Dreamhand is writing Washington wineries — all of them, one at a time. That’s around 600 separate messages.The email notes have been following up on a successful mailing, and to alert people in the wine and spirits business to new features and resources on the Dreamhand site, including a hot, new gallery of work.

Earlier, between harvest and Thanksgiving, Dreamhand Design Studios sent out over 600 "calling cards" to every winery in Washington. The handsome translucent envelopes they sent out contained an introductory brochure held together with a business card. According to Web statistics gathered at the studio's webhost, the mailing was a success, driving a large number of prospects to the brand-new Dreamhand CMS site (for more on CMS, see F.Y.I., "About Websites").

Now it’s the new year, 2010, and the distinctive email messages, featuring green Dreamhand "electronic letterhead" has already produced a number of inquiries even as more are sent out.

“We want folks to visit our site and see the kind of things we can do,” says Dreamhand partner, Mark Bocek. “When they do, we think they’ll keep us in mind when a job comes up.”

The new gallery, built in Flash and XML, is just one of the new site features Dreamhand hopes people will check out. The studio also has added resources that they feel will be of use to people in the wine industry whether or not they’re looking to hire designers at the moment. The site has an “F.Y.I.” section that helps people understand branding, how to choose a company Web host for their site and offers thoughts on wine label design. In its “Costs/Benefits” section, the site answers questions about why companies should use a design firm, and how to work with one.

Dreamhand partner/art director, Benjamin Facer, feels such articles will help answer some of the questions potential clients often ask themselves. “Our new gallery will give visitors to our site an excellent idea of the depth and versatility of our work,” he says. “The articles we offer elsewhere can help them make informed decisions as well as an idea of how we think. Hopefully, that will make people comfortable getting in touch with us.”

Dreamhand expects to finish this phase of outreach to the Washington wine and spirits industry by the first weeks of February. What’s next is crisscrossing the state to visit wineries and shake hands.

“We’ve sent everyone a flyer, now we’re writing them, come nicer weather, we hope to visit,” says Bocek, “We really want to have a shot at their business when it comes up.”