And, because I can’t help but get silly for a moment: I also love cake. I haven’t had it in a while, because I went gluten-free for an entire month, but it’s pretty excellent. So, maybe tonight’s a good time for us all to share a rich, decadent dessert with someone we like.

Happy Schmoopy Day!

These are photos from just a few of the local spots we stopped at, over two days of shooting–some of the shops were places I already knew and loved, like Pastrygirl in the Montavilla neighborhood, while others like Mac! on Mississippi and Rain or Shine Coffeehouse in Southeast were new-to-me on shoot day, but are definitely spots I’ll want to visit again. It was incredibly cool to meet the people behind the businesses, and make some new local discoveries!

With that, I applied for membership in the PGC3, and got to work designing a new look for the organization. After several meetings, a flurry of e-mails, and a changeover to WordPress, I was finally able to launch the beginnings of the new site in December, so things are looking good, and I’ve even been voted onto the PGC3 Board for 2012!

This is only the beginning for PGC3′s branding efforts, however–our first two board meetings have already been productive, and we’ve started making plans for blog contributors, more social media efforts, refining our mission statement, and even creating a monthly online newsletter. I also have plans for a redesigned homepage structure, and a more robust member directory that’ll highlight more of our completely awesome member organizations.

Things are already looking more lively on the blog, and we on the Board are really hoping to give the Portland geek community a much clearer picture of what the PGC3 is all about, in the year to come. Take a look at the Portland Geek Council of Commerce & Culture web site, and get a first look at what our member organizations are up to.

Portland web design – Portland logo design – Sarah Giffrow Creative

It didn’t just stop at grooming, however–some competitors made their beards and ‘staches the centerpiece of a full-on persona, complete with themed outfits to match their facial hair styling! Other competitors brought their own personal army of fans to rile up the crowd in their favor, screaming at bewhiskered contenders as if they were rock stars. If there’s a town on the planet that appreciates beards more than Portland does, I’d be surprised to hear it. These are just a few of the fans and competitors who flaunted their beardy glory.

Portland professional photography – Portland web design – Sarah Giffrow Creative

“I liked the old brand! Why did you have to change it?”

When large and established companies pursues a brand redesign, it’s very easy for their audience to rail against it. Companies like DC have used an established logo and brand identity for a number of years, and it’s had time to worm its way into the collective consciousness, and become familiar. When a new logo shows up and rears its head? That’s pretty scary.

If you already have a well-designed logo, never take the decision to redesign it lightly. Any significant redesign of your logo runs the risk of losing out on the familiarity you’ve already built with your audience, and potentially confusing or even alienating them. Your business may have grown and changed in a way that doesn’t fit with your current logo and brand, and if that’s the case, it is worth considering a redesign. But, think it through thoroughly, and don’t expect everyone to instantly love it right out of the gate.

If you don’t already have a well-designed logo, well, what are you waiting for? When you know that you’ll be hiring a talented designer and it’s going to be a clear improvement, redesigning your brand is a no-brainer.

The DC Comics logo does have a few good tricks up its sleeve.

The first version of the new DC logo was the silver and black version, which I flat-out didn’t like. After seeing some of the stylized variations they had planned, however, I did see some of the potential in the mark. Stylizing the logo in themes specific to each comic series adds color and texture, which feels much more fitting for high-powered superheroes (or anti-heroes) than the painfully-neutral black-and-gray version. This is actually a pretty clever feature of the design, because the logo can be customized for different series, and still communicate a more unified brand.

Additionally, this logo–even the stylized versions for specific series–is also styled to appeal to an older audience, which could be a good thing. It shows that DC was thinking about its audience, and realizing that a large part of said audience is older now, so releasing content and branding geared towards adults is a bold move.

Ultimately, this logo doesn’t say ‘Comic Books.’

Clever features aren’t enough, though: my main beef with the new DC Comics logo? It doesn’t feel appropriate for a publisher of comics and graphic novels. In fact, my first reaction to it was, “this looks like a logo you’d see on the TV you just bought at Best Buy.” It has a simpler and more futuristic look than the old one, and while it’s fine as a design piece, it doesn’t exactly suggest the flashy heroics you usually see in comics.

DC’s previous logo wasn’t released that long ago (2005), and it did a great job of using clean lines for a modern look, and color and contrast for a more “popping” look that suits the world of comics. It also did a nice job of tying into DC’s long history by using the star element, and much of that history is lost with the new logo.

And, touching back on the issue of appealing to your audience, DC could easily be leaving a lot of new fans in the dust, with an appeal to the older crowd. Didn’t a lot of those now-older fans start reading comics and graphic novels as children? I’m not the most in-the-loop on comics, but I clearly remember going shopping with my parents as a kid, and pleading with them to let me buy one of the bold, colorful, and exciting comic books that called out to me from the newsstand. Capturing fans when they’re young, and growing with them as they get older, is going to earn you devoted customers for life. I have to wonder if that’s really worth passing up in the name of courting an adult audience.

Portland logo design – Portland web design – Sarah Giffrow Creative

Search engines won’t play nicely with your web site.

Web sites that are fully built in Flash don’t get indexed well by search engines. Google and other search engines are primed to look for relevant content, and their indexing bots can’t make heads or tails of Flash code, so even if your Flash site is full of lovingly written and 100% relevant content, search engines may not be able to see it!

