Feed Your Business Fresh-squeezed OrangeCoat

From 2004 to 2018, we ran a gourmet web design company focused on helping entrepreneurs start companies and guiding established companies' web strategies.

Entrepreneurs

People kept telling us to stop working with entrepreneurs because they don't have much money. We kept telling those people to stick it in their ear. The satisfaction of helping people start companies from the concept up is one of the main reasons we were in business. We demanded that the entrepreneurs we work with are serious; they need to contribute the time, money and passion to help us turn an idea into a business.

When we worked with entrepreneurs we would

  • Create the brand including designing the logo and sometimes help with the naming
  • Consult on business and marketing strategies
  • Design and develop a web solution (social networking communities, e-commerce, custom web applications, or even just a blog or brochure website
  • Create marketing collateral -- business cards, letter head, brochures, posters
  • Help to support and promote the business after it's launched

Full Course Dinner

We'd help formulate and implement comprehensive online strategies for companies that were committed to the web, but left with a serious gap in man power or a budget too small for a full internal web department.

  • Upfront consulting on web strategy
  • Designing and developing large-scale projects
  • Ongoing consulting and support

Meat and Potatoes

Single site work usually includes:
  • Custom design
  • Content management system integration
  • Custom programing

Process

Before

During

After

Consulting 1

Thinking critically about your goals.

  1. Strategic analyses
  2. Usability evaluation(s)
  3. New perspectives
  4. Fresh ideas

Planning 2

Where is the project going? How are we going to get there?

  1. Define missions
  2. Set objectives and tasks
  3. Flowcharts and diagramming
  4. Delegate responsibilities

Design 3

Combining art and organization.

  1. Logos, names, messages
  2. Prototypes, wireframes, storyboards
  3. Web interface
  4. Art
  5. Words
  6. Photography

Development 4

To prepare a great web application, you need some secret sauce.

  1. The main ingredients are logic, know-how, patience and attention to detail
  2. Supplement with PHP, XHTML, CSS and JS
  3. If you have data, add to MYSQL
  4. Sprinkle some Flash and AJAX to taste

Testing 5

Does it work like we intended? Do other people find it useful? Can we make it better?

  1. Basic taste test. Do we like it?
  2. Usability evaluations. Do other people like it?
  3. Advanced testing (eye tracking, heat maps, real science). Measure how people interact with it.

Deployment 6

Does it taste good?

  1. Release. Launch. Go live.
  2. Announce. Promote. Monitor.
  3. Celebrate with a toast!

Support 7

Then what?

  1. Project review to take a look at progress, successes, failures and future enhancements
  2. A retainer is an option if the project is complex and indefinite in scope
  3. Often, the client makes updates to their site, but many times a support and maintenance contract is needed to cover incidents

Other 8

Desserts and after-dinner mints.

  1. Blogging
  2. Email newsletters
  3. Statistical analyses
  4. SEO
  5. Remember to tip the wait staff

Past Clients

Screenshots