{Branding} Heather Meyer Photography

We've all found ourselves in this position - we don't quite know exactly what we want, we'll just know it when we see it. That's where my friend Heather of Heather Meyer Photography had been with her branding for the past couple years. She'd tried out a few pre-made logos but was never 100% happy with them, so when she was getting ready to launch her business she knew it was time for something custom made just for her. She wanted her branding to feel whimsical, emotional, and intimate, and what we came up with - well, I'm kind of obsessed with it...

Thanks for trusting me with your branding, Heather! You were awesome to work with and I can't wait to see your business take off!

{Custom ProPhoto Site} Kristy Dooley Photography

I'm so excited to share my latest design venture with you - the custom ProPhoto site I created for my good friend Kristy of Kristy Dooley Photography. I've been wanting to work with the ProPhoto platform for a long time now, so when Kristy decided it was time to upgrade her Blogger site to something more professional, I was thrilled that she turned to me for help. The first step was to update her existing branding to incorporate a slightly different color palette, then I started developing her custom web elements and site layout...

Kristy's landing page features a rotating masthead gallery, Featured Galleries, her Latest Blog Post, and custom buttons that link to her most important pages and Facebook.

I think the most fun part for me was creating a custom About page for Kristy... one of the trickiest (but most important) aspects of branding is to ensure that when potential clients visit your site their reaction is "this is someone I want to work with." So Kristy's About page was critical... our goal was to capture her fun, easy going personality in a visually appealing, not too text-heavy way.

In need of a custom ProPhoto site to showcase your photography? Contact me! I'm now offering packages that include ProPhoto design and full implementation, and I'd love to work with you.

Recent Branding Work

Sorry it's taken me so long to share these with you! Life has been busy, busy, busy, but I'm thrilled to finally show you three new brands I've developed over the past few months. My design clients are nothing short of awesome and each one brings an exciting new challenge... First up is the super talented Emily Blackmore out Edmonton, Alberta. Emily came to me for help with the branding for the boudoir side of her photography business, Muse Boudoir. I absolutely love her take on boudoir - natural, feminine, and incredibly tasteful... it feels like it's as much for the women as it is for their husbands. Her goal for her brand was to create something that reflects that style, but also adds a little glamour and luxury. I love what we came up with...

Next up was Allison of Allison Fay Photography, based in Memphis, TN. Allison and I know each other through Clickin Moms and I was thrilled when she asked me to help her with her branding because I love her work. I was even more thrilled when I saw her Pinterest inspiration board because her design style was right up my alley. She wanted her brand to be preppy with a slight vintage industrial feel. There were so many little touches that made this branding feel unique and personal - particularly the custom silhouette of her sweet dog, Phoebe.

And last, but certainly not least, is the branding I did for my dear friend, Renee, of Life by Renee Photography, based in Brisbane, Queensland. Renee wanted her branding to be a reflection of herself - bright, fun, and cheeky. She made my job super easy and it was probably the fastest branding has ever come together for a client. It all just worked, and I love love love what we ended up with...

Lots more design work to share with you this fall, including maybe my favorite logo to date and my very first custom ProPhoto site. So excited to be able to start offering that for my clients! Stay tuned...

{BRANDING} Photography Because

Some dear friends of mine recently launched an awesome new website for photographers called Photography Because. Photography Because is their platform for sharing their vast knowledge and love of photography. They’ll hold your hand and teach you ways to capture that moment, record that memory, train your eye and understand how and why, no matter what your current skill level. You’ll find support, ideas, practical tips and inspiration. It's a great concept, so I was honored that they asked me to develop their branding prior to launch. The founders' styles are all so different, and the pressure was on to create designs that would serve as the perfect compliment to their awesome photography...

I love the final result, and I'm so very proud of my friends and their fantastic new site! If you're at all interested in photography, be sure to check it out and give them a Like on Facebook.

Laura Beth Davidson Photography

Laura Beth is another photographer friend of mine, and I was thrilled when she asked me to design her logo because I LOVE her style: vintage, organic, and sophisticated. Her landscape work, in particular, is to die for. (In fact, you can purchase prints of some of her photos in her Etsy shop, The Happy Lab.) Check out her brand new logo and watermarks:

NEW LOOK, NEW NAME, SAME OLD CONTENT

You may remember me mentioning that one of my goals for 2013 was to rebrand Made by Bird. Well, as you can see, I can cross that goal off my list! And I'm so thrilled with the result. It feels like me, but grown up. (Which, considering I'm 31, a wife, and a mom, I guess I kind of am.) The feather is a nod to my lifelong nickname, Bird, and the font is just the right combination of pretty and whimsical. (Check out more of the design elements below.) I really struggled with whether or not to keep the name "Made by Bird"... it's been my blog name for nearly 4 years! But with all my photography and design stuff being associated with my actual name, and my keen opposition to having two separate websites, I felt it was time to switch everything over to simply "Allie Shellaway." But don't worry, I'll still be posting about all the same stuff. The mood and tone of the blog won't change. (Note that I will be changing to URL over to madebybird.com next week... it's a whole other ball of wax and I just haven't had time to tackle it yet.)

So, I really hope you guys like the redesign. I have a few more tweaks I need to make to the blog - like a proper footer with a search bar. I upgraded to Thesis 2.0 (from 1.8) for the redesign and I'm still figuring out my way around. Fun fact, everything I know about web design I've learned on the fly. It's a little chaotic but it gets the job done.

Thanks for your continued support over the years (I think this is my 3rd or so redesign of the site, but certainly the biggest change so far.) There'd be no point to any of this without you. Seriously.

Ashleigh Wade Photography

Ashleigh is an up and coming photographer and photography teacher in the Conway, SC area and I was honored to help her launch her brand. See her beautiful photos here.

Kristy Dooley Photography

Proof that even hobbyists need nice branding, Kristy came to me wanting to redo her watermark and blog. Her photos were already amazing, and now they look that much better with her new branding. Check out her gorgeous work here.

Lucy Baber Photography

Lucy is a successful children and newborn photographer in the Philadelphia, PA area and I was so excited to be part of her rebranding. Check out her amazing work here.

Michelle Zabriskie Photography

Michelle is a budding hobbyist who was ready to take her photography to the next level with a custom watermark, and I loved helping bring her vision to life.