Graphic Design + Web Development

Valier (pronounced “Va-leer”) is a craft graphic design and website development studio focused on creating unique projects for unique clients. We work with companies and individuals that are pushing the boundaries within their industry and are looking for a partner in media development that can inject life and creativity into their marketing presence. With over 10 years of experience in the graphic design and website development industries, Merritt Lentz (Founder), has a proven track record of producing successful and innovative projects for a wide variety of clients ranging from artists and ski companies to government agencies and payment processing companies. Regardless of the size or complexity of your vision, we will help you hone in on a digital actualization of that vision and deliver a product that is rich and captivating.

Let’s collaborate to bring your ideas to life.

Discuss your project with Merritt Browse samples

Browse some of our recent projects

These are a few of our recent favorites, but we have dozens of other samples if you are looking for something specific.
Get at us if you want to see additional samples.

Hi-Line FilmsLogo design for a film company

Hi-Line films is a media production company based out of Missoula, Montana that specializes in film, photography, and design. From filming backcountry snowboarding in Japan to capturing the personality of local businesses in commercial projects, it would be an understatement to say that Hi-Line has done it all.

Mountain GazetteWebsite development, start-up strategy, and love for a revitalized print publication

The Mountain Gazette is a beloved print publication showcasing the true nature of mountain life – not that tourist bullshit. Established in 1966 and revitalized during the pandemic in 2020 by Mike Rogge, Merritt Lentz, and a team of epic writers, artists, and photographers, the Mountain Gazette has a storied history and presents some rather big boots to fill. Past issues have featured works by legends like Hunter S. Thompson, Edward Abbey, and John Fayhee, and our latest issues have featured legends like John Maclean (son of acclaimed writer Norman Maclean). At 11×17 with vibrant photography, the Mountain Gazette really is more of a coffee table book. Maybe a coffee table bible for people who value authenticity, cab over campers, ramen, and blisters on our heels. Or maybe, it’s just whatever the hell it means to the people who read it. Regardless, we would love for you to subscribe and decide for yourself: mountaingazette.com/subscribe

Wild CommonDigital brand development for a visionary in artisanal tequila and mezcal

Wild Common is an artisanal tequila and mezcal brand created by adventure photographer Andy Bardon. With a focus on delivering the cleanest, clearest spirit possible so that you can abide like a pro, Wild Common has truly found a niche and a following for good reason. It’s really, really fucking good, and we were fortunate to work with Wild Common from initial conception through the delivery of its eagerly-awaited product. Some of our favorite features: Klaviyo CRM Integration, Custom WooCommerce Development, Mobile-first UI, Podcast Integration

Moment SkisShopify Development for a Ski Company

We have been working with Moment Skis for years to help them translate their brand into an interactive online shopping experience. The thing is, it’s far from just being any ol’ Shopify store. It is jam packed full of cool custom features such as the ability to pick a pair of skis and automatically have them paired with the proper bindings and skins. It’s rad. Just like their skis. Some of our favorite features: Speed-optimization of a third party Shopify theme, custom-coded checkout features, seamless branding integration, Klaviyo CRM integration

SolvitComprehensive digital brand development

We are honored to have helped develop every visual and interactive element, including the logo and website, for Solvit – a merchant services company for the modern business. Solvit goes so much further than your standard merchant services company by serving as your startup partner, providing guidance and solutions that help small companies play ball with the big boys. If you are looking for a payments terminal, eCommerce solutions, digital invoicing, or any business service, contact Solvit to simplify the startup process and give you a leg up on the competition. Some of our favorite features: Streamlined Subscription System, Animated Branding Elements, Klaviyo CRM Integration

Andy BardonShopify eCommerce Print Shop

Andy Bardon is an internationally published photographer who has combined his extensive experience as a mountaineer, climber, and outdoorsman to access remote locations and create stunning images of the natural landscape and the humans that explore it to the highest degree. A regular contributor to National Geographic, Andy has chronicled ascents of Mount Everest, big wave surfing in Tahiti, and everything in between. Check out his new Shopify eCommerce print shop to see some of his amazing work.

