MIRANDA DOPP

WDD 499
Project Presentation
Branding/Web Design/Client Relations

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 PROJECT TITLE
Branding and web design and development (for a new
business - Welcome Home Construction and Design)

PROJECT SUMMARY
I created the branding and a website for a new business, Wel-
come Home Construction and Design. I started with the brand-
ing by creating a logo, and continued with business cards, and a
letterhead. I then designed and created a website using Word-
Press.

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 PROJECT STEPS

CLIENT RELATIONS 4-6

BRANDING 7-14

WEBSITE DESIGN AND BUILD 15-20

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 CLIENT RELATIONS
Establish Client Needs
Gather Assets
Work with client throughout process as needed

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CLIENT RELATIONS CLIENT RELATIONS

This step of the project was one I expected to be fairly easy to do. I have
a close relationship with the clients, and I knew that since this was a new
business of theirs, that they were excited to get their branding estab-
lished and get a website up. I assumed that because of this excitement
that I would get the assets and copy I needed in order to put the site
together as discussed.
In all actuality, this was the hardest part of the project for me. I under-
stood that starting a business was a lot of work, and that they had limited
time to get me the things I needed, but I had more problems than I antic-
ipated! I created a questionnaire form, thinking it was a short, easy way to
get some of the information I needed to start the project, and would help
guide some of my decisions, but even the form was never filled out. All in
all, this step was a good one, as it made me wonder if freelance is worth
the effort!

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CLIENT RELATIONS

CLIENT RELATIONS TIME

8-May .5 Created Client Form
10-May 1 client form/emails
11-May 5 Talked to mom about site and cards
13-May . 5 Talked to mom about site and cards
21-May .5 Talked about business cards
29-May 1.5 phone call to explain and get info

TOTAL TIME | 4.5 HOURS

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 BRANDING
Logo Design
Business Card Design
Letterhead Design

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BRANDING LOGO DESIGN

I started this step by

creating some versions
of logos that I thought
fit what the client was
looking for (I was not
given any direction,
and as I was not given
the demographic info I
requested, I did make
8 some assumptions),
BRANDING LOGO DESIGN

While I waited to hear back on the clients thoughts on the

setof logos, I sprnt some time goingin a differnt, more classic
direction to give them more choices to choose from.

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BRANDING FINAL LOGO

I was actually surprised by the logo

that was eventually chosen, and felt out
of some I designed that it was probably
one of the less dynamic of the choices,
but I did design it after all, so I respect-
ed their wishes to use it (after trying to
convince them others were better!) As
a square logo makes some uses more
difficult, I also made a horizontal logo
as well.

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BRANDING BUSINESS CARD DESIGN

When creating the business cards, I gave fewer options, as the information they needed
gave me some limitations for the design. They liked front #3, and back #2, but wanted to
make some changes to the layout.

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BRANDING FINAL BUSINESS CARD

The client did choose to make changes to the business card that seemed more “safe” and
“simple” than I would have taken the direction, but as I was working for them, I went with
the things that they wanted. They chose to have one side of the card horizontal, while the
other was vertical. This did make good use of both logos, which they wanted featured.
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BRANDING LETTERHEAD

The client was not

concerned about
choosing a letterhead
and so I created one
that fit with the look of
their business cards.
They were happy with
the result.

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 BRANDING TIME
25-Apr 2 Designed Logos
1-May 2 Logo Design
6-May 0.75 Logo Changes
BRANDING

12-May 1.75 Designing Business Cards

14-May 1 Designing Business Cards
16-May 1 Touch ups to business cards
17-May 0.5 More revisions
21-May 0.25 Make card proofs
21-May 1 Set Up cards and order cards
30-May 2.25 Letterhead
31-May 1.5 Attempted converting Letterhead to Word
3-Jun 1.75 More Letterhead issues
6-Jun 0.75 More Letterhead issues

TOTAL HOURS | 16.5

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 WEBSITE DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT
Design Website
Build Website
Establish SEO

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WEBSITE WEBSITE DESIGN

This step of the project obvious-

ly took the most time, but was
(by far), my favorite part of the
project. I started this portion by
finding a WordPress theme that
fit well with the type of business.
I then created a design using
some of the elements from the
theme, but changing many in
order to give the site a custom
look. I focused on the user ex-
perience while designing, while
also taking things into consider-
ation that I thought would work
well for the client.
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 WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
When I started building the site, I started with the home page,
and continued to enter content. This part was more difficult, as I
was given very little content. Writing all of the copy was not part
of the original plan, but I ended up having to do this in order to
have content on the pages. I was given very few images also, so
WEBSITE

I did use stock photos where I was lacking the appropriate imag-
es.
After entering the content I had, I focused on the CSS. I made
many changes from the original theme in order to give the site a
more custom look. Although the
industry standard is to design
for mobile first, because I used
a theme that was supposed-
ly responsive, I focused on the
main CSS, and then continued
on to the mobile CSS. This was
probably my favorite part of the
project, as I love making chang-
es and seeing my plans come
together.

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 ESTABLISH SEO
After adding content and making changes to the CSS, I focused
on the SEO for the client. I do not have a lot of experience with
SEO, but I was able to take what I do know and make it work for
the client. Some of the client’s keywords are currently causing
them to rank in the top searches, which is great for their business.
WEBSITE

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WEBSITE FINAL WEBSITE

Desktop VIew

Mobile View

URL: http://welcomehomeconstructionanddesign.com/
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 WEBSITE TIME
21-May 0.6 Search for appropriate theme
24-May 1 research themes and sketch thumbnails
2-Jun 1.5 Started on Design
6-Jun 3 Finished up Design
9-Jun 3 Bought hosting/ domain. Started entering content
11-Jun 1 Added content. Homepage Design
11-Jun 1.4 Worked on CSS for homepage
WEBSITE

11-Jun 2.3 Worked on CSs for homepage and subpages

13-Jun 1.7 Worked on CSS. Added more content.
15-Jun 5.5 Worked on CSS for mobile.
17-Jun 1.4 More mobile CSS. Add content
19-Jun 0.5 Added content
19-Jun 1.5 Worked on SEO
20-Jun 1.6 More SEO
23-Jun 2 Wrote content, worked on sidebar
25-Jun 1 dealt with issues with header and some CSS
27-Jun 0.75 Portfolio pages changes
27-Jun 1.25 fixed Mobile CSS issues
30-Jun 2 Added widgets and accordion to service page
1-Jul 1 Fixed accordion on service page
2-Jul 2 Worked on SEO and some content changes

20 TOTAL HOURS | 36
 PROJECT SUMMARY
Overall, I feel like I accomplished all of my goals and made a product
that can be put to good use for the client. I can’t however, say that it was
exactly what I hoped for it to be. I wish that I would have chosen a proj-
ect that I had more creative control over, so that I would really be proud
of the way it looks and want to use it for a portfolio piece. It isn’t that I
am unhappy with it, per se, but I do feel like I would have done things
differently had I been my own client. With that being said, between
all the aspects of the project, I learned a lot, and feel like the things I
learned will absolutely help me in my goals for the future, and because
of that, I wouldn’t change that part of the experience.

PROJECT TOTALS
4.5 Client relations
16.5 Branding
36 Website Design and Development

TOTAL HOURS | 57

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