Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Design Strategies located?

Beautiful Clearwater, Florida on the eastern gulf coast has been our home since the spring of 2004. Prior to that we were in Glendale, California for 14 years, working with an amazingly varied range of companies and industries in L.A. County. There's really nothing we can't handle to help your company to become more visible and professional-looking. Give us a call at 727-466-6888 or fill in our Contact or Quote Request forms.

If your business is local or within traveling distance, we'd love to meet with you in person to discuss how we can help you improve your logos, brochures, websites, packaging and all the other promotional items you may need. If you're more than driving distance away, out of state or international, we're set up to easily work with you via phone or email.

Do you work with clients outside Florida?

YES — many of our clients are out of state or internationally located across 15 different time zones, from California to Australia!

We currently have clients in 9 states across the U.S., and internationally in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, South America, South Africa and Australia. We can work with you to create beautiful, effective brochures, packaging, logos and websites to help stimulate the growth of your company. During the design process, designs will be sent to you via email or displayed for your inspection on special web pages you can access with your web browser.

On completion the final design files will be electronically uploaded to you or your printer, or can be shipped on CD via FedEx or regular mail. While Design Strategies is not a printing company, we work with various printing companies across the U.S. and can arrange to have them print your design project and ship it to you. Please contact us at (727) 466-6888 to discuss your specific needs, or email us with further information by using our
Contact Form or Quote Request Form.

Why should I use Design Strategies to design my promotional materials & logos?

Just like you wouldn't trust anyone but a trained and experienced dentist for your dental work, you shouldn't trust your company's corporate image to anyone but a trained and professional graphic design company with a successful track record (see our Client Feedback page for more info). If your company's image isn't top-notch, you could be losing countless business opportunities. Design Strategies is capable of creating an effective campaign for your company that will generate far more income and sales leads than it will cost you for the design work.

In actual fact, professionally designed promotion doesn't cost you a thing because it generates far more than it costs to produce it. Think of it as an investment in future prosperity. Trying to save money with unprofessional promotional materials could end up costing you thousands or millions in lost sales, wasted printing costs and failed advertising.

Click here to give us more information on what you need.

How long has Design Strategies been in business?

We have been delivering high-quality graphic design work to companies across the globe since 1990.

Our offices were originally located in Glendale, California from 1990 to 2004. We moved to sunny Clearwater, Florida in May of 2004 and are just a few miles from some of the best beaches in the state. Clearwater is located just across the bay from Tampa, Florida. We have clients in 15 different time zones, from California to Australia. We have worked successfully with hundreds of companies across the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia and South America, producing a very wide range of products and

services: logo designs, brochures, websites, packaging designs, posters, billboards, ads, trade show booths, signage and more.

We also offer custom illustration, photography and text writing services. Our clients usually continue to work with us for many years — an indication that we provide excellent value over the long term. It's important to us on each project that our clients are completely satisfied, and we work diligently until they are. We understand deadlines and can turn design projects around quickly while still maintaining superior quality at reasonable prices. Take a look through our various sample pages, then give us a call at (727) 466-6888 to discuss your projects.

What financial terms does Design Strategies offer?

We normally require a 50% deposit to begin work on each project, with the balance due at job completion. We accept checks made out in U.S. funds, and Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover credit cards. We also accept PayPal payments.

We also accept bank wires or electronic transfers if this is more convenient. Please call Colette at 727- 466-6888 with any questions you may have concerning billing or other financial matters.

How is Design Strategies different from other graphic design companies?

We don't just create pretty pictures — our marketing campaigns are based on intelligent real-world research into your company and your customers. Our strategy is to really get to know your company, services and products using some or all of these techniques:

1.We examine the company's sources of income and list them in order of volume and importance (referrals, ads, direct sales, web sales, etc.).

2. We research the types of customers the company sells to for information on how to properly communicate the value of the company's products and services.

3. We look at what has already been successful for the company.4.
We interview the top sales people and executives to obtain past successful actions to be used in the design projects.

5. We create a promotional campaign that strengthens the most productive income source using proven successful actions as part of the designs.

6. We test the designs to make sure they are effective before printing occurs.

7. When the first campaign is producing well, we take the second most productive source of income and create a campaign to strengthen that area.

8. When all current income sources have been strengthened, we work with the client to pilot new areas of expansion.

What types of graphic design services does Design Strategies offer?

