Donkey Ink Design is mostly one guy and that one guy is me, Jamie Purches. Hello.
I dig vans, drums, and hoodies, but that's not why you're here, so…
I'm also a Graphic & Interactive Designer with over 16 years of experience and a solid understanding of brand, graphic, UI/UX, web, and mobile design.
Welcome to my website and portfolio.
I started in design in 1998. I was fortunate enough in the beginning of my career, while working for various agencies, to have contributed design services to projects for clients like NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, Nero AG, Hewlett Packard, Dish Jeans, and Future Shop (now Best Buy). These were great experiences and I took what I learned with me when Donkey Ink Design became my full time gig in early 2002. Knowing I couldn’t do everything on my own, I’ve since fostered working relationships with other local talented print/interactive designers and developers.
As you can imagine, due to the varied assets and online/traditional design skillsets your project may require, sometimes your project will just call for me, other times it calls for me and any of my other service providers, and then other times it’s just me again. This reliance on what I call the DID collective is also why you’ll see the words “we” and “us” instead of “I” used here and there around this site.
Oh yeah, and the name. Right.
“Donkey Ink Design,” often shortened to “DID” throughout this site, started as a joke at school in the late 90s and was born after some travel companions and I discovered some wild donkeys in Death Valley, Nevada. (The longer, more detailed story is reserved only for my clients *grin*). Though I had every intention of changing the name to something more “media-ish” at some point, not long after I struck out on my own, I realized both my current clients and prospective ones found it quite easy to remember the silly name, so it stuck.
As for the vans, it’s simple. I think old school vans from the mid-late 1960s through the early 1980s are very cool. My love of them began when my folks gave me the Little Van Goes toy when I was a tyke and continued when they bought and customized their own van in 1981. Since then I’ve coveted vans like others covet muscle cars, and they started showing up on my websites and promo material in 2008.
Your business wasn’t established overnight, it took a lot of thought and careful planning. Your business came about through a process. Your brand presence and the assets chosen to represent it should be established the same way.
As a client, whether you’re looking for a business card design or whether you’re looking at launching a new brand across multiple traditional or interactive platforms, you should be want to be involved in a process that engages you. Remember, you’re the one with the message; your designer or design team is only there to help you successfully get that message to your audience.
I’ve put together some documentation that outlines the collaborative processes Donkey Ink Design undertakes while producing the best designs and/or user experiences possible. I like to know what I’m getting (and getting into) when I am making an important business investment and I assume you do too.
Download my process documents here in PDF format.
To learn about my approach to pricing have a look at my blog entry, “An Open Letter To My Future Clients” over on the Spring website.
Website Concept + Strategy, Wireframing/Prototyping, User Interface (UI) + User Experience (UX) Design, Drupal & WordPress CMS Design + Development
Logo + Brand Asset Production, Signage, Business Cards, Stationery, Brochures, Catalogues, Newsletters, Posters, Trade Show Assets
Photography, Copywriting
Donkey Ink Design is located in Vancouver, Canada and I work with clients from all over North America. I’d be pleased to discuss your requirements for online or offline design and development so drop me a line using the form below.