Welcome to Hello Lovely Design & Co

This document shares the values and best practices. As a coach, and a creative, I believe in setting up for success and that’s the aim of these words by sharing what it’s like to collaborate and how we can work together.

Please do feel free to ask questions.

Best wishes

Berenice

Contacting Hello Lovely Design & Co

• You will receive a reply within 48 hours unless the out-of-office reply indicates otherwise or the message is interrupted by technical problems beyond my control. I prefer not to use an Out of Office to save carbon.

• The studio is growing, therefore I politely ask for at least four weeks’ notice, more is better. I cannot guarantee to hold dates but as soon as the deposit is paid, you are in my diary. 

• You will not be my only client. All work is treated in confidence and scheduled so that the studio is never overloaded, based on the brief that we’ve agreed. Due to this, I cannot guarantee to make up time when work is supplied to me late but we'll look at schedules together to see what we can do.

• I believe in time off. Hello Lovely Design & Co tends to close around second week of March, mid-June and late September.

• I book in Zoom calls on Monday and Wednesdays, you can find my diary for 15 minute discovery calls online.

• I do not use Whats App or accept direct mail via social media sites, including Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook. I’d hate to miss an important message so the best way to contact me is by email or the contact page.

• You can, however, follow me on social media and I welcome you to my newsletter too. There's more details on the biosite. 

Advice for free

• My Gorgeous Guides are searchable and contains advice on lots of things. Most of the posts are inspired by projects. You’ll find posts on using colours, searching for images alongside case studies and checklists. 

• I do not provide any design work for free. My portfolio is only a small selection of work produced recently and my career is over twenty years. If you can't see anything relevant, please ask for examples or advice.

• I charge for the skills, experience, and education I have gained, which I share with my clients, and I invest all this in every project I take on.

• No question is silly; please ask me. We all start from somewhere.

Systems and useful information

• Apps I use that you may wish to know about: Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader for proof mark-up, Google Workspace, Dropbox and Trello. I do not offer training on these but can provide basic advice and links to tutorials.

• All print project proofs are provided as PDF files.

• I design using professional Adobe software on a Mac. All work is backed up on a Lacie drive hourly and on a Cloud twice each day. 

• Websites are created using WordPress Divi or Squarespace, and wireframes with Figma. I use code to customise each site.

• I’m trained in project management and image research.

• I am trained in proofreading too. You can use the BSI standard marks. 

• I run the administration on a Client Management System (CRM) called Moxie. You will receive email with a link to your client portal which is home to all the paperwork and invoices with links to pay online.

• You do not need to know how to use Moxie yourself; just follow the links, and the system will take care of the rest. You can ask me if you get stuck.

• You may have a copy of the source files (which may be in software you cannot open such as Adobe Creative Cloud, and are not expected to but other designers could). Please refer to my terms and conditions for copyright on handover.

• If you need help in another area related to design, such as editing, copywriting or animation, do ask. I subcontract to these areas of expertise.

• If I’m not free, I’ll do my best to recommend an alternative designer.

Carbon footprint

• I plant trees for you with Ecologi..

• On payment of the final invoice, all previous versions of work will be deleted and the final files of the project archived on a hard drive and Google cloud to reduce digital carbon.

• All the computer equipment is refurbished including my 1930s Abbess desk and use a refill ink pen.

• I will advise on eco-friendly printing and check the paper source for any printer if you ask me to produce the print.

• All websites are produced with minimal bloat and advice on renewal energy hosts. 

• I'm part of a Squarespace Circle group campaigning for less carbon use on this platform.

• I no longer take short-haul flights for client events. I have a flight-free life.

• I endeavor to explore ways to promote and support eco-friendly practices in work and life.

• Good Energy powers the studio.

• All paper is re-used mostly in my relief print work.

• All tea drunk is fair trade!

Stages and supply of work (digital and online design)

• Copy should be as final as you can manage though we may adjust it as the website is created. A copywriter can check flow of your words before it's passed to me. If I feel your words require significant work, I will let you know and provide details for relevant services to help you.

• I will provide a Google Drive or Dropbox folder for the supply of website copy and images. Each folder will be labeled as the page title and you can load your files to this space and edit the file names.

• All images should be supplied with permission to use and to be suitable for use in print or web (depending on your project). Please ask if you're struggling with file quality or finding images as I can provide image research with advice notice. 

• Copy can be supplied in Word and images as JPG files, or PNG for website. I can also use original images in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Stages and supply of work (print-based design)

• Copy should be development edited, copy edited, and loaded to a Google Drive folder which I'll set up for you. It is much more cost-effective to have an editor work on the files before designing as they can make alts in Word.

• I advise a proofreader to check my proofs after the document has been designed. If you do not have one, I can recommend qualified and reliable people.

• We will discuss the page size of your book before design as changes to formats later in production, may require a redesign and this is an extra cost.

• When marking up book proofs, please use Acrobat Reader. This post explains how to do this. 

• Please do not attempt to export copy from the PDF proof into Word and edit it as it cannot be run back into my software. If you edit a Word file and then sent it back to me to re-set then this will be charged as the book needs to be styled again.

• Please do not share draft designs including logos or book covers online for online feedback without prior permission.

• A concept or sample design uses your sample text (as final as possible) to create a design to show you what the final document may look like before all the text is typeset. This is when you need to mark up the design and feedback on fonts, colours and space. We'll walk through this together. 

• I advise spending time on your proofs and not rushing the feedback, it is better to have fewer stages to reduce carbon footprint. 

• Each quote contains the number of stages and a charge per extra proof stage, which I use to offset carbon with Ecologi.

After the project

• I am happy to write you a testimonial.

• You’re welcome to share my design work on social media and I’d appreciate being tagged on Instagram or LinkedIn (you’re welcome to follow me too).

• Holding a launch? I am happy to talk about the creative journey.

• I’ll write a case study about our work for this website which will be shared on social media and in Gorgeous, the newsletter. At the end of each project you will be invited to leave a testimonial.

• Please do keep in touch, I love to know what happened next!

• I offer a repeat client discount for future work.

A personal ethical checklist

• A client brand or business must not harm. 

• A client brand or business must be honest and open; no greenwashing is tolerated here.

• A client brand or business must never exploit another person, place, or situation in its promotion or production. 

• I love working with people who are passionate about their business and value good design.