Why Do you Need a Professional Web Developer / Graphic Designer?
Design, content and organization of the parts come together for success
You’ve put a lot of effort into creating your business and product, now you have to decide where to spend the money for your marketing efforts; how much you are able to do in-house vs. what should really be handled by a professional. What you also need to take into consideration is the loss of customers > money that just passed over your ad or your website because it wasn’t seen, couldn’t be easily read, just wasn’t interesting, didn’t click any buttons or make you want to hit any buttons on it. The savings you think you are gaining by doing things yourself may not really be savings.
A seasoned designer knows when to use the bells and whistles. The process is: idea first, then execution. Not the other way around. What I mean is, it’s easy to start with the software and no ideas, and just let it take you around by the seat of your pants, filling in the blank template spots where it tells you to.
You see a list of 100 fonts and want to play with them. Yahoo. Fun. The end result- throwing all of the fonts, buttons, moving graphics into the website, is not good. You wouldn’t cook a gourmet meal by throwing every spice you have into the soup because it’s there. Same thing. You can wind up with a very distasteful image.
A good designer can very quickly wade through your “rubble” and sort it out: keep what’s salvageable and reuse, scrap the junk, channel your random thoughts, read between lines, sift through piles of information and materials, and formulate an organized plan. One that leads to a great solution to your marketing needs.
Getting the Most out of Working with a Designer
Trust between designer and client
In design there’s a reason for every decision. Before you ever see the first draft it’s likely that the designer has already gone through dozens of iterations of logos, colors, fonts, ideas, etc. and threw out the ones that immediately didn’t work. When you say “can I see that in blue?” and the designer says “I tried that but it didn’t really work,” it takes a trusting relationship to move on and solve the real problem. When I work with new clients, I always go the step to show it in blue. If you then say, “oh I see what you mean” maybe the next time the conversation is a little different, and the process becomes more efficient.
Don’t get me wrong, there are times when you really just need to see something, so you can put it on the shelf and move on. I am a visual person so I see graphics in my head, often eliminating the need to draw it out. Even so, there are times you just need to see something drawn out, so you can move on. Fortunately for me, I’ve been at this “design thing” for so many years, I can quickly throw things together to get a visual on things.
I will listen to your needs, and work directly with you to create a logo, rack card, magazine ad, website- all of the pieces and parts you need to present your image in a way that is professional, creative and directly on target.
Starting a new project
I ask that all new clients read the following page to understand how the process will work, and how payments are to be handled and in what timeframe, before starting any new projects.
HOT TIP When it comes to keeping the marketing in-house to save money, not so fast. Working with outsiders can be a huge benefit. When you’re too close to the project, it can be blinding. It doesn’t mean money savings if the product is less than professional.
Please browse my portfolio of work and see the variety of work, and if you have a new project you’d like to ask about, contact me here and introduce yourself with a brief description of your project.
Or call me at 724-542-4400.