Commonly asked question until now

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

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Clear answers to the 'tough' questions about ...

Clear answers to the 'tough' questions about ...

Can I really submit my project and work with my designer, completely over the Internet?

01Yes, there are no geographic obstacles to working together, thanks to the Internet and telecommunications. Your requirements can be submitted by email, phone or fax. Once we have agreed on your needs, the provided information is used to create your designs. Intermediate design concepts and revisions are either posted to our Web site or emailed to you for your review, comments and approval. Once your design is completed, final files are either posted for your download, uploaded to you or your printer or sent to you via CD.

Do you do printing?

02No, we do not provide printing services directly. We can recommend reputable online and local printers at your request. Because our clients are located throughout the globe, it is far more expedient for proofing and more cost-effective and faster for shipping if you deal with a local printer. We can act as an intermediary with your printer, or simply provide you with the final files to take to your printer. Printing is typically not included in any of our project quotations.

Can a small company afford your services?

03Many of our clients are small companies, non-profit organizations and individuals. By "farming out" their design projects, they save themselves time and frustration, and save the expense of keeping someone on staff to do design tasks. We are flexible and can work within any budget constraints you may be facing. Put us to the test and you'll be suprised how far your design budget can stretch at Joe Donnelly Design.

I have many items to produce, can we arrange for a monthly retainer fee for you to create everything for us?

04We have a number of clients who have retained our services on a longer term basis or for ongoing work. By paying a flat monthly retainer fee (with a 3 month minimum contract term) we can act as your fulltime, in-house design department, handling as many projects as your schedule and ours can squeeze into the retainer period. For clients who have larger, more involved projects or require multiple pieces created this can often be a more economical method compared to getting each item separately quoted and created.

How can I make payments to you?

05We accept and prefer secure online payments using your credit card, debit card, or your bank account via PayPal.com. Opening an account is fast, easy, and FREE. We also accept business checks, personal checks, and money orders.
In certain special circumstances, you also may be able to make a barter arrangement, either for goods or services or link exchange arrangement depending on the nature of your business, i.e. non-profit association.

What if I am not satisfied with my final product?

06We believe in your complete satisfaction. We will continue to work with you to refine your design until you are completely happy; we offer 'unlimited' revisions on your design project within the confines set out in the original design brief.
However, if we collaborate on a project, and in the end we do not arrive at a result with which you are perfectly satisfied, you do not pay! You agree to accept payment for any purchased services or products (e.g. stock photography, printing, Web domain registration, etc.). Any partial deposits or payments will be returned to you, less any financial institution fees. The copyrights to your design project remain with Joe Donnelly Design, while you maintain the copyright over your company or product names used in the designs. What this means is that we could theoretically use or resell the design (the look of a particular brochure for example) to another JDD client. You will also be asked to sign and warrant that you will not use any creative or interim designs created or presented to you as part of our design process together.
Many design firms speak of 100% client satisfaction, we are willing to stake our fee and reputation on it. If you are not happy, then we are not happy. We trust our work will speak for itself and your satisfaction will be assured.

What does the graphic designer actually do?

07A designer is a communicator of your idea, your product and your solution to the world.
With training or experience as a visual communicator and problem solver, a designer will combine your content with elemenets color, typography, line, space, shape and balance to create a finished communications piece for your business or organization. He/she will work with you to explore different options or design directions to solve your particular communications challenge.
A designer will also prepare the 'mechanical requirements' of your finished piece and prepare it to the specifications of a printer, magazine, Web host, television studio or any other output medium, to ensure trouble-free output of a final finished product (such as a printed flyer or a Web site).

What's the difference between static websites & dynamic websites?

08 Static (or HTML) websites are generally hard coded by a web designer or web developer and have "stationary" pages that don't change everytime they are visited. Most content (unless third party script is included) remains "static" until it is manually updated by a web designer or coder.
Static websites tend to be cheaper to design and develop but more costly to update as owners who do not know HTML code will need to hire a web designer every time they need to make changes. Static websites often become dormant if their owners cannot afford to pay for updates.
Dynamic websites are compiled of various components, scripting languages (such as PHP, ASP, JSP) and a database, and can be modified by the end user (the client) on their own computer. Dynamic websites usually have a lot more functionality than a static website and are interactive.
Dynamic websites are more costly to develop, especially for proprietary content management systems, but after the initial development fees, they are usually cheaper to update.

