How did you spend your winter and spring?

It's been a busy winter and early spring at KFDP. We started off the year doing our first ad for European Reflections with photographer David Schilling to go into an issue of Veranda magazine. Apparently the framed mirror concept was a successful one as they received 15 calls as soon as subscriptions hit the mailboxes, before the newsstand editions arrived.

We've done our usual winter and spring Silver Falcons newsletters for our trusty retired Eastern Air Lines employees. We added a one-time newsletter for Catherine Kelleghan Gallery, InFocus, into the mix. Check out the beautiful work on her site for sale.


A couple of new things have come along this year—a logo for GBPI with Alison Amoroso as they plan to go around the state and do Health Care Symposiums, beginning in September. Also a redesign for Professional Pet Sitter magazine with Steve Milano, and the layout of their spring issue.

We also have had the pleasure of working on the ad series for the upcoming Telluride Blues & Brews Festival with Courtney McClary and Paula Donner. This involves multiple ads, all shapes and sizes, with an ever-growing list of performers to work into the different spaces.

Then we have our spring issue of Charleston Style & Design, made even nicer by having Dickson Dunlap shoot many of our ads this time. Since the ads are our portion of the magazine, we were greatly appreciative of the upgrade in photography! Rob Johnson did the editorial art for this issue. Largest issue yet—definitely an achievement in this economy.

We also have Atlanta ShowGuide, both Dance and Spring issues, with Gregg Daugherty and Chris McMurry of BlueMedia, highlighting live shows in the greater Atlanta area.

And finally we've wrapped up a three issues of CDHC Solutions magazine with Doug Field and Matt Bolch, and an issue of EmployersWeb magazine, helping companies strategize and dovetail their existing health care and benefits programs with the new and changing laws.

Now we understand why taking a couple of days off to run to Memphis was so necessary at this point in the year! After all, one must prepare for late spring and early summer (hopefully downpours) of work!

Newest Projects, Charleston Style & Design, Atlanta ShowGuide, Advance ALIGN Newsletter

2009 is sufficiently wrapped up now and 2010 is well on it's way to being a better year. We recently wrapped up a couple of magazines we'd like to tell you about.

Charleston Style & Design is a quarterly publication, dedicated to displaying the beautiful lifestyle of Charleston as depicted in architecture, interior design, landscape design, fine art, dining... you name it, we give you a taste of it. KFD&P works on ads for this magazine. This issue had approximately 75 ads in it, we designed or made significant changes to 45 of those ads. Needless to say, if you are in Charleston, please look up some of these fine businesses. The work is very high quality and detailed and the people are tremendous. Much of the photography in this issue is done by Dickson Dunlap. Make sure you check out his work. And if you like our features and articles, Rob Johnson at Toprotype is responsible for the design of those pages. The printer for this publication is Publisher's Press, the King of Magazine Printers as far as I'm concerned!

We also finished the Winter issue of Atlanta ShowGuide. This publication is free and is distributed all over Atlanta in areas where you find art and theatre enthusiasts. If you want to impress a client, give a great gift, have a unique night out, this publication is full of good ideas and great shows. We do this one start to finish. Some of the ads are provided, we design the rest. This publication highlights as many areas of art as we can squeeze into each issue. It's also free online to view at Atlanta ShowGuide Issuu.

And finally, we did a special issue of ADVANCE ALIGN, a newsletter written and designed to support the Atlanta Public School System's special education teachers. This publication has a more flexible schedule, approximately five issues a year. Rebecca K. Reeves of Reeves & Associates is the brains behind it. The teachers love it and it makes it a very special project to work on, indeed.

Update on three recently finished projects

It's time to post three of my most recent projects, just recently wrapped up.

In trying to do more work in the music field, I had an opportunity to do a piece of art for a shirt for a local Atlanta band called Soulhound. They use the term "funky, sweaty, soul-grooving music" to describe them, and that is the perfect description. For their shirt, however, they wanted to go a little more organic. So, we worked with the "groovy" side and organic colors. This was the final option they chose.

The next project was a book cover for Ned White. I must give credit to Bobby Hickman, editor, writer, www.Linkedin.com connection and fellow Freelance Forum member for sending this very quick project my way. I worked with this local author and his artist to complete this project. You can purchase this book at Create Space.

And last but not least, I helped a friend and fantastic marketing communicator, David Chesnut, rework his web site. This was a challenge for me to learn a few additional things. David knows what he wants and was not afraid to ask. AND he was very encouraging as I learned to overcome a few technical issues. The site looks simple but it did take more thought and effort to get it there. He wanted clean and simple and we delivered.

Become Visible - For Free (or nearly free)

It's time to share a few thoughts on helping to take your creative thoughts from the invisible sanctuary of your mind and the metal/plastic box of your computer and let them see the light of day.

But how to do this without paying a lot of money? Well, here are a few suggestions.

First, I'd like to push LinkedIn as a great free resource. Someday I'll pay for it, but for the time being I will be sticking with the free side. LI allows you to post your resume/qualifications/interests, practically anything related to your business or work. It has a few limitations, but for the most part it not only is pretty overarching but not hard to use. The best part is, is shows up at the top of most search engines!

Secondly, if you are a member of a trade organization, see if you can submit articles, artwork, anything that can get your name into their publications. I happen to be a member of Freelance Forum in Atlanta, GA and we have a monthly pdf newsletter. If you are in that newsletter, there is a good guarantee that you will hit at the top of a search engine list due to the great SEO work that has been done on our site.

Third, creating a blog, like this one, is very helpful. You can use your blog to assist your clients with useful information, or share information with fellow creatives. It helps on a two-fold level, sometimes you just need to discuss something in writing to work it out, and oftentimes that discussion can help another person/client, etc. in the process.

Fourth, you can use your blog to introduce new work that you've done. It's a chance to explain your project a little more in-depth. Your web site can continue to stay clean while you expand your project explanation on a blog.

Now is definitely not the time to stay invisible to the world. You have excellent ideas. You are creative. You are ready to improve a business, to liven up a book, to create dynamic advertising that promotes a product you believe in... Get out there and make yourself visible!

KFDP = Graphics With Your Goals in Mind = Success For You!

Ah, it's time for me to enter into the wonderful world of blogging. I will try not to throw my opinions down on the screen in front of you. I'll try not to get off on tangents or digress into areas that have nothing to do with the original subject. 

But, after all, this is my blog!

So, that being said, I will try to discuss information here that will actually help you in working with creative folks. Information that will help you understand pricing and the actual cost of getting a project printed, created, etc. Information that will help you improve your own marketing efforts, and, in the long run, make us all more successful.

The tag line for my company is "Graphics With Your Goals in Mind". I didn't just "think that up" one day. It actually means that reaching your specific goal is the ultimate purpose of the work I am doing for you. It's all about you. And your goals. And reaching your goals. If I do my job right, you will succeed. 

So, if you allow me the luxury of posting things here that relate to you reaching your goal, I would be honored to do so. You might have to slug through a tangent every once in awhile, but I'll try to make sure it's a relative tangent!

I'm looking forward to sharing some information with you that will hopefully make your life a little easier and a lot more successful.