LookatLao Studio Review: Six Months Of Award-Winning Design*

*Mostly

While LookatLao Studio has been around in various incarnations for the last two decades or more, it has never been my sole source of income. I’ve freelanced here and there and bummed around the world now and again, and I even moonlighted a bit during my time in the agency world, but I never tried to make LookatLao Studio a legitimate, full-time business that can pay the bills and then some. Until this year.

And so far it seems to be working out very well. Six months in to it and I’ve just received an award for Best Website Design: Restaurant/Bar for my work with Ethan Stowell Restaurants.

It has been a challenging kickoff and I have certainly learned that not having a boss does not equal more free time. But it has been worth it for sure. Like a former colleague said to me before I left my job: you will wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

So here’s what happened since January: I’ve launched websites for Ethan Stowell Restaurants, The Chef In The Hat, and Monsoon Restaurants. I worked on a logo for Seattle Restaurant Week with Lorie Ransom and refreshed a previous logo effort for Marjorie Restaurant. I also shot about 20,000 photographs for a cookbook that will be out in September—more on that one when the book is available.

And currently in the works are a couple of new websites, another handful of logos and I’m about to put together a pitch for another cookbook that I hope will take me and a talented chef to far off lands in search of food and photo opportunities. Needless to say, I’m staying busy.

I’ve updated the design portfolio with several new projects if you want to see more, and the photography portfolio will be updated next.

It’s going to be a busy summer!

New Website: Monsoon Restaurants

I just launched a new site for longtime LookatLao client Monsoon Restaurants. This site combines both the Seattle and Bellevue locations into a single parent site with a blog for news & event updates, a simple online reservation page and a lunch box delivery application to serve the eastside location. Thanks to Paul Mealy for the lunch box delivery help and to Ryan Scherler for hooking up the reservation system.

Once again I’ve made the photography the hero with this site, which is to say I’m lucky: I get to work with Seattle’s best chefs and that makes for great food porn!

And if you haven’t been already, go eat at Monsoon. Still some of the best food in the area, and the best Vietnamese food hands down. Even better if you like Dungeness Crab.

New Work: Ethan Stowell & Marjorie

Since the day I left my full time job at the agency last February I haven’t had a single day off. Needless to say: business is booming! And no, I’m not complaining. (Mostly)

Just last week I launched the website for Ethan Stowell Restaurants which turned out really great. We are still tweaking the details here and there, but I’m very happy with the results. We also finished up the photography for Ethan’s first cookbook as I just sent 170 final print-ready photographs to Ten Speed Press. This book is going to be awesome. More on that adventure in a future post.

Currently in the works and almost live is a new site for Monsoon Restaurants, a new site for The Chef In The Hat, and a bunch of new work for the upcoming Marjorie Restaurant which should be opening soon. I just finished the logo for that a few weeks back:

Don’t forget to check out Seattle Restaurant Week starting on the 18th of April. Lorie and I did the logo and the poster and you can check out the later over on her website. (She did all the work on the poster, I just stood around and smoked cigars.)

More updates soon…

LookatLao Spring Update

Howdy folks.

You may have noticed some new developments around these parts. For starters, there’s this whole new look and feel I just put the finishing touches on. Plus, a newish design portfolio and a brand-new photography page as well. I’ve also launched a few new sites for clients too: Monsoon East and Preet’s. And now you can follow me on twitter if you want, or just keep an eye on that far right column.

Velotopia, the blog I started with fellow cyclist and designer Dave Cole, is gathering some fresh momentum as of late. We were added to Publicola’s Top Ten Blog Roll and we’ve added several new writers who have been producing new content daily.

All is good. Summer is on the way. New plans for this site include a new writing schedule where I hope to do more long-form entries. I think I’ll just stick to twitter for the day-to-day stuff. I also have a new blog in the works which will likely add fame and fortune to the roster if all goes as planned.

And finally, don’t forget Flickr, new photos weekly. Cheers!