Part one of two

Ohno Design owner, Michael Robb, got his start as a photojournalist. He was there to capture history when the Berlin Wall fell, and rode one of the last B-52s in Michigan to the "Boneyard" in Arizona.

In the minds of most people, taking pictures is not rocket science. We've had some clients hand us snapshots for their projects wondering if they could cut a few corners. But good photography is so much more than just pointing a camera and clicking the shutter. It's about capturing a feeling, it's about how the light filters into the image — it's about the moment.

We are passionate about photography at Ohno Design. We know that successful imagery can make or break your project. That's why we capture moments.

One of our favorite clients, Cobblestone Homes, builds some of the most beautiful homes in the Tri-City area. Not only are they gorgeous, but they also are incredibly energy efficient. When they asked us to grab some shots of one of their homes we were happy to showcase their work.

Here is one of the images from photo shoot. Next week we'll walk you through how Ohno Design keyed off of this image to produce a great marketing piece.

It's always great to see the results after working hard on a project. This week we put the final touches on AgingEnriched.org and the site went live.

AgingEnriched.org is Lutheran Homes of Michigan's official website and encompasses eight locations across Michigan. The site provided quite a few challenges since Lutheran Homes offers so many services across so many sites. How do you go about organizing all that information so it's easy to find? How do you make the site as friendly as possible for seniors and their caregivers?

From a design aspect we wanted to make sure that the main sections of the site are visible on every page. We also increased type size across the site so everything is easy to read. And we worked on the navigation so that no matter where you were on the site, the information you needed was only a couple of clicks away.

Plus, like many of our customers, Lutheran Homes wanted to be able to update and add new material to their site on a regular basis. Our solution was to build the site on a Content Management System or CMS. By using a CMS, Lutheran Homes' employees can directly log into the website right through their browser.

Once logged in designated users can:

• Make changes to text or photos.
• Create new stories or articles
• Upload documents and files

All of these changes show up in real time right on the site.

We've enjoyed working with the team at Lutheran Homes of Michigan, but this is really just the beginning of a long-term collaboration. In the future, as new features and content roll out, we will continue to work to keep AgingEnriched.org useful, vibrant and dynamic.

When we first started Ohno Design author Jackie Braun had just finished her first book. We created her first web site at that time, but after now after almost 20 books it was time to freshen up her site.

What better way to freshen up a site but with flowers.

You see, Jackie gave us the perfect words to work with: "Love Blooms in Every Book." She wanted the site to combine both her passion for writing and her love of gardening.

So we broke out the roses. Take a look at how it all came together by visiting JackieBraun.com

And while you're there check out some of her excerpts from her recent books. They're hot enough to make even the freshest of flowers wilt.

Sometimes you meet someone and for whatever reason your personalities just click.

During a motorcycle trip last April, we came across such a person in the form of Firmstone Manor owner Barbara Jarocka.

Firmstone Manor is a bed and breakfast located in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. It has to be one of the most beautiful places we've ever rested our heads.

Barbara has been restoring the 1873 Firmstone Manor back to its original splendor. We hit it off right away. After showing her some of the photos we took of the Firmstone house and grounds, we got to talking about her plans for the bed and breakfast.

One of the top things on her list was a new website. Well, we just so happen to know someone, eh-em. That led to Barbara inviting our family down for Thanksgiving dinner.

We've never driven so far for Thanksgiving dinner but it was well worth it. We spent the next couple of days exploring the area. In the mornings we shot photos, during the day we explored the area, and in the evening we mapped out the new website for the Firmstone. We also got to listen to Barbara's great stories about her life in Poland and her time in George Bush Sr.'s White House.

If you're looking for a great get-away in the hills of Virginia with a gracious host and food that is outstanding, we can't recommend a better place than the Firmstone Manor.

Beemer aka "Snow Dog" is loving our wintery weather. The Bay area has received a healthy dose of snow lately. More than I can ever remember for December.

And Beemer is making the most of it by biting at shovel fulls of snow as they get tossed into the air, digging snow holes and trying to catch snowballs with limited success.

Basically he seems immune to the cold unlike his masters.

One of the nicest things that can happen is when you can combine doing the things you love. I've been passionate ever since I was a kid about two things; motorcycles and photography.

This year our chief word wrangler Todd Seibt created the Mid-Michigan Motorcycle Biker Breakfast Club or MMMBBC. It's an informal group that gets together on Saturday mornings for a good old cup of joe, a little bit of breakfast and tall tales of motorcycling. We even do a little bit of riding.

It's a pretty diverse group of guys. One Saturday we met at the Harvest House in Frankenmuth. Great place. One of the gentlemen we have gotten to know over the summer asked to have a couple of photos done of his 1967 Matchless motorcycle. I'm not sure how Stuart managed to get his bike there without a spec of dust on it but those Brits are pretty finicky about their motorcycles.

He needed the photos to send to the AJS & Matchless Owners Club in England for their annual calendar. About an hour and a 100 photos later we were done. The Harvest House is located in an old mill so the back drop was perfect.

Later I sent Stuart the photos and promptly forgot about it. The club must have thought the photos turned out alright since they used one photo on the cover and another one inside for July. The hardest thing about shooting the bike was just making sure your reflection didn't show up in the chrome.

We also made Tammie throw a leg over the bike and tossed her in the background for a couple of the shots. The red sweater really brings out the blue in the bike.

The number one question that we get asked around here is how did we come up with our name, Ohno Design.

Back in 2,000 when we decided to create the company we had struggled for months trying to figure out a name. Even at this time domain names were pretty limited since a lot of people had name squatted.

By May we needed to get a name picked. One evening my wife and I decided that we would choose a name — that night — or else. Well the minutes stretched into hours and either; we couldn't decide on a name, or the name wasn't available, or we didn't like the letter shapes, or it wasn't unique enough.

A couple of our rejects were:
• Great Lakes Design
• Blue Moon
• Sassomochia

By midnight both of us were frustrated and tired. Tammie was ready to give up but I wanted to continue. Just one more I pressed. She responded with, "Oh no not an other one."

Oh no!

We both stopped and looked at each other. We've sure had a lot of "oh no" moments in our lives. It just felt right. The letter forms worked well together. The domain name was available.

So Ohno Design was born.