Metallurgist by Day/Blog Designer by Night: Meet Adori Graphics

If you are a regular reader, you’ve already heard about the Savvy Blogging Summit. I know…blah…blah..blah…right? For your sake, I’m trying to keep my enthusiasm contained. Really I am! You may also know that I am actively seeking sponsors to help me get to Denver for the conference. So, if you have a business or would like to advertise on this site, email me for my media kit or stop back in the next couple days because I’ll be getting it posted here for you to view.

I am thrilled to say that I already have one sponsor…you may have noticed that cute new button on the side bar? Well, if not, here it is. It is cute, isn’t it? I just love it. But more than that, I’d like to tell you that I honestly don’t think I could’ve promoted anyone more as confidently as I can Adori Graphics. I first met Louise when I contacted her about creating the graphics for Live the Adventure. That was probably about a year ago. Since that time, Louise and I have corresponded on a professional and personal level. She’s one of my best bloggy world friends! And a top notch blog designer if I say so myself!

As my very first sponsor, I thought it would be fun to do an interview with Louise because I now know (thanks to that nifty survey I asked you to complete last week) that 87% of you are fellow bloggers. I think you’ll be interested in what she has to say. I love this quote from Louise.

"I'm passionate about how blogging can enhance your life and I'd love to get more people feeling passionate about their blogs."

She does this by offering valuable tools to fellow bloggers in the form of blogging tips, advice and tutorials as well as freebies you can use to enhance your blogs. All this is in addition to the affordable buttons, headers, backgrounds and complete makeovers that she can design for you.

So grab a soda or cup of tea and let’s get started.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Louise and I'm married to my soul-mate, Andrew. We live in the north of England, at the foot of the Pennines, with our cat Meg. In rare moments of free time, I enjoy photography, visiting art galleries and museums, going to the cinema and anything involving crafts or water! I'm a metallurgist by day (a scientist who studies metals), working in the automotive industry and blog/graphic designer by night.

How did you ‘get into’ graphic design?

I got into it when I was about 15 years old (that's 20 years ago, in case you're wondering). We had to complete a project at school, where we were asked to design a brochure or newspaper front cover, using some drawing software on our new computer. The program was very simple back then, much the same as Microsoft Paint is now, but I was fascinated how I could see my designs on the TV screen LOL. Since then, I reckon I've spent thousands of hours working on digital designs, so I guess you could say I'm hooked. Back in 2001/2002, I started creating simple web graphics for people "as a favour" and just spent the next few years doing that, as well as working on my own projects.

Tell us about Adori Graphics. How did it start?

In 2007/2008, I started a new venture called "Write from the Heart", where I create free custom blog designs for people who blog about living with a long term illness or a sick child/adult. This was way, way more popular than I'd anticipated and, before I knew it, I had 50 people in the queue...which I'm still working my way through! Once word got out about my designs, I created a new blog so that I could keep my general graphics work separate to my “charity” graphics for sick people, so Adori Graphics was born! Adori (apparently) means “beautiful”, or something similar, in Aborigine. Nowadays, I just run all of my work from Adori Graphics as it was too difficult to keep up with so many design blogs.

In May 2009, my husband lost his job (and is still unemployed) so I started charging for some graphics, and since then the business has kind of exploded!

What aspect of graphic design do you really enjoy?

I love creating vector graphics - as you know Tonya, I draw all of these from scratch and never use image stock (unless a customer has a particular request for an I-Stock image).

I love the flexibility of custom vectors and that's probably the main reason why people ask me to work for them. Normally, when you buy image stock, you're pretty much stuck with the image that you purchase, but when you're asking somebody like me to design your image, you can specify things such as hair style, body size, clothing, accessories and even eye colour to match your own. I can even create vector people which look just like you! Both styles of vector character have really been improving in popularity lately and are the latest "must have" it seems. I think I enjoy creating vector people the most...maybe more than life itself LOL.

How is Adori Graphics different than other designers?

At Adori Graphics, I have pride in being different to other blog designers. Here are just a few ways in which my designs differ to many other designers…

1. I don’t use image stock to create my custom vectors, they are all hand drawn, by me, using my graphics pen and tablet.

2. When I release a premade template, I only install it on a limited number of blogs, so you’re guaranteed not to see it in too many places.

3. Since I draw my own graphics, I can create a cartoon version of your family…and it will actually look like your family.

4. I am committed to always finding you the cheapest option to get what you want.

5. I make my own digital scrapbooking kits for use in my scrapbook style blogs as this keeps the cost down for the customer – although I can use a specific designer’s kit if one is requested. I even sell the scrapbook kits on my blog!

What products and services do you offer?

Although I’m known for my blog makeovers and blog graphics, I also make custom greetings cards and stationery designs and premade blog templates. I have some great business tools for small business owners too, such as custom Etsy shop graphics, custom Twitter pages and custom business card designs. I can even design logos and give you advice on using your logo to brand your products and image!

Where do you see your blog in the future?

I’d like to expand certain areas of my current services, such as my premade blog templates, photography style blogs and my scrapbook style blogs. Expanding my range of digital scrapbooking kits would be awesome too. I’d also love to get a second designer on board to help with the vector graphics (if you're a designer and you're interested, contact Louise at adorigraphics at hotmail dot com.uk), but so far I’ve not managed to find any designers who can create custom vector graphics…making me even more unique than I thought! My free makeovers (for those who qualify) have been on hold for a while, but I’d like to pick those up again. I’m relying on finding a second designer to free up the time to do this properly, but I’m still trying to “chip away” at the queue on my own.

Well, that wraps up my interview with Louise. If you're in the market for an affordable blog design, I can't honestly recommend Adori Graphics enough! If you'd like to make a few simple changes to your blog, you may find out how to do that by checking out Louise's regular feature, Tutorial Tuesday. You won't want to miss Freebie Friday! For all you non-bloggers out there, check out this adorable digital scrapbook set.
Hmmmm....look familiar?