Services
I have spent years as the go-to person performing advertising and marketing for a variety of clients and agencies large and small. I help my clients to develop and communicate messages to their intended target markets, whether it be through illustration, photography, graphic design, or web design.

Advertising
Ads need to be effective. When I worked at a few large advertising firms I was responsible for their major accounts and for designing replacements for problematic ads. When I work for agencies in an advertising role, I am usually designing ads for their biggest accounts. I have designed tens of thousands of effective ads for hundreds of clients, and can advertise any product or service in any phase of the marketing curve (with the exception of decline, obviously). If you are advertising a new product or service, or simply seeking brand recognition, I have the experience you need for your ad to succeed. I have experience designing ads for the following media formats:

• Newspaper
• Magazine Periodical
• Rack Distributed
• Point of Purchase (POP)
• Large Format (Posters)
• Site signage
• Billboards
• Banners (Tradeshow and Outdoor)
• Vehicle Wraps
• Flyers
• E-mail Newsletters
• Web Advertising

Clients I have designed ads and advertising campaigns
for have included:

• Town and Country Homes
• Courtesy of Orlando
• Cingular Wireless
• Brainbuzz.com
• Little Caesars
• Florida Aquarium
• PrimeCo
• AT&T Wireless
• Pulte Homes
• Busch Entertainment
• And hundreds more.

Corporate Identity
A company’s look can affect the way customers or potential clients perceive them. Something as simple as a color scheme can profoundly influence corporate success. Different demographic markets are familiar with certain typefaces, influencing recognition and interest and even evoking subconscious associations with a product or service. Let me create an up-to-date corporate look with effective readability, legibility, and an appropriate color scheme for your intended audiences. I design for all industries and my corporate identity services include:

• Logo Design
• Business Card / Calling Card design
• Letterhead design
• Envelope design
• Pocket Folder design
• Brochure design
• Website Design

Some of the industries for which I have designed, are:

• Information Technology
• Healthcare
• Medical Supplies
• Aviation Sales
• Domestic Air Carriers
• Tourism
• Entertainment
• Food Services
• Manufacturing
• Legal
• Real Estate
• Marketing
• Accounting
• Education
• Civic
• Non-Profit

Branding Research and Consulting
Branding is often confused with corporate identity or logo design because people sometimes confuse a logo as a “brand.” A brand is the collection of feelings and thoughts associated with a company or organization. These perceptions can be triggered by something as straightforward as the company name, their logo, or products, or by something less obvious, like the color scheme (eg. blue for IBM) or a typeface (eg. Marlboro) associated with the company. Mental associations developed by years of exposure to any material related to the company, which could include their products, advertisements, media coverage, word of mouth, and so forth also have an impact.

Do you need a stronger or less pervasive corporate image? Does your target market recognize your name or your logo? How do they react? Is their reaction positive or negative? Do you need to instill brand loyalty? Do you need to covertly cause dissension with a competitor’s loyal customers? I can assist with brand consulting for your existing company or a new company. Did you know that color has a psychological impact on purchasing decisions and moods? Did you know certain typefaces can drive readers away from publications, magazines, and advertisements? There are a lot of developmental factors today surrounding brands, from smear campaigns by competition, to product placement in mass media, to reviews on obscure websites by people with their own agendas. I can help you determine where your company stands in the market, how your company is perceived, and point you in the proper direction for ensuring a positive corporate image.

Promotional Materials
Materials with your company’s name on them can go a long way to help customers with a decision while they are contemplating a proposal. Mailers or mail distributed communications can be an effective way to attract repeat business or new business. Rack distribution is a way of circulating newsletters and flyers aimed at your target market in prominent locations of interest. Point of purchase displays with rack cards can help customers with the information they need, while they are making their last minute decisions. While follow-up calls and follow-through pursuits can seal a deal, properly designed printed communications and promotional items can help to keep your company in a potential customer’s thoughts. Services I offer for promotional material design include:

• Brochure design
• Flyer design
• Mailer design
• Rack Distribution Communication design
• Point of Purchase Display design
• Specialty items

Vector Illustration
A vector illustration can be scaled to any size, and used in almost any medium. I can create a custom vector illustration for almost anything. Large or small, detailed or simple these illustrations can be 4-color process (full color), RGB, or Spot color, all for use in:

• Advertising
• Printed Signage
• Cut Signage
• Propaganda
• Marketing materials
• Websites
• Garment and Fabric patterns
• T-shirts
• Promotional Materials
• Tradeshow Promotions
• Laser Etching
• CNC Routing
• Flash Animations

