The Design Creative

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Diane Laidlaw and I am the founder of The Design Creative

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Ingenious, Hard-working, Efficent, Reliable, Creative

Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: We work for the project not for the money.

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: Loud music , even louder children, coffee machine and incense sticks.

Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: All our team are mobile so we use everything there is to communicate whether it's Skype, email, Facebook Chat, Youtube.

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: We don't work for the money we work for the project. Which means If we state a price in the beginning following our consultation and we realise that we have missed something that NEEDS to be on the site we add it free of charge.

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: Word of mouth mostly, no advertising, no Google AdWords, just straight recommendations and our books seem to be full 70% of the year.

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: The most important thing for us is communication and making sure that our customers are in control after we do a handover. We have contracts for our clients in the initial meeting and we always show jpgs or submit urls of works in progress.

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Trust and communication. But not just any communication, clear and concise communication between both parties.

Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: There is a Jamaican saying called "Kill them with kindness" . Most people who want a website sometimes have a clearer idea of the website they have in their head than the web designer. It's my job to try and read the mind of my client, but to also filter out what a client needs and what a client wants on their website cause they may not be all the same thing.

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: Look at their previous work, if you like it then follow that style.

Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: Employing more women, and teaching women how to web design as there is not many of us in the industry.

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: reinventing more wheels and focusing on usability even more.

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

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: I thought that my name made sense to what I was doing.

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Own your domain name.