subalpine design | Subalpine Design

April 19, 2013February 13, 2023

Oops, Did it Again

So I have this bad habit of neglecting my website. If you read through my posts, you’ll see the trend. I get a bit done during the winter, but once spring arrives any extra time in front of the computer goes out the window—replaced mostly by gardening and travel.

I started writing this post last fall with a great idea to re-vamp my WordPress theme. Now it’s spring again, the revamp is still on the list, and I’ve trashed the original concept and am going in another new direction. Here’s a sneak peek into what’s on the drawing board:

In the meantime there have been a few client projects that are definitely overdue to get mentioned. I plan to add them to the portfolio and talk more about the designs with the launch of the new theme. Below are screenshots of websites created by Subalpine Design.

Ziggy Marley Organics

Sonrisas Foreign Language

Cindy Raleigh Fine Art

October 14, 2011February 13, 2023

Fall

It’s fall, and even though it has seemed a bit slow to peak this year, in the right places, you can catch some spectacular color. So it’s also time for the most colorful background of the seasons.

Fall around here also means lots of things to do. Things to put away in the yard and on the deck that will be covered in snow before we like it. Deciding which plants can be transplanted indoors, while the rest are sacrificed to the frost. Time to gather firewood, call the chimney sweep, clear out the clutter around the woodstove, etc. etc. It’s a busy time. The summer was busy too. We spent a lot of time traveling around and celebrating outdoor time.

And work has been busy. I’m so excited to report that it has been work that has really kept me away from this blog. It was still spring when I last made a post to this site and so much has happened since then. I decided I should blog about my to-do list for this website (kinda like the one I’ve got going for my fall chores). Here’s the short list:

I completed two new projects and have at least two more in the pipeline (and that’s just the work that’s related to Subalpine that’s worth talking about—I’ve been doing my usual wearing all the hats I can get. I like hats.). In July I published a site for a For Sale By Owner home.

Single Cab in New Mexico — A new play on an old subject, has been the landscape with our VW Single Cab in it. I’m looking forward to sharing some galleries from our trips.

I also plan on adding a Photo Gallery section to my Services page. I’ve always wanted to add my candid photos of landscapes, dogs, etc.; but have also recently been hired for some product and real estate photography and would like to share some snippets of those photo-shoots. I know a lot about photography and editing photography, but I consider myself an amateur photographer and am often surprised what comes through the lens.

…And actually the list is much longer than that, but I think I’ll start with baby steps. My best idea is to stockpile content through the winter so when I start spending a little less time around the computer in the summer, I’ll have basic stories collected and almost ready to go. See it all comes full circle back to the season. Fall. Enjoy it while it lasts; and gather and stockpile everything you need for the winter to settle in.

East Fork colors 2005 — Another Fun Fall Foliage from the Archives is this one from 2005 on the East Fork which is also featured on PagosaEstates.com homepage.

May 26, 2011February 13, 2023

Planted in Aspen Village

I’m happy to report it has been a very busy Spring, and I’m trying to catch up the site with all our new projects and news. The first week of April, Subalpine Design was excited to move into the Technology Suites at Aspen Village.

*As a freelance designer, it has been convenient and economical to work out of our home office.*

We immediately felt right at home—what better place for our business to grow than an aspen village.

While we still make house-calls, one of the perks of the new office is a large conference room. The necessity of a quiet, professional office-space with access to the best internet capabilities to support The Partner in his telecommute was primarily why we chose this location. The growing demand for Subalpine’s services is what allows us to share this office space. Time to set down roots.

To find us, locate the Sears in Aspen Village. Straight across the parking lot from the entrance to the Sears, you will see a glass door marked ‘Technology Suites.’ Enter this door and we are located upstairs, ~~through the second door on the left, Suite 207~~. UPDATE: We have actually moved across the hall. Now it’s the first door on the right, Suite 201.
UPDATE: We closed our office in 2017.

March 17, 2011October 17, 2020

Wee Bit O’Green Updated

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day and Spring—the Spring Equinox this year is Sunday. It was high time for me to change my wintry, gray and white website to something more green, bright and spring-like. The background photo I chose was actually taken in June of 2004 at Buckles Lake which is 20 miles south of Pagosa Springs. We took the VW bus (a 1965 13-window deluxe) and the dogs camping and ended up next to this gorgeous field of flowers and iris blooming amongst the aspens.

Wild Iris — 1965 13-window deluxe bus amongst the aspens

1965 13-window deluxe bus amongst the aspens

The aspens in my yard are starting to get fuzzy catkins but have not started leafing out yet. I think we still have a few weeks, and it will probably be May/June before the aspen groves up high are accessible and look this lush.

With the aid of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), it’s very quick and easy for me to change elements of my site. The changes today probably took me about an hour—and most of that time was deciding what photos and colors I wanted to use. I think writing and organizing the content for this post took me at least that long! I use Firebug to tweak the colors and opacity and to preview background image choices before I update the final version that you see. It’s a very handy web tool. I wouldn’t be able to design and test CSS sites without it.

Updated (March 22, 2011): I really like the green changes and have every intention of changing the color theme throughout the season, but I’ve been looking at my site since I added the green and feel like something’s still not quite right. Something’s making it too busy. Maybe too difficult to read?

Today I decided to tweak it a little bit more. I changed the background to another image I have of aspen trees on our way to Poage Lake. You can see other photos from this area in my post about The Name of our company. I also decided to flip the background color to purple and accents (like on my portfolio page) to green. I think this is a little easier on the eyes and isn’t quite as intense. It is only March anyway and things aren’t THAT green yet.

Before (on St. Patty's Day) — Before screenshot (on St. Patty’s Day)

After (3/22 update) — Before screenshot (on St. Patty’s Day)

February 14, 2011February 13, 2023

The Partner

Find The Partner on LinkedIn.

As I mentioned in the post about myself, The Designer, a large reason I’m a Graphic Designer and live in this beautiful corner of Colarado are due to the relationship with my husband who also is my business partner. We’ve worked well together for years. In fact, we met through our leadership roles within our respective Explorer Posts. Later we worked together at both Sportsrug.com and Parelli Natural Horsemanship. It only seemed natural to pair our abilities and develop Subalpine Design. While he doesn’t work ‘hands-on’ on most of Subalpine’s projects, he has been a tremendous teacher and resource as I develop my web design skills.

In a recent email to a client I tried to explain what he does and how he helps me: “Basically, he can create customized software for any type of e-commerce. His current job is writing software for rydindecal.com.”

I personally have not had the opportunity to design or implement custom e-commerce interfaces like shopping carts, payment gateways, etc. But I know quite a few tools I can use for them and have my husband as a resource to consult. It’s the same story for me about 3 years ago when I’d never built a website. He helped me by creating tutorials or even setting up the basic programming for me to learn from. Now I have a greater understanding of CSS, HTML and PHP and use them liberally in my web projects (without WYSIWIG editors—code baby). I also had clients who were willing to give me the time to learn on the fly and tackle their project.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the world of design and the web, “The more you learn, the less you know.” There are so many facets that you can delve into, and to know just a little about most of them; you really can’t do them all justice.

But enough about me…The Partner is responsible for who I am and What Subalpine Design IS. He’s a geek —hobbies include [in no particular order]: volkswagens (building, driving, owning), playing the banjo, brewing beer, home improvement, and gumstix computers. He’s my husband, my Partner and an amazing man.