For those who don’t know, Yulan Studio is named after the yulan magnolia tree, which is of Chinese origin. Wikipedia describes it thusly:

Magnolia denudata, known as the Yulan magnolia, is native to central and eastern China. It has been cultivated in Chinese Buddhist temple gardens since 600 AD. Its flowers were regarded as a symbol of purity in the Tang Dynasty and it was planted in the grounds of the Emperor’s palace. It is the official city flower of Shanghai.

We selected this name because we wanted a name that reflected our strong interests in gardening and in the cultures of Asia. In addition to choosing a Chinese-related name, we (without realizing it) started our business in February 1999 on the first day of the Year of the Rabbit… this is based on the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. This in itself is somewhat auspicious, but there’s more. It just so happens that both of us were born in the Year of the Rabbit.

So there we were, two Rabbits beginning a venture on the first day of the Year of the Rabbit. Call me superstitious, but I feel good about that. And now, 12 years later, we’re approaching our 12th anniversary, and beginning another Year of the Rabbit. So expect a celebration during this year’s Chinese New Year!

Plus, I can’t write a post like this without giving credit to our clients. We think of you as our very good friends, and we’ll always try our very best to come through for you. Thanks for making this possible!

We just completed a quick turn-around website project — CDA Academy. CDA Academy is a training organization that brings medical and technical specialists up to speed on the latest developments in CDA (Clinical Document Architecture) and CCD (Continuity of Care Documents). Our design challenge was to create a university-type look and feel that is reflective of the serious technical quality of the subject matter. We also provided a simple ecommerce solution that allows users to register and pay for CDA Academy classes online.

We’ve just begun working with the Hollywood Farmers Market to design and develop their new website. The Hollywood Farmers Market is one of Portland’s vibrant neighborhood farmers markets, which operates on Saturday’s in Northeast Portland just off Sandy Blvd. Our goal is to get this market’s website up and running prior to the start of this year’s market season. The site, which will incorporate a blog, will be built using WordPress tools.

We’re working with long-term clients Kansas City Area Development Council and Kansas City SmartPort to develop and/or refresh a series of websites that promote the Kansas City region’s economic development assets. We’ll have more to say about these sites once they launch later this month.

Content has been solidfied and we’ve reached the design concept stage on a new website for new client Crossroads Christian Church. Also a WordPress site, this one will be a large and fairly complex site that provides extensive capabilities to its users. We should be able to share quite a lot about WordPress site construction techniques once this project is complete.

Outside the web arena, Lisa is finalizing the collateral and signage for the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute’s annual dinner and symposium events.

All this and Lisa is spending a week in Austin at this year’s SXSW Interactive! Life is good!