Spitfire Blog

We treasure The Hangar’s location on Main Street in the heart of Historic Downtown Buford.  From the charming boutiques and gourmet restaurants to photography studios and a rock cafe, there’s always something happening here.

This year we decided to start taking better advantage of the constant foot traffic by placing a custom sandwich board on our doorstep.  It’s made of a dry erase material which allows us to switch out the messaging whenever we like.

We include famous marketing quotes, humorous quips, illustrations and more.  We’ve had many folks stop in to inquire about our services or chat about a question we’ve posed on the board.

How about you?  Are you taking advantage of the marketing opportunities around you?  We can help you maximize your branding opportunities, and give you a personal tour of Main Street and our office in Buford!

We’ve recently had the pleasure of working on the website for Talastar Exteriors, a home remodeling company founded by master craftsman and designer Sean Tarala. He had kept all branding and marketing in-house (pun intended), and was in need of a fresh set of eyes to gain a new perspective. We set out to give his branding and website an updated look that better showcased his extreme talent and custom services.

The original Talastar Exteriors site was a simple design, but lacked the intricate details in the design to reflect the ornate nature of his work.

BEFORE:

His new site is full of design details that compliment his work and accent the quality of his services.

AFTER:

By adding a tabbed photo gallery, users are able to better see completed projects for each service category. Additionally, the text was refined to read easier, clearly define services offered, boost Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and best of all, drive sales!

We are proud of the finished product, and have a client that thinks it’s great too. That always makes for a great project, but especially when it comes from a talented designer himself. To celebrate the launch, we ordered up a batch of custom cookies featuring the Talastar Exteriors brand.

Thanks for the opportunity to help with your marketing, Sean!

More than 40,000 clients in over 50 countries rely on The Bankers Exchange for ATM, Banking and Gaming parts, solutions and training. In fact, within their industry, they are known as the miracle workers.  Our challenge was to give their website a fresh, tailored feel that was user-friendly and inviting – no matter what the customer might be looking for.

A simple navigation path now enables users to find information without digging through tiers of pages, while helping them learn about additional services offered by The Bankers Exchange. The website features an easy-to-use and robust eCommerce store as well, setting it apart from competitors in the industry.

While we’ve already heard about happier customers and a happier sales team at The Banker’s Exchange, we’re also very excited to hear about increased sales and a happier bottom line in the near future.

Check out The Bankers Exchange website.

A few weeks ago we got a call from a young, non-profit organization located in California called the Heart of Travel Foundation who was in serious need of a logo. Brandon, the founder, helps to provide “unique travel experiences for people with life-threatening medical conditions.” After hearing his inspirational story of why he started the foundation, we knew this was a great cause we wanted to support.

We love creating brands, especially for passionate people whose business is suffering from an identity crisis. That’s the beauty (and the challenge) of branding any organization; condensing a story, a product or an idea into a easily digestible nugget, all the while making it distinct and hopefully memorable. As this project concluded, we were all really excited with the result. We crafted a nice, iconic symbol made with two colors to keep printing costs down.

Eleven years ago I had a life changing experience. I was introduced to a piece of software that would single handily set the course of my future career path. A piece of software that allowed me to design and create in ways more powerful and intuitive than I though possible. Yes, I was instantly hooked, and from day to day my love for this program continues to grow. It is the single most used program in my creative arsenal, and it would be safe to say that a majority of creative professionals rely to some degree on its technical merits. Concerning the industry, it is King of the hill and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. Of course I’m talking about the mighty giant that is Adobe Photoshop, and it turned 20 years old on February 19, 2010.

From photographers to videographers, motion pictures to magazines, Photoshop touches everything, and everyone. It has truly become embedded into our cultural experience. Even people who have never used it know of it’s powerful capabilities and majestic healing properties. “Can you just Photoshop so and so out of the picture?” or “Can you just fix that with photoshop?” are frequent client requests, and more often than not the answer is “yes”. Photoshop is that good, and it has truly earned all the accolades it has received. I’m sure I’m not the only designer who if asked,”what one program would you take to a desert island”, would easily answer “Photoshop.” I mean, duh.

Photoshop has brought me years of enjoyment. It’s brought smiles and tears of joy through family projects created on the platform. It’s given me the means to make a living. I owe a lot to Photoshop, in so many ways.

Happy Birthday, Photoshop.

To learn more about the Adobe Photoshop’s 20th birthday, click here.