Our Story
During years of social service education and working within the social services, we frequently saw a need for social service organizations to better communicate with their audiences. Websites that are out of date (and hard to update), uninviting research reports that only an academic would read, and inefficient ways of online service delivery are all too common. Access Design was created out of the desire to change these situations, and to help you mobilize all of your important knowledge and information. With our unique combination of social service education and experience, along with cutting edge design savvy, we feel that we are uniquely situated to offer you with a process and outcome relevant to all of your needs.
Our Design Philosophy
At Access Design, we believe in simplicity. While our sites are all made to be aesthetically pleasing for users, we find that simple solutions are usually the emphasize accessibility through the use of consistent page structures and easy to use navigation. We believe that information too hard to find is useless, and strive to make the user experience a pleasant and rewarding one.
We also emphasize accessibility in all of our websites. For us, accessibility is ensured by creating the site in such a way that people of every ability can access the site, along with people using a variety of devices in a variety of locations.
Our Design Process
1. Listen
During this stage we ask a lot of questions to learn more about your needs, audiences, and purposes. We do a comprehensive review of all the various tools you are now using, and see what is working and what needs to be improved. We'll also look at any similar organizations and try to learn from what they are doing right.
2. Plan
Next, we work with you to set up an information architecture and content sitemaps. Here, we decide whether or not any "Web 2.0" functionality like RSS feeds or social bookmarking makes sense for your website. We'll also help guide you through the content writing process as we know that writing clear, consistent content can be one of the hardest parts of any new website.
3. Create
With all the information gathered in the previous steps, we're now ready to start designing some mockups. We start with the home pages, then move from there to create any internal pages to create a consistent look throughout the site. If you tend to be picky, don't worry, we tend to provide a lot of choice during this stage and are always happy to make the slightest adjustments.
4. Build
After everyone is happy with the design, we're now ready to start building the site. We set up your site using the latest in open-source content management systems (we like Drupal and Wordpress), and make sure that you're always in control of your content. We use the most up-to-date coding guidelines in order to make sure your site is prepared to move forward along with the advent of any new web technologies. Here, we'll also train staff and make sure they feel comfortable keeping the site up-to-date.
5. Deploy
When all is ready, we happily launch your website and provide any needed support as you watch your site's growth.
Our People
Theon Harrichand - Lead Designer and Developer
Throughout his Master of Social Work education and while working in the social services, Theon frequently drew upon his affinity and aptitude for design as these skills were in constant need. Instead of pursuing a life of traditional social work, he decided that his social work education and design skills were better put to use through working in a design agency. Through his work at Access Design, Theon hopes to be a different kind of social worker by making information and ideas more readily accessible through multimedia design.
Vanessa Persaud - Consultant Developer
After completing her degree in Computer Science, Vanessa realized her need to use her skills towards something she was passionate about. This realization led her to complete a teaching degree and use it to work in government-funded programs to help individuals who have lost their jobs gain the skills needed to get back into the workplace. At Access Design, Vanessa is able to employ her technical expertise outside of the classroom to ensure individuals enjoy a straightforward and comprehensible online experience.
