Erica Ruch ~ News

Punk’s not dead, and neither are splash pages

admin — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:44:14 +0000

….they’re very much alive – at least in the music industry.

The semi-distant days of pointless flash animations and being caught off-guard by some annoying music blasting when visiting a site have thankfully passed (at least in the sensible and modern design world), and though many would argue that splash pages make for a poor user experience – music marketing would beg to differ.

Well-designed, frequently-updated, and silent(!) splash pages can serve as excellent promotion for announcing an upcoming release or tour, providing download for an exclusive track, advertising exclusive pre-orders or merch bundles, or to encourage fans to follow them on social networks. I’ve designed and developed many-a-splash-page over the years for bands and labels and here’s a small sampling:

…And Onto the Next Season

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:59:10 +0000

So, Fall came and went around here. And as of an hour ago there was this outside:

Our first snow of the season! And before Halloween – yikes! But being a snow-lover….I’m actually enjoying it!

Around the office there’s been plenty of exciting updates. I recently finished re-designing the New Noise Santa Barbara website – we moved it over from Joomla! to WordPress, and updated the design. Definitely an update that was due, and it rolled out just in time for the conference on Nov 3-6th! I also rolled out a new splash page for Bess Rogers to announce the single off her latest album Out of the Ocean.

I’m also currently working on a re-design of this site – so stay-tuned for a spiffy new look coming soon!

Then summer arrives

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:10:13 +0000

Red Sox Games, fried pickles, ginger beer….warm-weather pleasures have returned! Last week, peta2 launched their new summer campaign – “Flesh is for Zombies” which I designed the website for. The site features a Whack-Zombie flash game, an awesome infographic designed by my talented co-worker Samantha Sanders, a video, and a variety of other zombie-esque features. Definitely a fun site to design!

I also launched a new splash page for the very talented singer-songwriter, Bess Rogers – to feature her song “We Believe in You” which has been featured recently in a Mott’s commercial.

Save Sammy Game!

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:19:44 +0000

Here’s a little game I designed and built in Flash for PETA’s site CanadasShame.com , which spreads information on the horrors behind Canadian seal slaughter. Make sure your sound is on!

Some fall and winter photography

admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:27:02 +0000

Well, I hesitated even adding ‘winter’ into the title of this post because winter is barely here! Being that it’s the middle of December and we still haven’t seen the first snow, I really don’t feel like fall has left us!

I’m still having fun with my Canon Rebel and figuring out this whole photography-thing. Being that we have so many animals around this house – I can’t help but make them the regular subjects of my experiements.

Here’s some of my photos from the past couple months:

Recent Work

admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:03:41 +0000

Here’s a sampling of some websites I’ve designed for PETA recently:

Force-Fed! Say ‘No’ to Foie Gras

A website designed to educate the public about the cruelty to ducks and geese in the foie gras industry. People that take action against the cruelty (via email, leaflets, phone calls, etc…) can submit their actions to be counted on the home page

Hug a Vegetarian Day 2010

peta2 partnered with So-So Happy this year to promote Hug A Vegetarian Day – which is geared towards teens. People are encouraged to pledge the amount of hugs they will give, as well as print out signs and take photos of themselves with the signs and post them to Facebook

Cruelty Free Makeover

People are encouraged to submit photos of themselves to be considered for a makeover featuring only cruelty-free products

A gift

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:40:07 +0000

This past weekend I was so excited to give my step-mom a painting of her 2 sweet “kids” Sadie (11 years) and Ziggy (who passed a few years ago). it’s taken me nearly 3 years to finish (with the moving between, Florida, Austin & Mass – my studio life has been in upheaval), and I couldn’t have been any happier than to finally be able to frame it and give it to her.

Drawing Club – Week 1

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:29:28 +0000

I eagerly joined a drawing club started by a friend of mine from Montserrat. 4 weeks, 4 drawings, and each week you mail a drawing to a different person in the club…that means that every week I mail out a drawing, and every week I get a drawing. Nifty idea, huh? So, since I’ve been trying to do much more drawing and painting – this was an excellent opportunity. Here’s the drawing I mailed out this week for the theme “From one place to the other place.” The idea being that the lonely apples destiny is to end up in the “other place”….a.k.a “the ground”.

Creativity Kicks In

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:51:29 +0000

Things have been busy around here – teaching at Montserrat College of Art has been a blast – and is really rekindling my creativity! It’s amazing to see what my students produce, and completely inspiring to be back surrounded by such a vast amount art! I’ve been back in my studio painting again recently – after quite a long hiatus during grad school – and I’ve also been drawing regularly again as well. It’s nice to get away from the computer every once in awhile!

Oh, and my new love is my new Canon DSLR. I’ve always been interested in photography – but never felt inspired to make the financial investment. Boy am I inspired now! My bank account isn’t too happy about it, but I am! I’ve been snapping photos around here like a maniac. My animals seem to be the main victims of my newfound-hobby…being that they’re the only subjects that are more than eager to participate in just about anything.

Here’s my handsome pup, Calvin – and his leggy-sister Clementine:

And our newest little man of the house, Frankenstein:

I’ve also gotten around to updating my portfolio with some projects I’ve worked on in the past couple months. Check out the new Jukebox the Ghost website we got up a few weeks ago to commemorate their new album. I also posted some new items to the Design and Interactive galleries so feel free to peruse the new work! AVA2ZJBTR7WN

A summer to be reckoned with!

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:00:13 +0000

Summer is winding down here in New England – and this has, admittedly, been one to remember. I finally finished grad school at Savannah College of Art & Design with a M.A. in Interactive Design and Game Development, and was honored to receive the 2010 Academic Achievement Award!

At the end of June I accepted a full-time position at the PETA Foundation as a Senior Designer. I have been a huge supporter of PETA for many, many years – and this job has essentially shaped up to be a dream fulfilled. Though, I was not necessarily looking to leave full-time freelancing for an in-house position – the opportunity was too good to pass up, and I could not possibly be more happy with my decision! I feel quite at home working with PETA, and I honestly don’t have enough good things to say about my new job!

And as if these happenings weren’t enough – I’m also extremely excited about getting on-board at Montserrat College of Art as Adjunct Faculty in the fall! Montserrat students produce amazingly-inspiring work – and I’m so eager to get into the classroom and see what my students are going to create. Stay-tuned, as I hope to have some awesome student work to share over the next few months!

To top it all off – I’m still doing a limited amount of freelance work as time allows. If you’re looking for help on your web project – please contact me for my availability.

I hope everyone has had a spectacular summer as well!