we are a creative agency focused on
providing elegant graphic design & effective
web development solutions

the team are headed for the Vet conference in Adelaide on Monday and our prints just arrived...yeew. We will be sharing a stand with our fiends at Cenvet and will be introducing a new product for vets called vetweb. Looking forward to it!!

We recently launched a wordpress site for North Sydney Physie. The site is really coming to life with heaps of info, galleries and interesting news. Congrats to Jacqui and her team for doing a great job on maintaining the site and keeping it up to date, check it out... www.northsydneyphysie.com

Before you start

Before you even start, you will need to have considered the following. Designko can help you with all these and it’s definitely worthwhile having a chat to us about these before you move forward with anything.

Domain name

A domain name is what people will type into their browser to find your site. It could be something like ‘mycompany.com.au’. Picking a domain name can be a little hard though as there are a couple of things that you should consider. Key considerations for a domain name are that it be easy for people to remember, be relevant to your business/site and that it not be too long.

It’s ideal to register your chosen domain with the .com.au extension for Australian businesses, or the .org.au for Australian organisations. We believe that it’s best to avoid domains that end in .net or .net.au as there have been studies that suggest that these domains are not given as favourable rankings in search engine results.

Site hosting

Publishing a website to the internet involves placing files onto a server that can be accessed by a web-browser. Part of any website cost is purchasing this server real estate used to host your site. Depending upon your requirements, Designko has a number of hosting packages available that can be tailored to your needs, and can be managed by our clients so they have as much or as little control over their hosting package.

Content management

How do you plan to mange the content on your website? Is this something that you want to be able to manage on an ongoing basis? Do you want to add content as time goes on or even blog about your product or service? If you want to do this, then you’ll need to consider having a content management solution as part of your site which will allow you to control all the content being displayed within your site.

We have a number of solutions for clients who want to manage their own content. Dependent upon your needs and budget, we can help you to find the best answer for these needs.

Getting Started

Putting together an initial list of what you want to get out of your new site and the type of content you want to have in your website is a really good place to start to help your design/development team begin to get a picture of how it will work online. You don't have to have every detail mapped out in minute detail, but a good general overview is a great place to start and will greatly help to develop a project plan along with a scope of works and more accurate costing to achieve your desired outcomes.

Even if you can’t answer everything here, it’s really worthwhile that you start thinking about things like:

• What is the purpose of your site? Do you want people to make contact, do you want to sell product, do you want to inform?
• What pages will you require to achieve this? (ie. About, contact, shop, resources etc)
• What kind of content are you going to offer? Text, images, video, audio etc
• Do you have a brand? This will have a great influence on much of the way things are delivered throughout the site.
• How will people find your site?
• How involved in generating new content do you want to be?
• Do you have a domain name registered or an idea of what you want to use?

Once you have thought about all these things, it’s time to move forward. Please feel free to contact Designko to discuss anything here further as we’d love to help you in whatever way we can to get your website up and running.

Next week: Choosing the right Design/Development team

We don't get much time to update our portfolio with new work so have decided to use our blog platform to show off some of our work. Designko has recently completed a couple nice looking logo designs which included brand and style guide development. Printko is currently printing some business cards for our new clients which I have no doubt will look great.

Beyond Stress is a company located in Bulli, near Wollongong who specialise in stress management and mindfulness training. The demographic is the corporate sector so we needed to capture that professional look and feel as well as keeping it clean and fresh. The symbol symbolises a specific meditation position. We are currently designing and developing the Beyond Stress website which will be driven on the WordPress platform.

JM Group is located in Wollongong and specialise in business coaching and training. The triangle was an important element in the logo and the 3 points symbolise training, coaching and research.

Its been a while in between blog posts so thought I would jump online and get a bit of a Designko 2010 summary out to the world. The year has been a bit up and down so the team have been really busy working on marketing strategies, servicing our loyal clients and enjoying life with our families as always.

The year so far has seen a number of branding projects and there have been a few we have really enjoyed.

