What it is
The thinking that stops a website being a set of unrelated decisions. What you are for, who you are for, and what you say - expressed as something a designer, a developer and a printer can all work from.
What you get
- A position worth holding. The sentence a customer could repeat to somebody else, and the reasons it is true.
- Language that sounds like you. Naming, headlines and the phrases that carry, so the copy on the site is not a negotiation every time.
- A visual identity with rules. Marks and lock-ups, a type scale, a palette, photography guidance - and enough freedom to look alive rather than like a compliance document.
- A plan for the digital side. What has to exist, in what order, and what it is for.
How it starts
A workshop, usually half a day, with the people who know the business best. You leave it with the answers written down, whether or not the rest of the work follows.