30
Jun
Vox Magazine recently featured Mayecreate Design in it’s weekly magazine the 2nd week of June. Check it out!
MayeCreate Design helps CoMo businesses make lasting impressions online
Young, local design company creates websites for other local businesses.
By MALLORY GNAEGY
June 10, 2010 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Laughter echoes in the polka-dotted Rogers Street loft where the four-person staff of MayeCreate Design takes a midday break from designing client websites and printed material. Shortly after, the team puts music on, and the young designers are back to work.
“We’re laid-back, but we’re responsible,” says Monica Maye Pitts, the owner of MayeCreate and a Columbia native, about the atmosphere and philosophy of her business. “We’re not stuffy, we’re not flashy, but we’re honest and down-to-earth.”
Pitts graduated from Rock Bridge High School in 1998 and from MU in 2003 with a degree in agriculture. In high school her mom forced her to take a Web design class, and she found her niche. Pitts took two more design classes in college and used her skills on any projects she could. An interest in graphic design and encouragement from her entrepreneurial family led her to start MayeCreate.
The company’s staff collaborates to design websites, business cards, logos and other print material. To start the three-month process of designing a client’s website, Pitts and Senior Project Manager Danielle Abt have a consultation to determine their client’s needs and how MayeCreate can help him or her. Then the staff decides on an initial design concept. From there, designer Nick Lower, senior designer Lindsay Spillars and Pitts take turns in the design process.
“It keeps a good balance, so everyone has a little bit of input, and it uses all of our creativity together,” Lower says.
If a client already has a logo and color scheme, MayeCreate focuses the design around those. “Sometimes we go take pictures of an office,” Pitts says. “We pull pictures from the décor of the office and use it in their designs.”
She describes one client, Pilates for Every Body, with a Zen waiting area with bright colors and an energetic feeling. MayeCreate employees took those elements to create the company’s website and brochure. When the business moved to a new location, its owner based the interior design on MayeCreate’s brochure. But to Pitts, it’s not just how the page looks. “A good website is a marriage between art and function,” Pitts says.
MayeCreate began designing on retainer for First Tier Realtors. First Tier franchised into White Group Realtors in 2007 and no longer needed the work that Pitts and her team were doing. MayeCreate then became independent by expanding its clientele and moving into Pitts’ home. Growing success allowed Pitts to hire Abt, and in 2008, the staff moved into its own office.
“I went from managing seven or eight projects at a time to managing about 50 right now,” Abt says.
Although Pitts tries to attend at least one networking event a week, a lot of her clientele comes by word of mouth. MayeCreate has designed websites for Hemingway’s, Salon Nefisa, Tropical Liqueurs and Room 38.
“I wasn’t overly excited about (the first proof),” says Billy Giordano, owner of Room 38. “I gave them some examples and more direction, and then they nailed it.”
MayeCreate attempts to bring clients exactly what they want, and the group’s familiarity with mid-Missouri gives it more of an advantage over out-of-town design firms. Room 38’s website was originally created by a friend from New York, says Giordano. “But that person wasn’t readily available to update and maintain the site, so I wanted to find someone local that I trusted.”
The article is also posted on the Vox Magazine website at: http://www.voxmagazine.com/stories/2010/06/10/mayecreate-design-helps-como-businesses-make-lasti/
Thanks again for giving us the opportunity to be part of your magazine! Also, be sure to check out the photos from the photo shoot done by Katie Wood for the article.
No Comments »
In: 
30
Jun
Here are some of the pictures from the photo shoot done by Katie Wood to use in the article Vox Magazine ran about Mayecreate!
30
Jun
We’ve just created a new ad to place in Inside Columbia’s CEO magazine. Here’s a sneak peak, but be sure to pick up your copy when it comes out!
Tell us what you think!
23
Jun
Marie Newell became a part of the Mayecreate design team earlier this month. Fresh out of college Marie brings her design talents and eagerness to learn to Mayecreate. She graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in graphic design. Her ambition and approach to tackling new projects is just what we need as we continue to grow. Some of you may have had the pleasure of speaking with her on the phone already, for those of you who haven’t I’m sure you will meet her very soon during tech summer camp or at our annual Website Showcase event which will be held July, 22nd from 5-7 at Room 38.
18
Jun
Introducing Tech Summer Camp
Our goal is to provide an opportunity for local businesses, like yourself, to come together and learn more about topics that interest you in a friendly, no-pressure, no-obligation atmosphere. Questions are encouraged, because we know technology can be a bit scary sometimes with all its changes. Save yourself time researching and take advantage of our expertise when we address the latest tech topics.
16
Jun
I’ve been noticing that links to our clients facebook pages are really long and silly. Plus as they make updates to the facebook system sometimes those links change and then we have to go out and fix them. But you have another alternative! For your facebook page, you have the option to get a static URL.
Read More >
15
Jun
- Follow steps for viewing who opened your mailing
- Click the CLICKS TAB
- Click the drop menu and choose the link to target
- Click search button
- Click SAVE in the new Window to Save them as a Group
- Follow steps for Sending Campaigns
15
Jun
- Click on the RESPONSE tab
- Click on campaign that you want to view
- Click OPENS
15
Jun
- Click on Campaign group
- Proof Campaign in Proof Tab
- Click SEND
15
Jun
- Click on EDIT TEXT tab
- Enter desired link text and highlight
- Click the link icon
- Link to desired page (website, email, etc.)
- Enter address of link
- Click the drop bar on window
- Choose open new window.
- Click Save
© 2012 MayeCreate Design