About Us
Althought IMPACT Designs & Images officially
began in the spring of 2005, the ground was
actually broken in 1995.
A few months after I first got a computer
and the internet, I quickly began wondering
how these web pages I was veiwing were made.
It didn't take long until I signed up for a
Tripod account and picked out a template. Since
this was all new to me, I thought that was how
all web pages were built. Luckily, I made a
mistake and saw I was way off with that assessment.
Unhappy with the limitations the pagebuilder
contained, I moved on to a free Geocities account.
After accidently clicking on the "Convert
to HTML" button, I was forced to learn
HTML the hard way, through trial and error.
Luckily I learned pretty quickly how the
HTML language worked and was on my way to creating
my new web page from scratch, a practice I still
do to this day. If I wasn't happy with a pagebuilder
page 10 years ago, I can't understand why anyone
would pay for one today.
After getting some HTML knowledge under
my belt, I began the task of learning how to
do my own graphics. Actually, the graphics days
started after I downloaded my first copy of
Macromedia Dreamweaver. While watching the download
page, I noticed a link to download Macromedia's
graphics program, Fireworks. Dreamweaver and
Fireworks worked well hand to hand, so that
really made gaining knowledge in both programs
much easier. I also began dabbling with Flash,
Shockwave, and Freehand.
But, I desired to learn more. I took a look
at Microsoft's FrontPage program. It didn't
take long for me to run back to Dreamweaver
after having hands tied with FrontPage. Dreamweaver
4 became my program of choice for several years.
That was until the MX platform arrived from
Macromedia. Dreamweaver 8 then became my new HTML
editing program, as well as taking a look at
the ColdFusion technologies.
About this time, some friends began asking
if I would be interested in helping them build
a web page of their own. After a brief period
of practicing with friends, I decided "Hey,
I can make money at this."
And so it began...
I happened to be a writer for a popular
racing web site at the time, penning the infamous
"Keystone Breakdown" column, covering
racing in Western PA. I then turned my own KB.Com
website into a joint site, combining the racing
news and photos with my new found web design
business. This is also when I discovered the
power of Adobe Photoshop. Suddenly, my graphics
capabilities increased immensely.
Business began to pick up and I was busy
enough to make it a full time job. There is
no better advertising than happy customers,
and luckily I had a few of those right from
the start. Suddenly, people knew I was a competant
web designer and even more work began to flow
in.
The racing aspect began to be phazed out
at the start of 2005, which meant the end of
the KB.Com era. Along came IDI.
The first year was better than I expected
it would be. I was worried I would lose a lot
of viewers after closing the KB.Com features,
but that didn't happen to the point I anticipated.
A lot of new customers were added to my list
of accounts, and more are on the way.
So, here we are now.
You might have noticed the "Images" is again gone from the title. With even more pleased clients in 2007,
the list for 2008 is already shaping up to be
an even better year for IMPACT Designs. I decided to drop that feature and focus solely on the web design portion.
You also might wonder who the other "D" in the title refers to. In the summer of '07, I was reunited with a good friend who offered to help take IMPACT Designs to an even higher level. So....welcome Danielle.
I really want to
thank everyone who has helped me get to where
I am today. You all know who you are. I especially
need to thank the list of clients who keep everything
going. As always, they can be found on the web
design page of this site. Please take a look
at them all for me.
I hope everyone enjoys the new site.
I know I'm axious to help you. Let us help you
make your IMPACT!
Sincerely,
Deon