What is CMS and why should I get my theme customized?

09 CMS is the abbreviation for content managed system and is software that has been developed to enable website owners to easily and quickly update their content without having to know HTML code or needing to contact their website designer to do it for them. CMSs are used to run dynamic websites.
Most web hosting companies offer CMS applications, such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, OpenCart, osCommerce and ZenCart (for online stores), with their economy hosting packages, making dynamic websites much more affordable. Many also offer low cost or free templates that you can use with your CMS package.
Third party websites also offer a variety of Open Source CMS templates, add-ons and plug-ins that you can easily upload and install to your current CMS package at no extra cost, and hundreds of premium themes are available for a small fee.
You don't need to customize these templates before adding your content, but if you want your website to be unique, to stand out from the crowd and/or to match your print material, you will need it customized.

What is responsive web design?

10 Responsive web design is a method of designing websites that enables optimal viewing in multiple devices and at various screen resolutions, from desktop computers to the smallest smart phones. RWD uses flexible images and a fluid layout with percentages or proportional grids which adapt to the device on which the responsive website is viewed. Media queries are used to define different style rules in the CSS (cascading style sheet).
A responsive website takes longer and costs more to develop than a fixed width website, especially those with complex layouts and design elements, but with today's ever increasing use of mobile devices, a responsive website will be available to a much wider audience and is well worth the initial investment.

What is graphic design?

11 Graphic Design is the process and art of combining text and graphics to communicate an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication. Today's graphic designers use desktop publishing software, such as the Adobe Creative Suite and a variety of digital techniques to achieve their goals.
Also Known As: graphic arts, graphics design, visual communications or desktop publishing.

What services do you provide?

12 Conceptive Design Studio provides a full range of graphic design and integrated marketing services to serve your company, group or organization. Our services include:

Logo / Identity Design - logos, wordmarks, icons
Stationery Design - business card, letterhead, envelope, mailing label, presentation folder
Print Collateral - brochures, flyers, and newsletters
Advertising - print and online advertising
Direct Mail - postcards and mailers
eMail Advertising
Illustration - custom digital illustration and 3D rendering
Photography
Photo Editing - image composition, repair and optimization
Posters - posters, banners and display graphics
Website Design
Website Renovations
Web Graphics - including Web banner ads and animations
eBooks - Adobe Acrobat® .pdf document creation
Presentations - Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentations and graphics
Packaging Design
Marketing Strategy - branding, product launch and / product management

For a full list of our services, visit our Services page or contact us if you have a specif project you don't see listed here.

What is graphic design?

11Graphic Design is the process and art of combining text and graphics to communicate an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication. Today's graphic designers use desktop publishing software, such as the Adobe Creative Suite and a variety of digital techniques to achieve their goals.
Also Known As: graphic arts, graphics design, visual communications or desktop publishing.

What is a scalable vector file?

13Vector files are files created in vector graphics software programs such as Abobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand or CorelDRAW. Vector files are files that you can resize, scale, and even change colors or fonts without loosing any quality or resolution on your image. This is in comparison to a bitmap format (see below). Vector files are mostly used by professional designers or print shops where the highest reproduction quality is needed for your logo. Common vector file formats include EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), AI (Adobe Illustrator) and CDR (CorelDRAW).

What is a bitmap/raster file?

14Bitmap or raster files are most commonly used on the Web, and can be used in every type of program from desktop publishing applications to word processing applications and page or Web layout programs. Bitmap/raster files are made up of a fixed number of bits (or pixels) and have a specific resolution at a specific size. If the image is resized/enlarged, the image may show a distortion. As such, bitmap files are typically used in lower resolution print uses or on the Web. Common bitmap file formats include GIF, JPEG, TIFF and BMP.

How do I get started with my project?

