what is and what should never be

So I totally ripped the blog post title from Led Zeppelin but the line seemed fitting.

I guess what I'm REALLY trying to say is that we are officially announcing our BIG news. Is it annoying to write "BIG" in all uppercase letters? Hmm...I haven't made up my mind yet.

But back to the news! For many of you that know of us personally, you know that Different By Design is a business we have ran on the side. As a salary manager at Sam's Club, Billy puts in 50 plus hours a week running all of his departments and his "leftover" time is devoted to design.

Our goal has always been to move to designing full time and that is a lifelong dream we can now cross off our list! As of May 2011, Different By Design will be a full time creative studio dedicated to serving the print design needs of the Yuba Sutter area.

We couldn't be more excited or more scared. Or more grateful for that matter. We want to thank God and thank every single one of you from the bottom of our hearts. This dream would have never became a reality if it weren't for the grace of God and the encouragement (and even the obstacles) we have faced along the journey thus far.

So what is? Say hello to the new home of Different By Design.

photo credit:Erik Jens owner of the building


And what should never be. We have had our eye on this spot for YEARS. It's in downtown Yuba City. Corner spot, windows all around. We made a million phone calls but the owner was NOT interested in leasing it. But it's all good. Because God had our back and we couldn't be happier about our new location!

photo credit: me via my lovely cell phone. yeah that's my awesome reflection you see.

We're throwing a huge party in May to celebrate our grand opening and one year in business as Different By Design. We'll keep you posted! And thank you to all the kind words you've left for us on our facebook page. You guys rock!

moments to remember-me and mine magazine ad

Michelle contacted us a few days before needing to submit an ad for her booming photography business to our local family magazine. Michelle is one of our original clients and we absolutely love that she continues to choose us for the shaping of her brand image. We were happy to relieve her of worrying about the looming deadline!

Because we were behind the executing of her rebranding, we know her brand values and aesthetics inside out. We designed her last full page ad that ran in Me And Mine, but this time she had a new ad space size. She had a previously designed ad before her rebranding that would fit in the new ad space, but asked us to "update" it so that it would line up with the new look of her photography studio.

We left her photo layout the same as per her request and then updated the rest of the ad to reflect the new and improved look of the MTR Studio.

Thank you for your continued trust and support of Different By Design, Michelle! And Be sure to view her site..she is always running amazing promotions!

garrison-der wedding

I think more often than not couples think that custom invitation suites (wedding invitations and corresponding rsvp cards) are a luxury that they will not be able to afford.

I would like to challenge that idea and encourage brides to shop around and before committing to cookie cutter, one size fits all designs, to seek out local, professional designers for custom wedding designs.

After all, what should be more personable than your wedding day? The wedding invitation is the first information a guest will receive about your upcoming day...it sets the tone for everything that follows...you deserve to have invitations that reflect you as a couple.

When Amy first contacted us about designing for her wedding we were so excited! After our initial consultation and before beginning our research these 3 things Amy said really stuck out to me:

1. She mentioned more than once that she and Kevin were "simple" people and desired a simple, clean design with easy to read fonts

2. She told us that Kevin came from a Chinese heritage and although they were not having a traditional Chinese wedding, they would be passing out Chinese party favors at the reception

3. When I asked how Amy met Kevin I thought it was very cute and interesting that they met while going through the teaching credential at their college together. Both Amy and Kevin are teachers! :)

I also of course took note of Amy's wedding colors: Oasis and Truffle. With this information in hand I set out and began researching the double happiness symbol that is traditionally used in Chinese weddings.

I loved the idea of using this symbol on their invitations and rsvp cards but instead of having it feel generic, we decided to make Amy and Kevin into the double happiness symbols to add a playful touch.

We kept true to Amy's wishes with clean and easy to read fonts and incorporated Amy and Kevin's story of meeting while pursing their teaching credentials into the rsvp cards.

Invitation suites should be a reflection of the couple they represent and I think these fun, simple designs do just that for Amy and Kevin. Since they both LOVED the designs along with Kevin's Chinese family...I think its safe to announce them as a smashing hit!

Thanks for thinking different with your design needs, Amy and Kevin! We wish you a lifetime of happiness..make that double happiness!

If you are interested in having custom invitations and rsvp cards designed for your big day, you can contact us at different_by_design@ymail.com.

connecting the dots

In a powerful speech given by Apple Inc. cofounder and chief executive Steve Jobs said,“You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

So today I am blogging the first entry of Connecting The Dots; an ongoing series you will find here on the Different By Design blog. Brace yourself! I'll try to be brief but I don't want to leave out too much!

What many people do not realize is that apart from all the work we do at Different By Design, we also have other huge and time consuming responsibilities. Billy is a manager at Sam's Club where he works 50 plus hours a week. We have 3 young children that do not attend day care (though one does go to school) but I am the primary caregiver of them 365 days a year. As if we weren't busy enough, last summer I started making hair pieces for my younger sisters and then literally that hobby turned into a business that just took off.

They say when you start a business it takes around 3 years to become profitable. However, with hair pretties they were an overnight success. Originally I started out giving one to anyone that asked about them because I wasn't planning on starting a business. After I gave away over $400 (my cost) in hair accessories I knew something had to change! So in a blink of an eye I suddenly had another business to operate.

