Karen was a dream come true for me! As I’ve been getting busier and busier I realized there was no way to keep designing albums and keep my sanity in check. I looked around a long time for a designer I thought would be a good match and Karen’s designing skills and warm personality really stood out. The first book she created was stunning…there was absolutely nothing I’d want to change. I feel comfortable and happy knowing my photography is in great hands. I’m so excited for her to design all my albums in 2009 and beyond!

Tracy Turpen
Tracy Turpen Photography
South Carolina

My experience with you - it has been nothing but fantastic, and I’m so looking forward to working with you again. I felt like you immediately understood my style, and the customer service was amazing. I always want everything to be so perfect for my brides that I have a hard time letting go of any task. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to find someone who cares as much as I do about the quality of my products and the beauty of the work.

Carisa Chee
Carisa Chee Photography
North Carolina

Working with you was amazing!!! I don’t think you could have done anything better cos you were already perfect! Services you could offer - since you are so good at design perhaps branding services would be a nice idea! I can’t wait to work with you again!

Bola Abodunde
Onada Photography
New Jersey

You are a complete joy to work with and I am thrilled with my new logo! Thank you for listening to me and understanding what I needed, for asking the good questions, and for using that special creative gift you have. You went above and beyond! Thank you.

Martha Manning
Martha Manning Photography
North Carolina

You were such a pleasure to work with and I so appreciated your willingness to make all of the little changes that my client requested. You truly went above and beyond to meet our time schedule and to keep my client happy with numerous changes. You are very creative, but were wonderful about working within the parameters of what my client was requesting, though it wasn’t exactly the way you would have designed. I look very forward to working with you again, as there are very few people these days that provide the wonderful customer service and have the patience and kindness that you are so gifted with.

Mary Ann Elston
Mary Ann Elston Photography
Louisiana

I don’t know if Karen Dahlquist works 24 hours a day or if it just seems that way. If she does, she’s incredibly well adjusted, because not only does she get back to you right away if you have questions, but she’s so very pleasant when she does. I can be easily flummoxed by current technology: “Although I’m really old, Karen, you’re going to have to talk to me like I’m five years old.” But Karen doesn’t. She patiently explains everything and the job goes smoothly and quickly. It’s a pleasure working with her. She is one of those people you want to go have coffee with. And did I mention the beautiful design work she did to make my photography look even more expensive than it is?

Jay Goldsmith
Jay Goldsmith Photography
New Hampshire

Karen taught me everything I know about customer service– and I’m not just saying that to be nice.

1. She treats her customers like they’re her favourite client (although I’m SURE I really AM her favourite client!)
2. She return calls and e-mails immediately
3. She’s warm and fun on the phone and always seems to have endless time to talk about my projects– although I know she couldn’t possibly.
4. If communicating by e-mail, she throws in lots of :)
5. She’s reliable. When she says the album will be done in two weeks, the album is done in two weeks.
6. She’s m..e…t…i…c…u..l…o…u…s detail oriented and double checks everything– which, for me, is probably the biggest reason why I keep hiring her.
7. She works really, really hard. Sometimes I get e-mails from her in the wee hours of the morning
8. She’s fair and has never overcharged me for her services
9. Every aspect of her business is completely professional– website, letterhead, blog, logo– even the Happy Fish DVD’s of the clients album layouts are lovely.
10. She never gets mad at you for fiddling with her album designs
11. She’s fun!

Monique Dykstra
Studio Iris Photography
Quebec, Canada

I enjoyed working with you on the Jones album. You made my first experience with album design completely seamless. Will definitely be sending you more projects in the future! Thanks Karen.

Stacie Batiste
Urban Infusion
California

I can’t tell you how much we’ve appreciated all your hard work and attention to detail! You are a fabulous designer and wonderful person! My clients did not have any changes because the design was fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to figure out our specific design tastes and being so open to our thoughts! I can’t wait to send you more albums! We’d highly recommend you to anyone!

Thank you so much again!

Katrina and Andrew
Sedona Bride
Arizona

I just wanted to let you know our Asukabook just arrived and it looks spectacular!!!! We are so happy with it and can’t wait to start making them for our clients!! :D The EX Laminate was definitely the way to go, it’s so elegant! Thanks for the advice ;) hank you very much Karen, you did a GREAT job with everything, the design looks even better in print (which is hard to imagine since it already looked spectacular on screen!!)

Thanks again!!!

Melisa Conde
ALTARE Wedding Photojournalism
El Salvador

"Happy Fish", No, ecstatic!! Supberb album design!

I've been working with Happy Fish Design and have been getting not only amazing album design work, but great customer service as well.

For better or worse I tend to be a very demanding client with a very particular look that I'm after, but even with that challenge Karen managed to make it easy, and brought to it the spirit of collaboration and enthusiasm!!

Before we even started Karen took the time to interview me, as well as do research on my previous work to get a handle on where I was coming from. From there she seamlessly integrated my style into hers, elevating the design level to where I really feel even more enthusiastic about what I'm offering to my clients. Not to mention saving me a ton of time!! (I'm getting another six albums ready to send over to her now).

David Tucker
Tucker Photography
Massachusetts

Thank you for your design work - it is respectful of the images and of my personal style as a photographer. And you run your company in such a professional and efficient manner. It's the best of both worlds - artistic and business!

