Thank you for choosing The Actor Station.

This packet gives you an outline of our process, what materials we need from you along the way, and when we’ll need them by.

Websites

• First meeting. Websites are very personal. At our first meeting, we learn about your career, the goals you have for your website, and discuss design ideas/aesthetic. We also go over all the basics and answer any questions you may have. Mainly though, the meeting is to get to know you, so we can best tailor the site to reflect who you are and what goals you would most like it to achieve.

• Required from you: Think about the goals you want your site to accomplish before we meet, and any aesthetic/design ideas you may have. ⅓ Down payment due at first meeting.

• + Photo Shoot. (Recommended) Great *NON-HEADSHOT* photos are the key to an effective actor website. We have your first meeting at a spot in your favorite neighborhood; after we cover the basics, we wander around the neighborhood and take some lifestyle portraits of you in your element. These photos help your personality shine through your website and convey who you are better than any about me section or headshot can. Come dressed like peak you.

• Required from you: Pick the neighborhood and meeting place, and come dressed and ready for the photoshoot. Minimal is best for hair and makeup, just look like you on a good, normal day. Optional: Additional clothes or layers for the photo shoot. I recommend bringing some of your favorite things that you feel are truest to who you are.
• Another option: We show our truest selves through our passions. If a certain activity is very important to you - i.e. cooking, playing an instrument, playing a sport, video games, etc… We can figure out how to build one of these activities into your photo shoot to give an even better representation of who you are.

• First Draft. We start by designing your home page and one content page/slider, and send you a draft of these pages for approval. This draft will not be fully polished or responsive, so this check-in is not about small details, but about getting on the same page design-wise. This is the last point at which we can still make substantial design changes, so don’t be shy about any concerns you may have. As soon as you give the green light, we begin building out the rest of the site based on the design of this draft.

• Required from you: All ‘required to begin’ items from table above are needed before we can start the first draft. At this point you should be working on the ‘required next’ items, and try to get them to us as soon as possible. The sooner we have all your materials, the faster we can complete your site. Swift response to the drafts we send you helps the process move along quickly.  

• Full Draft. After you approve of the design, we build a draft of the full site. At this step we are only building the full size breakpoint, so your site won’t render properly on a phone or tablet. This step usually takes a little while, as it includes lots of designing and refining for every page/panel/element on your site. As we work, we upload to your temporary link, above, so you can see how things are progressing. Once the draft is finished we send it for your approval, and based on your input we can modify the layout of any of the new pages/panels that have been added.

• Required from you: Rapid response/approval of design drafts is always appreciated and helps move the process as smoothly as possible. If you have not completed all the ‘required next’ items yet, now is the time to do so. We are in the home stretch now, and we can’t publish your site with filler text! We also can’t publish without a domain and hosting.

• Responsive Draft. Once the full draft is finished and approved, we make the entire site responsive. This step can feel the slowest, since it seems like the site is almost done; but now we have to individually redesign each page/panel/element for every responsive breakpoint, and this can take a while. During this step, we also do search engine optimization, and can add in Google analytics if you have an account. When you receive this final draft for approval, please be sure to view the phone and/or tablet versions in addition to the desktop. We review everything, but a fresh pair of eyes is usually best for catching minutiae. Once you approve, we go live!

• Required from you: The remaining payment balance, and your green light on the final draft! Any leftover ‘required next’ items are all that’s left between your site and the world wide web.

Publish to www.yoursite.com! Hooray!

• Upkeep. Text and images are editable by you, but we are happy to do any maintenance updates you are unable to do using the in-browser-editor.

• Text editing and photo replacement can be done at inbrowserediting.adobe.com. On the first page, input your web address, then login using your FTP username and password. This is probably the same as your hosting login, but if you forget we can tell you.
• Slideshow editing is done through google docs. We will send you the link(s) and instructions on how to add or remove photos for any slideshows used in your site.