285 Creative

05/09/2023

05/09/2023

A day at the farm in Quebec

08/06/2018

We've decided to add SOCIAL - VIDEO CONSULTING & PRODUCTION to our ever growing list of services and cool stuff we love doing.

So what the heck is Social - Video Consulting & Production? Let's back up before getting into that answer and ask if YOU have been around Youtube lately, or if you use Instagram, Vimeo, and so on.

If you have you may have noticed a trend where experts or passionate people who happen to know a subject are posting very well produced "video snippets" or clips on social site like Youtube.

We are ironing out the details but we plan to offer top notch motion graphics, video production and post production right here in Bailey, and make it affordable.

"So? Why can't I just stand in front of my camera and share my expertise with the world?" You say. You can. While those types of videos on Youtube are charming and usually funny as hell, they don't come off as professional.

We're offering basically offering to produce for you a slick piece of eye candy that will make you look and sound professional. You still supply your knowledge and expertise, we supply motion graphics, video, top notch sound, animation and tons more. More importantly we also compress the video so it looks and sounds good but isn't a huge file. Then its up to you if you want us to get a social media campaign started, if you just want us to upload it to your YouTube channel, page or other places, or if you want to do it yourself.

Whatever you chose, we will always be here to help you out.

How does this benefit you, having video on your social media site or web page?

For starters, TV and radio ads cost a lot. And you get a few seconds. With video on a site you can have minutes to tell your story, explain why your business is different, and allow your customers to get to know you in way. It's a great way to establish how charming your location is, how down to earth you are and your work ethic. You could share testimonials or give a tour of your business. If you are indeed both passionate and an expert in your field or business, your video could become an invaluable tool for users. And remember, your video is seen my the world - not just the community.

I know. Lots to think about. That is why I'm posting about this now. To give you time to research and to see if this is something your business could benefit from.

Our goal is to make it inexpensive and spot on professional. So your snippets are watchable, informative and affordable so you can make more and more as time goes on.

Kick the idea around. As always feel free to bounce questions or comments off us. I really think this would be fun and invaluable to local businesses up here.

04/11/2017

We just wanted to remind the good folks along the 285 Corridor with non-profits that our consultations are always free! We are here to help you get pointed in the right direction. No hidden fee's. Contact us, bounce your ideas or questions off us and we'll help clarify, demystify, protect you from scammers, and get your project rolling. Afterwards, you are not obligated in any way to use our services. It's our way of giving back to the community and help non-profit organizations in the area be successful. Because really, we all benefit from your success in the long run. The only thing is we limit this service to 285 Corridor Area Non-Profits and as you can understand sometimes our time is limited. But no matter what, we'll make time to help any way we can. We are always here for you.

Also, even though our community has grown larger in the decade we've been here we still are willing to work with local small businesses the old fashion way of barter or trade.

This can really help you AND us, but if you are a small business with little to no advertising in your budget it can be huge. We can get you up and running on social media, design print ads, really all of our services are available! We truly want to help out when & where we can. Again, this helps us out too - along with your permission- we can promote the work we do for you on our site. Win Win!

Many of you may not know we also love to co-write scripts or treatments and working with acting talent. We are always here to help actors get their demo's shot and/or edit existing material, we do headshots, and help creatively assemble your portfolio. Our background is that we originally started out in motion picture film so helping actors or small budget productions is near & dear to us.

Bands and performers, we can help produce your next demo or just a song or two and show you how to promote it. We typically do things like that for producing credits and to advertise our services. We know what it's like to be a struggling artist, we're still struggling artists ourselves! We'll work with you to make it affordable and help you at every turn.

And again, if you are interested in something creative media related ( for instance banner ads, photography, cartoons, original composing, app development, commissioned artwork, even vinyl vehicle lettering ) if we don't do what you need directly ourselves we have trusted connections, partners, long time friends and family who do.

Get in touch and let's see what we can do for you. Our consulting ( better yet just call it chit chat about your creative idea ) is always free, in an email, message, phone call or over lunch ) all you're going to lose is a little bit of time, hopefully get your project off the ground and make some new friends. Heck as far as lunch goes, we're buying! Can't go wrong there!

