Parchment Post

Parchment Post curates the work of diverse designers and illustrators to deliver high-end greeting cards and stationery to subscribers’ mailboxes. We constructed their beautifully simple site based on Darling Studio‘s elegant layouts, and provided basic training to the Parchment Pressers on operating, editing, and updating it.

We helped the show with a light theme customization and hosting, opening the new digs for business in February, 2011. Tune in for wisdom, tips, and advice of, by, and for seasoned freelance creatives twice every month.

The Freelance Radio Show

Scott Hull Associates

Scott Hull Associates first called on us nearly two years ago for the construction of a multi-artist, multi-author site highlighting their respected agency. When the time had come to rethink, refine, and reinvent the site’s visuals, Scott rang again.

Bringing us together once more with Penelope Dullaghan, a frequent collaborator and popular editorial artist from Scott’s stellar stable, the project called for a design that would maintain a similar feel in a simpler, cleaner, and more concentrated form. Penelope delivered a layout we were as excited to develop as Scott and company were to green-light. We added some clever programming on a tag-based quick search feature that prospective Scott Hull customers can use to sample the styles, manners, and methods of the illustrators Scott represents.

The new site puts a honed focus on the work Scott’s team of talents produces for a diverse group of clients — from Jamie Oliver Magazine spreads to award-winning Starbucks campaigns, from the mural helping set the mood for your meal at Panera to Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark.

Kate's Latest Penguin Art

Kate Garchinsky’s design, illustration, and art works are front and center in her reorganization and visual redesign of her long-standing PenguinArt.com. With a look and feel from Kate’s drafting table atop a WordPress core and custom theme and plugin development by Utopian.net, the site presents work archives and personal projects, along with notes, tales, and updates on Kate’s blog.

VonGlitschka.com - Glitschka Studios/Utopian.net 2009

Von Glitschka raises the curtain over his Glitschka Studios site today, with a new design, new hosting, and a new platform for managing updates, edits, and uploads of Von’s latest exuberant and distinctive work. Renovated in collaboration with Utopian.net’s Brianna Privett, vonglitschka.com uses the open-source WordPress content engine with a Leitmotif custom theme. The new site will keep clients in the know about goings-on at the Studios, while minimizing maintenance to keep Von and Co. doing what they do best: creating inventive Illustrative Design for ad agencies, design firms, and corporate art departments.

Stop by and say hi!

The new Scott Hull Associates site

Scott Hull Associates is a respected representative for a varied and lauded stable of talented artists. When Scott and Co. needed a site that would deliver more control to each of the artists they represent, we worked from a beautifully simple design by our frequent collaborator, and Scott Hull-represented illustrator, Penelope Dullaghan. With Penny’s gorgeous look-and-feel, user interface collaboration by the brilliant Josh Sears, and lots of input from Scott, his staff, and their represented artists, we crafted a new site with a new look, powered by a multi-user site manager in the form of WordPress-µ.

It’s open-source foundation software that can empower many team members — and, with commenting and RSS syndication throughout, associates outside the team — to contribute and craft their corner of the site into their best face forward for the organization. We tried to build Scott’s vision of the most immediate, informative portfolio preview in the business. As each artist grows their sample work and their blog in the new format, we hope the site will be almost like a sit-down interview with an artist you might hire for your logo, brand image, or design project.

Each artist is master of their sub-section of the site, making the portfolios, blogs, and creative notes there direct, personal, and fresh. With so many striking personalities, styles, and subjects on display, it’s easy to browse the new Scott Hull site like a collection of awesome personal blogs, a comfortable yet vibrant and evocative atmosphere for prospective clients to get to know the artists they’ll work with.

Scott additionally contracted Utopian.net for training and support to help get the artists started with the new site and tools. We produced a number of custom screencast video tutorials for using the browser-based visual editor to keep portfolios updated, and other basic tasks. While similar to our progressing and publicly-available WordPress Video Guide series, these videos include details of the portfolio/gallery management features, admin panel extensions, and plugin functionality adapted or created specifically for scotthull.com.

Congratulations to Scott and everyone at Scott Hull Associates on the launch, and many thanks to them and their awesome lineup of some of the industry’s brightest talents for making this such a fun and creative project. We’ll continue to work closely with Scott and his team after the launch, too, helping to keep email, web traffic, and application data flowing smoothly throughout the Utopian.net-hosted Scott Hull Associates Internet presence.

Von Glitschka's Federal Bureau of Illustration

In Von’s words:

“I’ve seen a lot of case study sites. Most are kind of boring and far too serious so I wanted to avoid that when I created my own. The site is done as a tongue-in-cheek play off the metaphor of the FBI. There are a total of seven case files in the archive right now and I’ll add more as time goes on so if you subscribe to the RSS you’ll be notified when I post new case files.”