So why would you ever pay for design services?

There’s usually a pretty big catch to these special deals. The designer, printer, or advertising company owns your company’s creative materials. This usually isn’t a problem as long as you continue doing business with the same company who designed your presentation materials. But if you ever need to hire a new designer, shop around for another printer, or run your ad with a different publisher, you’ll need to start all over from scratch.

Before taking advantage of a free design offer, double check to find out what your creative rights are.

• Will the company provide you with the original creative materials upon completion of the project?
• Are you allowed to modify and alter the original artwork however you see fit?
• Are you allowed to re-use the creative in other advertisements or marketing materials?

If not, consider whether or not you have any need to re-use the same creative presentation again.

And don’t forget to do your homework and shop around for the best total design, production, and advertising rate.

Paying extra to contract your own design work may seem more expensive up front. But you probably aren’t getting the best advertising rate or printing price with the free design package. Also consider the long term value of owning your creative materials which you can use indefinitely versus re-designing your materials every time you change your production and marketing contracts.

These are some of the initial samples I sent over based on my first impressions of what was wanted.

This is actually the 3rd proof I provided after some brief modifications, before I completely switched gears. (For those who don’t know Alpenglow can be seen around sunset and provides those beautiful reds, pinks and blues on the mountains.)

I did this sample just intending to play around for fun. After it was done, I decided to send it over to the client to see what they thought. As it turns out, they liked it and I started working on a new sketch based on some suggestions that came back.

The newest revision incorporates thicker lines, deeper colors and more depth. Overall, I'm fairly happy with how this came out. It's not quite as simple or as clean as the original concepts but maybe it will provide some use.

The two above renderings are based on this photo of Mt. Sopris just outside of Carbondale, Colorado. The importance of this is that the business is located in the Roaring Fork Valley and Mt Sopris is the most noteable landmark in that area.

The logo took a turn in a similar but different direction. Moving from tight precise lines to a more loose style as seen in this Picasso’s Don Quixote print.

I made several slight tweaks to reach a final version.

 

There are only slight changes each time. The addition of a new color, more layers, etc. Each one gives the piece a different feel.

Here’s the final version that can be seen in use on the Alpenglow Lighting Design website and business cards.

I’ve really enjoyed this project quite a bit. It’s challenged me not only as a design but also as an artist. I had to step outside of my comfort zone and explore a new style, and try new things in order to achieve the look that I wanted.