A Touch of Elegance

      I have already shared how the Lord provided through this design project but now I want to share the design. When Mike contacted me he told me what the name of his business was and what they do. The name of his company is Concierge Par Excellence. When he told me the name I though "how on earth will I design this?" He told me he had some ideals for what he was looking for in his logo and he would email me to allow me to have some time to see what I could design.
      I do have to say that the description he gave is every designers dream because of the preciseness of his description of what he wanted. Many times when you begin working on a logo for people they are very vague in what they are looking for, but when a client comes to you knowing exactly what he/she wants it speeds up the process of design greatly.
     I will share his description for me and then the design.


Logo description:
Concierge Par Excellence, LLC
Rather than a separate icon design…
Incorporate 5 stars, (as in 5 star rating), and a red carpet
into the cursive script of the name. 
Example:
The “C” rolls out into a red carpet under Concierge.
5 stars  for the dot of the letter “i”
* Logo should portray an image that is Professional,
Sophisticated, and Elegant. (easy to read script) 

Primary colors:
Gold lettering on black background.
Red carpet… 
3-dimensional with accents / highlights



I designed both the logo and the business cards for him as seen below.

Answer to Prayer

Let me just say from the beginning, that I serve and Awesome and Great God. A few post ago I told you about my wife and I stepping out by faith to come minister at a church in Northeastern, GA, and how God had provided me with plenty of work in the process. This particular testimony is about a certain client of mine and does not necessarily have much to do with his design, although I will be sharing that design soon as a blog.

For the past few weekends my family and I have been traveling to the church we will begin serving at full time. On April 9 while we were picking out some paint for our bedroom I received a call from a man in Blairsville, that desired for me to do a logo and post card for his concierge business. It was a business that he is just launching and so there were no pre-designed mock-ups, just a blank pallet to work from. We set up a time to meet the following week to begin the process of working on his design.

On April 13, we met at a local restaurant to begin working through the process of the design work. I had already worked up a design based on his description and we were working on a few variations. My client was telling me during this time that he had been praying for specific direction and the Lord had lead him to use me has his designer. He asked if we could stop working for a minute because he had something he wanted to talk to me about. He told me that while he had been praying the Lord had laid on him and his wife's heart to give me a gift and that this gift was being given to me above the amount that the project would cost. He told me that they had prayed for God to show them the exact amount that they were to give me and the Lord laid the same amount on both of their hearts. He proceeded to reach into his wallet and hand me a check for $500!

Needless to say I was absolutely shocked. The amazing thing is not the $500, although that was an awesome gift, the amazing thing to me was that this was a direct answer to prayer. My wife and I had just been praying the night before that God would somehow supply for our needs, we knew He had directed us to go to the ministry with no promise of anything but a roof over our heads and utility bills payed, but we also knew we needed money for food and other necessary items, and boy were we surprised, not THAT the Lord provided, but HOW the Lord had provided. Praise God for His wonderful mercy and grace!  

Freelance Brochure Design

From time to time I have tried to bid on freelance jobs on sites like e-lance, freelance.com, and Odesk, but to none avail. I had given up on even doing the freelance sites any more because it is almost impossible to land a job there unless you know someone who is posting the job and the specifically ask you to bid on their job. These sites are based on feedback that you get from jobs that you do, so normally no feedback = NO JOB. I bid specifically on jobs labeled Christians, but will not bid on anything else. I thought that most organizations that are considered "Christian" would want a Christian designer to do most of their work since I would understand more of the direction and message that they would be wanting to convey since I myself know the Lord, but up until a few weeks ago I had not one even consider my company for work. On April 1st however God allowed me to begin work on a project for a Christian man seeking to launch a website similar to Facebook for Churches and Ministries. Below you can see a few samples of the brochure that was designed by Radiance Graphic design.