Why? Because we love our community and the excellent people here. If we can put our years of experience, our knowledge, and WAY out of the box thinking to good use and help you out it helps us all.

We love what we do. We would really love to put our talents to good use and work with you. And do our part to keep money in our local economy. There is so much to offer locally. Let's show everyone that they don't always need to go down the hill for top notch services, business, dinning and more.

Thanks so much for your time and for dropping by. Get in touch!

09/13/2016

I took some pictures in and around my yard. It's amazing what you'll find if you just stop and look.

07/19/2016

Caught a REALLY cool rainbow today, all I had was my iPhone handy but it still came out pretty awesome. What was cool, but hard to see, is at the bottom - of the bottom rainbow - were double colors of green and magenta. I've never seen that before, wish I had my camera handy to capture that. Still, a cool shot thought, huh? :-)

06/20/2016

I was kicking this idea around for a new logo. I dunno. What do you think? I like the old one, but love to hear your thoughts.

06/15/2016

I get a few messages from DIY'ers ( Web Designers ) out there and let me just say I LOVE YOU GUYS! Really! I do. I was once like you, so excited - so overwhelmed but so confident that YOU CAN DO THIS! And you are right, you can.!

You can and you will and nothing will make you feel so proud, so accomplished. BUT ( and there's always a but isn't there? ) It helps to have someone, in the shadows - off the radar - someone you can ask questions to and not feel silly asking what you may think is a silly question. After all, it's cliche but there really aren't any silly questions.

This technology changes so fast, there are new gadgets and gizmos and also a few jerkass punks out there willing to ruin your hard work that it seems overwhelming. It's rough out there but not so rough that you should give up trying.

YOU CAN DO THIS!

I know, you may be asking yourself "So why are a group of guys so willing to help me out when they are in the business to make this stuff and have loads more experience and could work circles around me." ( Uh no, we can't ) Simply put, the best way for someone new to the craft of web design ( any design really ) to grow a little respect for the craft itself. Plus, as you learn along the way it gives us a mutual frame of reference, now when we speak we won't be speaking in a different language - you'll "get it". OK, some of it.

We still believe that the pride of DIY and your desire to stick to it will win out at the end of the day and you'll have a site, or blog - something YOU did and something YOU can be proud of. MAN! We love when that happens and we LOVE helping you get there.

You've been there before. Isn't that feeling great? We are content to remain in the shadow while you bask in the spot light and soak up the praise. All along, we've got your back. We're YOUR creative department.

After all, the site you envision is yours. The design you have in your head, it's yours. The colors, the font, the logo. It's created by your hard working brain cells and its no one's business who did what.

That's how we look at it anyway.

And if you decide you want to bring us to take a bow, and celebrate your site's design accomplishments thats fine too. After all, we are YOUR design department. We are with you every step of the way and with you as long as you'll have us.

You are our neighbors. Hopefully after working for many many hours our friends too. We'll get to know each other, well. Maybe even finishing each other's sentences or picking a color before we have a chance to shot it out.

You know that's a gift and much more than a working relationship. And that's the way we like it. That's how we work. Sure, it may not be for everyone but it lends so much passion and ease to creative projects that time zips by, projects almost seem to complete themselves and we finish long before we're prepared to be done.

It also leaves you excite about the next endeavor,...and frankly. Us too!

In the coming weeks I'll post some more invaluable suggestions and ideas on working together. Sometimes working with experts whom I like to refer to as invaluable geniuses who should be, if it were legal, pushed in front of a train and also working with novices that are so green and new but who have fresh perspectives that are so invaluable there are barely enough elegant words to describe them. Strangely, it takes years of practice to identify the two.

Art in the raw sense of code, or complimentary color choices. The use of fonts, their size, their placement it all factors on. But don't let it scare you, it's nothing to worry about what so ever. It's waiting patiently to be your best friend. Don't rush any of it. Everything I mention, it will all come to you and it will enrich your world. The best thing of all is it's just waiting to compliment your work. To enhance your design. To do it's part and to reward you for trusting you instincts.

