DoodleDo will soon be switching to an all new, easier, online ordering system, and part of this change will be a re-classification of the design styles we offer. Along with our Basic and Graphic Design styles will be the new Enhanced Design. In conjunction with these changes, we thought it would be very helpful to take a look at each of these so that you will better understand what each offers, the various options and possibilities, and be well equipped to make your selections when placing your orders.
In this post we are featuring the Basic Design theme. It is very important to keep in mind that what we call a theme is not a template. Every design we create is custom. However, some of our clients want their albums to have a consistent theme, so we will reuse elements from their previous designs in new ones. While not containing graphic enhancements or embellishments, there is still a great deal of variety possible in a Basic Design, as shown in the three examples below.
This first design is a style often requested – single color pages, an ample amount of negative space, and fine strokes and borders to complement the image collection. It allows the beautiful photographs by Lisa Richmond to really stand out. When ordering a Basic Design you have the option of choosing any page color or colors, stroke and border colors, text treatments, and a number of other design preferences. You may also leave it completely up to us to create what we think best compliments your images.
In this next example, perhaps our second most popular style, you will notice that the primary difference from the above design is placement of elements and page color. It is less symmetrical and includes large, bold images contrasted with smaller images, resulting in less negative space. The gorgeous photographs, again by Lisa Richmond, dominate the spreads in an arrangement that is flowing and pleasing to the eye. Images with lower opacity allow other images to stand out and help spreads appear less busy.
This final example, created for photographer Tim Park, is a slight variation of the themes shown in both designs above. In this we are back to symmetry, simple borders and strokes, but with a more consistent placement of images from spread to spread. This design is accented with opening and closing full-spread panos, and one near the middle to break up the pattern. Note the font and text treatments used in all three of these designs. You are welcome to choose any font for your design. When we choose, we always select a font we believe matches the overall aesthetic of the image collection and design theme, along with any treatments that will blend the text into the design. Again, there should be no conflict between the images, the design, and the text.
We hope this article helps you to better understand the DoodleDo Basic Design theme. We will soon have our design galleries reorganized to better show the three options: Basic, Enhanced, and Graphic. In our next post we will take a look at the Graphic Design theme and describe what sets it apart. If you have an account with us, you will soon receive an email about the new ordering process.
Love abounds in February, and so do engagements. Thus starts the season of new wedding inquiries and bookings, and a great way to succeed in consultations is with a new set of custom-designed sample albums. Albums are perfect for presenting your photographic style and album options together. Couples will see your work and the product you include or hope to sell in addition to your event coverage. It’s very difficult to sell what they don’t see!
We want to spread the love with a special offer. Order a sample album design during the month of February and receive 15% off your next Graphic or Enhanced Design order. Enhanced designs are a new style we are offering and will be featured in our next post (they are the same price as a Graphic Design). All you have to do is place the word “Sample” in the “Enter Special Offer Code” window at the bottom of our Design Order & Preferences Form. If you don’t have access to the Form, please sign-up through our Contact page.
When couples see your beautiful new sample albums designed by DoodleDo, it will be love at first sight.
We wish all our wonderful friends and dedicated clients a very Merry Christmas! DoodleDo is blessed to have so many fine photographers and artists trusting us to provide for their design needs. We appreciate you all and look forward to continuing this special relationship in 2010. We have some valuable new services and events in the works.
DoodleDo is having it’s busiest season yet, and demand has increased Lead Times and delivery, so we just want to take a moment to thank all of you for you patience and continued support. We have a lot of designs both in production and scheduled for production, but rest assured that we will not lower our standards for exceptional design work just to get through it. It has been and always will be important to us that each and every design be unique and satisfying to you and your clients.
Our What’s in the Box series of reviews remain popular, and we have several new ones in the works and a few ready to post. Next up is a look at the great new Premium Packaging from White House Custom Color. We’ll have this on the blog shortly.
The release of our new Refine services is coming. Photographers are already expressing interest in DoodleDo’s Business Coaching, Album Intensive workshop, and practical Resources. We will be looking for folks interested in hosting the Album Intensive in their city during 2010. You are always welcome to email us for more info. We will soon have all the information available here on the DoodleDo website.
For those of you who visit regularly, you may have noticed some changes to our menu items. The Refine section and Refine FAQs have been taken offline as we prepare to launch an exciting new selection of services under the Refine heading. We are excited to share the news!
From the start, DoodleDo has primarily focused on album design. The post-processing of image collections was a natural addition, since we were receiving enough requests to include it as an option. Over the past year the success of our design services has been fantastic, so we finally made the decision to drop the full image processing services. We still offer processing for clients who need additional image work for the design images. These include balancing corrections, artistic enhancements, retouching, and tonal conversions. The former Refine services are no longer offered.
We will be launching a new set of services under the Refine heading. The goal is to help photographers refine their business practices and achieve greater success. Both a response to many requests from our clients, and a natural extension of our passion and industry experience, these great new services have been in the works for some time and we can’t wait to tell you all about it.
So stay tuned for the release of DoodleDo’s all new REFINE services!
Some of you probably know that Robin’s precious Shih Tzu, Alexander, was the inspiration behind our business name, DoodleDo. Well, Alexander is in a heated contest for the Cutest Dog award. There are 12 weeks of chances for him to take the weekly prize and go on to the semi-finals. We thought it appropriate to ask our DoodleDo clients and fans to put in their vote for, obviously, the cutest dog of all! Remember, every Saturday starts a new round of weekly voting, so be sure to come back and place your new votes. And if you’re really into it, you can vote once each day. We appreciate your support of Alexander. :)
