Brand & Website Design
Entertainment Extra “V2”
“Hey Jenny — I really would love a simple blog site… why are you calling this a ‘brand’ and ‘website’ design? Please explain!!!”
Good question! I’m happy to!
In simple terms:
Brand & identity are like peanut butter and jelly—or jam, if that’s your ‘jam’—driving the voice, vibe, and tone of your service or business, along with all the visual wonders that accompany them. (I’ll get to the website stuff after, promise… )
Where I come in:
As a designer, my success is measured by my clients' successful brand identities that translate into visual expressions. When a client comes to me without an established visual identity, I make it a priority to establish one before designing, building, and developing any collateral.
“Jeezy Creezy, Jenny — Are you like adding extra sh*t here? I already have a limited budget… Come on, bro!”
In my 25 years of blood, sweat, and creative tears (fueled by extraordinary amounts of coffee and wine), I've learned all the wrong ways to build websites or brand collateral—namely, cutting corners, being hasty, failing to measure twice before cutting once, and neglecting to establish a brand identity. It would be like Forrest Gump without his Jenny.
I just do things the right way, always keeping the budget top of mind.
* * *
BRAND
Your brand is the meaning and emotions that the universe attaches to your service / product / media channel, etc… This is your VIBE, soul, and unique personality - the ZHUZH - that makes you stand out from the rest.
What do you want people to feel and understand when they think of your business? That’s your brand.
In your case:
Your voice, writing style, and the unique way you present information will organically become your brand.
However, we need to define this from the outset as best we can, so your vibe comes through visually, as well as in immediate text callouts like taglines and headers.
* * *
IDENTITY
Your identity is the eye candy that expresses your brand—all the good stuff like color palette, logo, fonts, typography styles, graphic elements, photography, and more. Identity is the visual expression of your brand essence through all these elements and beyond.
In your case:
We will establish a pretty solid identity with:
A revamp/clean-up of your logo illustration
Exploration of an updated logo font
Color palette
Typography
(font pairings, header and body styles, etc.)
Overall style
(are we leaning vintage, modern, traditional… a mix of these?)
Even wicked smahhht rich guys agree!
* * *
BRAND & IDENTITY IMPLEMENTATION
This is when we take all the juicy elements mentioned above and inject them into every form of communication design.
In your case: all the ‘brandy’ bits listed above, and your website.
“So, what’s the difference between a blog and a website?”
A blog is actually a type of website — so you can’t really have a blog without a website. If you do a search on ‘best blogging platforms’ you’ll see they will be lists of website builders.
The main distinction is that blogs are regularly updated with fresh content, which you will do, on the blog section of your website :)
* * *
Scope & Deliverables
Here’s the tea on what I will create, the work involved, and the magic that happens…
Brand & Identity
Definition of the Brand Voice
Determine some key characteristics of your brand voice: words / phrases / feelings & emotions that define your website and what’s all about.
This voice will be our positioning for use-case implementation (website, etc.)
Define a short “don’ts” list (I will explain more when we get here)
Logo Design and Formatting
(Although you already have a logo, I think it could benefit from a refresh while maintaining the integrity of the original tone and feel.)
Clean up and update the illustration—perhaps by incorporating some patterning or linear graphics.
Explore font choices that feel more ‘you.’
Deliver all formats for various use case materials (JPEG, PNG in low and high resolution, and EPS vector files).
Color Palette Curation
Specify the colors in your logo, along with a secondary palette that coordinates.
Expand this into the website colors: background, graphics, overall digital palette, etc.
Typography
Define the brand fonts and typography.
This includes the logo font as well as tagline typography, if applicable.
Website Design & Development
The website will be built in Squarespace
Domain Name Research:
Availability, Testing, and Purchase
Research desired domain name and alternatives
*WE SHOULD CHAT ABOUT THIS - I ALREADY TOOK A LOOK AND HAVE SOME QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.
Site Architecture / User Experience (UX)
I will create a password-protected Squarespace staging site and template/organize the following pages.
Below is a rough outline, and we will fine-tune it as we go along.
Main Navigation
These are not set in stone and can be changed as we dive in - proposal includes 4 main nav pages:
Home
Blog
Gallery
Contact / Information / FAQs
Footer Pages
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
The above pages will/can contain internal and external links, forms (if desired), newsletter/blog snippets (if desired), social integrations, CTAs, etc.
