— About us —
Who is "7 Leaf Design"?
Really this page should read "About me," since 7 Leaf Design is the name that I am working under all by my lonesome.
My name is Brandon A. Evans, and while I do business as 7 Leaf Design on the side, I am by day the Web site manager of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis (www.archindy.org).
The archdiocese is comprised of 39 counties in central and southern Indiana which contain 150 Catholic parishes. In all, those parishes and their schools, along with our central administration, employ thousands of people. There are about a quarter million Catholics that our archdiocese serves.
As for my background, I began working the for the archdiocese straight out of college in 2001 (I attended the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign). With a bachelor's degree in news and editorial journalism in hand, I came to work for the official publication of the archdiocese: The Criterion. The newspaper, with a subscription of more than 72,500 households, is actually the largest weekly paper in the state of Indiana.
In my nearly five years with the paper, I wrote more than 400 articles, helped to copy edit all the content each week, served as a photographer and also planned, laid out and approved special pages and supplements.
In early 2005, I worked with our full-time graphic designer to create a new, online version of the newspaper, located at www.CriterionOnline.com. With the success of the site, and my knowledge of Web design ever growing, I was asked to take on the newly created position of Web site manager -- with the goal being the complete overhaul of our archdiocesan site and the creation of about 50 sites within it for our various agencies.
As I was doing that, I began taking over other Web site projects for people and realized that the simple, flexible and accessible use of Web standards was something that I wasn't seeing in a lot of other designers. There seemed to be a need to fill, especially for small businesses and organizations -- a need that also filled my desire have fun designing more sites across a diverse spectrum.
Why the name "7 Leaf Design"?
Because I love looking through clover patches for treasures. (And also because "Brandon Evans Design" seemed to be too boring and obvious!). Sitting over a clover patch and leisurely leafing through it can be very relaxing. The only thing more exciting than finding a four or five leaf clover is finding the rare six leaf clover -- and the ultimate thrill of the clover hunter is to find the extraordinarily rare 7 leaf clover.
The more I thought about the name "7 Leaf Design" as a fun play on my own personal interest, the more than the name made sense. I try to provide unique and "uncommonly elegant" Web designs for people, which fits the theme of looking through a thousand standard, alike three leaf clovers to find that special clover.
Even more, I realized upon thought that a seven leaf clover is really nothing more than a very simple clover that has had one of it's genes changed in such as way as to make it something really different -- the style sheets I create for website are nothing more than commands that tell content how to behave, and there is nothing better than pushing those style options to the max to create something totally new.
After very little thought, "7 Leaf Design" was the obvious way to go.
And, in case your interested, I have found a seven leaf clover -- just one in my life -- and it was a great thrill!
If you want to know more about 7 Leaf Design, don't hesitate to contact me any number of ways through this site.