Anecdotally, 2023 was a weird year for a lot of people in small business. There was lots of talk early on about a recession, drops in inquiries, and shake ups in service offerings. While we had an objectively good year here at Due West Design (about 15% growth over last year), it was a little different than previous years and has made me reflect a lot on our business model and strengths. One thing I am learning over the years is that nothing stays the same and change is a constant. The better you can adapt to it, the better off you will be.

Thinking about using Squarespace or WordPress for your small business or nonprofit? Wondering which is easier to use and better for SEO? Here, we’ll compare each web site platform and go through the pros and cons for Squarespace and WordPress. Squarespace has great integrations and is very easy to customize and update, but WordPress is great for blogging and for more complex sites.

Several months ago my allergist referred me to speech therapy in an attempt to solve an ongoing breathing issue (basically my inhale/exhale capacity doesn’t line up correctly). After meeting with Alex Roper, Speech-Language Pathologist, M.S. CCC-SLP, she quickly ruled out vocal chord disfunction but we found a surprising number of ways that working together could help me as a small business owner.

Is it time for a brand refresh? How do you know when your small business or nonprofit is ready for a rebrand? Let’s talk about four signs that your logo and visual brand assets are ready for a rebrand, as well as three times when it’s better to wait.

Has your web site felt a little flat lately? Or maybe it’s not converting as well as it used to. As a small business owner, you may have created a web site to promote your business and connect with customers—however, it’s important to make sure that your web site is up to date and effectively marketing your business and reaching your target audience. This is where a web designer can help you with a marketing web audit.

Holy cow, I feel like I blinked and 2022 was gone! I always love reading about how other small businesses do things behind the scenes (I always learn so much!), and started doing my own recap last year too. I don’t usually set huge goals each year so much as try to fine tune the next baby steps to move the business forward. Hope it’s helpful!

Here’s a simple fact—people buy from people. Whether that be products, services, or choosing which nonprofit to donate to, we are wired to form human connections and are more likely to spend money with someone we like, know, and trust. While your messaging and marketing strategies play into this as well, brand photography is an easy way to quickly bridge that gap and create a meaningful connection with potential new clients or customers.

One of the best parts about working from home is the ability to have your pets nearby while you work. We’ve been working from home for the last six years and have tried lots of different pet beds for our crew. Here are our favorites!

The last several months have been a substantial period of growth with our business and it felt like a good time to reflect on what got us here and how we plan on shifting into the next phase ahead. If you’re an aspiring designer or online service based business, my hope is that some of this will be helpful for your own journey. There is so much advice (and noise!) online about building a business and I wanted to reflect on what has actually worked and helped to move the needle for us since we’ve launched.

Once you’ve finished a branding project, you’ll be presented with a large folder of digital files. This can often feel a little overwhelming if you’re not sure what to do with them. Every designer or agency will deliver a slightly different combination of files, but we’ll help you figure out how to get the most out of your new core brand deliverables so that you maximize your investment and start shining like the professional that you are.

Whether we think about it or not, every time we use our phones, computers, or the internet, we are using electricity and energy. We might not be able to see the carbon emissions we create from using the Internet, like you can with the exhaust from a car, so we don’t realize how big of an impact it makes.

Approximately 1 in 4 Americans has a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hearing- and vision-related disabilities are among the six most common disabilities in the United States. Yet, many aspects of our society do not take these 61 million Americans with disabilities into account. Continue reading to learn more about how you can make your web site more accessible for all visitors!