Krishna Solanki Designs

🌟 Online webinar - The essentials you need to know for an effective and converting website using no or low-code platforms 🌟

📅 Pleased to share that on 29 June 2023, in collaboration with Cambridge Network, Krishna Solanki, our founder, creative director and Squarespace Expert will be speaking at an online event discussing all the essential things you need to know for an effective and converting website using no or low-code platforms.

🔉 The online event is perfect for independent businesses, SMEs and agencies who want to learn about the pros and cons of building a website, quickly and easily without huge resources. She’ll be sharing her top tips to help you boost your online presence, whether through design, user experience or SEO.

Covering:
⭐️CMS platforms - Traditional platforms (WordPress) V No or low-code platforms (Squarespace)
⭐️Benefits and challenges of no-code and low-code platforms
⭐️10 tops tips to help boost your online presence (covering website design, user experience, and touching SEO)
⭐️A FREE PDF guide: Website pre-launch checklist

So get involved and sign-up for the webinar now through the registration page below. ⬇

🌟 Squarespace Expert 🌟

Shut the front door!…😂😆

I’m super pleased to announce that I have been recognised by Squarespace as a Squarespace Expert.

🤩 What is a Squarespace Expert?
A Squarespace Expert is an official partner that demonstrates expertise in Squarespace.

This status is reserved for partners who:
✅ are active within the Squarespace Circle Community

✅ provide specific Squarespace services, whilst creating aesthetically pleasing, and beautiful designs

✅ are able to reinforce designs with technical implementation, skills, and availability,

✅ can demonstrate proven workflows and processes, and..

✅ whose communications skills are of high quality.

⁉️ What does this mean for you?...

😍 Existing clients:
Essentially for our existing clients, this means you can be even prouder of partnering with us knowing that the high-quality work we’ve been providing you with has now been officially recognised as elite. We are one of the best in the industry, and we’re taking you with us on this journey of continued success.

🤓 New clients
With over 10 years of experience using Squarespace as our CMS platform of choice, rest assured that we have the correct expertise and skillset to support you and your requirements.

Whether you are after….

✅ A new website or are in need of a website redesign or upgrade (maybe a move from version 7 to version 7.1),

✅ Support for selling products and services online (Commerce), booking appointments and classes (Squarespace Scheduling), or looking to turn content and expertise into income with an online course or member area (Members Area),

✅ Simple advice and guidance on how to design and build a website using the amazing capabilities of Squarespace…
We have expert-level knowledge, know-how, and capabilities to make it happen.

💌 So what’s holding you back?
Why not book a call with me to see how I can help - [email protected]

🔗 Link to the full article in the comments

📸 Photo credit to the amazing Elodie Giuge Photography 🙌🏽

🔈 At the end of last year, our Founder and Creative Director, Krishna Solanki, joined Omari Harebin on The Unofficial Squarespace Entrepreneur Podcast where she spoke about the KSD business journey.

From starting off as a freelancer with a handful of clients, to transitioning to a small but mighty Squarespace website design and branding agency working with independent businesses, SMEs and agencies globally, and creating a dream team of remotely located associates.

Omari is the Founder and Digital Strategist of SQSPTHEMES.COM. He specialises in helping creative entrepreneurs build profitable businesses on Squarespace by leveraging what the platform has to offer and more.

🔗 Link in the comments to listen to the interview.

Once you’ve finished listening, scroll down the web page to find more podcasts interviews and binge worth listening! 💕

🍷 Thorne Wines - New visual brand identity 🍷

Thorne Wines is a family-run, and independent, wine merchants. At the helm are James and Ellie Thorne. The couple launched Thorne Wines in 2017, looking to share their knowledge and passion for wine with Cambridgeshire restaurants, businesses and the public.

During its first five years of business Thorne Wines had grown organically. Naturally, their target audience evolved. It became clear that their old visual brand identity wasn’t ready to serve them moving forward, therefore they asked KSD to create a modern brand for them, that matched their vision for their business.

Working with James on the rebrand of the business was fabulous. His attention to detail was second to none. He knew what he wanted in the rebrand but struggled at being able to implement his vision so it was a perfect partnership!

As part of Thorne Wines visual brand identity, KSD created a fresh brand that pays homage to the family-run and organic business. Included in the bespoke visual brand identity design package was a…

⚡️ logo, logo variations and submark
⚡️ set of 8 versatile icons
⚡️ bold abstract pattern - in 3 different colour ways
⚡️ colour palette and complementary font pairing - all in line with the brand values + vision
⚡️ collateral - Instagram social media graphics, postcard, letterhead and compliment slip design and t-shirt designs.

