Announcing: Redesign of www.BeavertonArts.org

City of Beaverton Press Release, September, 2010

Beaverton Arts Commission Unveils New Website with Tools for Beaverton Arts Community 

New tools have been developed for artists, sponsors, and organizations to more effectively bring arts to the community.

Beaverton; September 1, 2010 – The Beaverton Arts Commission rolls out their new website and new brand identity this month. The inspiration for the design of the identity and website were multi-faceted, but mainly anchored in the BAC mission to connect the community through the arts. The flow of the site was designed to facilitate and organize the presentation of activities and resources of the arts community—which is highly dynamic and diverse.

Features of the new website include: at-a-glance and in-depth looks at what's happening in Beaverton's art scene, calendar of activities, featured artists, Blog, Public Art Tour, and a visual archive of artist and commission images, video and audio. The site offers resources, information and opportunities to young and emerging artists, local artists, business owners and the general public. Plus, recognition of sponsors and partners provides higher visibility for their outstanding contributions to the arts community.

www.beavertonarts.org

The City of Beaverton serves a population that speaks 90 different languages. Art is the vehicle for community expression, cohesiveness, and relationships. “The Arts Commission set out to design a website that would provide space for our artists to show their work and connect with their friends and family. The site provides everyone an opportunity to connect with and experience that cultural diversity which we so value here in Beaverton,” said Carol Cartier, Principal of CATATILLA Design, LLC.

About the BAC

The Beaverton Arts Commission (BAC) strives to make the arts accessible to the residents of Beaverton. In 2009 they created a public art plan to create a more colorful and vibrant downtown. In 2009 the BAC funded two, outdoor murals and a new performing arts event called “10 Tiny Dances.” The Commission’s two, signature events are Visual Arts Showcase held in February and Beaverton Last Tuesday series held June, July and August. For more information, contact the Beaverton Arts Commission at www.beavertonarts.org or call (503) 526-2288.

Professor Designer: Image Resolution

By Tracey Ullom, Designer, CATATILLA Design LLC

Have you ever wondered why an image that you downloaded from a web site looked poor and pixilated when you printed on paper? The reason is rooted in the resolution of the image. 

Resolution refers to the amount of information present in a particular raster image. The information is expressed in pixels—those tiny dots or squares that make up a photographic image. Each pixel is comprised of one color. The amount of pixel information is commonly defined as the number of pixels per square unit of dimension, such as pixels per inch, or ppi. The more pixels present in the inch, the more information the photo has; therefore yielding a higher resolution image.

Tips for Applying This to Everyday Use…

Back to the original question: why are images from the web not appropriate for printing on paper? We illustrate this by looking at two photos from common sources:


Photo #1, an image I photographed using an everyday digital camera on the highest quality setting. (vertical photo)
Photo #2, an image I found online. (horizontal photo)

Caution! Be aware of the owner’s Content License Agreement—unauthorized use may result in fines and penalties.


Original pixel dimensions for each:

Photo #1—Camera Photo: 2304 pixels wide x 3072 pixels tall
Photo #2—Online Photo: 1280 pixels wide x 800 pixels tall

Question: How large can I print these images without sacrificing quality?
Answer: Pixel Width ÷ 300 by Pixel Height ÷ 300 = Your Largest Quality Print Size in inches.

We apply this rule to the two photos:

Camera Photo: 2304 ÷ 300 = 7.68 by 3072 ÷ 300 = 10.24
I can print this photo at 7.68 inches by 10.24 inches—an 8x10 inch print.

Web Photo: 1280 ÷ 300 = 4.27 by 800 ÷ 300 = 2.67
This can be printed as 4 inches by 2.5 inches, roughly. Notice—this is not even a 3x5 inch print!

How to find an image’s pixel dimensions…
Windows – Right Click on image and select “Properties”. The image’s resolution should appear.
Mac – Right click on image and select “Get Info” and the image dimensions should be listed under the “More Info” portion.

How does all this affect design?
The industry standards are:

• WEB = 72 ppi
• PRINT = 300 ppi

The most important thing to understand is that a printed photographic image has very different requirements than an image meant for online viewing. Each requires different color modes, file types, and different levels of image resolution. The best rule of thumb you can follow with images related to your marketing material is to set your camera to the highest possible quality setting and save a copy of the original un-edited image. 

Announcing: Launch of BusinessBeaverton.com

By Tracey Ullom, Designer, CATATILLA Design LLC

CATATILA has been working with the City of Beaverton’s Economic Development to develop a variety of marketing tools. The most dynamic change to their visual identity is through the design and launch of their new website in July of 2010.

www.BusinessBeaverton.com

Purpose
The purpose of the site was to promote unique business development programs and resources available by the City of Beaverton. Online viewers can learn about the business environment, programs, and information about free services to the business community in and around Beaverton. One of its newest programs is Economic Gardening—implemented by Rob Pochert, Economic Development Program Manager. “Our focus is to provide tools and resources to existing businesses so they can grow, while promoting the vibrant community for those looking to relocate and develop right here in Beaverton.”

Who benefits from this site?
Business Start-Up & Entrepreneurs

• Explore the Business Start-Up Guide.
• Review General Tax Information, City, County and State Business Regulations.
• Meet Business Development’s Partners.

Existing Business Owners

• Learn about opportunities to improve your downtown storefront.
• Make connections and get business leads with Economic Gardening Program.
• Consider financing opportunities available.

