THE VAULT THRIVES WITH HELP FROM A COMMUNITY OF LOCAL BUSINESSES

Temecula, CA — In these times of economic hardship, Temecula and Murrieta business owners are banding together to not only survive, but to grow. While it has been common to see large corporations and popular chains closing their doors, certain local independent businesses are thriving. How do they manage to do so, when these much larger companies can’t? Simple, it’s all about who you know, and who knows you. Networking is vital in today’s interconnected world, and a handful of the Inland Empire’s younger business owners and entrepreneurs have heeded the call.

The owners of 1daywraps.com / Garage Graffix, SunFall Studios, 1st Amendment, Kulor Design Solutions, Full Value Review, & The Vault have joined forces to support each others businesses by sharing resources in order to help with the collective success of all involved. “By forming an alliance with other local businesses, we are providing a unique advantage to the Mom and Pop shops in our community”, said Ivan Promotions, entertainment director for The Vault.

One of the beneficiaries of this collaboration is the The Vault, Temecula’s only all-ages concert venue. The Vault “serves an important purpose in our community by giving the locals and youth of the area another option to escape their day-to-day lives”, stated Brian Wear, owner of 1DayWraps.com and Garage Graffix. Wear’s company donated a $3,000 wrap for The Vault’s new promotional / distribution vehicle appropriately dubbed ‘The Rock Wagon’. “The Vault connects with the youth in the area and gives them somewhere positive to hang out, somewhere they can have fun. So when Ivan asked me to support his effort, it was really a no-brainer. We gave the vehicle a new look, and slapped our name on it, so now wherever ‘The Rock Wagon’ goes, we’ll be there too.”

“I’m already getting referral business from TheVaultConcerts.com” said Casey Hald, owner of SunFall Studios and developer of the Vault’s website. “We helped create the new site and even though it has only been up and running for about a month, we’ve already noticed that people are listening.” Hald defined his outlook on the cooperative by adding, “We all need to help drive the economy out of this rut and the only way out is banding together.”

Bill Gould, school board member, realtor, owner of Full Value Entertainment and publisher of the Full Value Review remarked, “Supporting local businesses and music just makes good sense.”

“We’re all young business owners and if one of us is successful, we all are”, said Bryan Giardinelli, owner of Kulor Design Studios. “We’re all young self-starters trying to ensure the longevity of each others business. We have faith in each other, and believe if we pull our resources together and help one another out, we can make a profound impact on this community.”

“With the Valley still growing, it gives the bright, young professionals a chance to carve out their own future, their own niche, and we all know that there is strength in numbers”, said PT Rothschild, the local music historian & writer for FullValueReview.com.

So what brought this group together? “Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have really given us the ability to network at an extraordinary rate”, said Ivan. “Bill and I met over 5 years ago after reading I had read a bulletin he sent out to the masses on MySpace. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Bill” Ivan continued. ”It’s a new era, and with an ever-changing world, businesses need to adapt. If they don’t they will most certainly fail. We have been very fortunate to find so many others who believe in what we are doing at The Vault.”

In times like these, we could all benefit by paying attention to the selfless efforts and the creative networking these young business owners display and live by on a daily basis. After all, to be truly successful in both business and in life, money cannot be the sole motivation. A passion for the work itself must also be present, and if there is one thing these entrepreneurs have an abundance of in this economy, it is that.

If you’d like more information about this please contact. Press Photo Attached*

| Contact Info & links

* Bryan Wear | Garage Graffix | 1DayWraps.com | 951-677-2688

* Casey Hald | Sunfall Design Studio | SunfallDesigns.com | 951-239-9065

* Mike Ferguson | 1st Amendment | 1stAmendment.com | 951-587-6990

* Bryan Giardinelli | Kulor Design Solutions | KulorDS.com | 951-694-2081

* Bill Gould | Romoland School District | VoteBillGould.com | 951-491-9053

* James Messina | Temecula Sounds/ The Vault | TVSOMATA.com | 951-296-9993

* P.T. Rothschild | Full Value Review | FullValueReview.com | 951-775-7079

* Ivan Promotions | The Vault | TheVaultConcerts.com | 951-491-9488

One debate that I’ve heard time and time again has been the issue of experience over education. Recently in the office we conducted this small debate in what appeals to a company more when looking for a web / graphic designer. When getting a full time job, or a contracted gig, does the company look more at your work experience, or your amount of education?

Personally, I leaned more towards work experience because said company is not only looking for designers who have a solid portfolio history, but have that experience of working in a fast paced environment and know how to handle a crazy multi-tasking place like a design studio. I’ve worked with a lot of fresh graduates who can do really awesome work, but taking a full day or more to do so. At the end of the day you get one really awesome mock-up / logo, but 10 more take it’s place in a high traffic design studio. Not saying this comes from all fresh graduates that are interning, but I’ve seen it a lot, and unfortunately move on due to stress.