Photorealistic Illustration
Are you in need of a photo-realistic rendering or illustration? Whether the piece you want to have illustrated exists in the real world, is conceptual in its early stages, or is completely imaginary, I can illustrate or render your concept, process, idea, or product with ease. I have years of experience making professional, high-quality print-ready and web-ready photo-realistic illustrations that have been used in:

• Advertisements
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Billboards
• Websites
• Animations

3D Illustration
Do you have a custom-made product you need to have illustrated, or do you need high resolution 3D artwork for a marketing promotion? Is the product or service you wish to illustrate difficult to express through photography alone? Do you need an illustration that says more than a simple picture?

Conceptual Illustration
Are you in need of an illustration which conveys a concept or service? I can help you to create a picture that speaks your concept to your audience. This may be a conceptual idea for a product or a complicated process which is hard to explain visually. Do you need to digitally mock-up a print piece for a client or see a rendering of a finished product before the development phase is completed? I am willing to work under non-disclosure agreements on designs to help with the patent process as well.

Photo Manipulation
I can turn a daylight picture into a night shot or a summer landscape into a winter wonderland. Do you need something removed from or added to an image? Do you need to have multiple images composited together? I offer years of experience in replicating textures, matching patterns, and producing art from non-existent image data. I can include three-dimensional images into a two dimensional scene, light them properly and make it appear as though the original image was never touched. I can also repaint an image to make an old object look new, or add color to a black and white photograph.

• Photo Retouching
• Image combination
• Artifact removal
• Color addition
• Restoration
• Addition of action or weather

Traditional Illustration
Are you in need of a custom, “old-school,” or “old world” look? Sometimes a message can be better conveyed with artwork from a different period or style. Some ideas or concepts lend themselves to a softer, more delicate image. For instance, in a holiday card watercolors might send the appropriate message. For a far-eastern look, sumi-e may be appropriate. I offer illustration services in a variety of styles in traditional media:

• Pencil
• Pen & Ink
• Colored Pencil
• Watercolor
• Sumi-e
• Pastels
• Acrylic Paint on various media

Support Graphics
Support graphics come in a variety of formats and can make a positive impact on a business. Do you need support graphics designed in a particular style? Support graphics include:

• Maps of all types
  Although technology has come a long way, GPS and online maps have their limitations and may be inaccurate, as well as backfire by listing your competition when someone searches for your company. In some instances a company might want to depict more detail than presently available through an external service. Whether it is a detailed area map with accurate directions, a layout for visitors to a theme park, or a site map for a large indoor shopping mall, these graphic devices make a positive impact on the visitor’s experience.

• Charts and graphs
  Interesting statistical charts and graphs can bring life and clarity to topics or discussions. Through animation, these graphics can maintain the focus of the viewer. Flow charts can visually describe a process.

• Floorplans and visual layouts
  Customers can easily locate a department or an item in a store with the use of a floorplan or visual layout. This might be in handout form, or as a large sign located in a centralized area of the store.

Support graphics can improve:

• Construction Site Signage
• Sales Center Displays
• Entertainment Venues
• Print Advertising
• Website Directions
• Global Indicator Maps
• Transportation Maps
• Local Area Maps
• Parking Lots
• Residential Subdivisions
• Industrial Parks
• Network Maps
• Industrial Workflow Maps
• Editorial content
• Promotional content

Front-End Interface Design
Some websites which have been neglected over the years may give the wrong impression to a potential customer seeking to do business. Many people today research a company online before they decide to shop there. Sometimes people will seek out a website searching for deals or an online coupon. Do you need a professional website interface or shell for your site? (A shell is an interface which can be applied to all pages of a website.) Do you have web developers who lack design skills? Great functionality under the hood still needs to be easily accessible and understood at a glance. I can design and deliver a website interface, ready for development code insertion, or for immediate publishing to the internet. I can work with your developers to create help keep your visitors on your site or to get them through your site as quickly as possible.

If your website needs are more simplistic, I can help you to create a web presence that still says a lot about your company visually and contextually without the need for a large overhead. Together we can effectively communicate your message with your customers, patrons, or sponsors.

Back-End Interface Design
Automation is not only for assembly lines. Did you know that the same processes for assembly line automation can be applied to the workflow in things like website interfaces? Sometimes employees waste time in poorly designed content management systems, going through the same routines over and over. Some of these routines may be selecting today’s date or simply reentering data over and over again. Sometimes poor website design for internal use can lead to excessive amounts of help desk contact or unfinished projects. I can offer consultation and in some cases develop remedies to these issues. Together we can determine if your users are losing time through extra clicks or non-intuitive interfaces.