FidanoFintech Website Design and Development

Fidano is a tech company that provides software solutions for merchant service providers in payment processing industry. For Fidano, having a clean, modern web presence that communicates clearly and directly with merchant service providers was imperative in order to showcase their brand and solution set.

NXGEN InternationalPayments Processing Website Design and Development

NXGEN offers the most advanced payment processing solutions in the industry. With a wide array of products and customers, NXGEN needed a website that could engage with anyone through an attractive and interactive interface.

When Technology FailsSurvival and Green Living Website Design and Development

Matthew Stein is a design engineer and author of two bestselling books: When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide to Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival, and When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency. For Mat, we built an informational site that allows visitors to discover informational articles and videos related to survival and sustainable living.

SauceAlbum artwork design

Caleb Young is an amazing producer and good friend of mine. This is an album cover for his album “Candy-Painted Frequencies” that I designed a few years back, and we figured that it deserved some love on the new site. We loved working on this project and are hoping to partner with other talented musicians in the near future!

WillowStar MusicMusician Website Design and Development

Willow is an extremely talented singer-songwriter based out of Jackson Hole, WY. For this project, we created a web experience that emanates organic, earthy aesthetics that align with Willow’s style of music. The website includes a number of cool automated feeds from third party apps like BandsInTown, Spotify, and YouTube.

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From the blog

06 26 21

How can I stop my website from breaking?

It’s Black Friday at 4am, and you receive one of the worst emails you can receive – “Is your website down?” You notice the email when you wake up, almost spit out your coffee, and frantically reach out to your web developer while dreadful questions spin around in your mind: “how long has my website been down? How much revenue was lost? Are we going to be able to fix it today?” At Valier, don’t ever want our customers to have a morning like that, so we have developed a reliable automated website testing platform to proactively detect problems before your customers spot them. First Responder by Valier utilizes Selenium Testing to detect problems with your website, including broken “add to cart” buttons, contact forms, and menus, before you, your boss, employees, or your customers run into the issue. We can record sessions on multiple browsers and devices (and multiple versions of each!), store those tests for review, and programmatically test core functionality on your website. We can truly put your website to the test, as often as every ten […]

02 05 21

Security Through Obscurity: Should you change your WP-Admin Directory?

One of the most common recommendations that you hear regarding WordPress security upgrades is to change the name of your WP-Admin directory. Does this really make much of a difference? Not really. Improving WordPress Security by changing the WP-Admin directory So what does this do exactly? Well it makes it harder for a hacker to find your WP-Admin directory and attempt a brute force hack. That’s known as “security through obscurity,” and while it will prevent a certain number of malicious IPs from reaching your login screen, it won’t prevent sophisticated attacks in any real way. Here is what the WordFence Security experts have to say about this: Changing your WP-Admin Directory Can Break Your Site There are tons of plugins and themes that depend on wp-admin being located at /wp-admin. One common reason is that plugins or themes may rely on accessing the admin-ajax.php file, which is in the root of the WP-Admin directory. If you change this directory, the plugin or theme may not have the proper configuration to be able to find it at its new directory, […]

12 03 20

RIP GTMetrix

With the sudden switch to Lighthouse, the once revered optimization platform becomes unrecognizable and unusable. Editors note: It would seem that the team at GTMetrix has listened to the developers that were impacted by the sudden website optimization platform revision, and have been working tirelessly to improve the proprietary parts of their testing platform to offer more relevant scores. They also worked closely with Valier to address optimization issues on our managed sites, and as a result our sites improved and GTMetrix improved their scoring system. While this post is relevant in the sense that it offers insight into the process that took place, we now hope that it also serves as a testament to GTMetrix’s commitment toward its customers. We will continue to monitor GTMetrix’s platform updates and will continue to discuss these changes here at valiermedia.com. Today I went to complete an ongoing optimization project for a client of mine only to discover that the entire GTMetrix platform has been converted to use Lighthouse rather than PageSpeed and YSlow. While I am aware of the “advantages” that Google […]

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