Willis & Williams Design Studios

Willis & Williams Design Studios is a full-service, boutique graphic design studio based in Bakersfield, California, with a history stretching back to 1979. The business began as Rainbow Graphics, founded by Mike Willis, and later became Willis Design Studios as the company grew. In 2019, longtime designer and photographer Jen Williams became a business partner with Mike Willis, leading to the studio's current Willis & Williams identity.

With more than four decades of design experience, the studio has evolved alongside the design industry, moving from traditional typesetting and print production to Macintosh-based graphic design, websites, mobile-era design, and today's digital creative work. Its long history is closely connected to the Bakersfield community, with the studio having produced creative work for local businesses and organizations over several generations.

Willis & Williams provides a broad range of graphic design services, including logo design, branding and visual identity, brochures, business cards, packaging, advertising, signage, publications, and other print materials. The studio's work focuses on developing visual communication that reflects the personality of a business while maintaining consistency across different marketing materials.

Website design is also part of the studio's capabilities, allowing clients to extend their branding into their digital presence. Rather than approaching web design as an isolated service, the studio can bring its experience in branding, typography, graphic design, photography, and visual communication into the website development process.

Photography is another notable component of the company's creative offering. The studio's team includes designers and photographers, enabling it to produce original visual content that can be used across websites, advertising, print materials, social media, and other marketing channels.

The company's history also includes an interesting connection to the early web-design industry. Mike Willis co-authored the well-known book *Web Pages That Suck*, published by Sybex in 1998 and later translated into Japanese. This reflects the studio's involvement with web design during the early development of the commercial internet.

Today, Willis & Williams combines the experience of an established design studio with contemporary branding, web, photography, and digital design capabilities. Its long operating history, local roots, and multidisciplinary creative approach make it particularly suitable for businesses looking for a design partner that can handle both brand development and the various marketing materials needed to maintain that identity.