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Expert web & business strategy, no gobbledygook.
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We make web technology make sense, so you reach more goals.
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You already know you SHOULD be doing more with the web.
But you can waste thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours if you don't know what to do and how to do it.
We'll help you start using the web strategically to save time, increase profits, avoid costly mistakes, and take control of your life. We can even help increase the value & marketability of your business.
We answer the questions you don't even know need asking.
We're the Trusted Advisor who will make sure you understand all of your options, and guide you in making the best choices to help you reach your short term & long term goals.
Even if someone else is designing your site, you need a solid strategy first.
And we promise, NO GOBBLEDYGOOK!
How to give good feedback to a designer
Giving good feedback is key to a successful design project.
Regardless of what you're having designed - logo, website, Annual Report, brochure, etc. - your input is important and totally necessary for your project to be successful.
You're paying good money for your project and you want great results, but the onus is on you to give good feedback. After all, designers aren't mind readers. No one knows your business like you, and the magic happens when your knowledge comes together with your design team's skills and expertise.
Below are a few guidelines on how to provide effective feedback and, just as or more importantly, what not to do.
How to give good feedback to your design team:
- Be honest. If you don’t like something, your design team needs to know – now, not three weeks down the road.
- Be specific. Point out what, exactly, is not working for you, and why it’s not working.
- Ask why. If you aren’t sure what the design team was thinking, ask about the reasoning. Everything we do for a project has a reason and a purpose.
- Refer to your goals. Relate every piece of criticism back to your goals.
- Relate to your audience. Design needs to speak to your audience, and they should be top of mind for every decision or critique that you provide. What do they need? What will they love?
How to give bad feedback to your design team:
- Involve lots of people to give feedback. Art made by committee is rarely successful. There's no way to please everyone, and you'll usually end up with a hodgepodge. Sometimes it's necessary to have several people involved in the project, but one person has to be willing and able to make an executive decision.
- Take things personally. If the designer misses the mark, they'll work with you to figure out why and move closer to the mutual target. If the designer disagrees with you, it’s because they’re thinking about your goals and your audience. It’s not personal, it’s business.
- Do our work for us. You should give written or verbal instructions about what isn’t working; don't redo the designer's work to illustrate your point. If you're able to design the project yourself you wouldn't need a designer.
- Prescribe fixes. You’re paying your design team to provide solutions, not to assemble something using your instructions. Explain the problem and the designer will pitch potential fixes, based on their experience, skills, and research. As in the point above, you wouldn't be hiring a designer if you were able to design.
When you hire us for a design project, we're bringing many years of experience to the table. This experience is what enables us to do our jobs well, just as your experience is what has brought you success. We need you to trust us to do our jobs so you can do yours.
Are you interested in talking about starting a project? If so, contact us and let's talk about it.
Sample Project Visuals
Websites
11-11
Web design & development for 11/11 Veteran Project. Our CEO is their Director of Strategy & uses their national platform and extensive network to help clients reach strategic business goals while supporting organizations that provide access to resources for veterans and their families.
Print Design
print
This 20-page 5-year Progress Report for a Tourism Department is printed on high quality gloss paper of magazine quality. Presenting details of progress made in an easy-to-digest manner helps Tourism stay accountable to funding sources.
websites
edgewood website
Web design and development for Edgewood Townhomes and Villas, a unique luxury townhome community in Southern Virginia. They needed a modern, mobile friendly site to help display the vast array of options available to homeowners, as well as highlight available properties.
websites
Mother Cluckers
Mother Cluckers is a unique home decor and interior design shop located in an historic downtown. They sell home luxuries, unique apparel, and gifts in their brick & mortar as well as online via Square. We developed the website, set up their ecommerce system on Square, and integrated it with their website.
websites
lisa
Web development for author, business strategist, speaker, and podcaster Lisa Kipps-Brown, our CEO.
Websites
Colin
Website design and marketing automation services for NASCAR driver Colin Garrett.
Illustration and Animation
illustration
A tourism office wished for some type of animation that would let visitors "drive" around the county to discover things to do. Using animation that requires no special browser plugins, illustrator Erin Kipps Brown came up with a concept to treat the project like a theme park map.
websites
VGA
Economic development website design for Virginia's Growth Alliance, a region that covers 10 counties.
rebranding & website
south hill
Town of South Hill, Virginia, rebranding and web design.
Branding
Westfield brand
New branding identity for The Downtown Westfield Corporation, the management entity of the Special Improvement District of Westfield, NJ. Main Street New Jersey awarded DWC a grant to work with Glerin on the rebranding and marketing strategy for Downtown Westfield.
Social Media
social
When we were invited by Virginia's Department of Housing and Community Development to speak about marketing to Virginia Main Street Community directors from across the state, we needed something helpful to give them to take back to the office.
Our Quicky Guide to Social Media ended up being quite a hit! This poster is different from anything we've ever seen: It has dry erase blocks to let the user jot notes for planning their social media.
The poster is 11"x17" - large enough to accommodate the dry erase blocks but small enough to not take up too much of the user's office wall.
websites
vineland website
Web design and development for Vineland Downtown Improvement District / Main Street Vineland, NJ. Part of a project awarded to VDID through a Branding & Digital Design Grant from Main Street New Jersey.
Branding
Branding
New branding identity for Stand Up For Salem (New Jersey), a nonprofit that stimulates business opportunity, historic preservation and community growth through grassroots community development.
Print Design
print
This magazine won an Award of Merit for Communication from the Southern Economic Development Council. Virginia's Growth Alliance is geographically the largest economic development region in Virginia. They provide a printed quarterly quality of life magazine to prospects; the magazine is printed on glossy paper that is of the quality you would find on a magazine rack. A low-res version is also available for download on their website and for distribution on usb's.
Fact Sheets
fact sheets
As a part of the Halifax County IDA rebranding project, the organization needed a one-sheet data flyer for prospects. The piece is designed to present a good bit of data in a condensed format that provides a quick overview of the county, and integrated design elements extend the new branding identity.
Branding
vineland branding
New branding identity for Main Street Vineland, NJ / Downtown Vineland Improvement District, a group that promotes, enhances and revitalizes historic Landis Avenue as a thriving commercial district and community-gathering place for shoppers, residents and visitors. Part of a project awarded to VDID through a Branding & Digital Design Grant from Main Street New Jersey.