Coulson Body Repairs

This year Glen and the boys down at Coulsons decided to re-brand. They were after something that still had an element with an association to the industry they were in, other things we needed to take into consideration was a new colour scheme and a style guide. Once the branding was completed we assisted with all the stationery design, sign writing and vehicle graphics. We are now in the process of designing their new online presence.

Other branding projects we have enjoyed were... BullBlock, Buds n Beans, Scalpal, Airside and Netko.

In addition to the branding projects Craig and I have been working on some big web development projects and we have also managed to launch a few new ones.

We are in the process of developing a massive ecommerce website for our client Hills Distributors which will be featuring 900+ products, here’s sneaky peek below…..

Trademaster Joinery also launched their new and improved web presence this year. This site is driven by our content management system SiteFusion,  an awesome online business tool supported by Adobe Business Catalyst. The site features eNewsletter capabilities, some custom web app development and as always some kick ass HTML & CSS by @craigstewy the CSS ninja!! We are now in the process of developing the ecommerce section….. heaps of products!

Another big web project we are working on is Petpharm, this is another big site featuring 500+ products. Karen and the team down in Adelaide are rapt with the design we came up with and we are so very close to a launch. The site is an exclusive buying site which targets pharmacists. Again we are using the Adobe Business Catalyst system and utilising the secure zone capabilities which enables only registered users to shop like mad. Under the bonnet, there is also some custom web-apps, literature modules and ad-rotators.

As if that wasn't enough, Printko has been keeping us really busy. Everyday the client base increases as the word and SEO spreads about our offer of well priced, premium quality print products online.

We also working hard on our new brand Netko, Netko will become the umbrella brand for all our hosting and domain clients. We are developing a fully automated system to manage all clients billing and registrations as well as domain management which is something we've been working on putting together for a while now, so look out for that.

Did you know…

In 2009 Designko expanded and is now owned by Groupko. We currently trade under 2 business names, Designko and Printko and in 2010 we will be launching the 3^rd entity Netko.

That’s a wrap…c u all soon!

I know we’ve all heard the advertising line of “I’m a mac” and “I’m a PC” and I understand that some of our clients don’t really understand what that means. So, I’ve just found a perfect tounge in cheek illustration of what this may mean in a different way, and it’s happening right here in town!

We have an office on the main street of Woonona, directly opposite a corner block that is occupied by the famous golden arches. They have pretty much picked up the plum spot in town, it’s a big block, right in the heart of town, there is plenty of through traffic, it’s next to an intersection and there is ample parking. It ticks all the boxes from a marketing perspective.

Hey! I just realised something… McDonalds is a PC!

Let me explain what I mean, here we have this big hamburger chain sitting in the middle of town that has been there so long, it feels like it’s part of the furniture. They have very little, if any competition in town so McDonalds with it’s cheap plastic furniture, unenthusiastic staff and wilted lettuce has the monopoly on the burger market in our town.

What I’ve discovered is that just like Microsoft, we as a community have either willingly or not accepted these crappy little things that McDonalds makes us deal with. A fine example of the little pains that plague Microsoft are the equivalent of the crappy little pickles McDonalds put in their burgers. No one likes them, but we’ve just learnt to shrug our shoulders, pick them out and move on.

Like the PC, McDonalds plays on people’s perception of “this is just how it is” and they accept that. This is a major factor in why they are still a success right now. They may not necessarily have the best product but they’re in your face, cheap, easy and are so ingrained in our culture that we still buy from them.

McDonalds menu is not unlike the windows operating system. Microsoft has just released windows 7, which like McDonald’s menu is more reactive than proactive.

For years, the public was looking for a healthy alternative, that was ignored by Maccas, who pushed their greasy fast-food to the ever-expanding nation. This seems to be the same game that the PC has played with it’s past iterations of the windows platform. Both McDonalds and Microsoft have been playing catch-up with what the people really want, and although they do try, “reactive” seems to be the word that comes to mind.

