{Internet Roadmap}

Quality or Cost?

Timeline:
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Scope:
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About: As a business, you want to put your best face forward, but you also work within a budget. You want to make sure that your clients see the best of what you have to offer, but where do you draw the line? Quality is expensive, but if you cut too many corners you risk looking cheap and can often miss out on clients that you’re perfectly capable of handling. So when do you go with quality and when do you cut costs? Is there a happy medium?

As an example, we currently have product boxes in our sidebar and on our web design services page. They’re decent, but we wanted something that really portrayed what we offer. Since we produce high-quality sites, we wanted our visitors to recognize that quality as soon as they look at our packages. As we looked into redesigning these boxes, we realized there were plenty of choices. For example, we could have gone with $10 software like 3d box shot all the way up to professional 3d software packages like Cinema 4d that cost thousands. That’s quite a range in price and quality, so what should you do?

Our current boxes were created from a template in Adobe Illustrator. With a template the price is obvious… cheap. Now it doesnt look unprofessional but it doesnt look like a real product you can go to the store and grab off the shelf. It fits the budget, but it isn’t exactly what we want. Although we don’t offer any physical products, the visual marketing tool adds to its appeal and value. Our brains are programmed that better packaging equals a better product. So how do we do that in a cost effective way? I mean, even after you purchase the software you still need someone to use it which means hiring a professional (expensive) or training someone (also expensive).

We ended up deciding to use Cinema 4d to create realistic boxes, but it made us think. Why can’t small businesses have their cake and eat it too? Why can’t they get the quality they want at a price they can afford? We think you can.

We are looking to create a new service that offers everyone the ability to have the quality they need for the price they want. High end 3d product design at better rates based on creating 3d model setups that are already animated and waiting for your designs to be applied to them by our professionals. Eventually this will scale to all sorts of offerings, but the product boxes are a great test bed to work out some of the kinks, which is where we need your help. We need to find out exactly where the proper balance is. We have a video that shows our product boxes done in 3d. They both look real, but one is hands down the winner. The only draw back is that the lower quality version took about 20 minutes to render whereas the high quality version took over 9 hours! That is a drastic difference, and would directly affect the price point. Please take a look at the comparative video below and then vote in the poll to let us know your thoughts.

Product Boxes – Quality Comparison from Aaron D. Campbell on Vimeo.

The lower quality video isn’t just darker, the high quality one does more calculations on the lighting, reflections, etc, giving it more realism. Unfortunately, that realism takes time. Please take a moment and share your thoughts:

Acholi Beads

Timeline: Complete
Scope: Content Management System setup and implementation, online store, flash, Google Maps plugin to find retailers

About: James came to us with a need for not only a complete site redesign but also an online store. He had some great ideas for what he wanted, knew what image he wanted to project, and we helped him to not only achieve that goal but surpass it.

Acholi Beads said:

They were totally professional, gave exceptional personal service, and were able to deliver a world class site on an aggressive timeline.

So, would I recommend Xavisys? I can’t imagine Acholi Beads working with any other company, and I fully recommend them to anyone who wants a custom web presence to compete with the big boys.

The Acholi Beads product is completely hand-made by ladies in Uganda, which is amazing and made for some great imagery. However, it was also a challenge because you can’t offer a photo of the exact item a person is going to get, or even let them choose the exact color that they want. Each piece is too unique for that. Instead, we created a unique color chooser that lets the user choose a color group rather than a specific color (see it on their flagship product, the multi-color necklace).

Acholi Beads now has a beautiful, functional site that meets their needs and is easy for them to manage and even expand.
acholibeads.com

Adame Org.

Timeline: Complete
Scope: Concept, User Interface Design, Content Management System setup and implementation

About: Kelli Adame came to us in need of a site redesign for her personal organization business. She needed something fresh and compelling that was easy to use and made clients feel comfortable. We developed a rock solid design that would make her clients feel less stressed simply by browsing to her site. It was built on Wordpress and Kelli has full management capabilities which works out perfectly for a small business like hers.
www.adameorg.com

Fellowship of San Diego

Timeline: In Process
Scope: Concept, User Interface Design, Content Management System setup and implementation, New Media Consultation

About: The Fellowship of San Diego is located in the heart of San Diego and was in desperate need of a site redesign. They were looking for something modern and simple and they needed it to be easily manageable by office staff. We built the site on a Wordpress content management system and they absolutely love the ease of editability. The site features blogging, integrated google maps, easily manageable contact forms, photo gallery with lightbox, new media integration, online giving and tons of other usable tricks. Not to mention the design looks GREAT!
www.fellowshipofsd.com

Baja Bumpers

Timeline: Complete
Scope: Concept, Design, Photography, CMS implementation, and Programming.

About: Baja Bumpers is a local company here in Arizona, fabricating off-road accessories for desert racing and specializing in tube bumpers for off-road vehicles. They never had a web site before and were looking to establish a web presence that reflected the spirit of Baja racing. We went off with them into the desert, took photos of the gear in action, and used the images to create a new WordPress site for the company. We created a custom solution for the site, including a news section and photo gallery, focusing on ease of use. Start to finish, a great project for Xavisys, and we continue to manage and expand the site on a regular basis.
http://bajabumpers.com