When Integrated Investments International, a client I have consulted with for two years, needed a website for their new debt-finance operation, they called me up. The new website was for In3 Finance, and it needed a combination of the pin-striped professionalism expected of a financial institution and the inspirational flair to attract values-based companies which In3 Finance works with.
We had under two weeks to have the website online for a legal review. Furthermore, the requirements were only loosely defined. We started with a general sense of the content that would be required, but not a complete vision of how to partition it or present it graphically.
Given our experience and trust working together, the client gave me license to move forward with free editorial and visual discretion. Over the course of a week I put the new site together, borrowing heavily from the company’s existing website to create a new site with consistent visual branding. Since the brand is evolving, I focused on making the website flexible and expandable for future growth. (We used WordPress and the Pagelines Framework theme, which are both flexible and easy-to-use.) In week two I handed over the website, and focused on training and coaching to help the client manage their new site, which they have been doing successfully ever since.
This project was a good reminder of how easy it is to project a professional, established image with just a small number focused, well-crafted pages. It also reinforces my belief that creating effective websites (in most cases) has more to do with appropriate use of eye-catching images, than originality in layout and graphic design.
Aside from the joy of delivering a functional website in a week for an important client, I’m proud that my graphic design skills carried me through this project. Graphic design is neither my background nor my strength, but I found that my little bit of skill can go a long way. I look forward to deepening my visual design skills in new projects.
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