. the symbolic arrangement of statements or instructions in a computer program in which letters, digits, etc. are represented as binary numbers; the set of instructions in such a program verb- Computers. to translate (a program) into language that can be communicated to the computer.

Good code should include:
1. Easy navigation: Don’t confuse the audience they won’t stay long enough to figure it out.
2. Efficiency: Loading time should be minimal because people hate to wait.
3. Functionality: Should support the design make it easy to turn readers in clients.

3rd PUBLISH: pub⋅lish [puhb-lish] –verb (used with object) 1. to issue (printed or otherwise reproduced textual or graphic material, computer software, etc.) for sale or distribution to the public. 2. to announce formally or officially; proclaim; promulgate. 3. to make publicly or generally known.process2 The process of setting up a Website

Publishing should include:
1. Editing: Look for bugs, typos, etc…
2. Hosting: Use a good hosting company; look for georedundancy, statistics and good customer support.
3. Get the word out: Use search engine optimization and email blasting to drive traffic to your website.

The importance of a Website

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Having a website is crucial to success in today’s business world. A website is a 24/7/365 representation of your business. Anybody can find information about your business at anytime. It’s not enough to just have a page on the web; today a website needs to be a well organized resource of specific information. A good website will capture a users attention. A great website hooks the user in and effectively navigates them to the required information in a straightforward process. website3 300x225 The importance of a Website

People have a very short attention span. The design of a great site needs to engage the audience for a long enough time to convey information before they move on. Halogen Design’s process to engage the audience is focused on simplicity yet complimented with graphic appeal. We hook the user then strategically convey vital information before the person moves on. A great hook will keep the people coming back to the website to maximize market potential.

Most importantly it needs to be understood that a website is a tool that represents your business to potential clients. Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Is my website conveying my information in a efficient and appealing way?
  2. Is my website reaching the target audience?
  3. How is my website turning readers into clients?
  4. Do people have a reason to come back to my website?

Alex Shaffer