What’s New at Wells-Smith Partners

August 2001

New web site posted: GwinnettDemocrats.com

Now here's a real endangered species: Gwinnett County Democrats! This is a pro-bono site for the Democratic Party of Gwinnett County. I designed their new logo last summer, and after many starts and stops, managed to get a page or two of their new web site online. See it HERE. Since it's a freebie, I'm working on it a little at a time, using it to teach myself web programming, such as using CGI scripts for a message board and database. Fun, fun, fun! Visit, and if you're a democrat, sign up for your FREE email account!

Just at the printer: Atlanta Board of Realtors Directory

The new Atlanta Board of Realtors Membership Resource Guide is finally at the printer. Chock full of things of interest to members of the Board, this year marks the fourth year I've produced the book, this year working with larry Halpern of Positive Energy. New cover, new design and new size! Sample images to be posted soon!

Where to Live and Golf in Georgia

Fresh on the newsstand as a supplement to WHERE Magazine, this 32-page insert features all the expensive golf and country club communities in Georgia. Very pretty photography and a useful chart/map highlight the descriptive content. Printed over 75,000 for statewide distribution.

April 2001

New web project: BirthMotherLetter.com

This is a very interesting concept for a business. Martha McKenzie, a talented feature writer, also helps couples wishing to adopt children by producing something called a "birth mother album." This album is full of photos and letters to birth mothers who decide to put their infants up for adoption. It is intended to give the birth mother a picture of the lifestyle and philosophies of prospective adoptive parents. Great idea and a nice web project. SEE THE SITE

New customer: Douglasville, Georgia CVB

Started doing some work for the Douglasville Convention & Visitors Bureau, among them a new creative concept for a series of ads to run in various tourism publications: "Come Stay With the Next-Door Neighbor." Also a Group Tour Information Flyer and just started reworking their stationery. Great folks to work with...and all using PDF proofs and e-mail. Ain't technology wonderful!

New web project: Your Employee Handbook

Small businesses find as they grow a need to manage employees more effectively. The first step is an employee policy manual. This company writes a standard, best-practice, personnel policy manual, then customizes it for the customer — professional, blue-collar, etc. You can download a manual in Word and PDF format, or order the files and printed manuals all set to distribute to employees. And what's the difference between this manual and all the others on the market? This one is written in friendly, easy-to-understand language — no threatening, legalistic boilerplate. May need to buy one of these myself.

March 2001

Listing proposal for Southeast Commercial Properties

Just delivered a 22-page proposal for this client to use in presenting to a new customer. Southeast Commercial Properties sells and leases commercial real estate. They needed a professional-appearing proposal package. Designed the cover and interior, then digitally printed just 9 copies for their meeting, all in two days! I had previously designed their logo and general corporate style. Next up: a marketing brochure when they land this listing!

Southeast Tourism Society Escape to the Southeast

After three days in beautiful (and chilly), downtown Canton, Ohio, we finished press checking 125,000 copies of the 104-page Escape to the Southeast Travel Guide published by the Southeast Tourism Society and Positive Energy, Inc. In its third year of publication, the guide covers the eleven states of the southeast region of the nation, including a brief description of the state's tourism attractions, a two-page itinerary, and a listing of travel resources, such as hotels, attractions, and interesting events. The guide features beautiful photography as well as interesting facts. Coming up next: a 48 page membership directory for the Society. By the way: if you're ever in Canton, dine at Bender's Restaurant and order the Mandibar shrimp...delicious!

Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites Travel Guide

Working with Atlanta publisher Positive Energy, Inc., we just delivered a 64-page 2001 Guide to Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites. The guide includes comprehensive information to visitors of one of the 63 parks and historic sites in Georgia, including lodging, prices, hours or operations, directions, amenities and park features, plus a long list of interesting events throughout the year. This is a new publication that combines information previously scattered throughout four publications and a variety of rack cards and brochures. In addition to design and production, we attended no less than 28 hours of press checks to make sure all 500,000 copies were printed correctly! Go HERE to order your own copy and visit one of Georgia's great parks today.

December 2000

Another successful project: The Pine Mountain Area Experience

Our first project with Atlanta publisher Positive Energy, Inc. was the annual production of the Pine Mountain Area Experience travel guide. This 48-page digest-sized booklet tells all about the Pine Mountain, Georgia area, home of Callaway Gardens and Warm Springs. Lots of interesting things to do and see, and just a short drive from Atlanta. We updated a design I had done previously, added new copy, produced ads and travelled to Morristown, Tennessee for the press check of 250,000 copies.

August 2000

New web project underway: DEC International, Inc.

This is a site I actually designed last Thanksgiving (1999). It's sat until now, primarily because it was not a priority with the client. I finally got the go-ahead to get it produced and online. See it HERE. DEC is the leading supplier of construction industry statistics in Georgia. The site will showcase their print and digital publications, allow for visitors to subscribe, and provide a variety of services to subscribers. Additionally, the site will contain news, press releases, newsletters and opionion articles, plus archives of past issues of DEC publications. The free newsletter by CEO Allan Feifer is entertaining.

