Our website was in need of a, well, refresh, for quite some time. In fact, our previous design was thrown together in a matter of a few days in anticipation of our first Refresh Pittsburgh meet-up almost 3 years ago. We’ve been adding to it with some digital duct-tape since then – spending more time on our meet-ups and other Refresh projects and badly neglecting our own website.

The new design/identity is courtesy of Gage Salzano. He did an amazing job. You can read more about his thought process and what else he came up with for us on a post at his own website. Gage recently moved to Chicago, but he’s going to continue helping us with additional identity work. Including some t-shirts and a 1 inch buttons!

There is still some fine-tuning to be done in some of the nooks & crannies of the new site, especially going over the old posts to make sure they fit. But we’re happy with how it turned out. If you run into any problems, feel free to shoot us an email and let us know.

Geoff has been extremely active with Refresh for a while now – he gave a fantastic presentation, helped moderate our recent panel discussion and was also a big help with encouragement while organizing Web Design Day.  Some of you may know him from twitter or his blog.

Refresh Pittsburgh has grown remarkably fast in the last year and it’s becoming harder to keep things organizing and running smoothly.  With Geoff’s help we’ll be getting better at having regular monthly meet-ups and other events.

We should have an announcemnt shortly for the upcoming June meet-up, as well as better information on future meet-ups and other Refresh Pittsburgh doings.

So, join me in offering a big welcome to Geoff!

I’m slowly, but surely, gearing up for 2009. I’ve started organizing the upcoming Refresh Pittsburgh events, but can use a little help.

I’ve put together a short survey that I hope you can take the time to fill out to help me get a better idea of how Refresh is doing and how we can improve in the new year.

Check out the survey and let us know how we are doing!

We’re partnered with Jobamatic to offer our users a comprehensive listing of web design and development related position in the Western Pennsylvania area.

If you are a company looking to hire, the Refresh Pittsburgh job board will give you access to the largest web development users group in the area – and you’ll be reaching some of the most talented people in the Western Pennsylvania.

Job listings are only $25 for 30 days.

Brilliant!

The Creative TreeHouse is a new shared studio, art & music meeting place, educational center, and creative service located in Bellevue, PA. Not only are they are good friends, but they will be hosting many of the upcoming Refresh meetings.

The open house is tonight, June 30th and begins around 6:00pm. Stop by and say hello! Visit their website for directions.

We’re currently working on organizing the next Refresh meeting and should be announcing the date in the next week or so.  We’re aiming for early July and plan on meeting once a month.  An announcement on the next meeting date should go out soon.

Our website will be changing in the next few weeks as well.  We’ll be posting a job board soon, so if you know of any opportunities, please send them our way and we’ll get the word out.

If you have an idea for a presentation you would like to see, or give, drop us a line and let us know.  We would also be interested in any tutorials, book reviews and any online content too.

In the meantime, please keep spreading the work about Refresh.  Visit our forums to help jump-start the conversation.  You can even add us on as a friend on our favorite time-waister, Twitter.

As you may know, The goal of Refresh Pittsburgh is to create a open community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of Internet developers in the Pittsburgh area.

We want to know what you think that means. So come down to Kiva Han on Craig St. in Oakland on May 30 and be heard.

Here are the stats:

Refresh Pittsburgh Kickoff & Meet and Greet
Wednesday, May 30th. 7:00pm
Kiva Han Coffee (Upstairs balcony)
420 S. Craig St. (Corner of Forbes & Craig)
Google Map: http://tinyurl.com/hhkxy
RSVP: info@refreshpittsburgh.org

We’d also appreciate an RSVP at info@refreshpittsburgh.org so we can have an idea of how many people will be coming. We hope you’ll be there!

Cheers,
Pat Collins & Jason Head