RAS Design Media—A web design studio

Mark Cristofalo & Company
(formerly Monterey Peninsula Properties)

Mark Cristofalo and Company contacted The Studio after locating my web design business via a Google search. (Yet another visitor conversion!!!).

Moving into 2012, their business plan called for a complete rebrand which included a new name, new image and new website for his high-end home design and construction business. RAS Design Media was hired to design and develop the new site.

With old-world elegant simplicity, markcristofalo.com will be an artful showcase intended not only to communicate the unique style of Mark's designs but also the pure artistry of old-world fine craftsmanship created by his team.

KVH Design Group was referred to our office. As always, a client referral is the highest means of communicating a job well done. This project is currently under development having entered the design phase.

Developed on the Wordpress framework, this project includes a customized image/portfolio management module and unique methods of displaying in depth featured projects and project portfolios.

Jim Dultz is a Cartoon Illustrator and found RAS Design Media by searching for "Web Design Monterey" on Google—yet another website visitor conversion for our web design studio!

Jim left the wild and wooly life of a “real job” to further develop and market his syndicated cartoons. He came to the studio hoping to have someone to develop a website based on his PSD files.

We met and discussed his design ideas and converted the final designs to code built upon the Wordpress framework.

This custom Wordpress project includes a customized gallery and image management system. Jim will be able to easily update his new work and maintain an archive of his previous works.

Good Luck Jim!!

Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey is a collaborative project with graphic designer Steve Zmak at Zmak Creative. This is the third project Steve and I have worked on together, combining his graphic design and project management talents with my front–end development services.

Steve brought me onboard early on to meet with him and the principals at Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey to discuss site architecture, content strategies and other unique requirements of the project.

On an aggressive project timeline, “Z” and RAS Design Media delivered a solid product to a very happy client that will expand their ability to assist those in need in and around the Monterey Peninsula and Central Coast areas.

The Immigration Law Offices of Ann L. Lipson approached my website design and development studio in Monterey with the hopes of generating more business via their internet presence. After an initial period of discovery we decided to split the project into two parts, a dynamic blog site (theVISAGeek.com) and a static site specifically for their law firm.

Our focus for this static site was to provide an overview of the firm to their local and global market and to provide a detailed perspective of relevant U.S. Immigration law information. Our focus was also to improve upon SEO which was lacking from their old website.

This site has been linked to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and includes a dynamic feed from their blog site, theVISAGeek.com on the home page.

The Weston Scholarship is a non-profit organization that provides scholarships to photography students of all ages on the Monterey Peninusla. This is the second web development project Gina Weston and I have worked on together.

At RAS Design Media, a repeat client like Gina or a referral from a client is the clearest form of feedback—feedback that clearly reflects the quality of service provided and a happy client.

The majority of web development projects we work on for local clients in Monterey, Carmel, Carmel Valley or clients from points beyond initiate via a referral. This is a clear indicator to me, as the business owner, that RAS Design Media provides an effective, quality product and constructive development experience for all team members involved.

theVISAGeek™, is an e-publication of the Immigration Law offices of Ann L. Lipson, PC in Santa Cruz. Ann's firm was referred to my website design studio in Monterey looking to give their existing static law firm website a much needed update.

After mapping out the site requirements and architecture for their static site (lipsonimmigrationlaw.com) we decided to expand the project into two sites, one static and one dynamic (blog). Ann wanted to further develop her firm as a local and global authoritative voice on matters of U.S. immigration law.

I suggested splitting the two concepts up into to different site in order to bulk up SEO potential for both static and dynamic sites...also to add some levity to the often serious topic of immigration law.

A full social media and SEO interface has been customized into the Wordpress framework thus allowing TheVISAGeek.com to leverage the ever expanding marketing potential of social media and the dynamic growth of critical relevant content that is so important in Search Engine Optimization matters.

RAS Photography is an artist's portfolio website.

It is often said that dentist‘s kids have the worst teeth, well I felt it was finally time to upgrade my old website to showcase new web technologies. And of course my fine art black and white photography.

This site includes an image and gallery management interface that allows me to upload, configure and organized my artwork simply. And I stress the word simply! Once the images are uploaded and organized into existing galleries or a new gallery is generated, the backend interface takes care of the rest.

This new site, which was developed in my Monterey web design studio also includes a simple blogging interface and social media integration.

Oficino Uno is a private dealer of fine art photography. OU was referred to our web design studio in Monterey by a current client—always the best form of flattery! OU needed not only a content management system in place for scalability, but also a gallery management system to allow staff to easily upload new acquisitions as they arrived in their Carmel office.

OU required a simple, zen like and elegant design. After working through some mock-ups. The design was chosen and then built upon a customized Wordpress framework.