Brochures, logos, icons, websites, packaging, labels, magazine ad design, billboards, posters, trade show booths, signage, photography, illustration, research and writing — are just some of the many design services we deliver to our clients. If it helps to promote your company, we probably offer it. We've designed packaging for DVDs, CDs, boxes, bottles and bags, book covers, posters and large trade show banners.

Several clients have also had us assist in the design of on-screen interfaces for software programs, and even signage, posters and whole storefronts.

How much will a logo design cost?

All our work is custom, one-of-a-kind design, so logo design prices vary considerably depending what is involved. Logos typically start between $800 - $1500, and for larger companies can range from $2500 to $5000 and higher depending on the amount of work involved in the project.

After discussing the logo project with you, we will give you a written quote before beginning any research and design work. All prices are quoted in U.S. dollars.

What about costs for brochures, websites and packaging design?

Every job we do is entirely custom, so prices vary considerably according to what you need. Many variables can affect the price, including size, total number of pages, photography, custom art, text writing, research, etc. As a rough estimate, small mailable brochures that fit into a standard #10 envelope cost $2000 to $4500. Large presentation brochures with page sizes at or near lettersize are priced at around $3000 to $7000 and higher depending on the amount of work involved.

websites can cost from $2000 all the way up to $100,000 for extensive corporate websites with complex backend programming. Please note that these are very rough figures and that an exact determination of the cost of your job will be done when we have all the specifics of what you need. Contact us today for a price quote

New Client Checklist:

How to get organized for our first meeting

Here's a New Client Checklist to help you prepare for our first phone or in-person meeting

The following nine points will help to coordinate and gather basic information that will be very helpful to your design project. It's not essential for you to do this but it can be very helpful to gather whatever information that you have at hand. If you provide us with any text documents, please use Microsoft Word if possible.

For clients in & around the Tampa Bay, Florida area

Call us at (727) 466-6888 so we can discuss your design needs and schedule an in-person appointment. You can also fill in the Quote Request form with details on your needs. Bring as much of the following information as you can to our first in-person meeting. Note: This is helpful but not required. We can also schedule a phone or Skype meeting if you prefer.

For clients in & around the Tampa Bay, Florida area

Fill in our Quote Request form, or call us at 1-727-466-6888
so we can discuss your design needs. Gather as much of the following information as you can for our first phone or Skype meeting. Our Skype address is design-strategies

1 General information about your company

We'll need your company name, address, phone and fax numbers, email address and website address. Give a brief description of what products or services your company delivers or sells, and what specific items you may want to feature.

6 What types of people, industries or professions do you sell to?

We need to know the various categories of customers you sell your products and services to. For example: doctors, homeowners, the construction industry, retail businesses, students, women, men, children, etc. It's vital to know who your customers are. Different customers may require different marketing approaches.

2 Copies of your current and recent ads, brochures, mailers, packaging, stationery, etc.

We need to know what you're currently using to promote your company's products and services, and evaluate their overall look and effectiveness.

7 What are your past successful actions that drive in new business?

Who are your best sales people? Do you have previously successful ads, brochures, commercials or other materials that work well for you? Do you attend trade shows or advertise in local publications? List the things you do that regularly generate new business or repeat business for your company.

3 Copies of your competition's ads, brochures and other promo items. Provide a list of your direct competitors.

This information can be an extremely valuable part of your campaign. If possible, collect ads, brochures, website addresses and other promotional materials from companies in competition with you. It's always helpful to know what the other guy is doing — to avoid his mistakes as well as take advantage of his successes.

8 Testimonials, positive magazine or newspaper articles, customers that rave about your services or products, etc.

What your customers and the press say about you is incredibly valuable and can sometimes become the main focus of a whole marketing campaign. We frequently use quotes from testimonials or articles in websites or brochures.

4 Photos or artwork showing your products.

These will give us a better idea of what you do or sell, and may also be useful in the actual advertising campaign (depending on quality). Always bring along product samples if possible.

9 Market research or surveys that have recently been done for your company.

Any research or studies that you may have had done on your products or services within the last 2 years is very helpful information. This is not essential but excellent if you have it.

5 A list of your major clients and customers

These will give us a better idea of what you do or sell, and may also be useful in the actual advertising campaign (depending on quality). Always bring along product samples if possible.

What to do next...

Give us a call at 727-466-6888 to discuss your project and we'll send you a quote. You can also use our Contact and Quote Request forms to let us know about your branding, marketing and design needs.