Hester Designs » Our Blog

12 things you might like to know about Hester Designs

Jeff — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:00:16 +0000

We hope you enjoy the holiday season and would like to inspire you to be creative in the new year. Here are a few fun things you may not know about our family and our services.

1. When Jeff rides his mountain bike he wheelies as often as he rides on two wheels.

2. We create custom Facebook Pages, YouTube Channels and Twitter Accounts that match your brand.

3. We can teach you how to optimize your website for better search results without using paid advertising.

4. Jenny’s voice is featured on a Griffins Syrup commercial.

5. We develop Mobile and Smartphone Enabled Websites.

6. We provide Personalized Training on Adobe Products.

7. Chris and Sarah own life-size replicas of Sully and Mike from Monster’s Inc.

8. Our Starter Website Package allows you to blog, edit pages, add links, photos, videos and more all from a web-connected computer, smartphone or tablet.

9. Calon started riding a bike at 18 months; Jude giggled at 4 months.

10. We produce television commercials and motion graphics.

11. We provide Voice-Over services for TV and radio commercials, web videos and telephone messaging systems.

12. We end 2011 thankful that you choose us as your partners, and we wish you many blessings in the New Year.

Graphic Design + Web Development Position Available

Jeff — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:34:46 +0000

We are looking to employ a versatile graphic designer who has 2 – 5 years experience designing print and web projects from concept to completion. Must be competent with Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Flash, Dreamweaver, CSS, PHP, and/or WordPress experience is a plus. To learn more about this opportunity to get creative, click here.

Edmond Faith Bible Identity + Web

Jenny — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:00:22 +0000

Scott Overbey of Edmond Faith Bible Church came to us in need of an identity update for his well-established church in Edmond, OK. Our task was to bring them into the 21st century while retaining the reputation they had already earned for themselves as a strong, welcoming organization. Hester Designs updated their logo, added a fresh color palette, and carried the cohesive look onto their website for a full identity package. We also created a series of three rotating Sunday bulletin designs, a newsletter template, and informative brochures and surveys for new members.

Creating for a Cause

Chris — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:40:08 +0000

There is nothing we like more than using our abilities to help worthy causes. So when Westview Boys Home needed their logo updated we were more than happy to help out.

Westview has been helping boys since 1956 and provides a special place for boys from the ages of 12 to 18 who need guidance and love in their life. The imagery that Westview has used for so long is very powerful and shows a cowboy reaching down to help a young child. We really wanted to stay true to that image by just updating it with little more detail and new type treatment. What we designed was something we hope will be used to further the mission of Westview Boys Home for a long time to come.

Another large part of the update was a fresh web site design with a WordPress back-end to bring their online communication up-to-date.

Display System Design for MD Building Products

Jeff — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:22:05 +0000

When you walk into your favorite retail store, you probably never think about who designed the label on the product. Or in this case with MD Building products, sometimes dozens of products. You would be surprised how much thought and consideration goes into a packaging system. Colors and aesthetics are one thing. Consistency is the biggest battle. Then there is always the foreign language translation, fine print and UPC code that nudge their way onto the canvas. Having a good plan going in, that covers the entire line of products is where we like to start. Hopefully once it is all said and done, it looks great in the store too.

Troubleshoot Recent eMail Problems with GoDaddy

Jeff — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:45:51 +0000

If you are a Hester Designs client experiencing problems with your e-mail, it may due to a strange and random issue with some e-mail accounts hosted on GoDaddy. Luckily this problem is very easy to correct…

Log in to your web mail – using your web browser go to this address… email.yourdomainname.com (Replace the “yourdomainname.com” with your actual domain name). Once the log in screen is loaded, use your email address as the username, and your e-mail password as the password. This is your web mail portal.
Change your SPAM settings – In the navigation menu go to SETTINGS and then down to SPAM SETTINGS. This controls your own personal preferences for blocking spam e-mail.
Change your SPAM Behavior – Change this from “Deliver to Bulk Mail Folder” to “Mark Subject With [SPAM]” to allow your mail to come through to your inbox. You may have to tell your e-mail in your Bulk Mail folder to move to your Inbox to get some of those e-mails that were previously sent.

Tip – You should interact with your SPAM filter on a weekly or even daily basis to help it learn what e-mail to block and which to send through. You can “allow” the senders you like, and “block” the senders you do not want.

Deluxe Craft Weekend

Jenny — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:00:34 +0000

Deluxe Craft Weekend was organized by Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar – a weekend full of crafters taking classes, learning from one another, and networking to take their businesses to the next level. At Hester Design’s we’re big supporters of anything local, and were happy to take on the project of designing an eye-catching logo for the three-day event. Designer Kelly Beall created the logo, influenced by Saul Bass and Deluxe’s commitment to goods made in the United States.

More than Meets the Eye

Chris — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:00:38 +0000

At Hester Designs we always love when a project allows us to do things out of the ordinary and with this year’s Cimarron Trailers Annual Picnic t-shirt we had just the opportunity. The theme for the 2011 picnic was “Trailers in Disguise” and they really wanted us to take one of their top of the line horse trailers and turn it into a Transformer. The key to making this project a success was being able to capture the characteristics of the original trailer from Cimarron and make it recognizable as one of their products. After a ton of sketching and lots of paper we were able to design something that was a throwback to the original animated series of the ’80s but still retained the trailer’s key features resulting in Cimarron Trailers’ very own trailer in disguise.

Hester Designs Collector Business Cards

Jenny — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:00:35 +0000

When we updated Hester Designs’ identity we knew we wanted something that could easily be updated without reinventing the wheel. Being designers ourselves, we know how easy it is to get tired of your company color scheme and wanted to head that feeling off at the pass. After much internal debate, we decided on the idea of a semi-permanent design in which parts would remain constant while others could be easily switched out. This allows the artist to get creative and incorporate their individual style into the card, using the card as a creative canvas.

Meet our series of collector business cards! The HD logo placement, as well as the personal information on the back, remain the same on every one while the background image changes with each printing. We only order 100 at a time for each designer to guarantee a fast turnover between designs. As of this month we’re up to 14! Each individual design is numbered on the reverse lower left with its place in the HD business card series.

We dare you to collect them all!

The Wild World of CrossTimbers

Jenny — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:02:56 +0000

When one of our clients, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, came to us with a request for new building signage for their CrossTimbers childrens’ camp we couldn’t have been happier. Here was the perfect job to bring out our illustrating chops in full force! Hester Designs came up with the fun idea to use a safari theme across the board of thirty plus signs, each depicting an animal representative and reflective building name. The signs were huge success and we’ve added several more since the original project.