Every project has its unique and individual needs. We custom-tailor our designs to match your specific needs. In order to keep consistency in all our work we have a guideline we follow to make sure that every aspect of the project goes smoothly and that we can provide you with the best possible outcome. Here are our steps for both print and web projects:
In-person Meeting
The first and most important step in creating a new website is planning. We start by understanding your target audience and then looking at what your competitors are doing. Once we have this information, we begin drawing up a site map. A site map is like a flow chart of pages that you want on your website. Generally they are home, about the company, services we offer and contact. This is the minimum that any company website should have. Once we have a full site map completed, we decide how you want the navigation to those pages set up on the site. Should one page lead you to the next? Should you have a main navigation bar? Should you use pop-out or dropdown menus? These questions are all answered in this step.
After the navigation is figured out, we need to decide how the pages should look. For this step we will create a template of the header and footer. This will keep consistency among all of the pages and make your visitors more comfortable as they navigate through your website.
The next step is the domain name registration. What is the domain name system? The Domain Name System (DNS) is used to help users surf the internet. Every web site has to register their domain name in order to have it. These domain names are given out on a first-come first-served basis by ICANN, the non-profit Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers. In order to register a domain name, a user has to visit a registrar, which is a company approved to register domain names.
When you visit a registrar and go to purchase your domain name, you will be asked for various contact and technical information that makes up the domain name registration. The registrar will keep the records and submit the technical information to a directory that can be visited by anybody. This directory is called the Registry. The Registry allows people to type in your domain name and find out all of the information about you that they need to get in contact with you. This information is available to maintain control on the internet and is often used to permit enforcement of consumer protection, trademark, copyright, and other laws. To search for the information you simply can go to a registars site and do a “Whois” search.
The next step (which can be combined with the second step) is setting up your hosting service. When choosing a web hosting provider, there are many different things that you should consider. Below is a list of things to look for in a hosting provider:
• Reliability and Speed of Servers
• Ease of Maintaining & Editing Your Account
• Easy to Contact Customer Support
• Regular Backups of Your Data
• Affordable Price
You don’t need to host with us to work with us but we do offer very competitive pricing and can support your secure certifcates, ecommerce needs, search engine submission, and much more.
Contract and Deposit
We will draw up a work agreement that details the procedure we will follow, the timeframe we anticipate, and the responsibilities of both our team and of our customer. We ask you to sign the contract and we will do the same. When the contract is signed, we will collect a deposit from you. This is typically 50% of your total estimate. We do offer payment plans in certain situations, contact us for details.
Outline
Many projects we tackle require us to put together an overall outline of the project as well as summaries of required content we will need from you. At this point we usually discuss text copy, photography, logos and graphics, etc. and make sure that we have all of the important topics covered.
Edits
Before we go too deep into the production phase, we will present initial design concepts for your approval. These may take the form of sketches or wireframes, which will convey the layout scheme to you without the time and detail required for a final layout. Depending on the terms of your agreement, we will usually allow 2-3 rounds of conceptual and layout edits of the drafts before we move forward. Client feedback during this stage is essential. It is important that we make firm decisions with you regarding the layout, design and direction, since once the design is decided upon, major alterations will require additional fees.
Working Examples
In a logo, print or website project, we will build your layouts to a point of completion where the client will be able to truly see what the finished product will look like. We refer to this as a working prototype or a “beta” version of your design.
Final Delivery
When the design project is nearly complete, the client may make 1 last round of content edits, depending on the terms of the agreement. We will then fine tune everything before the logo files are released, before the print designs go into production, or before the website is launched on the internet. Whether it is re-branding or new logo design, a new website design, a brochure design and other print solutions, or a new marketing campaign, our approach to your challenges will be as unique as your business itself.
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