    This was a very big undertaking for me, but a much needed job and blessing that only God could have provided. The founder of the ministry said that I was one of the last people on the list of bidders for the project, which means there were some 18 people ahead of me who could have easily been awarded the job. But God saw fit to let my profile stand out above the rest, my profile aways looks something like this, "Radiance Graphic Design is a company that is built on Christian values and integrity. It is our desire as a company to make Christ the center of all or our graphics and promise to put our all into all the work we do. Our business is catered to Christian Ministries and Businesses. We offer a variety of services; Logo Design, Print Design, and Branding. We have been doing graphic work for churches, pastors, and missionaries for over 8 years, and would love to services your graphic needs." The Lord allowed the founder to see that I was a Christian company that desires to honor the Lord in everything that we do and he told me one of the reason he was interested in me doing the work was because "I like the idea that you are a Christian and may be able to grasp what I am trying to accomplish better."

     Originally I agreed to have a first draft done in 15 days but the owner of the project asked if there would be any way that I could get it done sooner. So I agreed I would do as much as possible in as short of time as possible. To do a 34 page brochure, with webpage mock-ups and pictures within the 34 pages was a huge undertaking that in truth would take a miracle or 24hrs every day to finish in less than 15 days (a little over exaggeration there). Praise the Lord He gave me strength to finish the first draft in 7 days, edits in 14 days, and final file sent on day 17! The founder was very generous in his giving for the design project. I pray the Lord will continue to bless our business with clients just like this one!

Busy, Busy, Busy

     God has truly been good to us! Earlier last month my wife and I were asked to come and work at a church located in Royston, GA. I was asked to come and serve as the Youth Pastor, however the church was only able to offer us the use of the parsonage and pay our utilities. My wife and I after much prayer truly believe this is where God would have us serve. Obviously this means I am going to have to have work. Being that we just launched our company in January of this year in all human expectations it is highly unlikely that there would be enough work to provide for our needs. But God doesn't work on our expectations, He is able to do "exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think." For the past 3 weeks God has blessed us with a large amount of work. I will post a couple of these jobs and the blessings they have been over these three weeks.

      I do not know if God will continue to allow me to have as much work as I have had these past few weeks, but I know that he is able to if this is His desire. Our needs at this time are to make $1000 a month to pay for other bills and groceries. If you know someone who maybe would be able to use me for some work please have them contact me through my website www.radiancedesign.us. Thank you for helping be an answer to prayer!

T-shirt Design Worn at Good News Club

It has been a little while since I have had opportunity to post on my blog and update those of you who are fans of Radiance Graphic Design. There will be several updates given over the next day or two. First I want to share this little tidbit that has been an excitement to me. A few months ago if you remember I had one a t-shirt contest with my design "The Wordless Book" t-shirt. I had opportunity to make a video to post on the ArmourUp.com website as well as their Facebook page. While I was very honored and excited to have that opportunity I have also been great encouraged an overjoyed that the design is being used to spread the Gospel among school age children. An after-school Good News Club had just finished teaching the story of the Wordless book to their 50+ students around the time that I had won the contest, when they found out about the t-shirt the contacted the owner of ArmourUp.com in an effort to purchase a t-shirt for each child. The owner was able to work it out where the teachers were able to purchase the t-shirts at cost. Below I have posted a picture of the Good News Club wearing the shirt designed by us, Radiance Graphic Design.

4TH ANNIVERSARY CONTEST! FREE iPOD TOUCH

ANNIVERSARY CONTEST: On May 5th my wife and I will celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. In celebration of this event, if Radiance Graphic Design can get $1500 worth of sales between now and then. The person who gives us the most references for sales will receive a GENERATION 4 8GB iPOD TOUCH! See rules below. www.radiancedesign.us

All references must have paid for their items before 12:00am May 6, 2011. The person with the references who have spent the most money by the end of the contest will win the contest and receive a brand new 8GB iPod Touch. If the total amount of sales does not reach the desired amount of $1500, the offer of the iPod will be considered null or void. However if the amount of sales exceeds $200 a prize of a $25 gift card to the retailer of your choice will be awarded. All those who you refer to us must put your name as the referral in their request for work from us, if they do not let us know that you were the referral, this will not be counted as your reference. Any questions may be directed to Radiance Graphic Design at radiancegraphics@gmail.com.

Wordless Book T-shirt Video

A few weeks ago I entered a t-shirt contest with my Wordless Book T-shirt at ArmourUp.com. I won the contest and received $100 for doing so. The owner asked if I would be willing to put together a short video devotion explaining the meaning behind the Wordless book. You can view that video here.