Site Selection Consultants or Businesses Interested in Relocating to Beaverton

• Review the community profile data, such as Area Employers and Workforce Education.
• Learn about what makes Beaverton stand out, such as The Arts, the Beaverton School District, and Sports, Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District.

Site Features
CATATILLA worked with Rob and his team to redesign and expand the website to include descriptions about the programs available. New and improved functionality is now available through an interactive Site Guide—a decision tree comprised of carefully developed questions and results to guide the user to the information that would be most helpful.

A Blog provides City staff the ability to post the latest information on new programs and events connected to the new Calendar of Events. Subscribers can be kept up to date through the new RSS Feed, announcing site updates. An internal Search box provides viewers with a targeted search tool to quickly find information about the City’s business programs.

Behind the Scenes
What the average user does not see is the custom built CMS—a web content and design management system that was created to facilitate this project. The system, named LEXA™ (Lightweight Extensible XML & AJAX), allows the Economic Development team to update and add content to the site—without worrying about the design.

Each piece of new content is automatically formatted to fit their brand identity. The CMS manages consistency of the look and feel of the site. With a variety of automatic features and built in controls, LEXA™ is suitable for non-developers to administer a site of this size.

Other features included are data upload, large data table management, image/file management, automatic system back-up, and more.

In-depth documentation has been provided to support the administrators of the site. The Standards and Guidelines provide design specifications, hosting environment, LEXA™ instructions, and content creation and management recommendations.

For more information on LEXA™ and/or our web design services contact us.

Professor Designer: Serif VS Sans Serif

By Tracey Ullom, Designer, CATATILLA Design LLC

What they have in common...
They are both styles of typefaces or fonts.

Serif
A typeface with a presence of a small stroke at the end of a main vertical or horizontal stroke. There are many styles of serifs, such as a slab, slur, bracketed or wedge serif. A serif is sometimes considered a decorative element, but it is widely accepted as the preferred typeface option for books because the serifs aid reading by leading the eye across a line of text.
Common serif typefaces: Times Roman, Garamond, Caslon
Sans Serif
"Sans", french for 'without', describes a typeface that has no serifs. Sans serif typefaces often have features that heighten readability such as a larger x-height. The simplicity of a sans serif typeface often lends itself to signage and large scale printing.
Common sans serif typefaces: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana
Rule of Thumb: Most typefaces are created with a great deal of care and visual consideration, and the right typeface can accentuate your marketing materials in a variety of ways.

Effective Email Marketing

By Tracey Ullom, Designer, CATATILLA Design LLC

The first thing to understand in marketing by email is that email marketing is not “spam”. Spam is indiscriminately sending out unsolicited bulk emails. Email marketing is targeted specifically to your existing and potential client base. Here are a few things to think about as you get started:

Benefits

When approached strategically, email marketing can be a very cost effective way to communicate with existing clients while building up your client base. The goal is to offer your subscribers a variety of useful tools that they will be inspired to keep on hand for an extended period of time. Once a system is thoughtfully set up, the long-term costs are minimal—limited to (1) monthly email web service cost and (2) time spent on developing content.

Imagine you own some type of horticulture related company; landscape designer, yard maintenance, nursery, etc. Would your customers enjoy seasonal plant/lawn care information? Information on how and when to trim the roses? When tree maintenance requires professional assistance? Or how to protect their gardens from frost? Of course they would! You are the expert and by strategically sharing your knowledge, plus coupons, promotions, or product notifications, you will build a captive audience. Subscribers will value your information, pass it to friends, trust you with their horticulture needs and bring you repeat business.

Dangers

Email marketing campaigns should not be entered into lightly or on the spur of a moment. It may seem easy to create an account with an online email marketing service and send out a quick email blast, but the repercussions of a poorly created email can greatly affect any future mailings. Typically, the result is a large portion of your email list (potential clients) will immediately block or unsubscribe from your emails. Once a person has unsubscribed it is very difficult to get them back on a list.

Email can be considered a temporary or disposable message—similar to that of direct mailings or televisions ads. On the other hand, there are eNewsletters that I’ve subscribed to that I file in my email client and refer to again and again.

Powerful Approach

Email is a powerful and widely used tool, and most people have at least one address and check it regularly. Your expertise plus email marketing have enormous potential as a simple piece of marketing that clients can easily forward or share with their friends and colleagues. When you work with CATATILLA Design we will help you navigate through the important questions to construct a system for your email marketing that will carry you and your customers into the future.

Questions we will answer together:

• What is the purpose of the email? What types of email should be sent? How can these emails be meaningful and helpful to clients? How can these emails bring in more and repeat business? Can client information be gathered to better my business?
• How does this email fit into my brand? How does it coordinate with and strengthen web presence? How can the overall design be email friendly and make the content/message shine?
• How can I build a mailing list? How can a website, social networking and/or blog help build readership? How can print marketing and networking build readership? Should there be multiple lists? How does that impact the campaign?
• How do I schedule these emails? When is the target audience likely to be at their computer? Are messages being sent to people across many time zones? Are the emails time-sensitive in some way? How does that impact the schedule?
• How can the campaign be sustained over an extended period of time? Where does the content come from? How can I be cost effective with email marketing?
• How can I build strategic written and visual content? How to structure the messages? How to word the subject line to maximize the number of recipients opening the emails?
• How can I track the emails? How can tracking the email help to evaluate their effectiveness and make smart changes?

Interested in reaching your clients and customers thru email marketing? Contact us to learn how we can help.