The Fuel

A brief taken properly ensures that your goals and requirements, as the client is met fully for the production of your website. The brief becomes the guiding document for the entire design process and spells out exactly what we (the designers) need to produce to achieve the best design outcome for you the client. The more detail we can ascertain at the beginning of the project enables us to also provide far more accurate costings and production timescales.

Below is a list of the 8 areas we would cover in the brief:

• Objectives and goals of the website.
• Budget and required production timeline.
• Market place / b2b / general public.
• Target audience / potential customers / demographics.
• Scope of the project / depth / complexity / social media links.
• Available, required or purchased materials such as logo’s, graphics, images. photos, videos and copy.
• Overall template style / navigation.
• Hosting options.

Once the areas above have been discussed and identified, we would then write up and email it to you to see how we have interpreted your brief to ensure that we are both in agreement with what your requirements are. 'Singing from the same hymn sheet'- so to speak!

It is always best to assume that we (the designers) will know nothing about your business, so to have the answers prepared from the questions listed below, will really help us to have a good understanding of your business and your objectives.

• What does your business do?
• How did you get started and how have you got to where you are today?
• What is your overall goal for this website?
• What are you trying to communicate and why?
• Are you looking to sell products or a service through the website?
• Who are you looking to target?
• How do you differ from your competition?

It is also very important to have an idea of how many pages / sections you think your website will need - map it out even in rough, it will help you and us to form a more accurate picture of the site layout. The other elements that are also important and need careful consideration is the content that will populate your site.

These will include:

• The copy - what you want to say.
• Your logo and company style / brand.
• Photo's - good quality images are really important.
• Diagrams / charts / graphs etc...
• Contact details.
• Links to email or other websites (if required).

We can help you with any of the above if you require us to do so.

We cater for a wide cross section of print. These include:

Digital and lithographic printing - Large format printing - Roller banner and display stands - PVC outdoor banners - Signage - Stationery - Leaflets - Flyers - Posters - Booklets - Newsletters - Manuals - Reports - Technical documents - Tender documents - Adverts - POS - Bespoke requirements.

Designers tend to work slightly differently from each other, but every creative brief needs structure, so we work to a set of guidelines for dealing with our design projects. We have found that having these guidelines in place allows us to start a project with a clear, inventive and structured approach for what is required.

• The Brief – Making sure that we have a very good understanding of what the client is looking for from this project.
• Research – We do spend some time looking at and evaluating the clients market place and competitors.
• Inspiration – Looking at current design trends, and what would work well in this market place.
• Creating 2-3 initial ideas / layouts / designs.
• Initial Presentation – Presenting the initial ideas either as hard copy proofs or in PDF format.
• Further development – Making any necessary changes and developing the preferred chosen design.

The more information you (the client) can give us at the brief stage, will help us to 'Nail' the brief quicker and more effectively.

It is always best to assume that we (the designers) will know nothing about your business, so to have the answers prepared from the questions listed below, will really help us to have a good understanding of your business and your objectives.

• What does your business do?
• How did you get started and how have you got to where you are today?
• What is your overall goal for this project?
• What are you trying to communicate and why?
• Are you looking to sell products or a service ?
• Who are you looking to target?
• How do you differ from your competition?

The other elements that are also important and need careful consideration is the content needed to populate your project/ job.

These will include:

• The copy - what you want to say.
• Your logo and company style / brand.
• Photo's - good quality images are really important.
• Diagrams / charts / graphs etc...
• Contact details.

We can help you with any of the above if you require us to do so.

Rolling our sleeves up and getting on with it.....

Creative and production challenges - solving our clients' problems - that's always satisfying.....

Making our clients happy - and they are happy because we did a great job, on time and to budget....

The relationships we build with our clients, and the level of trust that they have in us......

All of us at The Fuel have been working together since the company first started in 1992. The Design and print industry was very different then and the production processes involved have changed hugely over the last 27 years. The fact that we as a business are still here after all that time and are all still working together, is a testament to the strength and belief in our relationships, abilities and skill sets.

We know what we are doing, and we are very good at it. With over 27 years of experience together as a design company, we have the required skills and knowledge to produce first class work. We are creative, but also realistic, practical and cost effective. We understand our business and we know how to make our clients very happy with the work we deliver.

Also, we are fun and easy going, and really pride ourselves with the level of customer service we provide - this is really important to us, and we know that is what our clients have commented on the most over the years.