“Outside, the plain gray building behind the police station looks like a remnant of Bainbridge Island’s past, right down to the 1964 Porsche parked out in front.But the sleek decor, walls of au courant graphics and rooms of computers and servers inside tell you that this is Bainbridge’s present, and maybe its future – a knowledge-based business using the Internet to reach a national and international client base.We use the web to give existing clients access around the clock and in any location, said Geoff Daigle of Daigle Design. It’s one of the reasons that we could move from downtown.When Daigle and his wife Candace moved their graphic-design firm from Seattle’s lower Queen Anne neighborhood to Bainbridge’s ferry terminal zone in 1996 – and started communicating with clients electronically – the motive was to save money.We used to spend more than $200 a month with a bike courier service to get stuff to our downtown clients to be proofread, Daigle said. When Candace hooked us up with an ISDN line, it didn’t cost anything more.More to the point, the couple saved an estimated $3,000 a year in commuting costs.We tried every combination of ways we could think of, Daigle said. Buses on both sides, a bus on this side and a car on the other, and it always cost us a lot of money.And then there was the time. As they had expected, the estimated three hours each of them saved each day let the couple get a little more work done and still get home early.What they had not anticipated, though, was how much better they could serve the client with electronic rather than paper communication.The firm’s web site features a client lounge. Armed with a secure password, each client can check on his or her project at any hour and from any location, and provide instant feedback.We don’t have to chase them down when they’re on the road, said Daigle, and there’s never any question about whether we’re all looking at the most current revision. It helps everyone move faster.As the Daigles became more adept at using the web, the web became more than just a tool. Over half of their business today is website design, Daigle said, while the balance is in traditional print modes like brochures and logo designs.And downtown Seattle access is easy.We can look out the window, see when the boat is starting to load and be on it in five minutes. With Seattle traffic, we can practically be downtown as quickly as we could when our office was in Queen Anne, Daigle said.Looking out the window at ferry traffic generated a spinoff business – ferrycam.com. That website features live videos of the Bainbridge terminal and Colman dock, with plans to expand to the other terminals.Candace came across the technology for live streaming video-cameras, Daigle said. Locals check to see how full the mid-day runs are or to tell visitors when they need to jump in the car and get going. People who no longer live here get a kick out of it – we’ve had web visits from over 50 countries. The Daigles’ personal and business collaboration began in the early 1980s on Hawaii’s Kona Coast, where they found themselves working in the area’s one and only graphic-design business. After they married in 1982, they worked for a while in Honolulu, then returned to the mainland and a stint in Reno, Nev.They began an association with Porsche in Reno, the German auto-maker’s American headquarters, and with a number of other businesses that remain clients today.But they missed the water – both were active boaters in Hawaii. And with a portable business, they considered their options.In Hawaii, we met visitors from everywhere, Daigle said, and the people that were the nicest of any region were from the Northwest.So in 1991, they opened a Seattle office and settled on Bainbridge. Now, they divide their time between the Bainbridge business and doing a Mom and Pop restoration of a 1937 cottage on Miller Bay in Indianola.Being on Bainbridge has given the firm greater access to West Sound clients like American Marine Bank and Poulsbo’s Boxlight Corporation, which Daigle said are trying to give their ads a little bit of a national look.The Bainbridge location may have some downside in terms of competing in the Seattle market. Nobody will ever turn down a firm for consideration because they’re located too close, Daigle said.But there are offsetting business advantages. The potential on the west side, with the lifestyle and housing-cost advantages, is a bonus we didn’t expect, Daigle said.And there are an awful lot of captains of industry who commute downtown and pass by us twice a day. “