Too many Companies hand this responsibility to a graphic designer with no brief regarding the Target Market or where it would like to Position its Product.

There are designers out there who simply ignore the brief and ‘do their own thing’ – and then expect to be paid.

I will consult with you before any design work is done:

1.  To clearly understand your Product and Target Market, or
2.  Formulate a basic Marketing Strategy around the campaign.

LOGO DESIGN

This is critical as it is where Branding begins.  Your logo should be a fairly simple vector* image that works in colour as well as in black and white.

* – A vector image has absolute borders between colours as opposed to a rastor image where colours fade into one another.

PRINTED MATERIAL

I work on the ‘AIDA’ principle when designing printed material.

A = Attention – your first objective to grab attention.
I = Interest – once you have attention you must create interest.
D = Desire – stimulate desire for the product.
A = Action – a call to action eg. ‘buy one today’.

CMS requires a fundamental change of thinking by the client.  Once the site is complete, the success thereof depends on your constant input.  Your internet marketing strategy should be driven by writing articles [at least weekly] and sharing articles on Social Media. 

Your articles will be picked up by the Search Engines which will, in turn, bring them to the attention of journalists and potential clients. 

Once you build up a fan base on Social Media, sharing articles there will keep them constantly informed as to what you are up to. 

PLANNING THE WEB SITE 

The WordPress platform requires an understanding of a few terms: 

1.  DIRECTORY 

The entire screen as you see it is a DIRECTORY.  Most sites require one directory, but if you want the other pages on your site to look different, you may require more. 

2.  PAGES 

Pages contain information that does not change very often e.g. your Contact Details, About Us, Vision & Mission statements etc.  

3.  POSTS 

Posts are the articles you write. 

4.  CATEGORIES 

All posts are placed into one or more category – this enables visitors to your site to search by category. 

5.  TAGS 

All posts are given one or more tags – a little like a sub-category.  This enables visitors to search your site by tag.  It also generates what is called a Tag Cloud. 

6.  WIDGETS 

Widgets are the boxes [more correctly called objects] that appear down the sides and at the bottom of the directory.  They contain images, RSS feeds, menus, posts and comments etc. 

The web site requires planning around this structure.  Once the structure has been decided upon, I require all the images, text and other information needed – but we will get to that.

PORTFOLIO

www.thegremlin.co.za
www.nosybasset.co.za
www.nogginhomes.co.za
www.toilet-friend.co.uk
www.egg-cracker.co.uk
www.a1preowned.co.za
www.044.co.za
www.edenlions.org.za
www.heavensnest.org.za
www.lotusproject.co.za
www.oldordermcc.co.za
www.pegasusequestrian.co.za
www.toiletfriendly.co.za
www.xperiencesa.co.za

.html does give one a great deal more freedom in terms of design which, in turn, makes planning easier.  Once the structure has been decided upon, I require all the images, text and other information needed – but we will get to that.

PORTFOLIO

HTML SITES

www.tantivvey.co.za
www.toiletfriend.com
www.eggcracker.co.za
www.southerncapeletting.co.za
www.digital-imaging.co.za
www.dryspinner.co.za
www.pharaohslodge.co.za