Does that mean it's louder?
Is it any louder?
Well, it's one louder,
Isn't it?
Nigel Tufnel
This is Spinal Tap
Call it upping the ante, raising the bar or just kicking it up a notch, but we've been busy little bees here at the Born to Design World Headquarters. The past couple months we've been quietly toiling away behind the scenes – all so that we can be ready and able to take our game to another level.
What exactly have we been up to? I'm excited to finally spill the beans . . .
Photography Capabilities Upgrade: Invested in a new Canon 7D and two high-end lenses (one especially well-suited for product photography). Likewise, we've upgraded our product photo boxes and lighting considerably.
Computer Equipment Upgrades: OK, I've read for years about RAID setups and how fast they are, but, until now, never dug deep to unpack what they are, how they work and whether or not they're worth the investment. Likewise, I researched the new Solid State Drives (SSD) that Apple is using in the new MacBook Air. They are ridiculously fast. No, really. Ridiculously. After an almost unhealthy amount of research, I took the plunge and not only upgraded the primary workstation to an SSD for system and applications, but added two more SSDs and created a 100 GB Striped RAID that is designated solely as a Photoshop Scratch Disk. Adding another 8 GB of RAM (for a new total of 21 GB) was the icing on the cake.
Now, I understand if that's too techno-speak to follow. Suffice it to say that we have created a Godzilla-esque beast of a workstation. I'm chomping at the bit for a big Photoshop project to really put it to the test.
Office Reorganization and Purge: Maybe not as immediately impressive as the other upgrades, but I can assure you that finally getting to some long overdue organizational issues in the office leaves me a happier lad – and frees me up to be creative with fewer distractions.
New Blog: In an ongoing effort to grow the fine art photography facet of the business, we launched Photoplay, our infrared and color photography blog. It's much less wordy than this one, and has "purtier pitchers" (a new one posted every week). A more robust store for purchasing prints is planned, but til then, we'd still love for you to stop over and check it out.
New Ways to Stay Connected: In addition to an updated LinkedIn profile, we've finally launched the Born to Design Facebook page. Check it out and give that little "Like" button a click – we welcome the opportunity to connect with clients and friends there as well as here.
The New Guy: OK, easily the most significant new change is the addition of Chris Settimi to the Born to Design team. We hired Chris a few months back and are extremely excited by what he brings to the table. Chris is an exceptionally talented designer with over 20 years experience. He has worked for clients in health care, financial, high-tech, packaged foods and manufacturing industries, creating and developing advertising campaigns, web and e-communications, presentations, annual reports and other creative products including branding and communications materials for Clarian Health, Cook Medical and Purdue University. He also provided creative direction for Eli Lilly and Company’s brand launch, development of RealMed corporate and product materials, as well as interactive media, 3D animation and collateral services for Hughes Aircraft (see why we're just a teeny bit excited to have him?).
Chris has received recognition from Wired and New Media magazines as an innovator in interactive media, and greatly expands our interactive capabilities. My man can whip up a PowerPoint that'll make you weep! OK, maybe that's a little oversell – but he is quite good! I'm sure you'll enjoy working with him as much as I do. Welcome Chris!
While there have been a few other little wrinkles, this comprises the bulk of what we've been up to. Not only do these changes get me excited, but they also bring a measure of quiet confidence that we are doing what's necessary to perform and deliver for our clients at an even higher level.
We want to continue to provide design solutions that "go to 11".
And that's one louder . . . isn't it?
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