Come to our Open House March 6th!

Frankie and I are hosting an open house here at the new studio next Friday (March 6) at 5pm. If you’re headed down to the Trolley Hop, we’re right on the path. Stop on by…

• More info here
• RSVP here

Your business card has your logo on it. Right? Let’s hope. It’s got your address, phone number, website address (it better!)? E-mail address? Check. Wait a minute, does that say “chunkylover58@aol.com”? You mean, you don’t have an email address at your own domain name? Personally, I think johndoe@widgets.com looks a bit more professional.

Promoting your Internet provider or Yahoo, Hotmail and even Gmail doesn’t help your business. Anyone can sign up for a free email address somewhere, and a LOT of people do, and that’s great. Do you want to give the impression that a free email address is good enough for your business?

Everyone’s favorite Internet company (Google, if you didn’t know) has offered Google Apps for your Domain for quite some time, but not everyone is aware of it. What it does is all this:

• Gmail
  Get custom email like bill@microsoft.com. Mobile support and IMAP/POP3 are included, so you can use your regular ol’ email app (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc…).
• Google Calendar
  Organize your schedule and share events with friends
• Google Docs
  Share online documents, presentations, and spreadsheets enhancing your company’s traditional productivity software and helping employees share information efficiently.
• Google Sites
  Create websites and group wikis (not recommended for your *real* site, just internal sites)

From within the GAfyD interface, you’ll be able to instant message with everyone else within your domain name, as well as any other user that’s on Google Chat, or even AOL Instant Messenger (which is alot of folks!). Instant Messaging (IM) has really taken off in the business world, and is much more effective than email in certain cases.

Google Calendars, lets you share calendars and let people see when you’re busy. It makes scheduling meetings a ton easier. You can also invite people to events that you’ve scheduled. It’s a great way to work!

My favorite part of GAfyD, is Google Docs. If you haven’t used this feature before, get ready to change how you work. Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and form application offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users (sentence borrowed from Wikipedia). So, you and Bill down the hall can work together on the merger documents, all without leaving your comfy office chair!

Google offers two versions of this amazing productivity booster: Premier Edition ($50 / user account / year), or the ad-supported Standard Edition. I’m not a reseller, and I the only money I make off setting this up for your company is for my time in setting everything up and for training. Contact me for a quote to take advantage of the power that is, GOOGLE APPS!!!

More information straight from the horse’s mouth:

• Want to see how much you could save with Google Apps compared to Microsoft Exchange 2007? Estimate your savings
• Google Apps customers typically experience less than 15 minutes of downtime per month. Read more
• Each employee gets 25 GB for email storage, so they can keep important messages and find them instantly with built-in Google search.
• At no extra charge, Google Apps supports over-the-air mobile access on BlackBerry devices, the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android and many less powerful phones. Learn more

Since I moved into a new office, I figured I’d move into a new website as well. Welcome to HatchCreative.net 3.0, proudly using WordPress 2.7.

Things are subtly different around here, and I’ve added a few new pages. I vow from this day forward to be better about keeping up with my blog. If I don’t, feel free to flame me in the comments section.

Kick the tires, get to know your way around. Hopefully you’ll like it as much as I do!

Happy surfing…

2009 has already brought a few new changes to the team here at Hatch Creative. We have moved out of the offices of Sophisticated Living at Butchertown Market and into our very own digs with my new business partner – Frankie Steele of Olive Creative. Our new office is located the Ice House Lofts building on Main St. You know, the big green building near Floyd St. that says “Arctic Ice Building”. We’re located in Suite 103, which is the right-most door. C’mon by and say hello! We’ll take you on in a game of Ping-Pong.

The new address is:
217 E. Main St.
Suite 103
Louisville, KY 40202
(502) 479-0641 (the same number)

Photos to come soon, after we get the moving boxes emptied.

I’ve decided to grow Hatch a bit and add some members to the team. My workload has increased tremendously the past couple years, with the Art Direction of Sophisticated Living and of course, my own clients. I’ve finally realized that I can’t do it all and need a little help from my friends, so I have recruited two Web Developers and a Sales Associate to help out. I’d like to introduce:

Chris Watson, Web Jockey
I met Chris through my brother-in-law about 5 years ago. He was going to school for Web Development at ITT, and was full of energy and the thirst for knowledge. He actually interned for me for a couple semesters, and has been my go-to-guy since he graduated. He’s helped me work on quite a few large projects, and a lot of little ones. Some of you probably know Chris as “updates@hatchcreative.net”, as he’s been doing a lot of maintenance lately, now he’s “chris@hatchcreative.net“.