So recently, a new restaurant moved into town, it’s hip, funky, serves beer and is located down an alley off the main drag. This may very well be the Apple Mac of burger places in our town. While @sherod can probably shed more light on this, I feel that “Gone Burgers” is what an Apple Mac would be if it were a burger restaurant. We have found the Apple Mac in our town, but it’s not the one that has the “Big Mac” on the menu.

It’s a bit off the beaten track, but not hard to find for people who are looking for something different, it is all shiny and aluminium, there’s a really funky paint job and decor and they offer things that McDonalds don’t. Gone Burgers also has an alcohol license! While the burgers may be a little bit more expensive, the quality of the product along with the dining experience is better than any mass-produced, personality-less, pickle-infested burger washed down with post-mixed Coke.

What I love about my Apple Mac is that it does things I never even thought I might want to do until I find myself in a situation where I realise that my computer already does that!

Using the burger joint metaphor, if I go in for a burger and think I might want a coke with it that’s fair enough, pretty standard, McDonalds covers that. But there is a chance I might want to make more of a meal of it and have a beer or wine with my burger but I didn’t even realise that, but hey, “Gone Burgers” have thought of it already and I’m happy that the option is there should I want to improve my overall experience.

Café Browsers

I suppose then, if McDonalds is a PC, then McCafe is the equivalent of the Internet Explorer web browser. Just like “the big blue E” comes with windows, McCafe is the coffee shop that ships with McDonalds. Don’t mind that the coffee is sub-par, the cakes are overpriced and the experience is somewhat underwhelming.

Do yourself a favour, if you haven’t already, have a look at the options for web browsing like Firefox, Safari or Google’s Chrome. You’d be surprised how much better they are than IE. It’s like taking a walk down the road from McDonalds to the local cafe where you’ll be presented with a better product, better experience and more bang for less buck.

So there, you have it, go out and find the Apple Mac, Firefox, Safari, Chrome in your neighbourhood and taste/experience the difference. I’m sure you’ll uncover some gems in your town.

Remember, just because it’s in your face, doesn’t mean that it’s the best at what it does, there’s always an alternative.

It’s an age-old question, but from a branding/marketing perspective what does your business name say about your business and how does it affect your online marketing and branding? Quite often we see businesses that come up with a name that we can have a real difficult time working with in terms of their marketing and brand.

We’ve put together a bit of a list of what we believe are do’s and don’ts for a business name.

Keep it Short

A short name is really important as far as logo design is concerned. Trying to get a long business name integrated into a clean and effective logo design can be a nightmare.

A start-up business, or a rebranded business isn’t going to have the consumer buy-in of an already established brand, so the use of the business name is going to be an important element of the logo design, as well as any marketing material.

People are not going to recognise or understand that ABSA is an acronym for Acme Brakes and Shock Absorbers. Not to mention the fact that a quick Google search for ABSA returns 6.7 million results! That’s going to be a hard search term to be competitive for.

It’s a business name, not a mission statement

Continuing on from the above point, it’s worth avoiding the temptation to explain your what your business is and does by using the name alone. Balloons, Streamers, Paper Cups and Plates isn’t a very effective name for your party supply business.

Using a shorter name is a much more effective means of communicating. If you feel that you need to expand on this for whatever reason, then the use of a tagline can be beneficial. Something like Lets Party! – for all your party needs conveys your message better, is more concise and leads us to our next point….

Make it Memorable

A memorable name is key in creating brand awareness and identity. What’s the point of having the greatest brand / website / advertising in the world if no one can remember the name of your company or how to find you again?

From a search engine marketing point of view, it is really important that a search of the business’s name comes up Number one in the search results. Even if people remember nothing else, if they can remember your business name, they will be able to find you again online even if they hit the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google.

Avoid Ambiguity

Looking for a business online that has a name made up of words that can be misconstrued or return a variety of results from a search engine perspective means that people are less likely to find you through a web search. The search engines use intelligent algorithms to return their results, but at the end of the day, they’re still computers and don’t think like a human being will.

For example, a company called “Boat There” not only seems confusing as to what it is that they might do, but it also returns a wide variety of search results from Boat registration in North Korea, to Boat building in England.

