Vendor Spotlight: Jacobsen Design

Vendor Spotlight: Jacobsen Design

The word “vendor” doesn’t adequately describe the graphic design firm Jacobsen Design, and it’s principal, Dianna Jacobsen, though that she is, and they are.  No, Dianna is also artist, musician, entrepreneur, creative solopreneur, designer, and small business person and small business supporter. Her work is focused on identity design and web design for small business.

As she states the ABOUT section of her unique and eponymous website, “I grew up surrounded by art. Many of my family members are fine artists, including my father, who made a living with his paintings for many years. I suppose it was only natural that I would gravitate toward a creative way of making a living.”

Dianna understands that, “To grow, your business must stand out from the competition. A cohesive, interesting, visual presentation does this: one that communicates what your company is all about and why its products or services are unique.”

And she delivers just that.  Says Jim Smith, Innkeeper, The Wine Country Inn, St. Helena, Napa Valley, California, “…Jacobsen Design has helped my business immensely. Our ‘image’ was in need of a complete overhaul and Dianna moved us from the 70s into the new century with panache and ease. From a new logo to a new brochure to new letterhead and business cards, she did it all. And she did it quickly.”

Dianna did this for my decorative painting company, ArtiFactory Studio, too, as well as creating the design for the very blog, Artissima, that you are reading right now.

ArtiFactory Studio brochure, business and postcard by Jacobsen Design

ArtiFactory Studio first homepage by Jacobsen Design

I met Dianna at the Rennaissance Entrepreneurship Center‘s Annual Fundraiser, in 2006. I knew I needed to develop my graphic business identity, and that my website needed a serious and professional overhaul.  Without missing a beat, Dianna suggested we work on a template for the site, from which would spring a logo, brochure, business card and postcard design.  With creativity, talent, skill, AND tremendous patience, she inched me forward step by step into a complete visual business identity which has  proved to be an excellent and effective way of presenting my work and services, and  has garnered oohs and ahhs from clients and colleagues alike.

While preserving the site’s format, we  have upgraded, altered, and refined its images and text, adding social media links, as well as designing and installing “Artissma, blog of ArtiFactory Studio”  in May of 2010.

Throughout, Dianna has provided expert guidance, technical skills, and graphic design wisdom, as well as tremendous generosity of spirit.  She has continually upgraded her own skills, moving adeptly through the fast-paced world of  graphic and web design and  becoming a WordPress wiz in the process. She says. “For the past few months I have been building most of my new sites in WordPress with the Genesis Framework, which allows me to design a beautiful custom website with the added functionality of WordPress. What my clients can potentially do with a WordPress site is virtually limitless – blogging, photo galleries, easy form building tools, to members only sections and even eCommerce.”.

As I testify on her site, “Dianna is flexible, responsive, creative, and informed about the ever changing options available in the digital world of graphic design. She created a very unique website template for my decorative painting business, and then created a complete identity system around that site including business card, brochure, and postcard. She understands artists, and she understands business people, and that is a winning combination for those of us doing both!”
Thank you, Dianna / Jacobsen Design! Please take a moment to check out her site, and visit Jacobsen Design on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to learn more about her amazing work, and design services.  You’ll have fun!

Do you have a favorite vendor, associate colleague or business partner that you would like to spotlight?

If  you feel so inspired,  please celebrate them here.  We love to hear from you.  Remember, we are all creating our way through this Life, together.

TJ’s…and Me

TJ’s…and Me

I am sure many colleagues, fellow artists, artisans, decorative painters, solopreneurs,  “creativepreneurs” (does that word exist yet in our lexicon?)  and many others, can relate to the feeling that I had not so long ago, after a spec visit to a potential new Client.  We love what we do, interacting with people, the excitement of beginning a new project, the creative collaboration with our Clients, the focus, commitment and connections required.  What we don’t love is that sometimes the continual reaching out into the unknown: people, projects, ideas, materials, challenges (the weather, for heaven’s sake!), can at times be momentarily exhausting, even overwhelming.