15As a very broad generalization, our design process follows the following steps:
1.Complete our Get a Quote form to submit your project specifics to us.
2. We will either be in touch to clarify your requirements or provide you with a price quote for your project.
3. Once you have accepted the price quote, we will be in touch to conduct more thorough creative research about you, your company/product/service and your design tastes and requirements.
4. Armed with your creative input, we will provide you some general designs within 5 business days for your feedback.
5. You will provide comments about the first round of design concepts.
6. There is a series of design/feedback/redesign/feedback cycles as your comments and changes are integrated into a more refined design.
7. Once you have approved a final design, we prepare the final files for delivery. This takes anywhere from 1-48 hours.
8. Final files are delivered to you along with the project invoice.
9. You provide payment within 14 days.

Time frames are generalized, and can be adjusted to match your schedule.

What happens when I complete your quote or contact form?

16After completing our Request for Quotation form, the information is sent to us.
Within 24 hours or less, we will either be in touch to clarify your requirements and/or send you a written quotation for your design project.
Feel free to ask questions, clarify points, or make additional requests.
Should you accept the quotation, you will notify us and we will begin your design process.

How long before I see my first designs?

17Depending on the type of project or design requirements, you should see initial design concepts anywhere from 24 hours to 5 business days after the start of the design process.

How will I see my designs?

18We are flexible and can send you your intermediate design concepts in a number of ways:
- via email as attached files (jpg, PDF)
- posted to our Web site and we will provide you with a URL to log in to see your design
- printed and sent via traditional post

How many changes may I ask for my design?

19We believe in 'unlimited' revisions until you are happy and not handcuffing you to a specific number of changes. Depending on your schedule and when you require your final files, we are happy altering the intermediate designs until we arrive at a finished design you are completely happy with and are proud to use for years to come.

How do you deliver my final files?

20Once your design is completed, we can deliver your final file:
- via email as an attachment
- upload to our secure Web site for you to download
- upload to your Web site via ftp
- save files onto a CD and deliver via regular post or courier

How do I communicate with my designer and Conceptive Design Studio?

21Once we start the design process you can communicate with us in a variety of ways:
- most conveniently, by email
- by instant messenger (MSN, Yahoo, AOL Messenger, ICQ)
- by phone
- by fax

Do you keep my designs on file?

22For a period of 12 months following your project, we keep your design in an active archive should you lose or damage your files, or require followup work. After this period, we arhive your files. Any retrieval at this point may incure a nominal cost.

Why should I choose Conceptive Design Studio over some other firm to do my design work?

end At Conceptive Design Studio we realize you have many options when choosing a graphic design provider and thank you for the opportunity to present our solutions to you. Why should you choose us over the competition?

Experience: With over fifteen years of design experience, we bring a broad base of experience and knowledge to your design project. We are passionate about the design business and about helping organizations and businesses succeed and gain a competitive advantage.

Flexibility: Examine our portfolio and you will see the breadth of work we have completed over the years. Chances are we have experience creating almost any type of project or design you require. If we don't have experience with a particular design area, we work with a network of design associates who can lend their expertise to your project, ensuring trouble-free production of any item you can imagine.
Unlimited concepts and revisions: To ensure your complete satisfaction we will create and recreate as many versions or changes on your design project until you are completely happy.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee:strong> If for some reason you are still not happy with the final product, we offer a full satisfaction guarantee. No results, you don't pay. It's that simple, and it's our commitment to your complete satisfaction.

Creativity: Creativity is a very subjective topic. Examine our portfolio and you will see how we solved our past client's design problems. We hope this is an indicator of our creative abilities. Feel free to contact us to discuss potential design solutions to your communication challenges.

Risk free: We offer FREE, no obligation design quotation and initial consultation. It never hurts to talk to someone to help clarify your design requirement. Use our Get A Quote form to submit your design project today.

Competitive Pricing: We are a relatively small design shop, with significantly less overhead than bigger design firms. This allows us to pass the savings on to you. We will gladly meet or beat any design bid from a competing design firm.

Technology: We use the latest Windows and Macintosh software packages, compatible with any software you or your output company may require.