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Cornerstone

About Wayout Design

September 18, 2015 by Maggie Cameron

At Wayout Design, we value our clients, and we want to help you succeed! We will design a website that brings together your business goals with your identity. Who are you, how do you define yourself in your industry, and where do you see yourself this time next year? These are all things that we can help you define. Maybe you only need a website, or maybe your business identity needs a makeover–whatever your needs, Wayout will design a custom solution to help you achieve your goals.

We have real-life experience.

Even though we’ve been designing/developing websites and print materials for over 14 years, it’s been mostly freelance. It’s time we upped our game and became a viable small business, so we are right in there with you as you grow yours. We are coming across the same small business hurdles that you are. Luckily for you, we’ve got that whole graphic design end of things already figured out.

One of the most important things you can do to add legitimacy to your business is to develop a cohesive identity package. Your business identity needs to clearly and uniquely represent you. A unified front for your business shows your clients your professionalism and allows you to be taken seriously. Wayout can help you figure all of this out. At the very least you’ll need a great website that will help you grow your business.

You are the #1-most-important thing in our design process.

We are not happy unless you are happy. We want you fully involved in the design process from start to finish. We need to hear what you like about the websites that you frequent, and what don’t you like? It will probably take a little more thought than you were counting on, but this ongoing communication is key to a successful design. The communication process doesn’t end when the website goes “live” either. If you have questions after the fact, get in touch, and we will quickly get back to you to see what’s up.

We value a personal approach.

We are a small operation. You deal directly with the owners of the company for every project. A successful project benefits both of us, so it’s in both of our best interests that we personally make sure you are happy with the end product. Because of this, we only take a limited number of projects at one time.

Inspiration is everywhere.

Our eyes and minds are always open to new ideas. We love beautiful color combinations and funky patterns, original artwork and great writing.  It’s our goal to incorporate some or all of this in each project. That which we’ve never seen before is always most interesting! If you have anything that has stuck in your mind, bring it to the table! Is it a tree that you can’t believe is still standing? Is it a beautiful archway in your favorite building? Is it the colors you saw in the Pottery Barn catalog…(we’re all guilty of this one…haha)? The point is, we get our inspiration from everyday things and we’d love to know what makes you say…WOW!

Filed Under: Cornerstone, The Process

Why Choose Wayout Design Over DIY Web Design?

February 10, 2015 by Maggie Cameron

Why choose custom web design?DIY web design is everywhere. GoDaddy, Network Solutions and Wix all offer site building tools that seem easy enough to use. For some of you that may be all you need, just a few clicks, and your site is up and running. Most of you, however, will want a little more.

Think of it as a trip to a fast food restaurant. Sure, you could go to McDonald’s and order a sandwich, or you could go to Chipotle and order exactly what you want. You’d much rather have a burrito filled with those delicious rice and beans. Are you a carnitas lover or that spicy chicken? Doesn’t matter, because you can get exactly what you want. Customization at McDonald’s is tolerated but not encouraged, whereas the folks at Chipotle expect you to customize your burrito.

Customization is key…

You often can’t get that with the pre-fab sites offered by the hosting companies. Web design is not their core business. It’s an add-on for them.

At the beginning of this process, you may not think your needs require a customized website, but they almost always do. As soon as you begin to incorporate your own logo, photo, colors, and text into a site, you are customizing. The pre-fab sites will let you upload some of your own graphics, but in order for them to look good, they need fit into a specific slot on that website.

Let’s look at your logo…do you have your logo file? Is it in a format that your website will accept? Next you have to figure out if it’s the correct size. Chances are, it’s not. Now you’re faced with figuring out how to determine the size of your logo, resize it and save it in the correct format. I can almost guarantee this process will involve phone calls, Google searches, and tutorials, just to get your logo looking good on your site. This whole process takes valuable time that you could be spending on your core business!

Let Wayout Design figure all of this out. You know what you want, and we can make it happen.

We have been very lucky that the vast majority of our projects have come from family and friends, with very little “selling” needed. However, a few months ago, I had a meeting with a potential client that was a little different. The casual good vibe that always comes with meeting with a new client was there, but I could tell this man wasn’t “sold” on Wayout Design. This client is, in fact, in sales, and he wanted me to give him my “spiel!” Uh-oh, I don’t really have one of those… discomfort set it. My usual calm confident nature was out the window, and I began to squirm a little. I was feeling…(gulp) vulnerable. As I stumbled over my words, this kind man gave me my pitch. He said “So, I know what I want my website to do, how I want it to look…and you can make that happen.” And there it was, plain as day.

Stay focused on your business and let a custom web developer/designer build you a beautiful, functional website.

Filed Under: Cornerstone, The Process

What is WordPress?

September 1, 2014 by Maggie Cameron

WordPress LogoWayout Design exclusively uses WordPress to build websites. Wow, is it that good? Yes, it is! We’ve been very lucky that our recent clientele have been very trusting about our WordPress crush and have allowed us to go ahead and develop their sites in WordPress without really knowing what it is. For those of you who are a little more skeptical, this post will provide some background and definition of this powerful tool.

WordPress (WP) is a free, open source blogging tool and content management system. Ok, there are a lot of words in that sentence that you may want to understand further.

  • free – We all know what free means. In terms of WordPress, it means we don’t pay to the WordPress software.
  • open source – This means that the source code that drives the software is openly shared so that people are encouraged to voluntarily improve the design of the software.
  • blogging – Really becoming popular in the late 2000s, blogging is kind of like making an online diary or journal entry. Each entry, or post as WordPress calls them, is displayed in reverse chronological order on the screen. Blog topics are endless and range from very personal things to business information and anything and everything in between.  You are reading the Wayout Design blog right now!
  • content management system (CMS) – This is the beauty behind WordPress. Through a series of built in features, it organizes your information, photos, and videos, like a perfect little filing cabinet for all that you share. There is a place for everything and when utilized correctly, pulling up older content is possible with just a few clicks.

WordPress began in 2003 as a little bit of code intended to enhance the typography of everyday writing on the web. The people who used it were writers looking for a better way to present and organize their writing. As it’s popularity grew, the Internet community began to figure out that the CMS system driving WordPress could be leveraged as a website design platform. We could use the built-in features of WordPress to make designing web sites much easier both for the designer and client. Back in the day (pre WP), the biggest nightmare for a designer and client was a change to the navigation menu. That meant a complete rebuild of a website which was a hassle for the designer and cost the client big bucks. With WordPress, menu changes are a cinch, taking just seconds to accomplish, rather than hours or even days. As a designer, that is my most favorite thing about WordPress!

I ♥ WP

But wait there’s more…

Top 3 Reasons To Use WordPress

  1. As described above, it’s super flexible. Updates are so easy.
  2. Search engines ♥ WP too! This requires a whole post of it’s own, but for now understand that search engine rankings now depend heavily on fresh, new, and changing content. That means you really need to blog about something on your website so that the search engines can recognize your awesomeness.
  3. WordPress is mobile! Click here for more information about mobile web sites. A good designer can use WordPress to easily deliver a website that looks great on all screen sizes.

Filed Under: Cornerstone, The Process, WordPress

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