Designing your own web pages seem deceptively simple, but like any artistic medium, there's more to it than meets the eye. Using a badly designed page will do more harm to your business image than having no web page at all.
CloseRange web designers have the skills necessary to make your site succeed. Designs that work for you may not may not use every bell and whistle under the sun. In fact, on the Web, less is often more! A design that is simple yet well designed is more likely to convey the sophisticated if not mature image that viewers who have been on the Internet for awhile are more likely to appreciate. Designing simpler sites is often more difficult.
Of course, an ascetically pleasing site need not exclude animations, ticker and image tapes, slide presentations, audio tracks, discussion forums, chat groups, or 3D art, but restraint and good taste are difficult to come by out on the Web, and are appreciated by experienced surfers.
Our staff will tell you that "Good designers enjoy a challenge!" The absence of simplicity does not alter the designer's quest for grace, dignity and a coherent style.
No matter what others say, it's impossible to provide professional site design on flat rate basis. Anyone who offers you a flat rate per page or per site cannot be serious about making your site as successful as you yourself hope and expect it to be.
Our designers all work at an hourly rate, and because no two jobs are exactly the same, it turns out that the hourly rate is the only sane way to charge for design and art work rendered. At $75 per hour, you get what you are paying for, professional quality work. For additional information on our staff's qualifications, see our "About CloseRange" or contact us directly via E-mail.
There are ways to approximate the total number of hours involved for each stage of the project, once the specifics of the the project become known.
Professionally managing the project by categories is essential because there are numerous procedures involved in successful task completion, and each one of the procedures contributes to the total time spent on the project. Successful design doesn't just happen, at least not reliably. Reliability requires a carefully structured process.Aside from a better result, the best thing about having a carefully structured process is that it enables more reliable assessment of just how long it will take to design and execute your project. Categorizing the process leads to a higher level of customer satisfaction, cost management, and timely deployment.
The basic procedural categories in chronological order are:
- understanding the site objectives
- editorial development
- categorizing site content
- giving the estimate
- signing a contract (with deposit)
- more complete editorial development
- creating the design blueprint
- design sketches for custom art work (if required)
- client approval
- production (artwork, HTML and programming add-ons)
- proofing and review
- final client approval
- initial server administration
- uploading the files (the site) to the server
- additional server administration (if needed)
- testing all links (and other interactive features)
- listing the site with desired search engineers
- additional site promotion (if requested)
It's virtually impossible to give a realistic estimate without discussing the content and context of your site. You'll notice that the first three items listed above attempt to underscore size and nature of the site, and determine some guidelines for graphic design. This is done first with you, free of charge, in order to give you an estimate. After determining the nature and amount of content, the number of graphic elements, number of tables, forms, interactive elements, we can move on to phase two. This involves a more complete editorial review of content and decisions on its presentation. Sessions that seek client approval are free of charge. Procedures for which we charge are
- creating the design blue print
- design sketches for art work
- art work
- programming and programming add-ons
- testing links
- additional site promotion (if required)
The creation of design blue print, design sketches, art work, creation or customization, and addition of design elements (like icons, buttons, backgrounds, bullets, or frames) are billed at the rate of $75 per hour. Programming add-ons vary in cost. To see a more complete list, click "Programming Add-ons." All links are tested at least once, both off line and on-line. There is no charge for this. Additional site promotion may vary depending upon the service you require. You'll notice, if you have been a good reader, that some system administration and site promotion is free of charge. If the site administration requires setting up new features that are not already a part of your system, say, for an example, Secure Socket Layer or other commerce options, then additional charges will apply.
Using hourly rates, and using the categories listed above, we can give you an estimate for your project, keep the job on track. We do everything we can at our end to insure that it will be unlikely that your job will go "over-budget."
