base6 Design Studio

Welcome to the all new base6 website!

Around 2 months ago I started the base6 re-design. To help the process along and add more pressure to myself I killed the old site off and created the now-familiar splash-screen-of-death which has graced visitors to the site ever since.

3 weeks into the re-design it had evolved from a simple visual upgrade into a full site re-think. I not only re-branded the entire design, I changed my business model and re-structured my service offerings.

As you can imagine all of this took a LOT longer than I expected, but it was worth it. The new base6 site is a massive improvement on the last effort. It is, by far, the most polished website I have ever designed for myself.

Let’s take a tour of the new design…

New sections
Clearly defined services, portfolio and about areas:

Updated logo
It’s written that you should never change your logo but even the base6 logo couldn’t escape being grunged:

Fresh homepage with BIG service links
The homepage now has an instant impact and uses icons and brief descriptions to get the message across.

3 ‘Core Values’ on show throughout the site
Part of my new business mantra:

Dynamic portfolio section
Each portfolio item has a funky jQuery powered image gallery as well as a brief description of the project:

Client testimonials
Selected at random on page load:

Love to the tools
WordPress, jQuery, 960.gs and FLIR all get a mention on the ‘About This Website‘ page:

TWEETS!
Yep,I finally got my twitter account sorted out:

Run-down of what’s new:

• Modern, stylish, grungey-grid based design
• Clearly defined sections for Web Design, Identity and Other Services
• Kick-ass Contact Us forms
• Lots of back-story and information in the About base6 pages
• Information on my core business values plastered all over the site
• An actual working BLOG (your reading this right now BTW)
• Client Testimonials
• Advanced Portfolio section – includes funky jQuery-powered sliding galleries
• Twitter updates
• Improved SEO
• BIG FOOTER design and site-map for improved navigation and findability

What I hope to achieve with the re-design

I guess the main goal for the re-design is exposure. The old base6 site was functional but not beautiful so I’m hoping the new visual flair will help me gather speed and gain new clients.

The base6 old site also lacked content . Everything I have since learned about SEO, web marketing and online networking starts with good quality, honest content. This is the major reason for my addition of a design blog and twitter feed to the site.

Of course the re-design is only the first of a couple of marketing exercises I hope to put in place in the next few months. Expect to see some base6 Google Ads/BuySellAds soon and hopefully some link love from my more friendly peers. Local advertising in print and via mail-outs is also on the cards. I just need to pick the right time to organise this so I can fulfill any follow-ups.

Thanks for reading! I’m now off to add the site to a few CSS Galleries – Please take a moment to leave a comment and if you find any bugs, let me know

Cheers!