Flash Animations
Need something animated for the internet or a commercial? Need an animation depicting a process? Whether it’s a new illustration to be animated, a photograph, or a three dimensional scene, I can provide animation solutions for everything from websites to motion graphics for the big screen. Some of the animation projects I’ve worked on include:

• Logos
• Web interfaces
• Maps
• Editorial images
• Motion graphics
• Stock Tickers
• Slideshows

e-Marketing / Mail Blast Design
With all of the regulations in place, email marketing can be a bit intimidating. Are you contemplating an e-mail marketing campaign, but not sure how to start? Do you need assistance with deliverability in an existing email campaign? In this day and age it is much better to have a customer or patron look forward to your emails rather than treating them as spam.

I’ve helped a variety of companies infiltrate inboxes around the world, allowing their subscribers to receive sought-after deliverables. I only partake in ethical practices and do not support the use of unsolicited or illegal email messages. I can help you to determine a course of action to retain readership of your emails and maintain your subscriber database. I can also help you to find ways to build a subscriber database or increase interest in a newsletter. If you are in need of an email marketing campaign or consultation with e-marketing, I am always available.

• Newsletters
• Advertising campaigns
• Purchase follow-ups
• Renewal requests

Microsites / Minisites
A microsite or minisite is a simple page or section of a website, designed specifically about a product or service with the intention of developing more interest or providing more information. They might follow-up from a print adverting campaign, a cell phone text message, or a television ad. They may also help to persuade people to think of a product or service in a more positive light, or simply create more positive information about a product, service, or company on the internet. I can work with you to design a targeted microsite solution for your organization. My microsites have included:

• Flash Animations
• Videos
• Podcast downloads
• RSS Feeds
• Whitepaper downloads
• Customer Data Collection (eg. address, name, etc.)
• Statistical and usage tracking
• Viewer metrics
• and much more.

Content Management Systems
Not every website is complicated enough to require a full-time web designer to make changes to the website using mystical web code. My services can add functionality to an existing site, or I can design a completely new website for your company which works with a custom content management system designed around your intended content. This will allow non-technical staff to make changes and upgrades to a website’s content. Features include:

• Easy content editing (no programming required)
• Page sorting
• Image handling
• Timed release of content
• Version Control
• Website maintenance (removal of expired content)
• Search engine optimization
• Statistical Tracking and Analysis
• Data collection
• Usage feedback

Statistical Analysis Systems
Are you trying to determine whether or not your web pages are effective? Are you sure people are finding your website? Do you desire to know who is looking at your pages, at what times, and from where? Would you like to know if your new online campaign or print ad is creating follow-through? Would you like to verify your advertising statistics? I can design and develop a solution from a simple hit counter to a sophisticated analysis engine that tracks individual user habits. Contact me today to find out how I can help.

• Page views
• Click-throughs
• Referring pages, sites, emails and print ad campaigns
• Usage Patterns
• View times
• Visit Duration
• Repeat visitors
• Dead Content Realization

Flash Interactive Elements
Do you need an intuitive, interactive interface for use on your website? When someone moves their mouse over an image, would you like that image to do something interactive? A user-engaging website can do wonders for business. I can design interactive components for your site from slideshows to fully interactive elements integrated with high quality animation. Some of the interactive elements I’ve worked on include:

• Web interfaces
• Maps
• Stock Tickers
• Slideshows

Photography
A great photograph can communicate a specific message to its viewer about a product, service, event, location, or company. Most of the time, stock imagery lacks the message and quality of a carefully planned photo. Custom photography can refine a message to a specific audience or ensure the intended audience processes the visual message. I can personify almost any object. The types of photographic services I offer include:

• Product photography
  Everything from small items to large expanses of real estate, indoor or outdoor.

• Service photography
  Show the highlights of a company in visual form.

• Macro photography
  Small objects, surfaces, or details focused on for a purpose.

• Location photography
  Shots of a particular location at various times of the year. This may be a building, a city skyline, a business or a park.

• Area photography
  Similar to location photography, but rather than a single location, this would be a large surrounding area which needs to be visually displayed.

• Industrial photography
  Showing an item to a particular target industry or showing a product in action for a corporate brochure or website.

Examples of my photography can be found at shutterchicago.com