Rising to the challenge

Tackling an unfamiliar task yourself leads to something new; be it an opportunity, experience or skill. For Petra, it was teaching herself how to build a website for her new business (IT consulting company PEKK Consulting) that eventually led to her launching her creative studio, Dobrej Nápad. She had no previous experience working with WordPress but took up the challenge while her new baby slept by her side.

“I spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out how to make it nice, professional and easy to understand by our future customers,” she said. “I re-made that website eight times from scratch, but I totally fell in love with WordPress and the flexible builders that make it super easy and also affordable for small and medium-sized businesses to present what they do. So, I decided to give it a go and founded Dobrej Nápad.”

Fast forward two years and the studio now offers creative, modern, and efficient solutions to freelancers, businesses, and organisations. Petra advises her clients on their current situation and how they can improve their online presence. 

“We develop websites, e-shops, create branding and graphic design, and in cooperation with PEKK Consulting, we provide IT & business consulting for clients based in the Czech Republic and the British Isles,” she added.

Designing the creatives

Petra’s experience with mockups didn’t begin with Dobrej Nápad’s website or her portfolio. She first used Smartmockups to present print assets, like banners, leaflets and business cards, to her clients.

“It always looks different as a draft in PDF but when you present them (the client) with a mockup, they can much better imagine what it will look like when it’s printed,” she said. “Some clients consider any branding activity an unnecessary cost, but when they see our branding drafts together, presented in mockups, they admit that presenting their business in a coordinated and attractive way brings their business to the next level and of course, closer to their customers.”

Using mockups to present graphic design drafts is still Petra’s go-to tool to help her clients visualise what the final designs will look like. She believes this approach makes the decision and approval process faster and easier for her clients.

“Mock-ups are an awesome tool for this, because the clients can actually see what they are getting during the designing process, not when it’s finished,” she said. “There is never any disappointment when they get their printed products, either a banner, rollup, business cards or anything else, just excitement, and the presentation of their business in the way that they were looking for.”

Petra also uses Smartmockups for presenting her work and loves that she can generate a design to showcase websites they’ve created in just a few seconds. 

“Our portfolio looks more professional and cool, and I am very grateful for all of our happy clients who stay with us and recommend our work,” she said.

Designing opportunities 

Canva is another important tool in Petra’s design kit. She uses it almost everyday to create or change images to add to the websites she builds. Custom backgrounds, picture resizing, adding logos to pictures and even for some basic prints.

“With Canva, creating good looking branding is affordable, but can be very creative as well,” she said. “When used with good design practices, it can even compete with tools like Adobe Illustrator, without having to spend many hours learning how to use features that you might only utilise once.”

The speed with which she can go from putting her design onto a real world object and either showing off their latest creation or presenting professional-looking drafts to her clients is one Smartmockups feature she truly appreciates.

“Smartmockups has a great variety of designs in various fields, so we can be confident that any requirement can be met. Super-fast upload, adjustments and download speeds are really impressive.”

Best foot forward

With her background and experience, Petra is well-placed to share digital marketing suggestions on how entrepreneurs, small businesses and freelancers can make the most of what they’ve got.

“One of the most important things is to know how to present the design work and portfolio,” she said. “There is nothing worse than a designer who is offering services to potential clients, but their own portfolio is full of layout issues, typos, non-responsive elements or even non-existent items.”

Exciting things are happening at Dobrej Nápad including e-commerce projects, a networking platform for law teachers, and supporting a couple of growing local businesses. She’s living her passion to share her digital and marketing experience to help businesses flourish.

“The best way to succeed is through honest, fair and hard work, good references and happy clients with whom you retain long-term partnerships. Just be there for them and offer good quality service that they can rely on, and they will not hesitate to recommend you to their friends and business associates.”