A very exciting day was recently had. Hotbox Studios near Hook had caught my eye a while ago, and several fruitful conversations had brought my Project Manager, Liz Hodgson and myself to their studios for a more in depth planning meeting.
I’ve found it quite difficult trying to select a suitable designer for the art market website. I guess we’re all aware there are plenty of designers out there: it’s the information age, and it often seems that every second person is some kind of web expert. That’s all well and good, but when it comes to trying to select just one from the many (and doing that from a cold start with no references) the array of choice becomes quite a hindrance.
For the art market weekend, the site is the glue that will hold it all together: our differing events, the services we are offering, the marketing of it all, and point of contact for applications and visitors. If the website ain’t right, then neither is the weekend.
Things aren’t carved in stone yet, but so far I have found the guys at Hotbox to be first class when it comes to customer service. It’s quite refreshing to speak to a business and find them as relaxed as they are passionate and informative. When I’m looking for a designer I need someone who can do more than just receive a brief and do a job. What I need is someone who can use their skills and get involved. With the site being such a foundational element of the weekend, it’s design and content inevitably impacts upon the design and content of the weekend programme. What Liz and I found was that Hotbox Studios were a rich bed of ideas and discussion that went well beyond what we were hoping for.
As we drove back from the consultation, the plans for the art market weekend had taken some enormous leaps forward. For me, at least, being able to collaborate at such a mutual level with a contractor is rapidly becoming a deal breaker, and I’m left crossing my fingers this weekend as I hope that our ambitious plans haven’t outstripped a workable budget.
Their new quote arrives soon…