Design User Interface (UI)
Overall Layout, Look and Feel:
Typography, photography, graphics, banners, styles, color palette, sizing, spacing, buttons, flow, etc.
Site Styles:
Define the look and feel in the style sheets
Photography / Graphics:
Banner images, backgrounds, etc.
Copy / Content:
Format provided copy, content, and typography lock-ups into the site design.
Copy Formatting
Let’s discuss possibly adding a collection of brand statements, taglines, quotes, and call-outs from the “voice” phase to build upon for the website.
For body and content text, let’s talk about where else you’ll need it, aside from the blog.
Boilerplate for terms, privacy, etc., will be lifted and customized.
Revision Rounds
One (1) design rounds of edits / revisions
One (1) development rounds of edits / revisions
Please note, to stay within budget, only one round of edits is included. See below for à la carte options.
Backend (boring - but essential) Stuff
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Overall use of best practices for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) during the design and development of the website
Site title and description:
Relevant, readable description of your site for search engines.
Page descriptions:
Each page on your site will have a unique SEO description. The text will be short and readable (50-300 characters), and describe the content of the page.
Page and title formats:
Visual and content review of how page titles appear in browser tabs, social shares, and search engine results.
URL slugs:
Checked and verified
Mobile Optimization
Overall use of best practices for mobile during the design and development of the website. However, it will be developed for desktop first, and then optimized before launch.
Site will be developed to be fully responsive on phones, tablets, etc.
Style and simplify mobile navigation
Optimize CTAs and their location based on common eye and swipe patterns on mobiles
Test performance optimization
Photography and imagery reviewed on mobile, mobile images formatted and uploaded when necessary*
Overall sit spacing will be reviewed, tweaked, edited, etc. for mobile experience
“Top-down” approach checked and ensured
Cross-browser tested
*Jenny Romanski Design is not responsible for images that are uploaded when blog entries are created.
Additional Design and Development Essentials
Browser icon / favicon
Outbound links always go to new tab / window
Website Launch Actions and Checklist
Broken inbound and outbound links are checked and fixed, content errors addressed, etc.
Hide orphaned pages (drafts, etc.)
Direct domain name to finalized Squarespace staging site
Setup hosting plan
Source to outside friends / family members to review for flow and content mistakes
Ownership transfer to your account. I will stay on as a contributor to make edits and maintain the site
Investment
We are essentially building the digital brand and website from the ground up. In that regard, my initial estimate of the scope and time allotted for the project has increased slightly as I assess this from a holistic viewpoint.
I believe this approach will ensure a more professional, long-lasting branded website that will attract, engage, and maintain your intended audience.
***
Estimated time for entire scope as listed above:
18-27 hours
*** I’m aware that this is a wide range but it’s only fair to give you the lowest and highest estimate ***
Hourly rate: $100 (discounted from normal rate of $125)
Total estimate: $1800
(includes 18 hours of all creative branding, design, and assets listed above)
Additional hours for extended edits, additions, etc., will be billed at my hourly rate. Examples of additions are listed below.
***
Timeline
30 days - we can chat about how quickly we can push this
*** highly dependent upon how quickly you provide content and edits / revisions ***
Start date
We can discuss what works best for both of us!
Payment Schedule
25% start, 50% midpoint, 25% with final balance at end of project.
***
The following are not included in this proposal and are paid by client:
Domain name yearly fee
$14 - $20 a year through Squarespace (fee is waved if hosting is paid annually - see below)
Yearly hosting through Squarespace
Personal or professional depending on scope of website
***
The following are not included in this proposal and will be billed at my hourly rate:
SEO keywords: Researched and implemented
Google Analytics: Set-up connection
Alt-text to images: Images will have alt-text coded behind them for SEO and compliance
Custom designed 404 Page (page not found, directs back to home)
Social images tagged / created within navigation pages to populate with share links, social posts, etc.
Additional copywriting: Copywriting that goes beyond branded taglines, such as body copy, navigation page introductions, etc.
Copy pull beyond three blog entries: This proposal includes three (3) blog entry mock-ups. Additional time pulling copy will be billed at my hourly rate.
***
I am happy to provide client references at your request.
Thank you for allowing me to present this proposal. I’m happy to answer any questions or discuss any of your concerns.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Jenny