Guiding principles
People-focused, ethical, and justice-minded
At Blustery Day Design, we bring our specific guiding principles to every project we’re a part of.
Our priorities
We have established these guidelines over decades of client work. Prioritizing these aspects of a project allows our work to align with our own professional ethics and provide notable value to our clients.
Accessibility
We filter all creative decisions through the lenses of accessibility, inclusion and justice. From technical decisions to typeface choices, we optimize our work for users with varied visibility and usability needs. For websites, we work to ensure that all of the site’s visitors, no matter their particular restrictions, abilities, or circumstances, feel welcome and are able to access the information provided.
Inclusion
Following inclusive design principles and intentional content strategy, we carefully create websites and graphic design pieces that recognize and celebrate the full spectrum of human diversity. All are welcome. Throughout each project, we strive to consider the many factors that define the potential audience, such as race, ethnicity, sex, gender, health, neurodiversity, socioeconomic status, and privilege.
Ecological impact
At every step of a project, we prioritize sustainable, responsible stewardship of Earth’s resources. We make “green” choices whenever possible, choosing vendors and tools that take environmental concerns into account, that maximize efficient processing, and that minimize energy usage. For websites, we build technical foundations that optimize load time and energy needs for each visitor’s interaction with the site. For print work, we design efficiently and consider materials carefully in order to limit waste product and prioritize sustainable materials.
Fiscal responsibility
When making decisions with financial impact, we are intentionally conscious of our clients’ financial resources. We avoid expensive or custom solutions when a less expensive one would suffice. Through solid project management and transparency, we aim to respect our clients’ time and provide clarity about any costs involved.
Growth & empowerment
In every project, we make intentional choices and establish strategic foundations that allow for future growth. We build websites that are easy to use and that can be built upon later as needs grow and change. And we design with strong, consistent visual foundations that can be used and adapted for future work. It is important to us to set you up for true success, not only now but into the future as well.
Education
We approach projects with an education mindset, prioritizing the end goal of our clients feeling informed, empowered, and capable. For websites, this includes training to ensure that the client has the information and tools needed to utilize the site in the future in ways that align with its accessible, inclusive, ecologically-minded and fiscally responsible foundations.
Doing hard things
Many of our clients are working directly within various facets of the complex human experience. So when clients are facing challenging subject matter or complicated situations, we bring sensitivity, nuance, and clarity of purpose to help them move forward. We respect their stories and help them to honor their multi-faceted realities in their outward presentation and work.
Open minds
With an explicit awareness that we are products of our particular circumstances and life experiences, we strive to stay curious and open to what others have to teach us. In our own professional development, we seek out diverse voices in our industry and beyond. When we gain information and insight from others, we do our best to share this with our clients, uplifting & citing the many perspectives from which we learn.