A Stellar New Look!

I wanted to share the FINAL design for my business card. I think it's beautiful - thank you so much Karen! And, thanks to everyone that weighed in on photos, tag lines, etc. There's a lot that goes into the creative process and I knew that, but it's still different to be in the middle of it, and I was grateful to have so much feedback and support.

Karen and I will be working together on the complete overhaul of a client's website, and I'm so excited to see how that whole process shakes out. They are doing a logo redesign, an on-site photo shoot, using a copywriter to nail the content, and then putting it all together into a new design for a custom wordpress theme. Stay tuned for more on that - I'll be mixing personal posts with more business/technical posts as I gear up to launch my new starlightsystems.com website & blog.

Head Shots

Today I did head shots for my business. In speaking with a couple of ladies who own High Wire Creative and are wonderful local web designers, I described my business and what differentiates me. One of the things I hear the most is that I am a programmer that people can communicate with. I also think that being a woman in a mostly male dominated business is a differentiator. Our conversations led them to believe that my image should be part of my 'branding' in re-doing my website, so I took the plunge and had headshots done. It seems a little weird and I feel kind of self-conscious about it, but these entrepreneurs have designed absolutely stunning business cards for a couple of other businesses using the logo and contact info on the front and a head shot on the back. And, in considering images to use on my website it seemed to make sense to have a decent business-related picture of me there as well. So, here are the results below, and I'll keep you guys posted as I get the final logo and business card designs and start to work on the overhaul of my website. If anyone needs something like this, I would highly recommend Korey Howell. She does family shoots and other stuff as well.

Logo Design

I can't thank you all enough for the feedback on the logos. I had one person work with me on these and I wasn't thrilled with her throughout the process, but in the end I think she gave me some good ideas to play with. I am awaiting another three design concepts from another designer, but I wanted to have something to use for a business card for the Austin InnoTech conference on Thursday. So, I incorporated as much of your input as I could and merged the ideas from several of the designs. I actually am using a couple of them - one for the business card and then potentially one for my website. This could all change depending on what I get back next week, but I am happy with what I have for now. (I put all of the comments at the end of the post - if you go to the bottom, you can see what I thought about some of the designs I didn't use. It was a tough call and I really liked the font in #2 and the clean look of #6 as well.)

Here is the business card that I sent off to the printer last night:

A coordinating logo that I can use in the header when I redo my website:

And a blog header:

Below are the comments, and you can see the original set of logos here.

Karen C. posted a comment on the blog with her vote for #2 & #4 and Kristen for #2 & #5.

Kelly K Clark - I am posting my thoughts here. I like 1 and 2. 2 the best. :)

Sonja Kraeff - #2 and #6

Erin Oman Patterson - I like #1 and #6 best, with #2 coming in at a close third.

Courtney Ryan Ortiz - Thanks so much for the feedback - I really appreciate it! (Please keep it coming!) Something I probably should have said too is that it is for my IT consulting business - the current site is http://www.starlightsystems.com.

Ritu Machavarapu - #1 and #2. Like the font of #2

Mona Goodwin Yamasaki - for a professional look that is more in-line with the industry we operate in... i think 4 and 5 look good... the others are pretty, but wouldn't really provoke the image you would want in the professional services industry.... i like the colors, too..

Mary Keglovits Mathieu - I like #1 the best by far, with #3 in second. White lettering on a yellow background is more eyecatching, I believe, than a black/graytone on white. I prefer #1 to #3 because it adds the image of the star which will help people with recall of your company name.

Melanie Watkins Cravey - #6

Shannon Romo Soliz - #4 the best - then #3

Ed Mello - #6 clean but stylish, will reproduce easily on paper

Dawn Kuntschik Gunn - #3 caught my eye first...I #5 as well.

Courtney Ryan Ortiz - You all are awesome. Thank you to every one that took time to look at these. I am a novice when it comes to graphic design and so it helped a lot to get your input. I incorpated aspects of #1, 3, 4, and 5 into the final designs. I love the font in #2 but think that's just not a fit for the kind of biz I'm in. #6 was the first one that the designer did for me that I really liked, but when I played with it on my website mock-ups, it just didn't stand out. For now at least, it's more about a web presence than print materials. Thanks again!

Logos for Starlight Systems

In all the years I have operated my business, I have never had a professional logo or even business cards for Starlight. As I am expanding my skillset and doing more website programming, I feel the need to up my game and make my website more slick and professional, starting with a logo. If you have a minute, I would love to get your feedback on these designs. I have others coming, but if you love one of these, I'd like to know - please leave a comment.
Thanks! Courtney
(To see the follow-up to this post with people's comments and feedback, click here.)