Media Blacksmith HQ

Well we are all moved into our new office. We still need to pick out a couple pieces of furniture and organize a bit, but we are functional.

I did a little video tour of our Media Blacksmith HQ. It is kinda hard to tell, but the walls are a light blue with one accent wall that is oxford brown, and the floors are bamboo.

We put a piece of clear acrylic up for our white board, and we ordered all of our furniture from Ikea.
I am a happy camper.

A Bird? Really?

I was on my phone, telling my wife about our awesome new office, when I was interrupted by a loud bang that came from window. When I went outside to check, I found a dazed and confused bird and some feathers plastered to our window.

The funny thing is our window is tinted and the blinds were shut. I don't know where the bird thought it was going.

For those who might be concerned, I made sure the bird flew away. He just needed a minute to regroup (and to make sure no one saw him).

Click the "Read Full Post" link below for pictures of the bird and window.

Anna Rasmussen Photographs

We recently finished a website for Anna Rasmussen Photographs. The front end was created in Adobe Flex 3 and the back end was created with CakePHP, MySQL and Prototype (AJAX) and Scriptaculous.

Huzzah! For Flex 3!

Today Adobe Flex 3 was released. You can find details at Adobe.com

What we're about

You can find some information on out Company Page, but I thought I would write a short little biography on the company.

The company was officially formed at the beginning of the year by myself, Garth Braithwaite, and William Bayne. I take care of the actual programming and designing, while Billy manages the accounts and accounting.

Click the Read Full Post for more details.
I have been designing professionally since 2003 and programming since around 2004. Most of the sites and XHTML with some pretty neat CSS. I use CakePHP on the back end when needed and the Prototype AJAX library. I also have been using Adobe Flex for the past year, and I have really enjoyed it. Last August I started the Adobe Flex User Group in Greater Las Vegas (VegasFlex). So you might see a bit of Flex in out work.

GarthDB.com
You can also find me on Twitter.com/GarthDB

Billy isn't one to brag about himself, but I am writing this so I can say whatever I want. To Billy business is common sense. He has an amazing background managing businesses, and has even started a few successful restaurants in his time. This is his first experience with the Graphic Design and Web Development field, but he is quite technologically savvy and he is a loyal Google and Apple fan.

If you have questions feel free to get ahold of either of us on our contact page.

Final Logo

Here is the final version of our logo. Obviously a variation of it is on the website (white letters as opposed to black). We're pretty happy with how it has turned out.
...
Click "Read Full Post" for a bunch of design jargon and fluff.
I feel like the logo is clean, versatile, legible, unique, and that it relays of sense of movement and change. The sparks/swirls are a bit abstract, but the brand was designed to be functional without them if needed.

New Company, New Logo

At the time of writing this post, this blog still has the generic white template applied. This is because we are a brand new company and we have yet to create a logo that fits our needs.

We have a couple ideas that we are still hammering out (HA!). Let us know what you think.

Media Blacksmith offers graphic design, branding, and web design and development services.

Click "Read Full Post" link for images and details.

I created a metal grate type of texture for the background and the Media Blacksmith colors come from a images of heated metal.


This logo has a carbon fiber texture for the background and a bit of a shine added to it.

This is similar to the one above, but I added an anvil icon in a gun metal gray. I am not too fond of it.

My wife, realizing that I did not really like the way the logo was going created the next two from stock photos to try to get our creative juices flowing in another direction

They are great images, but it is hard for me to imagine/use them as logos in diverse ways.

I have a few more ideas coming. I was thinking to move a bit towards engineering and a Steampunk theme. My wife was creating an proof of a wrought iron style swirl.

Needless to say none of these are final, but I want to show the creative process of creating a great brand and logo