Launching our new website

by Kelly Hobkirk

It seems the longest project is always your own. We are finally launching our new website, which we’ve been working on for a while now. A long while in fact. So long, it’s hard to think of it as the same project we began in 2010. (2010!) Yet, the site’s design and vision remains largely the same, and happily, it’s just as contemporary and true to our brand now as it was then.

We had four objectives for the site:
1. Create a site true to our brand vision, voice and actions.
2. Showcase our philosophy, breadth of services and depth of our work, so clients and prospects really understand what we do.
3. Create valuable editorial content for people seeking knowledge of graphic design, branding, and marketing.
4. Build the site on the same WordPress CMS we use for most client websites, so we can regularly show our latest work and share our experience with ease.

We’ve handily accomplished all of these goals and even learned some things along the way.

A worthwhile effort
I’ve found that with graphic design, brand development and websites, business owners and marketing managers frequently have a hard time articulating their vision until they get inspired by visuals. So our site new site is focused on giving a good gander at large visuals that bring greater perspective to the depth of the work, each accompanied by project background info and a list of skills we tapped.

We’ve also described our services in depth, using simple terms that won’t boggle your mind with technical jargon, yet give you a good feeling for how we might help you communicate your value to the peeps who need to know (your target market).

I’ve been writing branding and marketing blogs for a few years. I ghost write on some blogs too. I wanted to include a blog on Train of Thought only if it was a value-add for clients and visitors. (Don’t you just hate blogs with entry after entry that are little more than advertisements?) Our blog is content-rich, with posts designed to educate and hopefully entertain a little along the way.

The result, we believe (and hope), is a valuable site for startups, seasoned business folk, clients, and even for tire-kickers who hope to learn something along the way.

The show had to go on
In between designing the site and programming it, we had to perform for our clients. In fact, client work always takes precedence over our own, so the Train of Thought site was put on hold each time the firm’s work schedule reached maximum capacity. This happened at least eight times! Which is good because it means we do our job well, and clients like us. And it’s also bad because it meant we had to put off launching the fruits of our labor for longer than we’d like.

Hundreds of hours have gone into planning, optimizing graphics and programming the pages of our new website. The copywriting was completed in our usual manner (rocket-fast). Look for an upcoming post where guessing how long it took to write this website’s text could win you something [probably] better than a fruitcake.

Launching our new website
We have finally completed this protracted cheerful chore of birthing (launching) our brand spankin’ new website. It’s been a nostalgic trip through our work archives. I’ve found the act of pouring over the portfolio to be quite reaffirming, underscoring the on-brand text written in the services pages, while highlighting the depth of our work.

We hope you find our new website to be of value, and that you might tell your business-inclined friends, business owners, startups, lovers, and otherwise marketing needful mates about it too.

Thank you for reading, perusing, or even lounging about. Give us a shout if you have questions, comments or burning desires.

Posted by Kelly Hobkirk • May 15, 2012 • Tags: ,,,