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How long will the process take?
A typical logo project will take approximately a week, as
will most of the print designs (brochures, postcards, newsletters,
etc.). A website can take a week to two or three, depending
on the complexity of the elements involved. Of course, the
timeline will depend largely on your schedule and availability
to recommend corrections and revisions. Rush jobs are available
for an additional fee.
How much input will I have?
Your input is highly encouraged and we will make every effort
to implement your input. We will guide you and make recommendations
about the design and usability of your projects based on our
experience and expertise.
What rights do I have to
use my project or files?
You will have full rights to the use of, and ownership of,
all of your files and projects, providing full payment has
been made. This means that you can use, change or alter the
files or projects in any way you see fit.
What software do you use
to design my project?
We use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Pagemaker as well
as Quark for all of our image, print, logo and corporate ID
projects. Logos are created as vector files and all fonts
are converted to outlines for print projects. We use Dreamweaver
to create our websites.
What do you need from
me to design my projects?
We will have you complete an in-depth design
brief, where you will detail all of
the specifications you have for your project. We want to know
your ideas and thoughts, any examples you have seen that you
like, what elements are necessary for inclusion in the project,
your timeline and quite a bit of other information.
I have a logo already, can
you update it?
We can. We can also recreate most logos in the event you only
have a raster file and need a vector file.
Can you host my website?
Yes, with purchase of one of our website packages. Purchase
includes one domain name of your choice (as available) and
hosting of your site for 12 months on the same server as our
domain. Hosting after 12 months is available for an additional
fee.
What can I include in my
website?
Just about anything you'd like. However, we recommend keeping
the site succinct and to-the-point and not adding a lot of
text or images "just because." A website should
tell the story of your business or organization, provide enough
information to be helpful to any end user and be relevant
to their needs. We always recommend that you look at your
website from the viewpoint of an end user, as their needs
may differ quite considerably from your wants for the site.
Do you offer Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) for my website?
SEO is a pretty in-depth topic. We are not a SEO company,
but a part of your website package includes keyword consultation.
After you have decided on the keywords and phrases you want
to add to your site, we will add keywords and descriptions
and modify the page titles on each page to enable search engines
to search your pages. Which, realisitically, is about 90%
of what you need to be indexed with the various search engines
out there. We do not submit your site to search engines, although
there are lots of companies out there who will, for a fee.
Honestly though, once your site is live, the keywords, titles
and content of your site should be just about all you need
to have your site recognized and indexed by all the major
search engines out there. Now, if you have a burning need
to be ranked #1 on a search engine, we can help you find someone
to help you with that.
How will I receive my ready
to upload website files?
If the size of the files is less than 5mb, we will zip the
files and email them to you. Otherwise we will send the files
to you on a disk, via regular mail. Express delivery is available
for an additional charge.
Will you upload my site?
Typically no, unless we host your site. To have us upload
your site, we would need to be privy to sensitive information
such as your login name and password, and that is information
that you usually don't want to give out. Most hosts offer
easy upload directions on their sites, and typically it's
as easy as dragging and dropping files.
How can I update my website
later on?
If you have the appropriate software, you can update your
site yourself. Or, we can do the updates for you for a fee.
If you need, we can create a monthly maintenance plan for
you. Please contact us for further information.
Do you print my business
cards or brochures or other marketing material?
We don't. We outsource all of our printing and we will provide
you with competitive quotes from our vendors should you need
that service.
Can I view my website project
throughout the process?
You can. Once we get the layout complete, we will build your
site on the backend of your domain, where you can check the
progress. No one else will be able to see it until it goes
live.
Do you do Flash websites?
We can, however we do not recommend having an all-Flash website
or Flash "entry" page for a number of reasons. Chiefly,
search engines do not recognize Flash in their searches, so
your site will be essentially invisible to them. Secondly,
Flash can be hard for older computers to recognize and upload
and some people simply don't have the required plug-ins to
view the Flash. We can incorporate Flash elements in yuor
website, but find that basic HTML works just as well in terms
of designing elements with a "wow" factor.
Can I have a splash or entry
page on my website?
You can, but we don't recommend it (see answer above). Additionally,
consider how many websites you've been to that had this element,
and how many times you've just clicked the 'skip' button.
This is what visitors to your site will probably do as well.
So why expend the cost and effort to add them when most people
only view them as a nusiance?
Do you do ecommerce websites?
We do. However, our packages only cover basic HTML-only sites.
Please contact us with your specifications and we will provide
you with a quote for an ecommerce website.
What are concepts, revisions
and redraws?
CONCEPTS are the initial designs you receive
at the beginning of a project. All concepts will look like
finished products, but they can be revised and tinkered with
to get a final product that looks exactly as you want it to.
Website concepts will include images and text for placement
purposes which will be changed out for the final copy and
images as the project progresses. If you don't like your original
concepts, immediately contact us and we will provide you with
redraws, as you package allows (if you package does not allow
for redraws, we will promptly refund your money).
REVISIONS are changes that are made to concepts.
Once you receive the original concepts, you will be given
the opportunity to fine-tune the designs as you see fit. Sometimes
an original concept is exactly what you want, but more often
than not it takes a couple rounds of revisions to get to a
final product that you are happy with. Revisions can include
changes in font, color, placement and other slight alterations.
REDRAWS are more concepts which are provided
if the original concepts provided did not meet your expectations.
If you immediately know that the original concepts provided
are not what you expected, you can request redraws (as your
chosen package allows) and we will provide you with a new
set of concepts.
What is stock photography?
Stock photography are royalty-free images (photographs, illustrations,
etc.) that we offer our clients for use in their projects.
You never have to worry about copyright infringement with
any of these images and they can save you quite a bit of money
over studio photography. However, other people can also use
the same images, so if you require original images, there
are many sites which offer photography and images that you
can purchase the sole rights to. These are costly options
in most cases, so most of the time stock photos are a very
inexpensive way to get a lot of bang without a lot of buck.
What payment methods do
you accept?
Check or money order (drawn on a US bank) or credit cards.
We process our credit card orders through a secure payment
processing center, 2checkout.com, and if you choose to pay
by credit card we will provide you with an invoice from them
with a link to their site for payment.
What are the terms of your Satisfication
Guarantee?
You will be 100% satisfied or we will refund your money, period.
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