Our Work Print Work Our Process
Our mission is to make designs that get results and make you happy. We are selective about our clients — so if you’re working with us, it’s because we like you and we want to see you succeed.
General Approach
Step 1: Chat. Let’s make a list of goals, talk about stuff you like, and stuff you know you want or don’t want.
Step 2: Brainstorm. We’ll put together some samples and ideas for the project.
Step 3: Mock-Ups and Revisions. We’ll create the designs, test, review and edit them.
Step 4: Go live! Or print! – as the case may be.
Step 5: Follow-Up. We’ll stick around to make tweaks, or last minute edits.
Web Design
Fully Scalable, easily updated, Search Engine Friendly, and more...
Waking Media develops message driven websites that can be easily updated yourself. Our sites are geared toward SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which means they are designed and coded with Google and other search engines in mind. Our designs are fully scalable to grow with your company – pages, links and media can be easily added, edited, and removed even after the site has been published.
Web Design Process
We’ve been in business for over 10 years and we’ve built over 50 websites soup-to-nuts. During that time we’ve developed a process that guarantees satisfaction from our clients. It basically follows the five steps above, but here’s a more detailed look:
- Chat. (same as above) Let’s make a list of goals, talk about stuff you like, and stuff you know you want or don’t want.
- Brainstorm. (same as above) We’ll put together some samples and ideas for the project.
- Wireframe. A wireframe is a black and white, simple layout of functionality and content — it helps us focus on our goals for the site before getting caught up in design elements.
- Design Mock-Ups. Now we add color, art, fonts and all create the complete look and feel of the site.
- Preliminary Testing. This is where we collect some data. We send the site mock-ups to your friends, family, colleagues, clients and to feedback. Does the site convey the message we intend? Do you users want to take the actions that we’re hoping for?
- Building The Beta Site. After implementing any changes from the preliminary tests, we build the beta site. A beta site allows us to develop the site while still being hidden from the world.
- Beta Launch. This is where we tap your colleagues and neighbors again — we send them the hidden address of our beta site and ask them to test it out.
- Go live! Once we’re sure the site is stable and we’ve done our best to make it a place for raving fans of your business, we launch it!
- Training and Support. Throughout this process we will be teaching you how to use your new site, and at some convenient moment, we will sit down and talk you through the whole thing. We will also pass along some documentation to help you remember.
- Updates And Maintenance. Once the site is live and you know how to use it, it’ll be time to implement our strategy for keeping it up-to-date. This can be simple updates that you do on your own. Or more complex enhancements that we work on together.
Update my own site?
Waking Media builds sites using the latest web technology called, “Open-Source Content Management Systems,” such as WordPress, Drupal or Joomla. Once the site is launched, it’s as easy to use as a Gmail or Hotmail Account. You simply login and click on a page you would like to update – it’s easy to create new pages, edit existing pages, add images, video, polls, quizes, banner ads, etc.
Up-to-date content is great for your business!
When you regularly update the content on your site (or add blog posts) it will feel more lively to visitors and that will keep them coming back. Current content also keeps the search engines coming back – search engines are constantly scouting for the newest, most relevant information to serve up.
A little more about the technology
Unlike traditional web software, such as Dreamweaver, a CMS runs on the web-host, not on your computer. All your content is housed in a database, not in the site pages individually. The content stays separate from the design, making it easier to back-up and easier to update.
The site design (look and feel) is like a “skin” on the content; it can be updated or completely changed without effecting the rest of the site. It’s significantly easier to swap a background image or change the color of a font without having to update each page like traditional sites.