Design All Around Us

Monona Terrace

I’m amazed sometimes by the different designs I find all around town – sometimes in the areas I least expect it. From a terrace chair to city banners up and down the street. Some amaze me and some just make me shake my head.

My wife likes to tease me when I critique menu design when we are out. I just can’t help it – its in my blood. But at the same time, how a menu reads, or looks to the restaurant’s customers is almost as important as the taste of the food. Both are part of the experience and leave an impression. That is the same with your businesses design. Whether its an advertisement, your letterhead – or even an invoice – you want your design to leave a good impression.

If you come across a design that you particularly like – or hate – let us know. Tell us what impression they left on you. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Website 3.0

Rabbit with magic gift box

Some of you know my background story – but for those of you who don’t, here is a brief summary of how I have come to this point in my career as a Graphic Designer.

In the early 90’s, I fell in love with Graphic Design while attending the school of Art at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. While in school, I worked for the University’s extension printing services as an LTE designer. We worked on many publications including text books, pamphlets and more. I was fortunate to work along side a few wonderful designers who’s experience I appreciated.

I then found myself working for a small pre-press house doing high-end photoshop work, along with trapping and editing layouts prior to outputting final press ready films. Any industry that doesn’t exist anymore – having gone all digital – I still appreciated the knowledge of how the prepress world worked.

I then went to work for an offset sheet fed printer in their in-house design department. Working on a huge variety of projects, I gained lots of experience as a designer, and an invaluable knowledge of the printing process.

Next came my time in advertising, working as Art Director for an In-House ad agency for a national franchise company. I was both designer, marketing manager, production manager and much more.

Finally, I decided to go freelance and take my experience in the many fields I worked in and start my own business. I have had the pleasure to work with a great deal of companies from small to large and continue to find new challenges each year.

Now in our 13th year of business, I am happy to be completing the third version of our website for Hannes Design. I know this is the best site to date and I hope it reflects the abilities that we can offer.