How I Create Designs: translating the essence of a business into its website
It took me a long time to put into words how I actually work as a designer. The process felt difficult to explain, even though it produces consistent, specific results.
This is my best attempt.
The feedback I receive again and again is the same
Clients tell me I accurately translate the essence of the person and the business into the website experience. That visitors land on the site and immediately sense whether this is what they are looking for. That the right people lean in, and those who are not the right fit move on.
That outcome is not accidental. It comes from a design process that begins before any visual decisions are made: in the quality of inquiry, the depth of the discovery work, and the capacity to sense what a brand actually is beneath what a client can yet articulate about it.
What that looks like in practice
I work with clients who have real depth to what they do and often find it genuinely difficult to describe. The expertise is embodied. The quality of the work is clear to anyone who experiences it. But translating that into a coherent, compelling online presence is another matter entirely.
My role is to surface what is true, distil it into something precise, and build a website that holds it at full depth.
"I did not know what to expect from the discovery process or how you'd pull all ideas together from our calls, exercises and communications. But you were able to knit it all together and had that real knack for understanding what my soul wanted, even if I had not been able to articulate it. You have this amazing ability to find clarity. You cut through all the stuff we worked through and found the essence. You have the skill to open it all out and find the heart of it; and then make the website. My website far exceeds my expectations and it's beautiful."
— Nancy Maguire, Anamchara Wellbeing. London, UK
Want to understand how the process works in depth? Read about the design process here.
Or start with the free Brand Essence Meditation: a fifteen-minute guided practice and a first taste of what the process opens up.
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Nora Rose Zinerman is an Art Director, Brand and Website Designer with over 30 years of experience. She works with founders, leaders, and creatives; from first website to full redesign.
Based in Surrey, UK. Working globally.
About Nora