Final days at Publication Concepts

Finally, after almost four years and several hundred issues of dozens of magazines, newsletter and travel guides, I left Publication Concepts at the end of July. During my time at PCI, I built a Creative Services Department capable of handling design, production, prepress and print supervision of high-quality, award-winning publications. Of course, I didn't do it alone: some very talented people helped along the way, including Beth Powell (Production Manager), Corki Bienenfeld (Art Director), Michelle Marshall (Traffic, then Production Artist), Rebecca Brookshire (Traffic), Matthew Ross (Prepress), Tammy Stephens (Production Artist), Laura Haven (Art Director), Stephanie Brown (Prep/Administrative), Lee-Ann Williams (Ad Production), and Curt Levy (Scanner Operator). Thanks to all!

July 2000

Nothing happened in July

Well, it seems like nothing work-related happened: we moved into the new house over the Fourth—it was hot, U-Haul could't guarantee a truck and we had to rent from another place. Then we only had the truck one day and had to rent a cargo van for three more days—one day at a time (no multi-day rentals!). But we got moved in, took a swim and started hanging pictures. I even got to buy new office furniture! The cable modem works great ... faster and more reliable (so far) than the BellSouth DSL (Six weeks for installation! MediaOne was out here the day after we moved in).

The Carvir Group web site finished!

Whew! Finished a small site for The Carvir Group. Got the go-ahead around the 15th, and just finished uploading the files for final approval on the 24th. Talk about "Internet time"! See the site HERE.

June 2000

Publications win four Magazine Association of Georgia Awards

On June 2nd, the Magazine Association of Georgia held its Awards Banquet.Our publications picked up four awards! Here they are:

Southern Lifestyles, Winter 1999—Best Single Issue, Silver
Southern Lifestyles, Winter 1999—General Excellence, Bronze
Target Atlanta, Fall 1999—Best Design, Silver
Atlanta On the Go, December 1999—Best Single Issue, Gold

This is the third year running that these publications have won awards for excellence and design, and the second year that all three of our core publications have won awards. My congratulations go to Corki Bienenfeld and Laura Haven, art directors of Southern Lifestyles and Target Atlanta, respectively (Corki also art directs Atlanta On the Go). My contribution is original design of the magazines and creative and conceptual guidance—they do all the hard work! Click on the cover photos to see more about each issue.

New web project underway: The Carvir Group Executive Recruiters

A rush project for an executive search firm in Atlanta to redesign their web site. Here's the first of two possible designs. This site has to be functional by June 29th, since we're moving that weekend and the computer will be packed! It will show a home page, a categorical listing of current job openings by category and title, and detail pages of job descriptions. Applicants will also be able to apply online.

New publishing project: Lake Hartwell Life and LakeHartwellLife.com

In partnership with B&B Publishing, we're considering starting up a new magazine and web site for the Lake Hartwell area of Georgia and South Carolina. Lake Hartwell is a large, man-made lake with 920 miles of shoreline—home to tens of thousands of lakeside homeowners and boaters, plus many, many visitors. Lake Hartwell Life Magazine will serve those dock owners and visitors with news and articles about the "Lifestyles of the Lake." LakeHartwellLife.com will offer more of the same, updated more frequently. Look for a September launch for this new project.

Wells and Smith are moving

The mortgage is approved, the paperwork finished, and Jackie has started packing. We're moving this coming July 4th weekend to our new house—just down the street and around the corner. Larger quarters, a screened-in outdoor porch and an inground pool await. The computer will be down for a couple of days while I heave boxes to and fro.

May 2000

New web project: ThePreflightDoctor.com

We're working on content summaries, look and feel, and architecture for a service-oriented site that will offer graphic "preflight" services and information to publishers and small printers. Customers will be able to upload their graphic files to an FTP site for preparation for printing. Plus, they'll be able to access the latest information on preflight techniques and technology.

New web project: GwinnettDemocrats.com

As a side project, I've started developing a new site for the Democratic Party of Gwinnett County ... an endangered species if ever there was one in the predominantly Republican county! In addition to party information and platform documents, there will be space for third-level domains for Democratic candidates running for Gwinnett County offices.

New project: New Business America

This is a pre-funding company that plans to gather information about new business start-ups in the top 50 cities in the country. Once this information is verified, it will sold as marketing leads to Fortune 1000 companies and used as a subscriber list for a new magazine. I've designed the prototype logo, magazine design and web site. The next step is to start refining the prototypes. See the first version of the non-functional prototype HERE.

May 2000

This site moves to a new server

Most of this site is new! I'm in the process of updating each day (or night!) ... and moving all the files to a new hosting service. The new service will allow me to convert this site and the others I am working on from static HTML pages to database-driven pages.

Publications are finalists in awards competition

Just found out that three PCI publications—Atlanta On the Go, Target Atlanta and Southern Lifestyles—are finalists in the Magazine Association of Georgia GAMMA Awards Competition. Each of these publications has won at least a Bronze, Silver or Gold award (Best Single Issue, General Excellence, or Best Design). Results are due June 9th. This is the third year running these publications have won awards!