We do a lot of things different at 5 Stones Media and one of the things that tends to set us apart is that we do not host the websites that we build. I often get questions about this but when I explain my reasoning, my clients tend to like it, so much so in fact it was one of the things that sealed the deal on a website we recently finished.
I have fought with myself about hosting because I know it is an opportunity to make what we call "mailbox money" but after working in this business for a while I feel that it is a conflict of interest for the designer/developer to host as well.
Countless times I have had a prospective client call me about having a new website built because their old website has not been updated in years and they have lost touch with the designer. The website cannot be updated because the hosting was set up in the business name of the designer and that business no longer exists. We have no way to prove that our client owns that website. On top of that in a couple of cases the domain ...
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As a designer, working with an existing brand is fairly common. One might think such projects are fairly straight forward—create a new marketing piece using the established branding elements. However this is far more difficult that it may sound. Most small companies and organizations I’ve worked with are not brand conscious with design elements varying from flyer to flyer. (Just tracking down a logo in vectors can be a task in itself!)
In contrast, last week I was talking to Rev. Charles Latour, O.P., principal of Archbishop Hannan High School, who is in the middle of creating a branding style guide for the high school’s marketing and communications. The guide includes instructions for when the formal crest should be used, names and examples of official fonts, displaying the standard pantone colors, and more.
Granted, I’ve created similar branding style guides myself and have used established guides when working with universities and other large institutions, but I found the princi ...
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When it comes to maintaining a successful brand the whole needs to be more than the sum of its parts. It gets there by showing a consistent and focused message. Every part of a company's communication needs to add to the whole. This starts with staying on brand and that includes the logo, colors, fonts, proportions, icons, slogans, and photos—yes photos.
Unfortunately, third parties often fail to understand this. I’m not sure if it’s a case of wanting to make an extra buck by selling new pictures or building one’s portfolio—regardless—rather than helping the client, a third party will undermine a brand (and ultimately client) when it fails to adhere to all branding components.
By way of example, I’m working with
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