About the project:

From 2006 to 2021, I ran my own freelance design and printing business titled Dyplomy Lux. I was a leading Polish manufacturer of luxury certificates and commemorative diplomas with metal prints, among other products. I had to close this business due to a serious illness.

This gallery presents excerpts from my graphic design for the Dyplomy Lux website. This website attracted clients for years. I performed the SEO on the website so well that I never had to pay for additional Google advertising.

I coded the graphic design for the Dyplomy Lux website in HTML5 using the Bootstrap framework and designed it using Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 (version 11.00). The Dyplomy Lux website was functional and loaded very quickly. It was distinguished by: an eye-catching home page (carefully filled with keywords and phrases), an animated photo gallery divided into categories, and additional sliders.

The photo gallery on the Dyplomy Lux website was its biggest attraction. Over the years, I had amassed a rich and beautiful photographic documentation of the advertising products I designed and then produced. I presented this extensive collection of photographs on the Dyplomy Lux website. I struggled with piracy many times because my business competitors stole my copyrighted product photos and posted them on their websites to steal my clients.

I should add that running Dyplomy Lux for years was forced upon me by necessity. To practice art in Poland, you need to make a living. Art patronage doesn't exist in Poland, and the social security system isn't adapted to artistic professions. As a visual artist, you take on artistic commissions; you don't work full-time. Art commissions don't generate a steady income, so there's no way to pay monthly insurance. This is why Polish artists can't afford to start their own businesses. In Poland, the protective umbrella over artists ends the moment they graduate from art school.

It takes months and years to create high-quality artistic works. During this absorbing period of creation, the artist receives no salary, has no insurance... Only after the work is created do they try to sell it. At the same time, there is no guarantee that a sale will occur. Dyplomy Lux was a lifesaver for me: I could work creatively in my free time. Therefore, I was my own sponsor. It was a difficult time. There was practically no time for rest. I was pursuing two demanding professions simultaneously: creative work and the paid employment of Dyplomy Lux. I had to find clients myself. Of course, I realize that years of maximum creative energy should be devoted entirely to developing my talent, not producing commemorative diplomas. However, life forced me to adopt this professional model.

EU funding enabled me to establish Dyplomy Lux. With the money I received, I purchased my first printing machines.