While many small business operations start up with a bang, it often requires a bit of work to keep them moving in the right direction. As entrepreneurs map out their dreams of starting and growing a small business, how many of them know that a specialized environment exists to help them establish a solid foundation in their first years of operation?
As both a rapidly-developing interactive agency and a client of the facility, BlackOut Design was pleased to partner with the Scranton Enterprise Center in the recent launch of the center’s new web site. BlackOut specializes in spreading the word about the latest business trends and developments in NEPA, and in the case of the SEC, there is plenty to talk about.
Located in both a Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone as well as a Keystone Innovation Zone, the SEC goes above and beyond the norm by offering a unique business incubator space for clients. The business incubator assists start-up businesses to develop their operations in a supportive and constructive setting, offering them access to many services that would not be available elsewhere. This includes shared office spaces such as conference and mailing facilities, as well as networking and training opportunities that are tailored to the needs of developing firms.
In addition to a full list of current clients, prospective tenants can view floor plans for the entire building, as well as information on the KOEZ and KIZ status of the facility. Information on financing opportunities for startup businesses is also provided, as well as a comprehensive list of useful web links.
After founding and building BlackOut Design into Northeastern Pennsylvania’s leading interactive agency, BlackOut President Jack Reager likes to support other local entreprenuers.
In conjunction with the Great Valley Technology Alliance Business Plan competition, BlackOut offers its logo design and branding services, free of charge, to competition winners. We help these upstart local companies develop a custom brand and logo that allows them to put their best foot forward as they enter the marketplace.
We developed a branding package for Cognition Media and its product, Minerva. The Cognition plan was prepared by University of Scranton students Joseph Casabona, Matthew Pfahl and Kristen Said and involves the design and development of a content management system specifically for high schools to manage their websites.
After a few design iterations, these are the logos we settled on with the Cognition team. It was a pleasure working with Cognition and we wish them continued success in the future.
BlackOut continued its collaborative relationship with the Melberger Arts Center Gallery, designing postcards to promote the upcoming Hexagon Project exhibit at the gallery.
The Hexagon Project is part of Interdependece Day activities in Scranton. Interdependence Day aims to “acknowledge the inevitability and significance of interdependence in our time, and set out to build constructively and culturally a global civic society.”
Reflecting that theme, the Hexagon Project invites school students respond creatively to global issues and design unique hexagon art. More than 300 hexagons will be on display in the MAC exhibit.
Interdependence Day 2009 will be celebrated on Thursday, September 10, 2009. The Hexagon exhibit opens Friday,
September 4, 2009, and will remain on display through October.
For over 50 years, Valley Distributing & Storage Company has been the premier provider of supply chain solutions in the Northeast; and when they needed a design firm to communicate that sterling reputation to an online audience, they turned to BlackOut.
We designed a new site that reflects the full range of Valley’s logistics services including warehousing, transportation and distribution. Valley needed a web presence that was innovative and elegant. See the results at the Valley Distributing & Storage Company site.
When designing, we tend to rely on fonts to assist in doing our job. Possibly one of the more important tools we can have is a good library of great fonts at our disposal, as well as an understanding of how these fonts will layout, their letter forms and spacing. Sometimes though you really like the font, but not every letter form works for you. No one ever said you had to use it as, that’s one of the reasons why Ai has a convert to outlines options
In this particular case the font was already designated by years of use with the client, and when asked to design an anniversary logo for them, I went straight to their logo font Eurostile (Bold Extended 2). When I laid out the tag line however I found some letters in the Eurostile alphabet fighting with the extended width and rounded corners indicative of this typeface. Read the rest of this entry »
Scranton Orthopaedic Specialists came to BlackOut Design recently for help introducing its newest staff member to the community with a newspaper advertisement.
BlackOut delivered a refined and distinctive ad that speaks to Scranton Ortho’s reputation for high quality, professional services.
The advertisement ran in newspapers throughout NEPA, announcing Dr. Michael Tracy’s arrival at Scranton Orthopaedic Specialists with a style that is unmistakable.
Every programmer who starts learning Java, starts in writing his first script, which is usually called “Hello World”. The earliest step for programmers and an essential procedure to survive in Java World is training and attending technical conferences. For the 14th consecutive year, the JavaOne conference took place at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco from June 2–5.
Nick Hanhan from Blackout attended four days of solid Java technical training. Thousands of attendees were happy to get latest information about Java’s World in the form of previews and beta releases. Many new products and prizes were handed out during the five-day Pavilion.
General Sessions included the latest information about Sun products and new mobile application from its partners. Hands-on labs gave the participants strong exposure to the coding of Java, netbeans and new JavaFX script. Nick liked Zembly a new kind of social application development environment. Zembly helps developers create online applications that can be integrated into Facebook and other online communities.
After writing his first Hello World script, Nick received Sun Certified Java Associate (SCJA) certification on June 23rd.
In conjuction with other marketing material developed for MetroAction, Blackout Design recently laid out the 2009 MetroAction Annual Report. With provided content and imagesfrom MetroAction, Blackout helped create a sixteen page report that consisted of information on MetroAction’s recent history in assisting small businesses in the Northeast Pennsylvania region. Detailing loans given, businesses assisted, and men and women of the region educated in better business practices, MetroAction’s Annual Report is a container for current and future business leaders to consider as a source of abundant information for becoming a larger and better business. For more information about MetroAction and their annual report, click here.
Not only do we create and develop websites for many of our clients, but we continue to monitor and update them on a regular basis. One of these clients so happens to be Powell Studio, a local photography and oil-painting studio. We recently updated the Wedding Gallery of Powell Studio website, which includes over two dozen photographs. To view this gallery of Powell Studio and many of the other galleries that are available, visit the site at www.powellstudio.net
To add to the long list of websites developed by Blackout Design, we recently rolled out the carpet for the demo of Hydro4ge, a fourth generation development environment. Helping convey the power and stability of the Hydro4ge platform, we have been working to publicize this development for a long time running, and now it is finally here.
Hydro4ge is a Platform as a Service that offers an online database application that is easy to build and manage in very little time. To find out more information and take a closer look at the demo, visit www.hydro4ge.com.
In addition to a full list of current clients, prospective tenants can view floor plans for the entire building, as well as information on the KOEZ and KIZ status of the facility. Information on financing opportunities for startup businesses is also provided, as well as a comprehensive list of useful web links.
In conjunction with the Great Valley Technology Alliance Business Plan competition, BlackOut offers its logo design and branding services, free of charge, to competition winners. We help these upstart local companies develop a custom brand and logo that allows them to put their best foot forward as they enter the marketplace.
