Each time we work with the legal profession it seems that we explore new territory.

For instance, our long-time client Freedman+Hilmi required a modern, urban approach reflecting their work in the brisk world of West End real estate. By contrast, our work for California-based practice Rivera Employment Law had a brief for us to embody a more open, laid back feel for the branding and website, related to their approach to individual and corporate rights (and all that sunshine).

The latest legal project we’ve completed is for Winter Scott, experts in maritime law. A classic British firm of solicitors, they are a fascinating compliment to the other legal work we’ve done.

It’s a tidy project and to my mind sets a standard in terms of planning and creative approach and a great example of best practice web design for solicitors.

I never get tired of ‘a first’. A completely new experience that takes me (and the team) away from everything we’re used to and then leaves me wondering what other new horizons are out there to conquer next.

We’ve just completed one such project – a website for an interior designer in Riyadh. I think the fact that Yasmin Alsdais is a woman isn’t necessarily that remarkable to me, but in the context of her business which is growing fast and being hugely successful in Saudi Arabia, it’s most definitely a different (and very admirable) story. Given both that fact and the ease in which we worked across two continents, I’m particularly proud to be associated with the endeavour.

It’s been a great experience and opened up a fresh avenue designing for Saudi business in London which I hope is the start of a new chapter of work.

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.

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?