Before any design work starts, before any code is written, I have a conversation with every new client. I call it the discovery call, and it's the most important part of the whole project.
Some clients expect to send over a brief and get a website back. That's not how we work — and here's why.
A website needs a purpose, not just a presence
The question I ask every client is simple: what do you need this website to do for your business?
The answers vary more than you'd think.
Some businesses primarily want leads — they want someone to land on the site, understand what they offer, and fill in a contact form or pick up the phone. For these clients, the entire site needs to be structured around that journey: clear calls to action, service pages that address what customers are searching for, trust signals that convert visitors who aren't quite ready yet.
Other businesses want to showcase their work — a portfolio-first site where the quality of past projects does the selling. That's a completely different design and structure. The priority is visual impact and making it easy for potential clients to browse and be impressed.
Build a leads-focused site for someone who needs a portfolio, and they'll be disappointed. Build a portfolio site for someone who needs leads, and the phone won't ring. The discovery call is what stops that happening.
What we cover in the call
It's not a lengthy process. We talk through:
- What the business does and who its ideal customers are
- What the website needs to achieve — leads, showcase, ecommerce, something else
- What they like and don't like (visually and in terms of other sites)
- Any existing brand elements — logo, colours, fonts — or whether those need creating too
- Timeline and budget
That conversation shapes everything that follows — the homepage design brief, the site structure, the content priorities, and what success actually looks like.
No revisions charges, no going live until you're happy
Once I know what the site needs to do, I work with our in-house graphic designer to put together a custom homepage design. Not a template, not something AI-generated — a design built specifically for that client's business.
We won't move into the full build until the client is 100% happy with that homepage. And we won't go live until they're 100% happy with the complete site. Revisions along the way aren't charged for — because getting it right is the point.
If you're thinking about a new website and want to start with that conversation, get in touch and we'll arrange a call. There's no obligation and no hard sell — just an honest discussion about what would actually work for your business.