The Set-up

Bruce began discussing this project with us in late 2010, and we brainstormed with him about what he wanted a new site to do for him. He wanted to simplify the content from their existing site, and make things cleaner and simpler to find. He also wanted to incorporate and carry on the re-branding that Katherine was also doing with their product labels and logo. Their webstore also needed an overhaul that would match visually,  be easy to use and also put their products in the spotlight.

The Delivery

Katherine came up with a design that fit in with the direction the brand was taking. It’s bright and fresh, and really highlights the shots of the Preserve Company, their location, and their products.

Justin built the site on a custom theme for WordPress, using custom post types, theme options, and the built-in blog functionality to get the look we wanted. We also worked with a third party to customize the ecommerce platform that the shop side is built on to ensure visual consistency and an easy and comfortable customer experience.

Thanks for letting us work with you on this Bruce, and for making such delicious preserves!

If your mouth is watering now, check out their website…

We’ve just wrapped up two web projects, with a few more on the way, and I wanted to talk about how we got from start to finish on them, to inspire some of you who might be thinking about getting a new website yourself!

Insight Marketing

First up is Kerry Anne MacDougall and Dawn Binns, the ladies behind Insight Marketing. These two were just starting out in a new partnership that was still a secret around town, and asked us to help them get a website ready for when the news broke that would reflect them as a team, both personally and professionally.

They knew what they wanted right from the get-go, and were able to answer all the questions about goals and functionality for the site. They had an existing brand that they were very happy with, and wanted a website that would match the quality and expectation of that brand. Their current logo was going to be re-used, and they wanted to focus on the particular shade of green from that logo. They had a few general ideas they liked as far as design, but mostly wanted it to look great, and make people recognize the site as Insight Marketing.

We came up with a design concept they loved, which we tweaked a little, and then built the site to match. They were so clear in their goals that the end result looks very similar to the very first mock-up we did for them.

This project was a lot of fun – Kerry Ann and Dawn were easy to work with, and it was great to set them up with a new site that reflects where they want to be as a new small business. Good luck ladies!

Check them out at http://insightmarketingpei.com

Michele Dorsey Law

Next is Michele Dorsey, formerly of HRA, now venturing out on her own as Michele Dorsey Law. Michele approached us early on in the process as she started her new business. It wasn’t public knowlege yet (what’s with all the secrets people!), but she was about to embark on a new exciting adventure.

Michele wanted us to help her with her branding and corporate identity right from the get-go, which included some brainstorming, idea-making, head-scratching and lots of lightbulbs! Once we established what she wanted people to see when they thought of her new company, we came up with the graphical side of things, including her logo, photography, and video, and then got to work on her website.

Michele had an idea of what she wanted the site to do and how she wanted it to look, and we refined those ideas with her and came up with some concepts for the site. She wanted the site to reflect the type of work she does, which involves conflict resolution and labour relations. This meant the site had to make people feel calm, relaxed, and comfortable. No bright red colours! The functionality of the site needed to back that up, with easy to find information about her services, success stories from past clients, resources for potential clients, and an easy way to get a hold of her.

The website we ended up with represents Michele well. It has her style, and exudes the same calming, welcoming vibe that Michele exudes herself. The website does everything she needs it to do right now, and allows Michele’s prospective clients to find out everything they need to know and get in touch with her.

This was another great project to work on. Michele is a very easy-going person, but confident in what she was looking for. Best of luck with your new venture Michele!

Find Michele at http://micheledorsey.ca

The thing that you’ll find with any video is that humor does more to attract audiences than anything else. And that goes for all demographics. So, my follow-up to talking about our audience is to discuss strategies for getting them to take a look at our video, and amusing them always seems to be one of the most effective.

If your material doesn’t translate easily to humor, then the second-best thing seems to be to give your audience a sense of wonder. This can be harder but it can be just as effective. Successful online videos, like the music videos of OK GO, do a great job of being lightly humorous but delivering a strong sense of wonder.

As we’re talking about who our audience is and how we can either amuse them or impress them it’s inevitable that scale starts to come into the conversation. What can we do with what we can afford? My goal is generally to not let that play too heavy a role until we’ve got a good concept.

Obviously, if the concept is to have a hundred people jump from a plane simultaneously and spell out the client’s name, then we might have to scale down. But there are ways to make any concept work. While we might not have the resources to execute that idea with actual people and a real plane, it could happen with paper or clay or computer animation.

A successful video piece is one that transcends its purpose. Great ads are ones that tell good stories and make us laugh. But, you don’t need me to tell you that; we’ve all seen this Old Spice commercial.