Wrapping it up

In summary, a short, snappy name that has a bit of pizzazz and stick-ability is going to be a winner. If you business name can be worked into an effective logo and people can remember your business name, you’ve laid a platform for successful marketing.

I have been inspired to share a recent Designko SEO project (Search Engine Optimisation) success. I wanted to take this opportunity to demonstrate how important SEO can be to a company and the impact it can have, by being proactive with your website you can achieve maximum online results, and make your company the most successful it can be.

The client is Little Kids Big Kids. We developed an online ecommerce website that sold jumping castles and after one month the client contacted us to discuss us managing their Google Adword campaign. They had been spending a significant amount on there campaign and weren’t achieving the results they were after. The client advised that some sharks in the field had approached them and they wanted to charge an arm and a leg quite literally to help them get the results they were after. The quotes were a joke and were selling nothing but confusion to people who didn’t have enough knowledge, and who were vulnerable because they wanted to achieve results they were not currently getting.

I suggested to our client to engage in an SEO campaign with Designko first to see if we can better the organic traffic to there website instead of paying tons of money for broad search terms that were targeting surfers and not potential buyers.

Client said; “yep do it!” and the fun had begun.

Firstly we had to use all our tools to analyse their website and see what traffic it was getting. We then had work closely with the client and determine what search terms we needed to target. After extensive research we established the main keywords and were ready to begin development.

We reconstructed their website around our targeted keywords and phrases and utilised all our tricks to make sure they had every chance of being found by all the major search engines. 2 weeks work and the website was ready to be launched. The website was launched and we advised the client it would take some time before we would see results as all the pages needed to be indexed first, we sat back, relaxed and waited.

It’s important at this stage to mention that our client’s website had no ranking what so ever for these key words and phrases prior to the work carried out.

Three weeks after Designko worked on the SEO with little kids big kids they made it to the bottom of the 1^st page in Google for our targeted keywords and search phrases. One month later and they are number 4 on the front page and are now struggling to handle the influx of business and are selling jumping castles every week online.

Just a bit of time, effort and talking to an agency that has your best interests at heart could make all the difference.

What music inspires you to do what you do? The DK office is home to a media server loaded with a respectable 40gb of great tunes. Just like finding the right wine to go with dinner, there is a bit of a science to getting the right music to go with each step of our work process.

Here are our highlights getting regular airtime in DK HQ.

Brendon's Back Catalogue

Brendo reckons it all comes down to what time in the day it is, how many coffees I have had and how many applications I am juggling at one time. First design of the day I have had one coffee, applications I have open are.... Entourage, Tweetdeck, Firefox and Illustrator. I am in a mellow mood and am probably branding a new business or working on a print design, the sounds would be....

• Augie March – Moo you blady choir
• Anything by Regina Spektor
• Beck – Sea change
• An oldie but a goodie – Arlo Guthrie

By Lunch time I have a few more apps open.... Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Snap and Drag, Indesign, Quark. I have also smashed another coffee by then or maybe 2. At this time of the day I like to ‘GET THE PARTY STARTED’ we will move onto something with a beat the ones that get your legs bouncing.....

• Kings Of Leon
• Modest Mouse
• The Herd
• Draght
• J5

Come 3pm and now we really pumping I am juggling 12+ apps, had more coffee and am ready for some air guitar, so ‘FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK WE SALUTE YOU’.....

• Anything by Muse but especially, Knights of Cydonia
• Stone Sour
• The Distillers
• Queens of the Stoneage
• Black Sabbath

If all went well a few logo designs would of been finished, a brochure design or 2, some web pages designed and worked on a catalogue. I probably also had to get through some quotes and 3000 phone calls. That’s it just another lazy day at the office...

