[ About Us ]
True North is a young Graphic / Web Design Company run by Nick Alderson. We're based in the North West of England. Our mission is to provide the very best of Graphic Design, Web Design & e-Commerce solutions to the English Speaking World and beyond...
Web Development
A well designed web site should be well laid out, easy to navigate and good to look at. All can include: "CMS" [Content Management System]. The site owner controls some or all of the content.
Web sites fall into 4 main types:
1. "Brochure Sites" that describe the products and services an enterprise provides without any means of purchasing them online. They can include a "Blog" and in a case where you need to include content only visible to "Members" a way to register and sign in.
2. "Templates like WordPress". There are many. This gives the
site owner control of all content, images and the Blog it contains.
The image below it is an original design Brochure type site.
3. "e-Commerce Sites": these are secure sites where a visitor can purchase products and services on line. ~ We offer 3 main types.
4. "Auction Sites": like eBay.
These last 2 are more complicated...
Graphic Design
We've got a total of 37 years experience & can tell you the one thing you really need to know about Graphics.
"Great images sell stuff".
Inspired layout helps but it's the pictures that'll get the job done.
Graphic Design is time consuming & very hard to put a price on. We charge by the hour & hope to complete small projects in 1 hour. If it takes longer we tend to stand the cost.
To give you an idea of what takes an hour: think of a full page A5 full colour magazine advert with a couple of images. We can often get these done in the time.
Larger commissions we'd obviously quote for. You can get a quote by
using our Contact Form [below].
e-Commerce
These are secure sites where a visitor can purchase products / services on line. ~ We offer 3 types.
1. Simple "Buy It Now" checkout.
2. Shopping Cart: where visitors can buy multiple items & then checkout with a single card payment.
3. PayPal shopping cart.
We can look at other solutions if you prefer...
You may already have an e-Commerce site that needs a make over.
If you're new to e-Commerce we can build you a site that'll get your products / services moving like crazy.
It's worth saying here that as good as we are, we can't do miracles. If your products aren't the best & the images are poor they won't sell as well as they might.
We can offer advice on photography for free & if necessary, take superb shots for you [we'd look at what needs doing & quote you a price].
We'll do whatever it takes to make you & your site a real success...
[ Other Services ]
We've worked for many diverse enterprises within industry & other sectors. Experienced in such areas as: web design, photography, book & newspaper layout, package design, posters, record & CD covers, large catalogues to single page fliers. In our time we've specialised in producing artwork for beer pumps, large-scale POS ads. for stores, screen process printing and technical drawing for print-finishing, cutting tools & RF welding etcetera..
Photography
We offer both Digital & Optical photography services. They both have their place although Digital has almost taken over completely. We often say it but it's true: "Great images sell stuff".
Content Management Systems
A C.M.S is a computer application that allows publishing, editing modifying website content, organizing, deleting as well as maintenance from a central interface.
SEO Services
Search Engine Optimisation is a set of strategies employed to get a website to the top of all major search engines & keep it there.
Copy Writing
We hope that if you've had a good look around this site you'll
feel we've done a pretty good job of explaining what's what. Copy
Writing is an art in it's self.
You need to consider the tone &
style of what you're going to produce. Horses for courses.
Flash Animation
These days Flash has become a rather controversial technology.
Some people feel that because a few smaller [and older] devices cannot display Flash it's now outdated.
Time will tell...
Auction Sites
We'll build you an Auction Site & set it up. These sites are heavily dependent on the db [data base] that runs them. They're controlled by a secure "Admin" section of the site where, once logged in you can make changes to the way it all works.
[ Our Portfolio ]
↑ Click on an image to see slideshow. ↑
[ Testimonials ]
True North Design is an intentionally small, lean and hungry enterprise.
Attention to detail and a tenacious thoroughness is the hallmark here.
Project completion on deadline and within budget is the primary aspiration.
Working with Nick was extremely easy and well worth the money spent. He offered a quick turn around on the job & maintained great communications with me throughout the design process. Along with configuring my online store, he also assisted me in understanding how to get my website running smoothly ~ which was more than I had expected. In all ~ I would highly recommend True Ñorth Design to others & also prefer to have them work on any future design needs that I may have.
Anne Brightman
I first encountered Nick Alderson because in 1997 my company needed a website for holiday villas in Portugal. We put the job up for bids at guru.com ~ Nick's proposal was the best because it was the only one that fully addressed the brief we'd written ~ others were just general introductions & links to work they'd done. He stood out!
We've worked on many & various projects ever since. I don't think Nick would mind if I say he's a graphic designer & not a businessman ~ I've been able to help him in this area & his enterprise has prospered ~ so much so that I'm included below in his team. I regard this as an accolade!
Garry Forshaw
[ Counters ]
Pots Of Tea / Coffee
Finished Projects
Working Hours
Happy Clients
[ Team ]
Lean and Mean: There's never any spare labour at True North Design. Contractors are brought in & paid on a per project basis. This keeps overheads & costs to a minimum. Consequently clients are assured of the best possible service at prices that are amongst the lowest for comparable companies.
-
Nick Alderson
[Not a picture of him ~ This is Elliot from Mr Robot]
Nick is owner & CEO. He runs the company day to day...
Dave Evans
[Not a picture of him ~ This is Edward & Mr Robot]
Dave helps out with serious coding & general advise on running the enterprise...
Sylvia Clark
[Not a picture of her ~ This is Angela from Mr Robot]
Sylvia helps out with public relations & general advise on life...
Garry Forshaw
[Not a picture of him ~ This is Phillip from Mr Robot]
Garry lives in Portugal ~ is a financial genius & is keeping the business in the single market of the EU... -
Jo Thomson
[Not a picture of her ~ This is Dominique from Mr Robot]
Jo helps out with client advertising ~ SEO & keeps everybody sane...
Peter Allbright
[Not a picture of him ~ This is Cisco from Mr Robot]
Peter knows everyone in IT ~ is a genius & helps us out because he's a great guy...
Tina Gallager
[Not a picture of her ~ This is an actor from Mr Robot]
Tina helps out with exhibition planning...
Nick Alderson
[Not a picture of him ~ This is Elliot from Mr Robot]
Nick makes the tea / coffee ~ He runs errands & sweeps up...
[ News ]
Owing to the commercially sensitive nature of much of the work we do there's not much we can divulge by way of news. Here are a few things that've happened recently that we can tell you...
25Feb'15
We were waiting for an opportunity to build a responsive site. Finally got asked to do one. These days we don't do anything else...
15Jun'16
We launched an online store for a client using the prestashop platform. Never been asked to use this before. Went really well & we'll use it again....
02 Dec '16
We never do this lightly & usually keep to an old stable OS for many years. A new design computer tempted us to try Win 10. So far so good...