We’ve built our studio with the aim of making the design experience enjoyable for everyone because we know the sense of overwhelm you have when you’re figuring out what the heck you’re doing next. We spend a lot of time feeling just like that, so we get it.
We’re a small boutique studio (Hannah and Toby if you don’t know) which means you get to work closely alongside us – by the end of the process we’re going to know each other very well. Together we’ve combined our skills as a former teacher and experienced designer to whip up creative magic whilst also offering a listening ear so we can help nurture your business. Our process involves cheering you on when you need it most and helping you get the absolute best from the design process but we also advocate early bar and lying down in a dark room when running your business gets a bit much.
Creating great brand and a website design is massively important to us but what we really want is for you to come out the other side feeling reassured and confident about showing your worth because you’ve worked so hard at it.
Here you’ll see exactly how our process works and how we guide you through each step. If you need more, you can also read through our articles here for a bit more guidance or just text us. We’re always around (unless it’s Friday:)
Chat WITH US
We start every design project with a free Zoom chat where we can sit down and have a proper conversation about your business. You can bring coffee. Or gin. There’s no no judgement here. We’ll ask you how your business came to be, what’s working, what’s not and what you’d love to change.
We don’t spend much time talking about design at this point because we can’t design something that feels right for your business until we understand the business behind it. If you’re on a call with a designer and they jump straight into convos about colours and fonts, we’d say that’s a bit of a red flag.
This chat is also a chance for all of us to work out whether we actually like each other. We’re going to be spending quite a bit of time together so this is massively important to us. We need you to feel comfortable picking up the phone, sending us a message and being completely honest about what you think.
creatING A DESIGN PROPOSAL
After our chat, we go away and put together a bespoke proposal. Rather than asking you to choose a package from a list, we look at everything you’ve told us and recommend what we think will genuinely help your business and what you need. Most of our clients invest around £4,500 in their brand and website design, but we don’t believe in shoving everyone into the same box. If there’s something extra you need you can have it, or you might want a smaller package to get you going. You can read more about brand and web design investment here.
If you decide you’d like to work with us, you’ll sign your contract, pay your deposit and we’ll get everything booked in. Then the fun bit starts. Yay!
a little homework
Once you’re officially an After The Fox client (hooray!) we’ll send over your welcome pack. We’ll ask you to complete our brand questionnaire and create your own private Pinterest board. You’ll also be invited to book your brand consultation with both of us.
There’s no frantic rush to get everything done before the meeting. We give you plenty of time because we want you to think about your answers and gather inspiration properly.
The brand Consultation
It sounds a bit formal but it absolutely isn’t and we promise not to make you feel like you’re being interviewed!
Your brand consultation is one of our favourite parts of the process. We’ll ask you to walk us through your Pinterest board and tell us what you’ve saved and, more importantly, why you’ve saved it. We’ll talk through your questionnaire together, ask lots of questions and take plenty of notes. Bring coffee and gin again!
Sometimes you’ll come to the chat thinking you know exactly what you want and leave with a completely different perspective. Sometimes you’ll have absolutely no idea what you want, and that’s fine too. You don’t have to have it all figured out because that’s what we’re here for.
Once we’ve got a really good understanding of you, your business and the feeling we’re trying to create, we go away and start designing.
Brand DESIGN
After we’ve completed the brand consultation we’ll begin creating your first moodboard. This is about getting the overall feeling of the brand right before we start developing the concept. It gives us a chance to make sure we’re on the same page before we get into the more detailed design work. If the moodboard isn’t right then the concept will be off too which isn’t what we want.
Throughout the process we also send you little videos which walk you through our decisions and why we’ve made the choices we have. We’ve found this is a way simpler way of explaining things rather than very long email exchanges.
When the moodboard is signed off, we’ll then take everything we’ve learned and start developing your first brand concept. You’ll be given the chance to offer lots of feedback and the concept will be amended until you’re happy. Within reason though. If we’re on amend 1076, there might be an issue;)
Then, once your identity is finalised, we’ll pull everything together into your full brand pack so you have all the tools you need to start showcasing your worth and charging for it.
BESPOKE website DESIGN
With your brand sorted, we start thinking about your website. We’ll have another chat with you about what you want the website to do, the pages you need and how you want people to feel when they land on it. You’ll then be invited to upload your copy and images for us to work with.
From there, we’ll create a home page mock-up PDF for you to look through and sign off. Once we’re all happy with the direction, we get on with the build. You can literally leave us to it because this is the bit that can feel most daunting. You don’t need to sit there building pages with us or learning how to use WordPress. We just crack on.
You’re welcome to check in with us throughout the build so you can see how everything is coming together, and once it’s finished you’ll have the opportunity to make any final amends before we send your shiny new website out into the world.
OPTIONAL COACHING
Once a teacher, always a teacher so this part of the process is really unique to After The Fox.
The final step is entirely optional but many of our clients choose to sign up to one to one coaching (with me, Hannah!) where I show you how to get your new brand out into the world, how to find your audience and how to use your brand visuals effectively. There’s zero point investing in brand design if you don’t know how to use it and many of our clients continue working with us for extra support with getting their brand out there. There’s no judgement about what you know/don’t know or any technical stuff. Its just an hour a week where you can offload, run ideas past me and talk about how things are going. Once again, bring gin if you feel the need, although I prefer a prosec if I’m being honest.
You can find out more about our Small Business Coaching here.
FINALLY!
We don’t see ourselves as a typical brand and web design studio, churning out logos and then scurrying off. Because we have our own skill sets and we stay in our lanes, we’ve built a studio that puts independents at the heart of what we do and that’s always been super important to us. We could bang on about it here, but instead we’ll leave it to our past clients who say it so much better. You can read their words here.
Forever cheering you on!
Hannah and Toby x