Remember Bob Ross? Yes, the PBS channel painter with the beard and the "Fro". I don't know about you but I watched Bob transfixed. I couldn't turn away. Remember, Bob would screw something up - but Bob never let on he made mistakes, nope. He had "Happy little accidents!" And if for some reason you had to turn away Bob, what seemed very calculated and planned, kicked your ass! One second you saw utter devastation and you thought you witnessed the end of the Universe. Surely Bob's career was over, the show was cancelled and you'd be wearing black for a month to mourn and show respect for Bob Ross.

That was not to be. Withing 6 seconds, his "Happy Little Accident" turned the image around and created a painting that left you speechless. It was better than anything thing he had haver created.

It was pointless to ask how. Futile to try and get your head around the process of how he did such a thing. Did you witness a muse in action, or a highly creative and brilliant painter, or,.....something much much more than that?

And the best part. Next week he'd do it all over again.What Bob did wasn't meant to make you critique or scrutinize. Its purpose is simple, just to help you find it in your heart and in the creative part of your brain ( or your soul if you will ) the wellspring that Bob drew upon to blow our minds each and every week.

Its also not about if you will be better than Bob. Or worse. Your canvas is your work. There are no judges. There are no critics. No one has a valid opionion. If they do, tell 'em to f**k off. Art is personal. Its not meant to be judged its not meant to be anything ecept the inside of your heart. The fact that you picked up a pain brush and started to lay that to paper shuts the world out. As much as they say, regardless of the emotion it evokes, nothing on the canvas or scrap of paper, old napkin,whatever - none of it belongs to anyone BUT YOU.

It came from your heart and your soul and every fiber of your being and it belongs 1000% to you and no on else. That one piece of art has made you the richest person.

You can either accept that and bask in your wealth, or turn away from it. That makes you a very powerful artist indeed.

Let me just add one thing. If you are serious and you want to learn - stuff from CMS stuff like Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla or just wanna do good ol'd fashion HTML or explore options available to you - lets talk. I owe it to you to give your dream my undivided attention. I cant promise I can help But I will give it my best. Its the least I can do.

So don't be shy - say "HEY! Yo! Maxi!Wud Up? ;-) ok, maybe not like that. That may creep me out a little.

06/10/2016

With it getting warmer out here now, and the fact that we totally spaced sharing a couple videos I made of my Pugs in the snow, I thought better late than never, right?

So here you go. Snow Pugs - I sent them to 9News.com and they played them. I felt pretty proud of my puppies. Enjoy!

http://www.9news.com/mb/news/local/share-this/these-pugs-want-more-snow-to-play-in/159630292

You may have heard the sentiment of "enough" when it comes to snow and wet weather, but a special pair of pugs are hoping Colorado gets a good amount so they can play in it.

05/28/2016

I’ve been a web nerd many years. Probably a lot longer than some of you have been alive. I still mess around with code just to keep my chops and to stay up on technology because thats what geeks tend to do. Now granted, I post about 98% pure and utter silly crap - I’m that way in real life. Occasionally tho I get asked a serious question and answer it seriously. Thats fun too because most of the time people don’t know if I’m goof’n on them or not.

One thing I do get asked by almost everyone, if they have a web site or not, is HOW DO I GET MY SITE TO COME UP FIRST ON A SEARCH ENGINE? And when I say “YOU DON’T” thats usually when they think that once again they are getting a crap answer but it’s really true.

Side Note: If you find someone, or they hound you claiming that they will get your site to Number One on Google you go ahead and bust them in their lying mouth. If you're civil, ignore them. If you’re smart & connected, ignore them and have one of your goons bust them in their lying mouth.

Ok. So that question is usually followed up by “WELL PEOPLE ARE AT THE TOP! HOW DID THEY DO IT, DID THEY PAY?”

In some advertising cases and depending on the search engine, yeah. Some do pay. Ridonkulous amounts of money. An average mom & pop business isn’t going to be able to afford that route so just “fahgetaboutet”.