On the flip side I’ve worked with some grads who can code up full Facebook style websites in just under 3 days, which is phenomenal by all sense of the word.

The downside of having work experience but no degree is the pay. It is very hard to convince the employer to be paid at a rate ( with appropriate research ) that seems consistent and fair with the work involved. The higher the degree you have in your field, the better chance you’ll have of getting a better rate. It’s just fact. A degree also has priority when it comes to office rank. The designer who has five years or more work experience gets a good position, but the man with the Bachelors gets title of Project Manager. Not saying this is fair or un-fair by any means, it’s just fact.

So, what has the upper hand in getting hired / staying hired, the work experience and a lengthy portfolio of work history, or the degree with a solid student portfolio? This also includes freelance contracts and gigs.

Let the debate begin!

Hey everyone, happy new year! 2009 was a very busy year for Sunfall Designs, so busy I wasn’t able to post a blog in a few months. I am planning on more consistent and relevant blog posts in the coming months, including some video and audio interviews, tutorials, tips and tricks, and Wordpress goodies! The website still has a lot of work ahead of it, but thanks to some great twitter feedback I was able to get it finished up rather quickly. Very soon I’ll have a more stylized comment look, but for now it works! Sunfall designs has also changed it’s name to Sunfall Studios.

Alright everyone, it’s about 2:30am and I’m about spent. I’ll have a fresh blog post ready in about a week, and a portfolio page to showcase a few of my many projects I finished last year!

– Casey Hald

Well, it’s been a while since my last post; Almost a full month! Being an in house designer / developer, side business owner, ghost hunter, and movie star (sarcasm) have kind of kept me busy lately.

The Movie

@deathtothemovies wrote and directed this satirical short for the 48 hour film festival in Riverside. I play the part of Herbert, a douche of a boyfriend and wanna be rock star. Enjoy Titus’s amazing film and my horrible acting

Love Lumps from DeathToTheMovies on Vimeo.

The Ghosts

Murrieta’s old Mill

Me, my Wife, and my Roomate were talking about Murrieta’s old mill Saturday night, and talked about the picture my roomate’s friend took of the supposed “little girl” the shows up in the top window. Well, we couldn’t find that picture anywhere; Not AIM, his computer, or the internet. So we decided, why not check it out tonight? Well, we did. We took several pictures of the top window, and only one picture came back with this eerie image.

The Whaley House

On Sunday my Wife came up with a great idea to check out the Whaley House in old town San Diego, to see if we could find any more ghosts. We walked inside, taking random pictures of the furniture and old portraits of the family who lived there, but came back with really no good images. I randomly decide I was going to take a picture of the outside of the house. This image came back. I think it pretty much explains itself.

You can read more about our adventure on @est_1911 blog here http://tinyurl.com/orfqat

Isolated the head and upped the contrast.

Old Meth Lab on Bundy Canyon

SunfallDesigns’ Abandonded Scott Road Meth Lab photoset

After our tour of old town San Diego, we stopped at this eerie location off of Scott Road. Apparently it used to be a meth lab that blew up and is now abandoned. There is a gate surrounding the property, but right as you drive up to it, you see there is a divide so you can easily walk in. Word of warning though, if you’re thinking of visiting this location there is a 5 story deep well that is hidden behind one of the houses, so watch your step. One of the houses is sinking in it’s own failing foundation, so I wouldn’t try going into that house. In any event, here are some cool pics of the location.

Collekt

The Collekt creative meet up is growing! Special guests Drifting Creatives stopped by and shared some pretty amazing stories of their adventures as traveling designers. I had a chance to meet up with a lot of great designers and developers talking about life, design, and sometimes faith. Over all it was a huge success, I have a feeling that the next meeting is going to continue to grow.

1TOUGH LOVE

Like an old man who makes his kids call him sir instead of daddy, IE6 isn’t afraid to tell you when you’ve done something wrong, and then kicks you in the ass about it, even when every other browser tells you that it’s right. In fact, it will even go so far as to implode your website until you identify the problem. Nothing is better than thinking you’ve just coded the perfect website, until you preview something completely different in IE6.

2POPULARITY

Okay, so IE6 isn’t the coolest browser on the block, but it’s presence is still very prevalent. Sad fact is, most people use this browser out of ignorance, because it’s their first (and sometimes) only portal to the internet after uploading Windows XP.

3THE PIONEER

DHTML enhancements, content restricted inline frames, and partial support of CSS level 1, DOM level 1, and SMIL 2.0 were all new functions that came out when IE 6 was born in April of 2001. Thank IE 6 for your precious style sheets!

4PNG, WHAT IS THAT?

It’s always fun to try and use a .png image in your website, because IE6 likes to place a nice blue aura around the area that is suppose to be transparent. There are png hacks out there that manipulate to browser, but just the fact that you have to hack your png’s for your website is a headache all on its own.