Because other than raising our children and Sam's Club, our main goal has always been to focus on the growth and the maintaining of excellent service to our clients at Different By Design, I began to force myself to slow down on making hair pretties. Some of these steps included not going the usual route of opening up a full time etsy shop and turning down offers of being carried in stores. I also chose to move the hair pretties facebook page from a public page to a private one so I could better control the communications between hair pretties and my wonderful customers.

These last few months have felt like we have had 0 free time as a family. After putting in over 10 hours a day at Sam's, Billy is home and I am briefing him on where we are at with all our clients and design jobs. After that everyone is off to bed and then I am up into the early hours of morning fulfilling dozens of hair pretties orders! I made a resolution in 2011 to change that and to limit the amount of orders I am taking.

I finally got to the point where I was ready to announce that I was taking a hair pretties sabbatical when I went in to accept a new friends request on the hair pretties facebook page. It was from a man and I assumed it was on behalf of his wife. I decided to visit his his facebook page since it is far and few between when men are putting in friends request to hair pretties!

I saw that he had listed Pixar (yes..that amazing animation studio that we have to thank for Up, Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles and every other amazing children's movie in existence) as his employer.

I sent him a quick message thanking him for the friends request and mentioned that my kids were going to think I was a celebrity since a Pixar employee was a friend to hair pretties!

To wrap up that encounter, the Pixar employee's lovely wife who was referred by another favorite hair pretties' customer Natalie (she graduated Chico State with Billy) ended up ordering some hair pretties for their adorable little girl and her husband later wrote back to say that though they were busy now with Cars 2 preparing to release, he invited us to come down and meet his family and...tour the Pixar Studio!

I nearly died when I read his message! When Billy was a student at Chico State he had the honor of touring a couple of top notch design firms...we were recently discussing how we would LOVE to tour some true creative studios but weren't sure how to go about doing that.

Then just like that, all because I started selling hair accessories we had an invitation from a Pixar employee to tour their studio. In our eyes, Pixar is king of creativeness...to think we are going to get to actually visit their work space and environment is truly a dream come true.

                                                                                     
And while I absolutely LOVE all my hair pretties customers, I do still plan to announce a break from hair pretties soon. However, I am so thankful to God for connecting those dots. When I "started" hair pretties it was (and for the most part still is) really something I did just for fun.

I would have never dreamed in a million years that hair pretties would have provided an opportunity for us to visit the Pixar Animation Studios, but I feel incredibly blessed it worked out that way.

SO. Though we don't always realize it when we are going about our day to day lives, I fully believe that there is a reason for everything and that in hindsight we will be amazed how the dots in our lives connected. Did you know that Steve Jobs also cofounded Pixar? How's that for dot connecting! :)

*second photo of the Pixar Animation Studio found on techeblog.com

lets go do some good.

supporting the relief efforts in japan

One week ago Japan was hit by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. If you were like us, I'm sure hearing and watching the news left you heartbroken and wondering what you could do to help those in Japan.

Different By Design is proud to announce that we are donating ALL the profits of the sale of our specially designed card to the Billy Graham Evangelical Association relief efforts in Japan.

With lots of watercoloring, scanning, and drawing in Illustrator, we created 5x5 folded cards. On the front of a card is a Japanese origami crane. The crane represents peace and hope in the Japanese culture. The words of Jesus can be found underneath: Peace be with you.

It is our prayer that even in a dark time of destruction, when all feels lost...that those suffering will feel peace and hope.

We decided to create a card instead of a print because if you want, your gift can be a gift that keeps on giving. Not only when you make a $10 donation will you helping those in Japan, when you receive your card you can choose to also mail that out.

There are few things better than a nice handwritten letter. Write your old best friend. Your widowed grandmother. Your coworker who's going through a divorce. Your friend who is battling cancer. Whether you choose to give your card or put it up on your own fridge...we hope that Peace will be with you!

You can purchase the cards directly on our site at www.differentxdesign.com and when you are done be sure to grab a facebook default button over at www.facebook.com/differentxdesign

Thank YOU for your generosity and for giving to those in need.

mixing pleasure and business...

"People who don’t have a sense of humor really have serious problems." Awe. The wise words of the world renowned logo designer Paul Rand.

But isn't it the truth? Who says you can't mix business with pleasure? At Different By Design we LOVE what we do and we love to have fun. And so we do...all the time.

Don't get me wrong...as Milton Glaser said, "Art is work!" But what we have found is that having fun and having a good sense of humor is a key ingredient not only in business but in life.

So remember to laugh...and to never take yourself too seriously. You just mind find when you smile, the world smiles with you!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Behold: Billy's renedition of the famous "thinking man". I found this picture going through the outtakes of our studio shoot with Gary Roberts. What can I say? We like to laugh :)

lori meinking-yuba city midwife

When Lori contacted us about designing an advertisement for her midwife practice for Me And Mine magazine we were thrilled!

Even with a tight deadline we were able to set up a meeting with Lori over at her office at W A Women's Center For Health, so we could get to learn about the services Lori offers and the overall benefits of choosing a midwife during your pregnancy and for the birth of your baby.

There is really nothing better than working with professionals that love their work and trust you to do yours!

Before contacting us, Lori had been using a premade template designed to be used for a birth announcement for her advertising. At Different By Design we know that one size design never fits all! Lori is a dedicated professional that provides customized services to her patients...her business deserved a custom advertisement designed specifically to communicate her business values.

We were honored to be able to deliver on our promise of custom "designs with purpose"...so look for Lori's new ad in the next issue of Me And Mine!

Thanks for thinking Different with your business design needs Lori!