Philosophy

Silicon Chisel takes a different approach to design work. There are many “web designers” out there, but not many with the same approach to doing business as Silicon Chisel.

1) Web Systems vs. Web Sites. A lot of web designers build sites that then require time-intensive labor to add or modify content. These sites may look incredible, but the recurring costs of keeping the site current can be a rude surprise. Silicon Chisel builds site systems based on open-source scripts and mySQL databases. These content systems can be “skinned” to look just as nice as a conventional site, but have the added advantage of being easy enough to operate that the site owner can manage their own content. No recurring update fees. The client is enabled to own, operate, and manage their site and their content.

2) Get what you want, not what you’d settle for. A lot of web projects start out with “Here’s Phase 1, and then we’ll see what comes next.” The client knows what they want, but either doesn’t know how to get from Point A to Point B, isn’t sure if what they want is possible, or doesn’t think they can afford the project. At Silicon Chisel we have found that it’s usually more cost effective to build the desired end-result site first. This cuts out the labor costs of migrating a site through various stages and, more important, the client gets what they really want sooner.

3) Pay for functionality, not for copy editing. A lot of the work of building a site is content creation. A good web designer can integrate initial content more quickly, but from that point on, it becomes an expensive proposition to have the designer be the copy editor. Since Silicon Chisel builds a modular web system for its clients, it becomes very easy for the client to request new features and for Silicon Chisel to then incorporate these into the site. And by the nature of the site system itself, the client is enabled to manage their own content.

4) Professionalism. Many web designers are self-taught and/or come from non-professional or non-technical backgrounds. Silicon Chisel’s staff come from the high tech industry and switched to consulting. They have decades of industry experience ranging from huge Fortune 500 corporations to daring start-ups. As such, Silicon Chisel treats each project and each client with the level of expertise and professionalism you’d expect from an industry veteran.

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