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Who We Are

Our web design team

Based in Burlington, Ontario, Leaf Design is a close-knit team of web designers and developers from across North America.

Toronto-area business

Located just outside of Toronto, our office is in Burlington, only a short drive from Oakville or Hamilton.

Top-tier talent

Our team brings together some of the best developers and designers that have years of experience working on corporate websites.

A long-term group

Most of our team has been with Leaf for 8 years or more, so you get a group that knows how to deliver together.

North American team

We don’t outsource any work offshore. Our North American team eliminates any timezone delays or language barriers.

A diverse skillset

Most projects draw on talents from across the team, so the right expertise is applied to each part of the work.

One point of contact

Your single point of contact is founder Ian Chapman, keeping communication clear and consistent from start to finish.
We enjoyed the entire process of working with the Leaf Design team. Their approach to marketing our business was not only effective, but very insightful.
Client Collaboration

Roles and responsibilities

When we take on a project, we enter into a partnership, working towards a common goal – to put your organization in a better position than when we met.

Our responsibilities

  • Steering the project in the right direction to accomplish the goals we set out together
  • Making it clear to you when to expect certain milestones
  • Keeping communication lines open so you stay in the loop on our progress
  • Responding to any questions or concerns promptly
  • Keeping your best interests in mind at all stages of the project

Your responsibilities

  • Providing business input and approval on strategy discussions
  • Responding to requests for information or feedback in a timely way
  • Providing reasonable availability for ad hoc discussions
  • Delivering digital assets (text, photography, and marketing collateral) in a well-organized format
  • Paying agreed-upon invoices promptly

Joint responsibilities

  • Making design and development decisions based on the project’s objectives, rather than personal preferences
  • Notifying the other party in advance of any business disruptions that may affect the project schedule
  • Respecting the other party’s knowledge and expertise
  • Bringing a positive attitude to the project partnership
The Practical Details

How we work

A few details about where we’re based, when we’re available, and how we keep you informed while your site takes shape.

Our office

Our office is located right along the border of Burlington and Oakville. We are only a 20-minute drive from Mississauga, and about 30 to 45 minutes from downtown Toronto.

Although much of our collaboration happens over video conferences, we always enjoy meeting in person to truly get to know and understand your business and its team.

Our availability

Our normal business hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ET. Emails and voicemails received outside those time periods will be responded to the next business day.

We observe all Canadian and Ontario holidays, and will inform you well in advance of any time off that may impact your project schedule.

Our updates

Throughout the build, we’ll send you a “work in progress” demo, usually updated every week or so. Each one comes with a short note on what’s been added or changed.

This lets you review progress on desktop and mobile as it happens, ensuring small issues get caught early, before they spread across the whole site.

Good to Know

FAQs

Don’t see the answer you were looking for? Please send us a message and we’d be happy to help.
How do we know if Leaf Design is a good fit for us?

We’d much rather find that out early while you are still choosing your web design agency, not halfway through a project.

Generally, we’re a strong fit for B2B organizations that view their website as a working part of the business rather than an online brochure. That often means a longer sales cycle, a more complex offering, or a sales team that needs the site to do some of the heavy lifting.

Our best projects tend to involve a client contact who can speak for the business, provide feedback in a reasonable timeframe, and make decisions without waiting on a large committee.

We may not be the right choice if you’re looking for the lowest bid, need a site launched in a matter of days, or want a team to simply execute a design that’s already been finalized.

Our focus is B2B, so consumer brands and large e-commerce stores are usually better served by an agency that specializes in that work. If that turns out to be your situation, we’re happy to point you in the right direction.

The simplest way to find out is a conversation. Our 30-minute discovery call is ideal for just that. We learn about your business, take a look at your current site, and give you an honest answer either way.

How do you usually meet with clients throughout the project?

If you are local to the Burlington area, we are able to meet in person – either at our office or yours. However, for most of our clients, we find online video conferences to work well for everyone’s busy schedules. It also lets us use AI note-taking tools to capture the discussion for review afterward.

For the majority of the project, you will work with your single point of contact, Leaf Design owner Ian Chapman. This approach ensures a consistent experience with all communications throughout the project. When appropriate, other team members may join in on certain client-facing meetings.

Do we need all our content ready before we start?

No, we can still get started on your project. Even a rough draft or outline of your key points is all we need at the early stages.

Having said that, missing content is the number one reason for delays in a web design project. Clients often underestimate the time and effort required to create high-quality web copy. So we recommend you start working on your copy sooner rather than later.

If you’ve got writer’s block and need some assistance with crafting great copy for your website, we offer copywriting and copyediting services to assist your team.

How involved will I be during the design process?

The design process is a collaborative effort between our team and yours. However, the level of engagement varies by client.

The bulk of the design work will be handled by our team, but your input is essential. You’ll want to be engaged heavily during our initial kickoff meeting, as that will allow us to create a blueprint for the project’s design.

Once the initial design concepts are ready, we’ll connect again to present them to your team, and discuss your feedback. This is your opportunity to let us know what resonates with you and what needs some further attention.

While we encourage close collaboration, there is a danger that clients can get too caught up in the minutiae. If this occurs, we’ll help you refocus on the essentials, which pays off for the project in the long run.

What happens if we don’t like the design?

This is unlikely given how much planning happens before design begins, but it’s always possible we’ll miss the mark on the initial design. However, all of our projects do include time to allow for revisions.

This will provide us with an opportunity to listen to your team’s feedback and understand what needs to be addressed. From there, we can make adjustments to the layout so that it completely aligns with your goals and objectives.

And because our design process happens in stages, any issues can be addressed early before they spread through the rest of the site.

To this day, we have never had to restart a design from scratch. We attribute this to our meticulous planning efforts during the discovery phase of the project.

How do you handle mid-project scope changes?

While we do our best to plan out your requirements in advance of signing a proposal, we understand that priorities can shift and new opportunities arise throughout the course of a project.

Our proposals are fixed-price, but for smaller changes we can still be flexible. Often an addition or two will be balanced out with some other area of the project that required less effort than expected.

However, for larger scope changes we would provide you with an additional estimate before starting any new work, and only begin once your team approves it. Our goal is to ensure there are no billing surprises at the project’s completion.

See What’s Possible

Ready to grow?

Book your 30-minute discovery call where we will:

  • Learn about your business
  • Analyze your website
  • Identify areas of opportunity
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Just a useful conversation.