Check it out at http://brightgreennetwork.ning.com!

Why did Clarify Designs create this free community?  We believe that our voices combined can be heard louder.  This is a way to help bring about change and show that there are lots of us that share the same green goals!

Experience with the tag has showed it to be a spam magnet. Some web site owners would insert misleading words about their pages or use excessive repetition of words in hopes of tricking the crawlers about relevancy. For this reason, Excite (which also owned WebCrawler) resisted added support. Lycos quietly dropped its support of the tag in 1998, and newer search engines such as Google and FAST never added support at all.

Keywords, however, are important for your site.  Clarify Designs can help you optimize your website with the right keywords in the right locations so that your site is picked up by search engines.  There are a number of other steps we take to optimize your site.  Contact us today to discuss more about how we can help with getting more traffic to your site.

Check out this link to see the standards we use in determining how to best design a sustainable printed piece for our clients.

From their website, ThinkHost.com:

Choosing a host for your web site can be a frustrating process; especially if progressive values and eco-friendliness are important aspects of your business. Naturally, you’re looking for a host that combines all of the right features for the right price. So why should you choose ThinkHost?

» Commitment to customer satisfaction
» Progressive; socially responsible and supporting the community
» Environmentally conscious
» Financial stability
» Feature rich hosting
» International company
» Reliability
» Bonus offers
» Client incentive, affiliate and reseller programs
» Commitment to open source
» Fast setup and multiple payment methods

We have a mission to grow the green economy by leveraging the power of the collective internet.

Here are our first three tools:

• Green Search Engine : We’ve built the world’s first comprehensive Green Search Engine based on Google’s Coop Search technology. Rather than searching the entire web, your search yields “green” results. Soon we will have the ability for anybody to be a Green Maven and help contribute to the research of mapping the Green Web.

• Green News Reader : We’ve integrated the best of the green blogs into one, easy to read format. We receive new stories all day long day from channels of the best news on the web. Read all the news channels at once, or switch channels to read any specific news source. Use the “Share It!” feature to send a positive news story to a friend, family, or co-worker. If you have any suggestions for great online news sources, let us know .
• Green Directory : This is the source for our Green Search Engine. If you’d rather browse than search, explore the Green Web using our comprehensive directory.

We’ve got many other great tools in the works, but we’re going to keep them a surprise because it’s more fun that way!

I had a contact form submittal from a prospective client who said she found me through doing a Google search, so I had to see for myself. Sure enough, there I am! She also said I was the only one that made sense for what she was looking for. Bonus!

You can also do a Google search for “eco friendly graphic design portland” and my web ad in the Willamette Week is the VERY FIRST listing in the Google search results.

What does this mean? This means that more people out there looking for design services, and also looking to be eco-conscious stewards of the Earth, can fulfill both of these noble goals with us!!!

What else does this mean? You can contact Clarify Designs for your website search engine optimization, we’re clearly pros at it!

If you would like to link to Clarify Designs from your blog or website, this will add even more strength to our search results, and you will be contributing to the sustainable design movement in Portland. Please feel free to add my url: http://clarifydesigns.com/

Thank you!

Graphic Design is necessary, but it can also be more environmentally sound than it is. Check out designcanchange.org for an overview of the new movement in graphic design.

How is graphic design wasteful?

It’s goal is to create print materials for marketing, branding, and image development. Most designers don’t factor in the need to be eco-friendly because it hasn’t been about that. They don’t teach you this in school. Global Warming, Climate Change, the realization that our planet is fragile, is a new concept. So back to the question, how is it wasteful? With most designers there is no consideration for the environmental impact, so there is excess paper product, one time use paper pieces, excessive ink, toxic ink, excessive printing, and the end result is that it usually ends up in the garbage.

How does Clarify Designs help to reduce this waste and bring a new sustainable approach to design?

There are two main operatives we focus on when beginning a new project, 1.) the client’s needs and ways to create the most attractive and stand-out designs, and 2.) what the entire lifecycle of the project will be. The goal is to create a clean, attractive, professional design, while also making sure that the life of the piece is healthy for the Earth.

Steps we take to reduce waste and be eco-friendly are as follows:

• Use recycled and recyclable materials
• Use vegetable or soy inks (most traditional inks are toxic)
• Avoid using an extra UV coating
• When possible, use fewer colors, which can yield impressive results
• When possible only print on one side, printing on both sides uses more ink and energy
• Ask our clients if there might be ways to reuse the piece, make it more than a one time use piece
• Create designs that will be suitable as online marketing, thereby avoiding printing altogether
• Create designs that are smaller in size thereby printed on less paper, also do not use odd shapes that will create extra paper waste.
• Use treeless paper

All of these are a few of the ways Clarify Designs can help to cut back on the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. These steps also reduce energy usage, which in turn lowers the carbon footprint and is more environmentally responsible.

Please check out clarifydesigns.com for more information and helpful links.

A brief intro to how Clarify Designs came to be: As a single mom, I am most passionate about being here for my child as well as being a good role model and provider. I am also passionate about art and about saving the environment. I had been doing freelance graphic design for four years, but I decided to make it official. I obtained a BFA in Visual Communications in February of 2006 from AIU Online. My idea, when beginning school, was to take my interest in the creative arts and combine it with a way to earn a living. A natural choice was graphic design. Clarify Designs was born out of a combination of the creative, environmental, financial, and most importantly parental aspects which influence me most.

I launched in June of 2007, so I am still in the beginning stages of the business, and it’s going very well! I have nothing but good vibrations and a positive outlook for the way this business is taking shape.

Have a look at our site www.clarifydesigns.com or email me for more information! I am eager to create a design that will WOW you! Call 503-330-5747 to speak with me directly.