All about Branches Design.
A little bit of history.
Branches
Design Limited formed in 1998 in the historic rural market town
of Clitheroe in the picturesque
Ribble Valley, right in the heart of the UK and quickly established
itself as a national (and regional) market leader in the field
of bespoke web site design and ecommerce solutions. Working on
the novel idea of producing web sites for people that would load
fast and be as search engine friendly as possible, Branches Design
quickly gained an enviable reputation.
Since then we have produced
a large number of unique and successful web sites, using our
experience of what works alongside an innovative approach to
each project. Every one of our websites has
improved business performance for our customers.
We have decades of experience in traditional design and marketing media to back up our web site development and offer a full design service from corporate identity onwards.
Size doesn't matter.
We deal with companies of all sizes; one employee through to thousands of employees. It makes no odds to us. Everyone is treated in the same manner - professionally.
Its great to be liked.
Our
customers like us. That's a fact. They like us so much that they
often ring up for a chat. That's just the way we like it. Because
we are a small business you will find our services to be professional
and friendly. If you call, you'll speak to either one of us (Phill
or Clare). If you email us, either one of us will reply. Because
we are a small business we can focus on your needs better in
order to get the job done. Because we define the term 'design'
to be slightly different than the traditional view, we offer
fresh approaches to common day 'design' situations.
Don't take our word for it - please feel free to contact any of our clients and ask them about their dealings with us. As one of our clients said recently - "Branches ROCK!!!!"
Our work.
Working strategy.
Our objectives are fairly straightforward; provide you with the highest quality web site for the most reasonable amount of money in the best time possible. This gets broken down into our 'design principals' with which we stick when first designing web sites. Our design principals are that that a web site has to be:
- Fast loading.
- Search engine friendly.
- Highly usable.
- Easy to navigate.
- Accessible.
- Compatible across different browsers.
- Manageable.
- Unique, attractive, un-cluttered and easy on the eye.
Sticking to these working models and principals has allowed us to create web sites that really work for their owners. Many people have commented on how refreshing it is to find a web site that loads fast and allows them to get to important information as quickly as possible. We are dedicated to, and have a passion for, producing simple, clear and usable customer-focused designs.
It's not just about web sites though.
As
natural extension of the web site design process we develop effective
logo and brand identity, printed items, signage, packaging and
other marketing materials across a wide range of media. Branches
Design have an impressive track record of producing traditional
marketing material alongside web sites and can offer an integrated
'one stop' approach to your branding and marketing strategy.
Our innovative design skills and fresh approach allow us to develop
a unique strategy to make your business stand out as the best
in its field. No matter what your design requirements are, we're
glad to help.
Breaking the mould.
We take a great deal of time to perfect any individual design. We want to make your business look unique, stand out from the crowd and get you noticed. We don't have a selection of 'off-the-shelf' template designs, each one is bespoke and crafted to you.
We help people find you.
Search engines help you find things on the web. Branches Design regards search engine placement as a key service to its customers. If you are currently frustrated with the performance of your web site then talk to us now. Here are some features we offer:-
- Constructing websites for better search engine indexing and performance.
- Complete website audits to recommend possible improvements to existing websites.
- Highly search engine optimised web pages that target specific keywords and phrases that drive business to you.
- Intelligently submitting websites to search engines and web directories for maximum visibility.
- Comprehensive reporting and monitoring of search engine traffic through comprehensive statistics packages.
- All our web designs are firmly geared towards achieving high rankings. Our results speak for themselves.
The joys of owning a 56k modem.
Having
a nice fat broadband connection is fantastic. But what happens
when you can't get broadband in your area? You might not even
be able to justify the expense. You might just not want it. Well,
many would have you believe that you must have broadband. And
they are right to some degree; in order to view web sites with
massive flash intros and hefty graphics you would need a fast
connection. We think about things in a different way. When Branches
Internet started, we were using a modest 56k dial-up connection.
We later progressed to a single channel (64k) ISDN connection
as broadband was unavailable to us folk out in t'sticks. Just
last year we managed to get a broadband connection. So we fully
understand what it's like to wait for a web site to load.
Will a quart fit into a pint pot?
With this in mind, and sticking with the fact the not everyone
has / needs / wants a fast internet connection, we will continue
to develop web sites with the 56k (or less) dial-up user in mind
- after all, they still count for the majority of internet users
around the world. So, if you're using dial-up, our web site's
will probably load noticeably quicker than others. If you're
lucky enough to be browsing on a faster connection then it's
really going to fly!
Squeezing the last bit out of the tube.
So, to get the best experience we need to design web sites that load fast. We firmly believe that 'less is more' and one of our mottos is 'say no to bloat!'. Its a fact that some web sites have code all over the place and graphics that would make even a ADSL user get fed up waiting. Our answer; produce lean code and highly optimised graphics using only the best tools available.
Managing it yourself.
If you wish, we can open up your web site for editing by you or members of your team using a very inexpensive piece of software called Macromedia Contribute which allows you to manage content as frequently as you like. It does have some limitations but on the whole it is an excellent, cost effective solution to content management.
What are we like to deal with?
We're a small, honest, able team of experts with loads of experience
(we've been working in design, IT and the web since 1998). We
give all of our clients personal attention and are proud that
all are pleased to be references. We have an obsession with simplicity
and clarity in web site design and the sites we've designed prove
that usability and function can be elegant. Don't take our word
for it, have a look at what our clients say about us.
We work with people who understand that it's their customers that take priority. These people are hard to find, so when we get them we treat them well. Do we sound like people you could do business with? If yes, then please get in touch with us.