DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Our exclusive strategy for developing strong creative and on-target messaging.

 

   A better path leads to a better place.
   And don’t we all want to be in a better place?

 

Our design philosphy is driven by the single concept of the “Why behind the what.” Too many graphics companies are out there producing great looking images that don’t really mean anything. To be truly effective, there needs to be a reason behind everything, from illustration and photography through color palettes and font choices.

 

We concept with you, guiding the process that many of our clients really enjoy as they get a fresh look at their own company. Our job is to help you define your needs then develop the best way to achieve those goals.

 

A website can be many different things to as many different people. Today it is not good enough to just build a website. The audience has become too savvy. We have developed a system to help you discover what it is that your website needs to do for you and how to make that happen. All of our sites incorporate the latest in search engine optimization (SEO), we stay on top of best practices so that you don’t have to worry.

Formatting files for function —Wow does this ever get royally screwed up. As Jeff likes to say “If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.” But in the real world there are screws, carriage bolts, cotter pins, spring clips and the rest of aisle 12 at your hardware store. Our promise to you: we deliver all your files in the correct format, often in multiple formats, for later use as well as keeping a catalog of your images on our servers. If you’ve ever tried to find a missing font or had a printer ask for the eps instead of the jpeg or tiff, you know what we mean. If you don’t know what we mean, no worries, you don’t need to, that’s why we’re here. The bottom line is that any artwork we create for you is done at the highest quality and resolution allowing for it to be re-purposed at any later date.

PROCESS & WORKFLOW

 

What to expect.

A simple concept but one that seems to be harder and harder to ascertain. You are going to spend your money and we think it’s fair to set some expectations. Both about what you are to receive from us and what we expect from you.

 

Weekly updates.
All of our clients get a personal contact at the beginning of each week. Just a simple hello that may be the status of your job, if we’re waiting on something what it is and who’s responsible (whether it’s you, a vendor or us). Often in-between projects you’ll still get a little hello message just to make sure nothing has fallen through the cracks.

 

Traditional workflow of a creative piece.

• We meet with you discuss your needs and options.
• We draft a proposal and once you accept, we send a contract.
• You pay your deposit. On creative jobs we work in thirds on consulting jobs we ask for half down.
• We begin the work by developing the creative brief and/or a copy deck.
  
• Creative briefs are used to keep everyone on the same page and are worked over until all sides are in agreement. Copy decks are the actual words that will be copied directly into your document (website, brochure, e-newsletter etc.)
  
• You get three rounds of revisions of the copy deck, this is the time and place to proof for content and grammar, name spelling etc. Additional rounds are always available but the will cost extra. Copy decks often dictate the structure of your piece and must be completed first.
  
• We then present three concepts of from which we work through to come up with your final style of the piece, this is the color, shape and form of your job. This usually takes two revisions, but we work with you to get what you really want.
  
• You then pay the second third of your fees.
  
• We then start the construction phase combining the copy deck and the final creative style. Again you get three rounds of revisions. At the end of the third round your job is sent to the printer or launched on the web.
• You pay your final installment and the job is complete.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

 

It is easiest to work with a single contact, but we often work with people in committee. During the feedback phases, we ask that you collect your changes and send over a compiled list, we no that receiving direction from more than one person often leads to the misses: mistakes and misunderstanding.

 

Proofing. We have an excellent proofreader and do our best to check everything thoroughly. However we look at lots of copy every day and are honestly more concerned in the late phases about how it looks and technical specifications and ask that you take time before signing off of on your final revision.

 

Reality. Some things are exact. You want to print out 100,000 brochures? No problem. You want to be listed first on Google’s search engine results page (SERPs)? No one can promise that, no matter how much money you throw at them. We work with you to set up realistic, effective goals at great pricing.