Gretchen Garnett and Dancers. (2009).
This site was designed for Gretchen Garnett and Dancers, an up-and-coming modern dance company in San Francisco. I wanted to convey the excitement and sensuality they bring to their movement, while remembering that this website heralds a grand new talent into the San Francisco dance scene. I photoshopped Leah Katz in a grand pose against flowing red satin textures, as if the website were a giant banner announcing the debut of a major new talent. I worked with Gretchen to integrate her favorite Web 2.0 technologies into the site, so she can update her Twitter, Picasa, and WordPress sites and her changes will appear right in the site.

City Arts and Technology High School (2007). This website was designed as a central meeting place for the school community to exchange information related to the day-to-day activities of the school. I integrated several external web services to make it easy for staff to update the website without any web tinkering. It features tributary blog feeds, the school Google Calendar, Flickr photo album, and a Google Docs form. The visual design attempts to communicate the school’s unique balance of formality and academic rigor with openness and community. The color palate subtly expands on Envision Schools’ organizational color scheme and gives an eye-popping effect of modernity and excitement. The logo (top right) was created to visually show the relationship between San Francisco and the wider world that students will soon enter. This website quickly became a model across the organization for their schools’ web strategy.

ChefJose.com. (2007). Chef Jose Urbano’s food speaks for itself– full of fresh ingredients, unique flavors,  and gorgeous presentation. The design puts all the beautiful food forwards so we are already hungry for Jose’s food before we learn about his catering services. I used a javascript photo gallery on the front page so we can see him, his food, and the fun events he organizes. He continues to get raves for this web design, and it adds to the professional flair that his catering business cultivates, plate by plate.

HarmoniumLessons.com (2009). This was a full page flyer created to promote Daniel Tucker’s Kirtan music lessons business, especially within the yoga community of Berkeley and San Francisco. Daniel wanted an eye-catching design that captured the spiritual dimension of Kirtan music, as well as the passion and expertise that he brings to the practice. We collaborated closely on this piece, with Daniel and I continuously pushing each other’s thinking forward on this design. The result is a flyer that shines through the cluttered bulletin boards in Berkeley’s yoga studios.

Chimera Designs is a web design firm with a  primal hunger for creating beautiful web designs that you control. Once we craft a Chimera™ for you, we also give you the reins to easily update your creation for free– no follow-up consultations with the designer necessary. Your Chimera™ will be entirely at your command; always up to date and always beautiful.

Inspired by the chimeras of myth, our Chimeras™ are a clever mixture of several different web creation technologies. As a result, they are more agile, ferocious, and beautiful than conventional web design could ever be. Let us grow one for you.
Learn what makes a Chimera™ so special>>>

The chimeras of myth were ferocious, intelligent creatures made up of the very best parts of all different animals. When we create your Chimera, we mash up the very best parts of different web technologies so your website is dynamic, interactive, and always up-to-date.

How do we do this? By linking your static website into the Web 2.0 sites you already use.

A Chimera can display your Facebook followers, your Twitter status, you newest YouTube video, or a photofeed from Flickr.com. If it's Web 2.0, it can be included in your Chimera. Posting to a Chimera is as easy as sending an email or posting to a blog, so you can dynamically update your website's content without costly visits to the web designer.

The beauty is the backend. Your Chimera can be created using WordPress, HTML/CSS, or iWeb-- whichever makes it easiest for you to update it. If that last sentence meant nothing to you-- DON'T WORRY! We specialize in sites that are easy to live with and easy to update yourself. We will teach you how to get the most out of your own website as part of the design process.

Chimera Designs specializes in custom website creation, graphic design, and Web 2.0 technology solutions. We will work with you to ensure your satisfaction, and teach you how to take control of your chimera.

To get a detailed quote, email me a description of your business or venture, as well as a few links of other websites (maybe your competition?) whose styling and features you like. I can use this information to craft a sketch of what kind of chimera I can build for you.

You can reach me via email or twitter. If you like, you can even call me.