Big Smile Design is a Graphic Design company based in York and Thirsk with over 37 years of experience in the print, media and design industry.
We have worked on branding, rebranding, stationery, brochures, photography, websites right through to delivering the finished printed job within most of the professional areas such as the leisure, education, housing and general corporate sectors.
Show more
10 customer reviews
SDH Crisis Management
Brochure Design
Working with Steven has been an absolute pleasure. He created some fabulous products, listening to my vision and interpreting beautifully. Thank you Steven
Neil
Steven has done design work for me for quite a few years now, its always fresh and so well thought through, 100% can recommend
Philip James
It was a real pleasure having Big Smile Design working on our website design project, creative, professional, friendly and hit all the deadlines. I couldn't recommend Big Smile Design enough! Many thanks. More...
Anne Hayward
Steve is excellent and a true professional. Steve is great at discussing ideas and gives you time to think about what you want on your website. He is very patient!! we are just in the middle of designing my website now. I would unreservedly recommend Steve for the quality of his work. More...
Daniel
Steve offers an excellent service providing corporate invites to a function we arrange annually. His design was perfect and the turn around time for order to print was first class. I would recommend him to anyone!
Paul Lee
I have know Steve for 20 years now and he has always been helpful kind and efficient with any work I have asked him to do for me.
Joe & Sam
Thanks so much for your speedy responses, clear communication, and exceptional work over the years. In my experience working with various graphic artists, Steve and Rich have proven to be the standouts. Their attention to detail and talent for creating innovative designs set them apart. I'm grateful for their support and expertise throughout our projects... thanks again guys!! More...
Reply from Big Smile Design
... very kind words, hopefully see you later in the year when your ready... thank you both again :-)
Trisha
Big smile get a big thumbs up from me, I would highly recommend them. Fantastic and friendly company 😀 true professionals
Reply from Big Smile Design
Thank you Patricia - hope to work with you again in future.
Steve Mckenna
"Working with Steven at Big Smile Design was a game-changer for my brand! Their creativity and attention to detail brought my idea to life in ways I couldn't have imagined. From start to finish, they were professional, responsive, and truly went above and beyond making sure I was thrilled with the final result. I can't recommend them highly enough!" Thanks again! More...
Adrian Cooper RIBA
Big Smile Design are my ‘go-to’ graphic design company. Imaginative, experienced, flexible, straight-talking and cost-effective. Alongside his acute professionalism, Steve is approachable and engaging. Don’t look further - just call Big Smile Design. More...
Reply from Big Smile Design
Thank you Adrian, and lovely to hear a happy client making what we do worth it!!
What makes a great website?
Functionality, easy to navigate, visual impact and sticking to a style, fonts, brand colours and guide lines, not forgetting it has to work well with mobiles and tablet devices too!
What questions might you ask a client when starting a new project?
We may ask if you have anything in mind that you would like us to stick to or a style that you have liked the look of which can pinpoint what a client likes regarding design, or you can completely leave it to us to come up with something fresh and new?
We would need to know when a project is needed to be completed by i.e. a time frame? What we call a 'Deadline'.
Where logos or branding is needed we may ask if there any extra things we may not be aware of such as, retouching photos to be used on the project, or maybe the fact that next year as your business grows you will need other things, for e.g. 'you need the logo to work on letterheads, baseball caps, livery, shop front etc. just so we know a logo can work well on other things too.
If you want us to supply for e.g. print products, then we may ask what thickness paper to be supplied for e.g. 130gsm gloss, 450gsm silk, do you need matt lamination or gloss, quantity just one? or 50 - 1,000 - over 200,000 etc.
Describe your creative process.
We speak with the client asking all the relevant questions and taking lots of notes to be able to get an idea of costs to produce a project and create a brief if one isn't initially provided.
Once a deadline and price is accepted and agreed, we send you an estimate your happy with to then be able to get to the drawing board as they say.
Then the ideas start, the pencils come out to scamp ideas onto paper and lots of research into what you actually do and what competitors do.
A first visual is created (maybe more than one if required or requested) and we create first proofs
which we send to you where you can make initial changes to anything; colours, pictures, typefaces etc. which you then return with any changes required. From doing the changes we create a 'second proof' and so on until you are completely happy with what you need.
Once you have seen a final proof that your happy, we can provide you high resolution files to arrange printing yourself or we can sort everything for you.
What information do you need from a client before you can start work?
Ideally a clients supply us a decent brief with all the info we need from the get go, either over the phone where we can make notes or by email, even scanned scribbles that are sent to us.
On occasion some clients know exactly what they want and we get on with it.
Sometimes just a bullet pointed brief detailing what needs to be included, by email, telephone, in person, even post!
What do you love most about your job?
We love creating great designs and then getting lovely feedback at the end of the finished projects,
especially when clients come back for more of what ever they require each time.
What inspired you to start your own business?
Outgrowing the many agencies or print houses our experience has given us.
It's not always these places themselves, but the decent talented designers, art-workers, illustrators, photographers etc. that make them the great agencies or print houses in the first place. A bit like leaving home, some of us grow up and go on to make there own success as we mature and see what it's actually all about. But cheaper in general as we don't have all the big overheads, we like to be as 'green' as possible, thats one reason why our logo is green, square shaped with the paper corner folded - to reflect the fact we work with paper or screens and generally eco friendly!
Why should our clients choose you?
We have years of experience under our belt from our past, working for small or large companies.
Price often comes into it, while we try to be more on the competitive side without the agency costs and still maintain a living and job satisfaction. Behind the scene that clients don't see, we can spend more time on a project than originally quoted because at the end of the day - 'it has to be right! ' and still within budget.
No matter how big or small, a client is a client and we like them to come back for more!
Can you provide your services online or remotely? If so, please add details.
If you're local we can meet to discuss, OR as most clients like, over the phone, email,
or on screen meetings if you like to see our face, generally whatever the client is happy with.
What changes have you made to keep your customers safe from Covid-19?
Just the same as the government guide lines tell you!
And regarding printed projects, we can supply anti-bacterial coated products.
Graphic Design
Artwork & Printing
Illustration
Photo manipulation & retouching
Website design
LogoDesign/Corporate Identity Design
Brand Design