Graven Image Design Studio is a fluid group of design and programming professionals. Depending on the project, we may be illustrators, photographers, web site designers, web developers and programmers, or professionals in any of a number of allied fields.
Elizabeth Marshall, principal, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design in Fine Arts/Illustration and a typographer and past co-proprietor of Serif & Sans, Inc., a typehouse in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also a writer and editor.
Are you preparing to launch a project that will need an artist’s touch, or someone intimately acquainted with the use of type? Will you be coordinating print materials with a new website, or planning a skilled reworking of your existing web content? Are you looking for your first web home, adding on, or simply refurbishing? What about e-commerce, or web applications that will update or search a database?
All of these professionals are in our circle of friends!
Don’t look for a photo of our team; we’ll customize our work team for your job.
Your web team will not include these actual people. This dream team was assembled for a hypothetical site conversion project. The size of your team will depend on the complexity of your project. (pictured from front to back)
Concept programmer, Ginny Grammer (q.e.p.d.)
Initial conversion will require indepth analysis of data to be managed, in the full range of html pages.
Data-conversion algorithm programmer, Nate Grammer Mining present data for construction of multiple databases will require continual tweaking and supervision. Without Nate, Graven Image would be weighing the need for a roomful of data-entry workers.
Server-side database programmer, “Raven” Madrigal Raven will create the database programming for the home page.
Web-programmers, José and Margaret Vallejos Designing and testing the website and all its functionalities, José and Margy will also rely on their strong background knowledge of folk/rock/country music.
Primary client liaison, Elizabeth Marshall (behind the camera) Beth will work with the client.
From your wish to your website…we’ll work with you from the pre-work to the unveiling on the web and maintenance concerns!
Here’s a list of some possibilities and a rough idea of costs:
An interpretation of your existing print brochure, translated to a web site. Three to five linked pages with few photographs. Range: $300–$500
Presentation in website format of your images. Client will provide images in high-resolution digital format (the most cost-effective) or physical, scannable artwork and logos. Range: $300–$750, plus image manipulation expense
Site artwork prepared by client and presented to Graven Image in an Adobe Photoshop or Fireworks file. All images provided by client. Range: $500–$1,000
Artwork prepared by Graven Image. Editorial content and images provided by client. Range: from $750
Site employing high level of interactivity, data, animation, or other programming. Price by Quote
We will be happy to do ongoing maintenance on your site, adding or editing text, images, and new pages as you require them. Our hourly rate is $35.
You have great ideas for how your website wants to look, what you want to say, what action and reaction you want to inspire in your clients and visitors. Let’s get acquainted and scope out how to get there. Sharpen your pencil and give some thought to our questionnaire Then collect your thoughts and your sketches and brochures and let’s get together!
You know that the web is not a book or a newspaper. You know it’s not a speech or a declamation. Of course, it could be any of those things, but usually it is something else, and there are rules of thumb to keep in mind as you prepare your content.
As you develop your content, remember that you have only a few seconds to catch your visitor’s interest. Text on a web site is much more telegraphic…more like advertising copy…than either speech or printed text. Think of an outline with several levels of detail rather than pages of undifferentiated prose.
The higher the resolution images you provide to us (within reason!), the more flexible use we can make of them on your website.
You know your business better than we do, but in approaching your website, we will take some time to get to know your business, too. The exercise of explaining your business to us will help clarify our collaborative product—your website.
Think of the name of your website (domain name) as the familiar name of your business. It should be concise, yet it should also describe your product. We don’t recommend using your personal name (alone) as your business website or domain name.
We can help you get a domain name, if you don’t yet have one. We can also help find a place for the site to live…a server. If you have email through an Internet Service Provider, you may already have the option of server space for your website.
The web is better than Gutenberg’s movable type! No longer are we limited to physical materials: ideas and vision interact and intersect.
Tools: software, hardware, networks, and imagination.
Take a look, then click on each image to go to its site:
Illustrations find inspiration in drawing, photography, and photo-collage. We will work from your photographs, sketches, memorabilia, or other printed materials. Or bring in your own artwork and we’ll integrate it with your site.
How best to feed the digital appetite? Liberally mix in art conceived and executed in physical media: oil on canvas, india ink on paper… The possibilities expand exponentially as multiple media stock the proverbial paintbox.
Topic: Choose a personal topic for your website. Examples could be a website about yourself or your family, a site promoting a specific event or business, a fan site, a special-interest site about a hobby or activity, instructions for making or doing something.
You will need at least a few paragraphs of written information to include on the site, as well as some photographs or graphics.
Basic Requirements: Your website must consist of five pages. Possible pages might be:
Dreamweaver Requirements: Your site must include the following Dreamweaver-generated elements. These are minimum requirements, and do not need to appear on every page.
*Design/Navigation: All pages of your site should have a consistent design and persistent navigation (user interface) for your site to be considered complete.
Summary: By the time you have finished creating your website, you will have the skills to produce a fully-functioning website using Dreamweaver. You will have a good working knowledge of the Dreamweaver program and a good framework for learning to apply some of Dreamweaver’s more advanced features.