We’ve been working with Matt and Emma Simpson on the branding of their skiing business Alpenglow since 2014. Giving shape to their business plan, we devised their launch branding with its bold elegant icon. The project then became a textbook example of web design for startups.

Chiefly an online business, from the outset they wanted their website to be a clever hybrid of online booking and personal concierge service. Human interaction, testimonials and recommendations has ended up at the centre of all successful online businesses over the last ten years – so their instincts proved to be dead on from day one.

Since the launch we’ve done assorted updates to the site, for instance working on the chalet pages, creating new icons and designing additional feature pages. These are the usual requirements of a site of this kind as a business grows. However we find it satisfying that even as we see a massive reboot of the site this week, it’s still a recognisable evolution of the design we brought to market with the team at Alpenglow five years ago.

A year ago, we were hard at work completing the launch website for talent and literary agency Northbank Talent Management. The result of months of work, that site launched on the 31st May 2018. The project was a rebranding of what had been up til that point Diane Banks’ eponymous literary agency. With a single move, the business had a completely fresh start.

The new name and branding expanded into a wide range of print and social media as well as, most visibly, an expansive website which we custom-designed from the ground up. From a standing start and completely new URL, Northbank’s website now has sometimes several hundred visitors a day. Exciting stuff.

There’s more to come too. Today we’re unveiling a surprise – over the last few weeks we’ve been designing a sister brand as a standalone entity: Northbank Speakers.

The Barbican Estate is an internationally recognised Grade II* listed brutalist masterpiece revered by students (young and old) of the genre and most crucially by its residents.

You wouldn’t think such an icon it would be subject to fundamental structural change – but it seems there are no sacred cows when it comes to London’s built environment in 2019. To local dismay, the City of London School for Girls has announced proposals for a significant expansion within the Barbican Estate.

Supporting a grassroots appeal to debate these plans, we have built a new photography library and created materials for the press to give life to this nascent movement. This has unexpectedly turned into a smart little design project – and a great case study of graphic design for campaigns.

This is very much ‘part two’ of a story. A sequel of sorts.

Last summer we helped launch AlgoMe Consulting as a standalone business from its sister business, a corporate recruitment platform. The business plan was based on the experience the management team already had blended with the contacts amassed building the platform. It was the ideal springboard for a high value management consultancy.

The work we did at the time set a distinctly different tone from their recruitment platform platform, defining the new entity in bold, colourful terms with distinctive imagery.

Now, not even a year on, their next move is similarly eye-catching – an online reboot that is a great example of how to take your website to the next level.

I love it when a project comes out of the blue. The phone rings, someone has a fantastic idea for improving their business and wants us to be a part of it. Such a great moment.

That conversation usually runs in a certain direction – plans for the coming years; growth; new products. Maybe the goal is to expand their network or achieve a very different corporate look.

We do all sorts of design work from identity to print but ultimately nearly every project we work on today involves an online presence. And the question always comes up every time.

So… how much does a website cost?

When I talk to a client about their new website, invariably there are elements of a design project which are unclear. They know what their business does and perhaps the proud history and achievements. Yet, things tend to get a little fuzzier when we discuss what they are going to do in the future.

Perhaps it’s a new product that’s still in development or a feature they want to add to the site (such as a News section) that requires an ongoing member of staff to maintain. Invariably this relatively minor issue tends to hold everything up.

To break the impasse, I usually suggest we hold back and add it later. Because, why not? It has the advantage of streamlining the project, making it more manageable in the short term. Plus, adding in additional features later allows for organic growth. Rather than a compromise, I like to think of this as ‘incremental web design’.

You get the full project, but in a planned, gradual way.