So whats the riddle Batman? Here’s the best answer from a Google perspective. If you are a designer or developer you should already know this stuff and do this stuff. If you aren’t, why are you a web nerd to begin with?

1st off, Provide high quality content on your site. I can't say that enough. You’d think that would be a no brainer but quality content has NOTHING to do with how great your company is or its history. Be a source of information. Link out to important stuff related to your business. If you are an auto mechanic, link to useful things/anything related to cars. Keep a blog about tools, history on engines, facts related to cars. Of course if you are an auto mechanic you fix cars. Make it easy for customers to contact you, know your hours, your history, and provide a testimonial section. BUT, be the resource people go to when they want to know stuff about fixing a car. DIY is huge these days, capitalize on it. If you are a resource of information, and you have top notch content and links, your site will get more hits than the competition making you appear higher in the ranks. Just make sure any link away from your site opens a new window. Be the source of info but don't send visitors away. Plus, DIY's are likely to come to you to fix what they could DI"T",... Do It Themselves. ;-)

Secondly, and again this one seems like a no brainer too…but far too many people don’t do this. Just make your site mobile friendly. Many users search on mobile devices or tablets to search. Now a days results from search engines favor pages that provide web sites that are also designed for tablets and devices. Just that simple act can increase your ranking.

Third. You should keep your content simple and short. Your meta tag descriptions help the search engines understand the purpose and/or content of your web site. Your blog posts “should” be kept short and on point unless your post needs to be epic. When doing that keep in mind its a good idea to link within your post to outside sources, to verify your post and to give your visitors even more information. Actually thats never a bad idea - if your post is long or short. This goes back to the first point made.

If you haven’t picked up on this yet, the simplest way to put it is - Just make your website valuable to visitors.

Fourth, Give site visitors ease of use, meaning make it easy for them to get around your site quickly and to find info fast! Give them what THEY want, not what you want and that also means let your designer design. She or he is most likely up on trends and what graphic styles are popular. The worst thing a business owner can do is derail the process by having a bad case of the “I’m paying lots of money for this thing, I wanna use an outdated - out of place - whatever type of graphic.” If you aren’t paying for your site,…well I’ll get to that in a second.

Anyway something you drew, or some clip art thing you found funny or cute ( side note - you CAN NOT use clip art, even clip art you BOUGHT & PAID MONEY for on your promotional material and thats everything including websites. Why can’t you use a clip art disk? Feel free to ask below ), just don’t use that stuff or put your designer in that awkward position of having to tell you it sucks and you are shooting yourself in the foot for using it. You can convey that your business is down to earth and that you are just regular folks who love their kids and community. Do that in your bio, or “about us” section. Your image to the public should always be professional.

Sorry, I went off topic for a moment there. Using cute/not cute graphics doesn’t effect your search engine placement. However, the time it takes your site to load does. So Fifth and lastly keep things minimal and well compressed. Now a days its great to include video, and if you are hosting the video yourself you are going to want that compressed as well. It’s tempting to use drag and drop web companies you find out there and granted, some aren’t half bad at all. Everything is a template these days so you can basically see your site before it’s done. I recommend that if you do go that route that you know the basics of web design or hire someone with the knowledge to do your site. And while it may feel good to have your niece or neighbor build your site and save you a couple bucks ( maybe ) or do it for free - it sounds cliche but you may pay for it later. Many many things can go wrong if your site has any security holes. Again, if you are curious as to what ask below.

This info can get you started down a path that gets more complex but at least gets you pointed in the right direction. If you get started out this way there will be less or no damage control in the future. You have to know too, there are 1000’s and 1000’s of computers world wide running programs just looking for poorly designed web sites. And then those same computers run software that, once they lock on to a poorly designed or hosted computer, run programs that work 24 hours a day trying to crack your code. It really is a lot easier to get into your site. Easier than a lot of people either realize or want to admit to. I’ll explain what some hackers will do and can do from personal experience what happened to me 10 or so years ago. I’ll tell you about it in another post. Like I said too. Please ask any questions you have below.