Something that crops up a lot in creating websites for small businesses and startups is the problem of expectations.
More specifically, marketing expectations.
Time to give something back, we think. So we’ve recently started making a collection of free and handy resources on our website. Mainly they’re aimed at small businesses and startups, but really anyone could find them really useful. Continue Reading →
Startups are amazing…
No really, we mean it. We work with many of them so we know these are exciting but very challenging times to be starting a business, or making a new product. It’s hard. But the one thing we hear most is that many of you don’t need or want a big fancy website from day one. You just need something simple for now, that won’t stretch your marketing budget.
So instead of wasting everyone’s time negotiating lower prices and specifications all day, we’re pleased to introduce our new affordable website design package for startups. The idea of this is to get businesses with simple needs up and running on the internet with the smallest amount of fuss, but still giving them our trademark polished, designer look!
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I recently spotted this button on a business website – a shocking example of a company’s complete failure to read it’s own homepage! What makes it so bad is that this seems to be their main call-to-action button.
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We’ve not blogged for a few months. We know, it’s not good. But it all got a bit much earlier this year and events meant that blogging got pushed aside while we sorted out the way forward. But you don’t want to hear about that! Instead, let us explain what we’ve been up to and where we’re going. Continue Reading →
This morning I helped a client get his business listed on Google Maps. Continue Reading →
This is a quote from a TED talk by Simon Sinek about leadership, which I enjoyed.
But I think it also illustrates a certain point about branding – you have to have substance behind a brand. It’s not enough to simply create or try to build a brand that starts off with a “wow” factor in the way it looks or talks, or even with one or two “wow” products. Continue Reading →
As a web designer and consultant, I’m constantly on the lookout for tools that will make the job easier and quicker. Luckily, people seem to be creating some excellent tools almost every week at the moment, and I’ve discovered some real gems. Here are the top 5 tools I find really handy
I heard a reference to this quote recently so I looked up the full text. I thought it was good reasoning for why Coke sells massively all over the planet, even in developing countries – it’s the same everywhere and it’s also classless. It’s product consistency at it’s best. What made it really interesting for me though is that the quote comes from a time (1970′s I think) before the modern age of big branding and marketing.
It’s a good reminder that where branding is concerned, if you are branding a mass product or service, consistency of delivery and quality is a key element to success. That way, the customer knows what he can expect and will happily pay for more, time and time again. Continue Reading →
We recently wrote this guest article for Manage My Website’s journal:
“5 reasons having a good website helps your business”
“5 reasons having a good website helps your business”
There are so many social media guides and blogs out there right now, it’s almost a whole industry. But I’ve always found it takes quite a bit of reading before you can really get a sense of what each of the major network is about. I wondered how regular users summarise them to non-users? Continue Reading →
If you own or manage a website, the one page you need to get right is your homepage. For new visitors, this page will make or break their visit. For regular visitors, it will tell them how well kept and up to date your website is.
Yesterday’s Paperchase incident is a good example of how big brands cannot afford to ignore social media today.
eautiful illustrated type is something we really like, and so it’s no surprise we’re fans of the Daily Drop Cap project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. Continue Reading →
I’m always in favour of cleaner and uncluttered website designs, as I think it helps visitors to understand a website much better and generally have a better experience. Too many websites let the design overshadow the content these days. Personally, I tend to favour Edward Tufte’s principle of “Simple design, intense content”.
As long as I’ve been a designer, I’ve tried to keep scrapbooks and scraps of things I like, find inspiring or just want to keep for future reference. Here’s a quick guide to how I’ve set up some online ones.
This is part two of my series on what makes a logo really good. Here I’m going to talk about why a logo should be memorable.
If you’ve enjoyed reading our articles so far (which I hope you have) and are interested in more, here are a list of other websites I currently write for.
This is part one of my series on what makes a logo really good, which I introduced in a previous article. Here I’m talking about why a logo should be iconic.