Unless all of the text in your Flash site is actual Text, and not an Image, search engine crawlers can’t see what you’ve written. That means you won’t be able rise in the ranks on search engines, and you’ll be missing out on a lot of potential clients.

Flash sites are more expensive to build, and a pain to maintain!

Flash development is an entirely separate skill from building a regular web site, and doing things that are simple in HTML or PHP can be massively more time-consuming to do in Flash. That means you’re spending more to build the same site, and that’s a big deal for a small business!

Even if your Flash site is already built, how often are you able to update it? Do you have to chase down your web developer every time you want to make a copy change? Are you able to maintain a blog within your web site? Flash web sites are incredibly limiting for a small business owner, and if you want to update and change your site as your business evolves, and you definitely won’t be able to do that on your own.

Animated Flash intros may seem fancy, but they’re actually boring!

Think about it: when was the last time you actually sat through a Flash intro on a business web site? You probably clicked that “Skip” button after a couple of seconds, right? One of the best things about the Internet is its interactivity–people get to look for interesting things, communicate with each other, buy things, etc. All a Flash intro requires you to do is sit there and endure an animated sideshow that’s getting between you and the information you want. Why not save your clients the extra click, and make their user experience better?

Flash makes it harder to share your content.

If you’ve ever visited a web site that’s built in Flash, you might have noticed that, if you bookmark something, the bookmark will take you to the opening page, not the specific content you wanted! If your business site is built in Flash, they’ll have the same problem.

And even worse, if there’s a page in your Flash site that your visitors want to share with a friend, or on Facebook, all of those friends who click on it? They’ll be dumped out on the homepage, too. All of those people who could’ve been impressed by your amazing new fascinator design may not ever see it, because they’ll have to look through your entire web site to find it–or more likely, they’ll get frustrated and move on. Word-of-mouth via Internet is powerful, and it costs you no time or money, so you don’t want to short yourself on that!

If you want to build a web site that’s as awesome as your work is,–and not in Flash!–I specialize in building web sites for small and local businesses that look fantastic, get found by search engines, and that you can maintain and update without having to stare at scary blocks of code. Contact me about your web site project, and let’s talk about what we can do together.

Portland web design – Portland logo design – Sarah Giffrow Creative

If you missed out on my newsletter, take a look and find out how we fared on our pet food drive, and learn about some of the folks who helped us get so far.

In the meantime, here are a few photos, both on-the-job and off, that happened during the last few weeks of 2011. Onward, 2012!

Portland professional photography – Portland web design – Sarah Giffrow Creative

She’s been inspired to create bold statement pieces, as of late, and Kimberlee clearly had that in mind when she pulled together some of the styling pieces she wanted to use in the shoot–among her things was a pair of fashionable boots, which she bought in our model’s size, and then painstakingly coated in gold glitter! A solid dose of that glitter ended up on my studio floor, but you know? It kind of looks better that way.

Kimberlee was accepted into Renegade Craft for their juried holiday shows, so she’s on the road as I write this, making her way up to their San Francisco event after debuting at their LA sale last weekend. If you’re in the Bay Area, be sure stop by this coming Saturday or Sunday, and check out her jewels firsthand.

Styling: Billede Design (www.billededesign.com)
Makeup/Hair: Christine Shields (marieimagesmakeupartistry.blogspot.com)
Model: Cassie M.

Portland fashion photography – Portland lookbook design – Sarah Giffrow Creative

If you’re not entirely on-board with the smoothie thing, though, they also offer sandwiches, parfaits, and my personal favorite, the Bowl of the Gods. It’s basically a granola bowl elevated to new heights: they pack protein and nutrients ahoy into one of their fresh-blended smoothies, and then top that with granola, nuts, fresh fruit, coconut, and goji berries. It’s yummy enough that I’d gladly eat it for dessert, but it’s healthy enough to make a fantastic breakfast or lunch.

I restrained myself just long enough to take a few photos of my Bowl of the Gods, on one of the last few warm-and-sunny days of Fall. I’m kind of jonesing for another one right now, in fact. Go pay a visit to Kure sometime soon! If it’s too cold outside, you can always take one to-go.

Portland professional food photography – Sarah Giffrow Creative

First Friday is back at Sarah Giffrow Creative, with a special holiday edition! We had a fun evening at my October First Friday open studio event, so we’re doing it again! This time, we’re kicking off the holidays featuring several fantastic Portland creatives:

• new jewelry from the Fresh Tangerine Holiday 2011 collection
• collaborative holiday arrangements by Terrene and Rosemary Stafford
• fine teas and candles by Sorella Naturale
• new photographs by SGC from the Holiday 2011 Fresh Tangerine shoot
• live music by The Mesa State
• local treats from Pastrygirl

AND, we’ll be working with local clothing designer Alyson Clair, collecting donations for A Bowlful of Heart holiday pet food drive! People who bring donations during First Friday will get a free thank-you gift! Learn more about the drive at www.bowlfulofheart.org.

Join us for holiday goodies and bites, and bring a donation to spread the cheer around!

Fri. December 2nd, 6:00pm – 8:00pm

on SE 11th & Division