5THE DEATH OF NETSCAPE

Before the development of IE 5 & 6, Netscape 4 dominated the Internet with it’s horrible lack of the ability to alter text and images after a page was loaded, and Netscape’s proprietary LAYER extensions as oppose to the superior cascading style sheets. Soon after Microsoft created a licensing agreement with both AOL and MAC, stomping the already wounded Netscape to death under it’s boot-heel. But in Netscape’s last dieing breath, it went open source, thus creating the most used browser on the internet today: Firefox!.

6IE6 IS IMMORTAL

IE6 will never die. Even with IE8 released and dominating the interwebs, IE6 is still in the shadows, haunting the poor websites that never considered it’s constrictions. I have a feeling web designers are going to be pulling their hair over IE6 for a very very long time.

This weeks post I want to talk about following your passions as a web designer and how to get into the industry.

If you have been dreaming of the perfect job that reflects your very passions as a person, I suggest that you just try it. Not saying that you should go freelance right away by any means, but start in baby steps. Start taking a community college course on the subject, and see if you’re still interested after the class is over. If after that you still want to pursue that ambition, take as much extra time that you can to learn the subject consistently. This means taking more courses, buying a couple books and spending a few hours each night writing notes and studying, and actually trying it out! Don’t be afraid to create something for the first time, because once you do this, you’ve already completed the first step.

Here are a few steps I used to get myself in the field

When starting out in any field, surround yourselves with professionals related to that field. The reason being is so you can learn from their experience, have someone to accurately answer your questions, and more over someone to critique your work, and suggest ways that you can improve.

The key to finding any clients when you first start working on your own is identifying your niche. What sets you apart from other designers that are looking for the same target market? Once you do this, you can find others who sell to the same market, but arn’t direct competitors. Once you do this, you can start networking with other people to referral work back and forth, creating a stable stream of clients in your network. I am not a freelance, but I do receive consistent work through this method. I recommend that you go to your city’s chamber of commerce, start talking with others about what they do, and from their start networking with them. A good example of a perfect relationship with a web designer are web programmers, graphic designers, photographers, and social media marketers just to name a few. They all share the same creative market, but arn’t competing each other because their services differ.

If you have any questions on how to get your foot in the door, I would absolutely love to speak with you! Shoot me an email via my contacts page. Maybe I can even add you in my network!

Some #FF Love. Most of these people I interact with daily, so give them a follow. All are awesome!

• @fontburger
• @joshcagwin
• @aaroni268
• @openboxcreative
• @adellecharles
• @kylesteed
• @chatcreative
• @joelbeukelman
• @omgxzombies
• @Marcellpurham
• @joshroyse
• @death2themovies
• @cherub_rock123
• @lopezdesigns
• @theleggett
• @est_1911
• @motbones
• @UDontKnowJackie
• @shaken_blake
• @seotips2go

Music is undeniably a universal language. There have always been variable opinions on which music is “better” than another, but the reality is everyone is inspired by different types of music.

Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead. ~Benjamin Disraeli

For me personally, I’m inspired by extremely different types of music depending on what I’m doing. If I am designing something for example, I tend to listen to pianist David Nevue, the Irish music of Loreena Mckennitt, movie soundtracks, and pure instrumentals. When I’m coding or developing something, It’s a completely different story; Stuff like Ensifirum, Amon Amarth, and Children of Bodom blast my headphones. In Flames, Opeth, and Nightwish just to name a few more.

What I want to ask is what music inspires your creativity and why?

Sorry about the abrupt ending.. I almost didn’t post a V-cast today because of our room being invaded by summer bugs. But alas, here it is!

So for this post I’m just talking about how I preformed an epic fail at work, how designers should learn from their mistakes, and how to turn them into accurate designs. Basically, don’t take your critiques personally. Your company hired you so you can interpret their thoughts on a medium, so there will be misinterpretations and mistakes constantly.

You are the pen to which their thoughts are rendered.

So that’s about it for this weeks SF V-cast. Next week I’m going to interview some surprise guests, so stay tuned!

I am Really excited to post my first SF v-cast! You can visit all of the designers I mentioned in the v-cast below.

Basically I want this v-cast series to be about how to become a better designer, and how to continually adapt to the trends and technology that is constantly changing on the internet. In the future I would like to set up some interviews with web designers and graphic artists, as well as showcase tutorials, e-books, hard covers, and other sources of material that I feel can help anyone who wants to become a better designer.

I myself am still a college student studying illustrations and web design, so I am by no means a professional, but I surround myself with professionals. Because of social networking platforms like Twitter and Skype, I’ve been able to be critiqued and mentored by some of the biggest names in the design community.

Please let me know what ideas you have for the SF v-cast, I would love to hear them!

You can download the free wordpress theme from Digging into Wordpress here

Designer Showcase

Joshua Paul @jdpaul85

Aaron Irizarry @aaroni268
Kyle Steed @kylesteed
Amanda Ashcraft @alittlebithippy
Joel Beukelman @joelbeukelman
Garth Humbert @iamgarth
Chris Coyier @chriscoyier