Tacoma Web Design & Development

Our position as one of the more experienced Tacoma web design firms has given us a front row seat to watch trends in web design and development come and go — and the insight to create tools that work for organizations both large and small.

What's your web design story? It's time to go beyond the template.

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If you’ve been in business long, you’ve probably seen — and tried — it all, when it comes to website tools and templates. It's time to go beyond the template.

We once talked to a local barber who hoped his competitor would never go out of business because his counterpart's bad hair cuts kept a steady stream of new clients coming his way. We sort of feel the same way about template websites. For many people, the promise of easy development and maintenance never materializes with off-the-shelf website formats like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace. They find themselves asking why can't I make this thing...(fill in the blank here with your own complaint).

Can you build a WordPress website?

We can and do build template websites when clients prefer it. We understand that staying with a familiar system has some appeal. But our preference is to build custom websites using our own super-intuitive content management system. There are several reasons we feel that this approach can serve clients better. 

Why we prefer custom website design

Whether its looking like everyone else out there, or fussing with a tough-to-manage admin panel, or worrying whether your site (or widgets) will break when you update the template, template sites have some definite downsides. 

As creatives, we don't like having to shoehorn a cool vision into a pre-existing template. Something always gets sacrificed in this process. We’re custom designers and developers. So, the only limits to what we can build is your budget and our imagination. Our specialty? Easy-to-use, content-managed sites with completely custom web design. Tacoma has been turning to Hemisphere Design for website innovation since 2001. When you work with Hemisphere, you not only get high-end web design and development, you also get responsive ongoing support from an established local company.

Our web design capabilities

Our talented, Tacoma-website design team has a proven process for creating enterprise-level websites on a reasonable schedule and competitive budget. In addition to custom website design and development, we offer:                                        

  • Content strategy
  • User studies and research
  • Heatmapping and behavior analytics
  • Competitive analysis
  • Copywriting
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Digital marketing landing pages
  • Photography
  • Video production
  • Hosting and monitoring
  • Advanced analytics
  • On-going support

Why choose Hemisphere?

Icon: Website technology

Technology

There are a lot of people with art degrees out there. They are no match for code-heads who geek out on optimization and conversion.

  • Search-optmized (SEO) from soup to nuts with structured data and metadata
  • Accessible web design (ADA / WCAG) baked into every new site
  • Mobile-friendly and responsive layouts to meet your visitors where they are
  • Management (CMS) tools that are easy for beginners and robust for experts
Icon: Brand expertise

Artistry

Sure, your brother-in-law can build a website, but is he a professional designer trained in user experience (UX) and branding?

  • Custom layout and design that matches your brand and your culture
  • Pixel-perfect logo, color, and font matching to align with your offline materials
  • Navigation that is simple and clean to make your site intuitive to users of all levels
  • User-focused experiences that are enjoyable and meaningful, regardless of platform
Icon: Website content

Content

Anyone who's started a blog or tried to fill a Facebook wall with interesting posts knows that curating quality content is harder than it sounds.

  • Writing that matches your organization's tone, culture, and goals
  • Photography to showcase your amazing people, places, and products
  • Video production scripted, shot, and edited to bring your story to life
  • Graphics created by our professional, in-house design team

Client stories

Cutters Point Coffee

Custom web design

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Although we can make template websites, we prefer to do custom design even for local businesses who aren't playing with enterprise-level budgets. This involves using our content management system and our multi-talented team to create something that's a cut above.

In Cutters Point’s case this meant using multiple skillsets in one website: photography, writing, design, and development.The lifestyle photography we shot helped Cutters Point portray their brand as Northwest-based and adventure-inspired. New product-photography and written content helped them heighten their reputation as a local, micro-roaster committed to artisanal techniques. Combine it all with thoughtful design, and what do you get? How about a 53% increase in website visits, a 43% increase in new website users, and a 45% increase in pages viewed per visit? Oh, and you get a website that feels exactly like the recently refreshed Cutters Point brand.

KML Designer Finishes

Enterprise Web Design

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Companies with a visual product, national presence, or big technology needs are often looking for an enterprise-level web solution. KML Designer Finishes is a manufacturer that supports the architecture, design, and construction industry with high-tech, eco-friendly laminate. Our website for KML needed to help designers and architects get a feel for KML's products. But how do you convince a designer sitting at his desk in a Chicago high rise or an architect sitting on her couch in her Austin condo to order a sample of your laminate? We used cool background videos, subtle animation, bold photography, inspiring writing, behavioral analytics and smart search engine optimization to help KML's ideal audience find them and order samples. On top of custom design, development, photography, writing, and video, our enterprise websites often include powerful web stores, custom technology integrations, user testing, and robust content and SEO strategies.

Tacoma Convention Center

ADA web development

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Accessible web design and development is becoming more and more important. As a society we long ago identified the importance of serving people with different abilities with accessible architecture, but the architecture of the internet has, for the most part, remained forbidding to visually impaired people and people with other physical and intellectual challenges. It's our commitment to make all of our new websites ADA-friendly (we're even up for retrofitting old sites). But like anything that is custom built, there are levels of ADA customization that we can do. As a publicly funded entity with legal obligations, the Greater Tacoma Convention Center needed robust ADA accommodations. Accessible websites built for government agencies are often drab, text-heavy affairs that verge on being non-functional for all users. With GTCC, we were committed to making something that blended beauty and functionality for users of all abilities. It takes nuance to make the best practices of accessible web design look great and function appropriately, but its gratifying work that we feel honored to do.

Working with us

What can I expect from your Tacoma web design team?

Expect no sales pressure. Expect to be guided through a thoughtful process by a team of experts. Expect to be heard. Expect proactive communication and minimal drama. Expect us to dress like designers (hoodies and the like) but work like professionals. Expect a custom look you'll love and features that fit your needs. Expect to collaborate. Expect to have a great time. Expect to work together again in the future because great experiences deserve a repeat.

What does website design cost?

We get it. Cost is a part of finding the right web design partner. So what does website design cost? With Hemisphere, we take your goals, needs, and budget into consideration and provide you with a customized proposal. A small website with great design but modest technology needs could cost as little as $2,500. A large, enterprise website with robust technology could cost $25,000 or more. We are happy to find the right budget to meet your organization's needs.

Why work with our Tacoma web developers?

We’re not just experts in web design. Tacoma is our home too. We’re uniquely qualified to help local businesses reach their target audience because…we are your target audience. Need to play in a bigger sandbox? No problem, we’ve handled web development projects for corporate giants like SAP and Russell Investments. And with competitive hosting and responsive support, it’s a comfort to know that your site’s in great hands — just down the street.

Hemisphere Downtown Tacoma Illustration

Now that you've seen what we can do, let's schedule a time to hang out.

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