The feeling can overtake us at any given moment, after a meeting (hopefully not before, or during), unloading supplies, working through the numbers for a bid, or even working on a blog post (not me.. no, never!)

Suddenly, the professional interaction feels demanding, carrying supplies becomes lugging, the numbers seem either too high, or too low, and perfectionism and procrastination rear their challenging heads.

I felt that way recently, when I found myself trying, as we all do, to pull the various factors of a project together to make it work out well for the Client and myself, to say nothing of the associated painting contractor.  I left the meeting, and since Trader Joe’s was  right on my way home, I decided to stop in and do a little shopping, knowing that I always enjoyed the experience.

Why do I always enjoy the TJ’s experience, especially at my “home” store?

Well, for starters, there is the free coffee and samples, an offering  to the weary traveler (ah- customer) ready for a little TLC.  Whether it is a mother with young children clutching her cart, a couple on a budget preparing for a party, or, like me, a working gal needing a break, the TJ’s temple of artisanal eats is there to serve.

And serve me that day it did.  The instant I dismounted my vehicle, traversed the parking lot, and entered the grocery’s hallowed hall, I felt that blast of energy one gets when stepping  into the stream of animated humanity there for but one reason: to gather forth sustenance for themselves and their families, and to have fun doing it.

The sights, scents, and colors (yes, colors ARE part of sights, but so much more, as my colleagues in HUE will attest to…) of flowers, fruits, cheeses, chocolate, (I recommend the Trader Joe’s truffles, to all who are looking for a little something sweet to bring to a gathering), among seemingly millions of other things, all of which I knew I could love, greeted me upon entering.  I made a beeline to the samples station,  reanimated myself with a tiny cup of perky cafe, and snarfed down a thimbleful of something hot and delicious that was being featured, once again thinking, “What an awesome marketing strategy…this great free stuff makes one want to come here, without one even knowing it…one looks forward to the goodies one knows one is going to get!”

Not only that.  The Trader Joe’s “wait staff” is a part of the total energizing quality of the place, at least at the store we patronize.  Fresh and positive, they make you feel as though you are making their day just by being there.   They are just thrilled to share with you where the soymilk is, how many kinds of Parmesan there are, and whether a favorite item is ever going to show up in the store again, or has been discontinued.  After a few interactions with these folks, I felt the tension drain away, and a new lease on life take its place.  After all, how bad can it be, when one can treat oneself to a frozen vegetarian pizza, or stack of salmon patties so reasonably?

If it all is part of a marketing strategy, it is working. Stimulated by the coffee, and nourished by the tasty sample and friendly chat, I was ready to shop, and of course ended up buying more than I had originally intended, which was pretty much nothing.

There are so many business and life lessons embedded in this experience.  First of all, the resonance of a positive experience had already been established by many visits to TJ’s in the past, which drew me to go there expecting to have one again.  I had sense memories of sights, sounds and  tastes that had been enjoyed there.  I knew the whole philosophy of the place is good value in a fun atmosphere.  I knew I’d be fed, both literally and figuratively, in the process of food shopping.

TJ’s gives us a break from our normal routine of constant commerce by offering us up that little treat to keep us going: that sip of coffee, swallow of juice,  bite of something delicious, a smile or a  joke without, ostensibly, asking for anything back.  But what they do get back is something so much more: customer loyalty, continued patronage, and increased sales, just because people have so much fun being there, perhaps walking out feeling better then when they walked in.  Of course, the goods are delivered: healthy, artisan goods of  quality, delivered  at a reasonable price.  Everyone knows what they will get when they go there, and they keep coming back.

This is what we all want from our businesses,  from our lives…a continued commitment in quality relationships, goods and services, something we can afford, and gives us pleasure and satisfaction, something we can, in this precarious world, depend on.  Something that doesn’t disappoint, but keeps us coming back for more.  Maybe keeps us hungry for more.

TJ’s, thank you for being there!  I will continue to learn by your example, and enjoy your offerings.  Now…where’s that vegetarian pizza?