Popular in the DK office... MUSE

Craig's Countdown

Site Architecture/HTML Framework

During this stage, we’re putting together the nuts and bolts of the site, and it’s like the heavy lifting/foundation building of the site, so I like to listen to something solid that I can get my teeth into. My top site set up bands are:

• Muse – ANYTHING MUSE TICKS ALL MY BOXES
• Metallica
• Freestylers
• Dizzee Rascal
• Bliss n Eso

Customised Scripting/Web app development

This part of development can require something a bit more subdued and easy to listening. Preferable something that you can listen to that doesn’t make you want to get up and jump about the studio too often. My top picks here are:

• Regina Spektor
• Interpol
• Lisa Mitchell
• The Libertines
• The Strokes
• Ben Kweller

Bug fixing/Cross browser testing

This is the ironing out of the little quirky bits of a site and getting it ready for a global audience. It can be a bit of a tiresome task chasing little snippets of code around the internet, especially getting that pesky IE6 to play nice, but time goes much more smoothly on the back of these little gems.

• The Killers
• The Presets
• Hot Chip
• Vampire Weekend
• White Stripes

What music gets you through the day? First 5 people that leave us a comment will win some cool DK stickers.

To coincide with some big changes that have been happening with our little company over the past few months, designko.com.au, the online home of Designko has undergone a facelift to enable us to better showcase our wares online. As of July 2009, Designko began to expand. This expansion has given us the opportunity to take the business further than we’d been able to previously. You will also notice that we have trademarked the DK fish logo to further cement our brand.

We are delighted to have been able to employ the services of part-time contractor and friend of DK, Craig Stewart in a full time web development role. Craig brings many years of web development experience with him. After stints in leading eLearning and digital agencies in Sydney, we’re happy to have him here and working closer to home. Even more attractive for Designko and our customers is the experience Craig brings working with the Business Catalyst system, the platform that our SiteFusion solution runs on.

Having a full-time developer on site means that Brendon can now concentrate fully on what he loves to do and that is print and web design, the foundation that he has built the business on.

At Designko, our focus has always been on creating a great product that is visually pleasing, and we have designed this site to showcase some of the fantastic work we’ve produced. As you can see from the new site, Brendon has drawn inspiration from some of the great minimalist sites doing the rounds on the web at the moment, added his own touch to it and thrown in a few development challenges for Craig to test his skills on.

Since we’ve spent so much time looking forward at where we’re going over the past few months, we thought it would be fun to go back through some of the iterations of designko.com.au to see where we’ve been. It has been a little bit like looking at your old school yearbooks there’s the obligatory mullet shot, but fortunately, not too many zits, or crooked teeth. Here are some of the highlights from the DK archives.

Designko – 2004

Got good value out of some stock imagery, but were already off and running with our first steps into dedicated hosting, domain name registration and printing. Our logo was designed to be simple and effective, but was still a bit of a work in progress at that stage.

Designko – 2006

Drawing inspiration from the floral styles that were quite popular at the time, this version of the site was a nice clean design that began to pave the way for future iterations. We were also right into utilizing flash elements in our designs at this stage also, yep, that menu is built in flash! The logo here is beginning to show signs of things to come, building on the use of DK as a brand. We began to experiment more with typography and using fonts in branding.

Designko – 2007 – Version 1

This was a busy year for the company, with Brendon welcoming his first child into the world, quite obviously this gave a bit of inspiration to his designs and advertising in the early parts of 2007. Yep, that’s a picture of a young child number one on the homepage hero image. Still using the flash menu from the previous site, we see the ‘DK fish’ logo for the first time.

Designko – 2007 – Version 2

Here again, there is still a bit of floral inspiration in the site, but there is more of a focus on presentation of our products in a more professional and solid manner, the business had begun working with Business Catalyst at this stage and was looking to really market this solution to our clients. The site design is quite clean, allowing for the content and products to speak for themselves.

Designko – 2008

This was our website up until now. This site had developed somewhat from the version back in 2004. Our client list had grown and we had a great body of work to showcase with some fantastic designs and colours being utilized.

All in all, we think we’ve developed a solid body of work and have helped to break new ground for our clients visually and created some great online strategies. We are looking forward to the future and some of the exciting clients we’re putting together work for at the moment.