Faqs

Introduction

Sometimes it is just nice to know who you are working with.

A bit about Jason

I am Husband to an amazing Wife, Father, Christian with a passion for Design, Music and Guitar.

When not designing you can find me playing sports with my boys, hiking or just trying to find the perfect RIFF.

As a designer my goal is offer the best of both worlds, that is freelancer and agency.

A bit about Laurel

Laurel is a microbiologist with a strong management background, she has an eye for detail and although does not work much with the design software, she brings a fresh detailed perspective to the designs we create.

When not working, she can be found baking, reading and just dishing out the best hugs to our boys.

How did you get your start?

My career started back in 1998 in the events industry, working  at a company called Gestomar Communications where the focus was invites, mailers and event posters and digital work even though the internet was but a baby then in SA.

2 years later I got a huge break in the lighting and furniture industry in which I still work and take on a dual role as Senior Designer / Creative Brand Manager, focusing on all aspects of advertising including large format catalogues, product installation illustration which developed my passion for isometric drawing and working with and negotiating with magazines for position and price.

Coming from a arty family my mother is a pianist and very musically creative, her cousin Peter Webber is a renowned artist and my grandfather was a draughtsman, it was easy for my brother and I to fall in love with creativity.

Where did you study?

I hold a diploma in Art and Design as well as a Diploma in Advertising and Marketing from the IMM.

Advice to younger designers?

Never stop learning and enjoying your craft, even after 25 years I am forever learning, proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks. It is an adventure.

I am a strong believer that your clients have great ideas too and together you can mold them into wonderful outcomes.

Admin

What is a Discovery Call?

This is where we call, have a zoom / telephonic meeting just to introduce ourselves and find out more about your need and company and why you are looking at doing the project, thereafter in most cases and depending on the complexity of the project we will either work via email or whats app, or arrange monthly Zoom calls.

Once we have had the discovery call, quoted and got the project rolling we will send you a custom questionnaire to find out more your target, competition and so forth just to guide the projects even further.

How does your process work?

There is nothing more unprofessional than a company that does not have a little structure, although we dig a little fun, we feel process is so important, the basis of ours is around partnership, understanding, communication and just doing our very best to create awesome work.

Once we have meet and discussed your need, quoted and the deposit paid, our process involves understanding your brand and its environment a little better, Lots of drawing—good old-fashioned pencil to paper drawing! We can’t start designing anything until we sketch out a concept on paper and create a plan. Whether it is a poster, book jacket, logo or a simple type treatment, we start with a sketch.

We discuss the sketches with you, see they are inline with your need, thereafter we take it to computer creating up to 3 rough concepts, refining the one closest to create the final artwork. 1 - 3 Revision rounds follow before final payment and delivery.

When does a project begin? 
Although we do establish a basic understanding before with our discovery meetings, Once deposit is paid the project is put into the production queue.

Logo Work

What format does my logo come in?

We present your Logo in JPEG, Transparent PNG, Vector PDF and EPS.

How is my logo presented colour wise?

Your logo is presented as such: Full colour, Black and Black with transparent punch through, White with transparent punch through. (see image)

How is the style guide presented?

The style guide is provided in digital form as a Print Ready PDF, 1(one) copy with bleed and 1(one) without bleed.

How are the files delivered?

The files are delivered as a zip file which contains the brand kit elements in their relevant folders via wetransfer and based on the design package you have taken.

Web Work

Will my website be built into a CMS?

This would depend on the complexity of coding needed in this case, Most CMS's only have one DB and there is always the worry that additional PHP coding may interfere with the back-end.

By default our marketing/brochure websites are built into October / Winter CMS an award winning content management software similar to wordpress.

SEO?

All our website design includes base SEO: title, description meta tags, social tags, analytics setup. SEO is actually an on going process and a management program based on goals can be quoted on accordingly.

Pricing

Do you price per hour or as a fixed price project?

Our main way of pricing is as a fixed price project where depending on the size and time frame of the project either 50%/50% deposit structure or 50% Deposit / 25% Milestone and / 25% before final delivery.

We do charge ad-hoc per hour if a project is urgent and the time period is difficult to judge. Monthly retainers are for an infinite period with the need being reviewed and discussed every six months. The minimum retainer is based on 10hrs a month for larger business, we do offer a smaller retainer program for smaller businesses where there advertising need is smaller.

Do you have a price list?

Unfortunately not, although we hold a fixed price on our Logo design packages, each brand and need is unique so we focus on custom pricing based on the best approach to solving that need.

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