KG Bell Construction was expanding into the Monterey area and needed a website that profiled the company, their recent projects and the details on their fine craftsmanship of high–end home construction. I sat down with Ken Bell on numerous occasions to determine the site architecture, site assets required and SEO strategies.

Kim and Gina Weston were referred to my web design studio on the Monterey Peninsula in need of a complete overhaul of their site built in 2000. Gina and Kim had put countless hours into manually updating the old website code and were hoping to build their new site on a CMS framework to save them time. After spending time with the Weston’s on Wildcat hill developing the site architecture we decided upon the Wordpress framework.

This is a very dynamic site allowing Gina to add static content, blog posts and images at will and direct where the content will show up within the site. There are over 500 images within the site...and counting.

I encourage you to visit the site and enjoy the rich photographic history of the entire Weston family.

Phil Kember approached RAS Design Media’s website design studio while in Monterey for one of his gallery exhibits. He was looking to move from his old Flash web portfolio site to another CMS platform. A platform that allowed him to continue managing his content. He was specific in wanting a site that reflected is simple yet elegant creative style with a touch of the 1920’s

Phil and I worked through some design comps then I set to work building his site framework and portfolio presentation interface.

Phil Kember is a fantastic photographer continuing in the ways of Large Format (8 x 10) photography and traditional darkroom techniques.

Robert Frandeen is a family law attorney in Santa Cruz and was referred to my by another client. He wanted to shift his marketing dollars to the internet rather than continuing to spend them on Yellow Page and other print ads.

Robert wanted a site that reflected his passion for his 30+ year family law practice and for the compassion he has for his clients. He also wanted his site content to be informative about the applicable laws rather than just about his practice. I met with Robert in his office on two occasions to discuss his approach for writing strong content not only for site visitors but for favorable search engine page ranking.

Training Curve Solutions was designed by one of the graphic designers in Monterey I write front-end code for. This is our third project together.

Often I work with graphic designers in the Monterey area and beyond that have less of an interest in front-end web development. The designers send me their PSD files,dynamic functionality outline and proofed content and I write the code.

Almaden Valley Counseling Service is a non-profit service in San Jose. They were referred to me by another client. Like many organizations or businesses, they too needed to redesign their older website to reflect the changing business climate.

I exchanged numerous emails discussing the project with the president of the non-profit and was provided a well thought out outline of the site structure and its content. With the approval of one of my designs the site launched without a hitch.

The site has been configured for the AVCS staff to edit content content using Adobe’s Contribute.

Susan Caso Counseling was also designed by one of the graphic designers in Monterey I write front-end code for. This is our second project together.

An initial quote is give based on on overview of the project. When the final PSD files are provided and dynamic functionality is outlined, a final quote is written. The website is built to W3C standards.

I’mGoin’Green™ Is a project that started a few years ago when founder, Susan Collins, hatched the idea in Chicago. The custom content management system, database and additional back-end programing had been finished but Susan wanted to completely redesign the skin of the website, add some additional function to the site and to further optimized the the content and front-end code for a more favorable search engine page ranking.

Susan and I met a number of times to discuss the upgrade project. She sent me her final PSD files and proofed content and away we went!

Cara Weston, granddaughter to Edward Weston, was referred to me by another web design client in Monterey. Cara initially needed some content updated on her site. We talked about changes she would like to make and if there was a more efficient way to update her portfolios. We chose to reorganize her 200 plus images into an file structure filtered through a PHP script that would allow
for easy upload and minimal configuration rather than continuing with her table base site layout. We chose to give her site a fresh look as well.

Katherine Edison, a professional soprano soloist and NATS Voice Instructor in Carmel, came to the studio in need of replacing an older website. Katherine needed blogging capabilities and a Content Management System in place that included the ability to upload performance audio samples as they became available to her. We worked through a few design ideas, used WordPress as the backend interface and completely customized the WordPress facade to express her uniqueness and elegant gifts...I highly recommend turning the volume on when viewing this website.

Voted “BEST DESIGN”
www.bestlawfirmsites.com in March of 2010!

07.16.11 UPDATE: Sad but true, chrisnielsenlaw.com has been removed from the internet as Chris has taken employment in-house with a municipal entity. Great news for Chris, bad news for this very creative and thought provoking site. Good luck Chris!

Chris Nielsen has 30 years of experience as a trial attorney in San Jose. Chris came to the studio with not only a passion for his chosen field, but also for expressive courtroom art. His vision was that his profile information would be designed around courtroom art sketches. Chris wanted to include this courtroom art as a way of communicating the realistic drama in the courtroom that can often only be captured by the courtroom artist. The artistic work on the site is actual work from some of the top courtroom artists today and include many high–profile cases.