Now we get to the portion of out program where we look out over the ideas that had potential, but ended up crashing in an epic ball of fire...well, maybe not that bad.  Main-Trade was an idea at my previous business, MainSales, where we would create a community website that basically had everything for a community under one roof.  This was towards the beginning of these types of sites poppiing up and we how some were doing it and thought we could do it better. Graphically, everything worked great through two iterations of the site (one we generated and one we paid a handsome sum to have coded for us). We were beginning to drum up interest for the site when we got slammed with business from people who didn't know we were there as MainSales - good thing for MainSales, bad thing for Main-Trade. Basically, all the hard work we poured into MT basicall got pushed aside and it died a slow quiet death...but I think the graphics are pretty sweet!

You see the Main-Trade badge at left, and below in the additional images you'll find a horizontal logo, a screen shot of the original site and two characters I illustrated for the printed newsletter we were going to couple with the website (see...I'm telling you, we had some awesome intentions with this thing): Main-trade Joe (modeled after a former employee) and Hyphen-Guy* (modeled after no one in particular...maybe the Tick from the comic series).

*Hyphen Guys was in response to the need for people to be sure to remember to type in the hyphen after "Main" and before "Trade"...otherwise they went to a blank site which we did not own.

This is a content management site I initally created several years ago that has gone through several renovations and visual revisions. This site has grown to allow specialized logins for users that can access certain parts of the site but not others...no smal feat. The overall look and feel was initially established by other promotional items that had been previously developed. This site ties in with those elements and creates a complete design package.

Visit Randolph County Partnership for Children Website

I have a special place in my heart for this site. The folks over at the Arts Guild have stuck with me through a couple of website versions, with this current iteration being a lot more user friendly. Arts Guild directors Derrick Sides and Phil Shore have both been very receptive to the designs I've proposed over the years and have been very easy to work with.  Randolph Arts GUild is currently able to maintain their site through the Contecnt Management System which allows them to change information immediately as new events and shows arrive.Couple that with the fact they they are the longest running organized proponent of the arts in Randolph COunty and you've got an amazing combination.

Visit Randolph Arts Guild Website