Hey folks — Welcome to my company blog/website. The most current projects are highlighted here on the blog, but you can also access the original ABDesign portfolio site via this link. There is a lot to see, and I hope that you enjoy your visit to ABDesign.

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BTG Motoring

BTG Motoring, more than just another dot-com automotive aftermarket company. So, I’ll let them tell their story in their own words:

An affiliate of the Bauhaus Tuning Group, BTG Motoring was established in 2000 to serve the enthusiasts’ market, selling world-wide via the Internet at BTGMotoring.com and PT-Tuning.com.

Our “Brick & Mortar” location is in Hawthorne, California near Los Angeles Airport (LAX), where we have our warehouse, showroom and installation facilities. We also have installation affiliates in close proxemity to our offices which allows us to be a one-stop customizing solution for those customers within driving range.

Bauhaus Corporation’s owners and chief participants have over 100 years of automotive aftermarket design, manufacturing and sales experience, including ownership of a premiere alloy wheel manufacturing / sales / distribution company. Our company focus is an expression of the original Bauhaus movement’s philosophy, which dictates that truly useful FORM can not exist without an intimate knowledge of FUNCTION.

We are convinced that customizing on a budget should not necessitate a sacrifice in quality or in performance and our close vendor alliances and discriminating taste have helped to make our vision a reality.

All of us here at Bauhaus are automotive enthusiasts! Our personal vehicles include the BMW X5 4.6i, Chevy Silverado 1500 “Supercharged”, Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Turbo Diesel, Acura NSX “Supercharged”, Audi Avant RS4, Ferrari 355 F1 Spider, Acura Integra, Jaguar XJ8 Sport, Lexus GS400, Plymouth Prowler, a few PT Cruisers, Pontiac Bonneville SSEI & VW Corrado “Supercharged”.

We love to drive, and drive hard! Our other passion is our business, and we approach it in the same manner as we do in the care and accessorizing of our own rides. We use the products that we sell, and we let you know what we think about them.

ABDesign has taken BTGMotoring.com through several versions, and continues to add product lines to their online store on a weekly basis.

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PT-Tuning

One of our main clients is PT-Tuning, which is not just a website, and not just an online store, but more of a community for enthusiasts of the little retro-mobile that took the world by storm in the Summer of 2000.

The founders of PT-Tuning made a commitment at the very beginning to concentrate on the highest level of performance and dress-up accessories for what at the time was a market of highly-motivated, baby-boomers in love with their new cultural icon, the Chrysler PT Cruiser.

Anthony Debellonia — Pennsylvania

PT-Tuning was one of the first to go online with their wares, and many a dream PT Cruiser has been assembled from their extensive aftermarket inventory.

Owner Czibók Attila — Hungary

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Hot Wheels Blog

Hot Wheels Blog was a project for the Bauhaus Corporation to satisfy their need for self-expression about all things automotive, and also as a means of rapid dissemination of information via the Blogosphere. It is not wasted on them that search engines pick up info from blog posts in very short order, much quicker than via the general spidering of websites by their data robots. If you’re trying to be the most current, most topical in your industry, you really need a blog!

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Airforce One® Intakes

Airforce One high-performance intakes are the premiere stainless steel intake systems available on the automotive aftermarket. Designed and engineered for precise fit and maximum performance, AF1 Intakes take full advantage of the thermal properties of stainless steel alloys to flow as much cold air as possible into your car, truck or SUV engine — giving you max performance and mileage.

ABDesign reworked the AF1 website for the SEMA show in 2002, and added their protective apparel section in time for SEMA in ‘04. We are currently updating and expanding their product offerings and planning has begun for their online store.

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If you would like to see the current work on blogs and client websites, there are links to those in the right-hand sidebar.

If you are interested in Industrial & Graphic design and would like more information, please visit the following sections:

Drawing/Illustration,

Product Design,

Logos,

Packaging,

Literature.

This front section is a working/testing blog. However, you can access the original ABDesign portfolio site via this link.

And, if you’re curious as to why there is a car drawing at the top of this page, find out why here.

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We just completed a visual freshening of Charette Designs‘ Web site. It was asked of us to make their site conform to the new look of their company visual identity as per their cards and letterhead.

ABDesign was able to accomplish this at minimal cost, and also to begin the transformation to more of a style sheet driven design, although they would actually need a complete redo of the site code to enable full CSS capability and compliance. Check it out. (adb)

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LCMCPA.com provides information for current and prospective clients of the C.P.A. firm LaRue, Corrigan & McCormick LLP, which is located in southern California’s San Fernando Valley community of Woodland Hills.

BTW —

You will notice from time to time that we post test items here, and then later delete them. That is because this is a working design blog and we are working out problems with other sites and blogs.

Not much has happened here because the last few weeks we were busy with client work, such as turning this, which is a site we did a couple of years ago to get an online store up and running quickly, into this, which is designed to showcase a higher quality of merchandise. If you visit there, remember you are looking at a beta site and everything is not working as yet, but hey, I’ll take comments and suggestions, especially if you have a browser problem with the site. Enjoy! (db)

As you can see, the WordPress 1.5 “Strayhorn” release works great, and it was not at all hard to set up, basically a two-click job after uploading the files/directories and setting up the config file to access the MySQL database (only 4 easy entries). I looked at several themes already created for this new WP and picked “Shaded Grey” from WPthemes.info as a place to start hacking and creating a unique look for this blog. The only area that I found difficult was figuring out how to get the trackback URL to show up at the top of the “Comments” area and finally did figure it out with a little help from the WP Support Forum.

After sleeping on it, I decided to make the header smaller in height and minimize the car sketch to allow more attention to the logotype. Also made hacks to several WordPress files to show the trackback URI on the Comments page, making it easier to trackback any posts. Now to explore the “static” page creation/handling capabilities that are new to this WP Ver. 1.5.

ABDesign — that’s shorthand for Arthur Baker Design, which is indeed a mouthful!

This blog is going to be a standin for my online portfolio as well as allow me a venue for making comments and criticisms about the state of design in general.

While the changeover is in progress the next few weeks, please access the old site via this link.

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You might ask, “Why is there a car sketch at the top of your site?”

I would respond, “Why not?”

Actually, in a time that now seems far, far away, I studied Transportation Design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. I have always loved automobiles, and much of my professional design career has been spent within the automotive aftermarket community, including custom wheels and eCommerce site development for automotive accessory vendors.

Lately we’ve dived head first into the blogging world resulting in this particular WordPress installation as well as personal blogs and blogs for clients, all of which will be featured for your perusal and comment.

So, please enjoy your look around our world, and if we can help you with any of your design project needs, contact us at “info (@) arthurbakerdesign (dot) com”.

Arthur D. Baker