Duane Helton, Web Jockey
Duane (or “Big Tall Guy” as we used to call him) and I go back a bit longer, as I met him when I was at Win.Net back in 2001. He worked next door at another web development firm, and then moved over with me in our web development team. He is an excellent coder and all around great guy. He brings 11 years of experience in developing large-scale web applications, and will help bring Hatchie up with the big guys (as he really is 7′1″ tall). We have been itching to work together again, and that day has finally arrived. When I asked Duane if he was up for this, he said that: “hairs are standing up already” (his words). That’s excitement right there! You can reach Duane at duane@hatchcreative.net. Welcome aboard, Duane!

Craig Greenwell, Sales
I’ve known Craig for a WHOLE two weeks now, but his enthusiasm, charisma and high praise from mutual friends, makes it seem like we have been buddies for years. My wife, Betsy met Craig at a lunch date with some friends. They hit it off and started talking about Sophisticated Living magazine, and mentioned how impressed he was with the magazine. He thought that it was a national magazine (Thanks Craig!). So, he asked what else I did, and Betsy brought up Hatch Creative. He checked out my site, and wanted to bring the talents of me and my new web dudes to the masses. This is what I’ve always needed…an enthusiastic sales person that will go beat down doors and make the calls that I’ve been too reluctant to make. With Craig on my side, we can open lots of doors. Craig can be reached at craig@hatchcreative.net as well as 502-457-1493.

I’m still cranking every other month laying out 2 issues of Sophisticated Living, and now you have two other people to contact when you need anything done! Updates@hatchcreative.net will go to both Chris and Duane. If you would, please use that address to send your maintenance requests, you’ll be sure to get an answer quickly. With any new projects, I will assign one (or both if needed) of these guys to your project. They will be the main point of contact for your job. I will continue to be the lead designer and will help manage projects and meet deadlines.

With these changes, I know that I can offer my clients more than I could when it was just a one man show. This is a big step for Hatch Creative, and it’s a bit scary having to give up some control, but I know we’re in good hands with these guys. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly, if you need any assistance or have questions about these changes:

John M. Wurth
The Egg, Man
O: 502-479-0641
C: 502-807-4871
john@hatchcreative.net

John Wurth wins 3 first place awards in the 28th Annual Greater Louisville Journalism Awards competition sponsored by the Louisville chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

In what I consider to be a wonderful decision by the judges, I’ve won 3 first place awards in design and even video production. Sophisticated Living, the magazine I work for, submitted and won the following awards:

Page Design

1st Place: John Wurth, Sophisticated Living

Gelato Gilberto, Contents, and Spyker Cars

Judges said: Clean Design–Great Photos add to the layout. Well thought out.

Cover Design

1st Place: Eric Williams and John Wurth, Sophisticated Living

3 Covers from 2007

Judges said: Like the simplicity–what a luxury to not have to clutter a great photo with text.

Best Video

1st Place: John Wurth, Eric Williams, Josh Merideth, Bridget Williams, Dave Bibelhauser, Carrie King, Jack Mathis and Claire Williams for Sophisticated Living

A Weekend in the Country

Judges said: A fun photo shoot within a photo shoot. Great feel, gorgeous setting and a nice complement to the actual magazine spread. Very cool.

Hatchie and I are taking a much needed vacation!

Hey beloved clients…John Wurth and Hatchie here. We’re just letting you know that we’ll be taking an extended vacation for the first time since Hatch Creative started. We are heading to Florida on June 15th and will return to Louisville on July 1st. I’ll be checking email occasionally while sipping drinks on the beach, but if you need immediate assistance please email updates@hatchcreative.net and Chris (or Duane) will be able to help you out.

Hope everyone is able to take a vacation this year, and if you’d like to contribute to the Hatch Creative Gas Fund, please submit checks or money orders to the usual address. Thanks! I’ll be thinking of you all while basking in the sun.

Some kind words about lil’ old me at my favorite local blog, Consuming Louisville… Thanks Michelle!

You might be wondering…”What is one thing that John Wurth loves about Louisville?”.

Wonder no more…

I’m with stupid.

I just wrapped up a Letterpress class downstairs at Moxie Letterpress, and let me tell ya…that’s one art form that needs to make a bigger resurgence here in Louisville. It’s such a personalized way of printing, and the results are amazing. Low-tech in a high-tech world always stands out.

Google “Letterpress” to find out more about how awesome this process is, or watch the video below…

Here’s my final project. I cut all the letters and the background of the hand out of a linoleum block. The overlay of the hand and the text at the bottom were made on a computer, and into a polymer plate. I wanted it to look like an old poster from the early 20th Century with a 1970’s slogan. I might be the only one that thinks this is funny, who knows. I’ll be selling these from the site soon. Stay Tuned. Contact me if you’d like to order one for your loved ones for Christmas.