See our video questions for clients

(This is part of our series called “Client Questions”, where we talk about how best to help the client figure out what they want! Find the other parts here: Intro, Design, Video, Web)

Goals & Audience

This are definitely the first questions to ask yourself about a potential web project. Whether this is a first-time website or a re-launch, the goals and target audience are of utmost importance in shaping the design and functionality of the project. Are you a tradesperson looking to make it easier for customers to make appointments online? A storeowner looking to promote monthly specials and increase your online following? A larger company looking to improve your online presence and connect via social media? What types of information will you want people to access: images, video, news updates, products, contact information? Take a few minutes to consider you main goals and your primary target audience, and the benefit you will increase the benefit you  see from the end result.

Static or Dynamic?

You’ve probably already heard these terms in regards to web design if you’ve been talking to other designers. What we’re referring to here is the management of your content. With a static website, you give us the content you want to see, we insert it into the code, and it stays that way until someone edits the actual code. With a dynamic website, there is an interface for you to manage your own content. To make this happen, we use a CMS, or Content Management System. It is user-friendly, and allows you to change text, pictures, and anything else we determine needs to be changed when we’re building the site. Normally, we will use WordPress, which is a free, open-source CMS and blogging platform. Depending on your needs, we may opt to build something custom for you instead. The trade-off for going with a dynamic system vs a static one  is cost over useability. It will cost you more to develop a dynamic system up front, but this should save you money in the long run by being able to do your own updates and keep your content fresh and relevant.

Content

Content, content content – without any, your website won’t do you much good. It doesn’t matter if you’ve decided to go with a static website that you update every few months, or a blog. Your content needs to be relevant and pertinent.

Make sure your text emphasizes the message you want to get out there, and that it contains the kind of information that people will want. Your photos or artwork are equally important. They need to be of good quality, and high enough resolution that they don’t look all blurry and pix-elated.

Normally you as the client will be providing this content, or you can work something out with us to help you with content. It may even be worth your while to find someone who specializes in content generation like a copywriter or professional photographer, so that your investment in your new website is maximized by having the best possible content.

Domain Names & Hosting

How will people find you on the internet? When you go to search for something on Google, you go to their domain name which is http://google.com. You’ll also need a domain name to let people find you online. This happens by registering a name at any number of online domain registrars – something you are able to do yourself, or something we can help you with. A good domain name tells people who you are and what you do, while being easy to remember. Johnsusedcarsincharlottetownpei.com is very inclusive of what you do, but something like Johnsautopei.com is much easier to use and remember.

Hosting is the storage and distribution of your website to the world. This is also something you can look after yourself, or something we can do for you. Most web hosts will offer the necessary services needed to run a modern website, but we can help you with suggestions. Once you have a domain name and hosting, you’ll have access to email and other services related to web hosting.

Summarification

Hopefully this helps to answer some of your questions and ease your mind about a web design project. Follow the link below to see the full questionnaire we like to get our clients to fill out when we talk to them about a new project.

See our web design questions for clients

(This is part of our series called “Client Questions”, where we talk about how best to help the client figure out what they want! Find the other parts here: Intro, Design, Video, Web)

Something we find happens a lot with clients is that they know they want something but aren’t exactly sure what or how they want it to look. More often than not, if we aren’t able get the right information up front, we find the client might not be able to define what they want until they start seeing something they don’t want.

“That’s nice, but maybe a little brighter?”

“Can we have the links on the side instead of the top?”

“What if we add more footage of the band?”

In our ongoing effort to both educate our clients and provide the very best finished product we can, we’ve started a questionairre for each discipline (graphic design, video, web design) that helps us dig a little deeper into the psyche of our clients and fish out the knowledge hidden within!

Good, Fast, Cheap

Every client who comes through our door wants three things: A good project, a fast project, and a cheap project. The old adage in the design community is that you can only have two of three, so choose wisely!

If we have more time to work on a project, we’ll have a better opportunity to fine tune things, and more flexibility on price. Likewise, if you need a rush on something and we have to put other projects aside to get it done, it sometimes means a cost increase.

We always work hard to turn out the best possible project under any circumstance, but it goes without saying that a little extra time may help us tweak that project to make it a little more perfect!

And With Some Further Ado…

Keep an eye on our blog for new posts on what kinds of things to consider for specific types of projects. We’ll be doing one each for Graphic Design, Video, and Web Design, with links to the current version of the questions that we go over with clients.

Feel free to contribute to the discussion – borrow from our questions, or contribute your own ideas!

(This is part of our series called “Client Questions”, where we talk about how best to help the client figure out what they want! Find the other parts here: Intro, Design, Video, Web)

Hopefully this gives a quick impression of what we’re thinking about and what we look like (if you haven’t seen us before).

And being busy is great! But we were wondering what people would think if they came to a design studio’s website and there was no designification to show off (yes, it’s a word). How would people remember us in 1000 years? Probably not at all actually. Plus we’d be dead, so it wouldn’t matter then. Unless someone invents Carbon Freezing like they used on Han Solo in Star Wars!

So then we thought it was in everyone’s best interests if we just got the website up. So here it is. You’re on it. Right now. Take a look around and let us know what you think!