MUSCATINE, Iowa — Ethel Coffman is living proof that you never know where life will take you.

At 66, Coffman is the owner of an avant-garde Web development and graphic design firm called Pinecreek Studio. Anyone who has visited the Unity HealthCare, Muscatine Symphony or Members Community Credit Union Web sites has seen her work.

“We’re doing really cutting-edge stuff,” she said. “Stuff that no one else in Muscatine is doing.“

Ten years ago, Coffman was working for Allsteel’s marketing department, and doing graphic design and Power Point projects on the side. In June of 2000, she finally got the courage to take an early retirement from Allsteel and begin Pinecreek Studio.

“It’s really hard to cut those golden handcuffs,” she said.

Coffman envisioned her new company as a “sleepy little graphic arts studio.” But, a few months after she left Allsteel, Coffman stumbled across a Ukrainian Web site developer named Andrei who was doing cutting edge work with Flash, a Web site design program that allows images to change on their own.

While Flash sites are common today, in 2001 they were almost unheard of.

Coffman contracted with Andrei to design one of her projects for Hon, and Pinecreek Studios found a new direction.

“It was fabulous and within two years, I simply had way more work than he could do,” she said.

Since then, Coffman has added two local project managers and a Romanian Flash development/design team to her lineup.

“These guys are the crème de la crème,” Coffman said about her overseas Web developers.

Today, Pinecreek Studio specializes in high-end Web site design and development, online training programs using Flash capabilities and state-of-the-art E-Commerce Web sites.

Allsteel and Hon remain some of her largest clients, but Coffman has also done work for numerous other companies including Canon Camera U.S.A. and the University of Iowa.

Recently, Coffman launched a new business venture, Mad Creek Design, which she calls a tributary of Pinecreek Studio.

While Pinecreek specializes in costly, intricate Web sites, Mad Creek offers “brochure” Web sites for small business owners. Mad Creek sites start at $495, plus site hosting costs.

“They’re simple, they’re pretty and they make you look good,” Coffman says. “We can take a business you’re running out of your garage and make you look like Microsoft.”

In today’s world a Web presence is a necessary advertising tool. While small business owners can try to design their own sites using on-line software, inevitably they take forever to design and end up looking amateurish, Coffman said.

“The Mad Creek sites are all gorgeous,” she said. “You get what you pay for.”

To reach Coffman, visit her Web sites at www.pinecreekstudio.com and www.madcreekdesign.com, of call her at 263-8935.