Julia Russell
Julia Russell Photography
New Hampshire

Every business owner could learn from Happy Fish's customer service. I've never worked with anyone as attentive or responsive as Karen. Her thoughtful designs have changed the way I view wedding albums, and I am now proud of making books I think every couple would be thrilled to have.

Ben Chrisman
Ben Chrisman Photography
California

Yes we are two, or including our client, three happy fish clients. You came to my rescue, in a very tenuous period of the album design edeavour. I knew what I wanted but did not know where to begin looking for this person! From a referral, I contacted you, and with your persistence, you rescued me from almost giving up on a particular album layout.

Finding the right person to collaborate with the design of an album is the biggest roadblock! But you seemed to understand what I wanted, with very little discussion, sent me several page layouts, and we quickly put it all together, or YOU quickly put it all together, from design, to uploading to our album publisher, to delivering it to my door. We could not have been happier! You saved us time and money and having this product outsourced is definitely the way to go, and, the coffee table album IS, the way to go!

Wishing you a fantastic year!

Lou & Don Byrne
Byrne Photography
Illinois

I was extremely happy with the service and design. I like working with people that stay in constant communication to ensure everything goes smoothly. I am already prepping a few more album orders to be designed.

Jeff Hemmerlein
Hemmerlein Photography
Indiana

Karen Dahlquist ROCKS!! I recently had her design a digital sample album. Not only was it fun to work with Karen, but she had a quick turnaround time and the layout was perfect. I looked at the design... and looked at it... and looked at it again to see if there was anything I could or would change. Nope. Nothing. Nada. Right off the bat she gave me a product that was exactly what I want to show my clients! Probably the biggest bonus is that I now have more family time and time for running my business. I will definitely be using HappyFish for my future albums and look forward to working with Karen again. Thanks Karen!

Audra Colpitts
Audra's Photography
British Columbia, Canada

HappyFish and Karen are just wonderful and probably the best business / time saving decision that I made this year.
Being someone that does not like to give up any control, it was hard to pull the trigger... no matter how much time I needed to save. With Karen's promptness, kindness, cheerful attitude and WONDERFUL design skills, I want to kick myself for waiting so long.

I can not tell you how much confidence it brings me to know that whenever we are pressed for time, or just want another perspective on album design, Karen and HappyFish are right around the corner to save the day! :) Thanks, Karen!!!

Brian & Michele Hinz
Hinz Photographic
Arizona

Outsourcing my album designs was probably the smartest business decisions I've made in a long while. It has allowed me to spend more time on the aspects of my business that I actually enjoy (designing albums not being one of them).

I've worked with several album designers and Karen's work simply stands out. Her designs are always fresh, never predictable. I love that she doesn't work with template programs. In addition, she's FAST, but not at the expense of quality. What more could you want.

Probably the best thing about working with Karen, though, is working with Karen. She's so easy to work with and really takes the time to understand what I'm looking for. As a result, the designs she does for me look nothing like the designs she does for other photographers. They are truly John Riedy albums. Karen ROCKS!

John Riedy
John Riedy Photography
California

I just wanted to send you a little thank-you note. I must say that I am so happy with the first album you designed for me. There will be many more to come! I remember when you first sent me the link to the design online...I was so excited looking through all of the pages. Every single page exceeded my expectations. You are a very talented designer! It's exactly what I was looking for.

I've also been very impressed with the way you conduct your business. I just like how you have everything streamlined through the web. It makes it easy to communicate and review the page layouts. Keep up the amazing work! I'm looking forward to working with you on future projects.

Thanks so much!

Marcus Sark
Marcus Sark Photography
Michigan

Within minutes of talking to Karen I knew I had found someone special. She just immediately “got” me. Figured out my approach to photography and how I would want the design of my albums to reflect that. She is a great listener who can translate ones ideas to great design and also comes to the table with her own thoughts. Of course, those are the ones that invariably raise the quality of the design. Her albums are clean and confident. They feel at the same time current and timeless. I feel super lucky to have found her and plan on keeping her very busy.

Danny Weiss
Danny Weiss Photo
New York

Dealing with HappyFish was like walking into a business that I had been dealing with all of my life. Karen has been a treasure to work with and I wholeheartedly trust my designs to her. I know that all of my knowledge and talent is only as good as my end product which is my albums.

Through all of this I have come to realize that I am a photographer, not an album designer, and where I lack Karen at HappyFish Design has made up.

Jason Cohen
Jason Cohen Photography
Louisiana

Karen is very precise and easy to work with. I felt immediately that she knew the look I was going for, and I have been so excited and pleased with the final designs, as have my clients!

Berit Bizjak
Images by Berit, Inc.
New Jersey

I LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT.  You have done such an amazing, fantastic, wonderful job!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!  And oh, you were SO quick!!! There is nothing I want to change about it ... it is perfect!!

Once again, you have blown me away.  I can't wait to do more of these with you!!!!

Vanessa Jones
Vanessa Jones Photography
Ontario, Canada

Working with you on my most recent album was an awesome experience and I wouldn't change anything thing. The turn around was incredible and the quality and detail in the design was awesome. The best thing about it was my client loved it and did not make any changes. I can't wait to work together again on another album. Working with you has made album design a much more enjoyable experience.

Chanel Parrott
Your Reflection My Style
Illinois

Karen ROCKS!!!! I can’t wait to see what kind of reaction I get from the brides.

Neal Jacob
Neal Jacob Photography
Virginia