Hooper Design

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Ian Hooper, Digital Designer

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Refreshing, Individualised, Innovative, Dynamic, Effective,

Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: Clean, creative & effective designs that will get a clients business the recognition it deserves. Our edge is individualised attention combined with a sharp eye for detail and outside the box thinking. Its our creative passion that drives us to constantly push ourselves and deliver effective solutions with great value and service.

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: Big Macs (the computer kind), House Tunes, Lots of white stuff... obviously, always tidy and organised (its a little OCD) A relaxed, pressure free environment... most of the time.

Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: Meetings, collaborations and a great online cloud based bit of software called TeamBox that allows us to collaborate seamlessly both in house and with our clients.

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: Approachable, honest and a no nonsense approach to pricing. We don't waste our time clock watching, we would rather enjoy the creative process, thats why all of our projects are quoted according to the scope of the job, not by an hourly rate!

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: Our own website, networking, recommendations, word of mouth and through the WWDC!!

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: The client and project is assigned to a single designer and he/she sees it through from start to finnish with the client. We use an online project management tool which allows our clients to receive up to the minute progress reports and they can communicate with us 24/7 using the same tool. Planning is also crucial, perhaps even the most crucial part of the project. We build realistic task lists with realistic deadlines that can be monitored by the client throughout the project.

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Honesty throughout and nurtured even after the project is complete.

Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: We set realistic goals from the start with a no nonsense approach to achieving them. We understand our clients needs and we make sure those needs are deliverable.

Q: If a client was trying to decide between a shortlist of web design companies, how would you recommend they go about selecting the right one for them?
A: Portfolio and independent reviews followed by the ease of communication between parties. We think a good place to start is there own website, its the perfect example of the potential end result.

Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: Doing exactly the same thing we do today, and loving every minute of it!

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: Who knows?!?! It changes every day. With that said it seems that making things simpler is the way forward, both for the user and for creatives. New technologies allow us to create without boundaries and users get to experience and consume those creations in a clearer, easier, faster more reliable way, this will only get better and better with time.

Q: What computers do you have use in your offices, PCs or Macs?
A: Mac

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: Simple... its my name.

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Plan first, then content (and lots of it) then think aesthetics.