🔗 Link to the full case study in the comments!

💌 KSD loves creating unique visual brand identities (and Squarespace websites) so if you’re ready to take that step to create a new or refreshed brand, a website for your business or agency, then do get in touch!..

📧 [email protected]

CC: Associate design partners:

🙌🏽 Make it Pretty for collateral design - Sammi Dabner

🙌🏽 David Marshall for brand guideline design

🫶🏽 Fun random fact - James and Ellies little kiddo is friends with Head of Destruction, Little K. They are preschool besties and have their own little friend group which they named the “gangy girls”. ❤️

🌵 Cactus - New Squarespace 7.1 website 🌵

Co-founded by Spencer Gallagher and Peter Hoole, Cactus is Europe’s leading corporate advisory and growth consultancy for agencies.

Having worked with over 2,500 agencies globally over the past 10 years, Cactus specialises in helping independent agencies grow.

You can imagine the excitement that went through KSD Towers when it became a done deal that we were commissioned to redesign the Cactus website.

Cactus needed a website redesign as the existing website was dated, and it didn’t truly represent who they were as agency advisors and consultants. They wanted a better designed site, which consistently matched their services, all alongside a thorough evaluation and restructure of the website to ensure the information architecture and “website flow” was spot on.

As part of Cactus project KSD was commissioned to…

️⚡ Create Wireframes - A skeleton of the key pages, showcasing page structure, layout, site information architecture and any functionality on a page.

️⚡ Design a new modern, simple, classy, clean and minimalist agency look and feel for the website, taking the existing brand identity and pushing it further.

It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway…we also ensured SEO and image optimisation was done correctly and existing URLs were mapped.

What a wonderful partnership it was working with Dan Archer and Abbé from the the Cactus team to bring the Cactus vision to life.

🔗 Link in the comments to the full case study!

💌 We love creating designs that evoke emotion, connect and convert, whether that be a unique visual brand identity or a bespoke Squarespace website, so if you’re ready to take that step to create a new or refreshed brand, a website for your business or agency, then do get in touch!

📧 [email protected]
💻 https://www.krishnasolankidesigns.com/contact

🔉 Pleased to share that on February 23rd, I will be joining an incredible line-up of speakers to discuss how agencies can get the most from no and low-code platforms.

💻 The virtual event, ‘Unleash the power of no-code’ brings three agency founders together to talk about our experiences across a range of no and low-code platforms. We will share examples of our work and reveal how digital, design, content and branding agencies can add ‘no-code’ to their existing services and enable their own marketing and brand.

Along with myself, will be:

🌟 Hannah Springett, founder of HLabs
🌟 Will Stogdale, founder of Boost
🌟 Host - Claire Hutchings, founder of Chime

You can sign-up for the free webinar now through the registration link in the comments. ⬇

🏆 DevelopHER Awards 2022 🏆

Later this week (24th November) will be the 2022 Develop HER Awards ceremony in Norwich, at the Corn Exchange.

I’ve been involved in the awards the last couple of years, not only as a nominee but more recently I’ve jumped over to the other side and have been a judge.

This year I have the pleasure of being a judge again in the “Eye for Design” category, along with 2 other judges.
Whilst going through the nominees and carrying out research on each application, it dawned on me that year after year the talent just gets better and better!
I was truly blown away by all the amazing females!

Unfortunately, I won’t make the ceremony in person this year, which means I don’t get the pleasure of mingling and meeting these talented women. It also means I won’t get to eat from the chocolate fountain to my heart's content, or get a little crazy in the photo booth with my plus 1. Alas… “next time” if the opportunity arises again.

Sooo…huge congratulations to all the super-talented women that have been nominated and of course well done to the winners who will be announced on the night!

Here are a few throwback images from previous years!

🔊 Speaking at Woman Up Event - Wednesday 13th July 2022 🔈

“Woman Up is a networking event that takes place every couple of months.  It’s a great event and provides like-minded business women with the opportunity to chat and connect, and to join a discussion led by one of our special guests”….

🥳 Super proud to share that I will be the special guest speaker for July 2022.

My talk is tailored around sharing essential tips on how to create, manage, and set up a website that helps your business thrive online.

👩🏽‍💻 Being part designer and part developer, I understand that not everyone knows how to create, manage, or set up a website that helps their business thrive online, and that is part of what will be covered in this session along with sharing invaluable website design tips you need to know for your website and your business!

Key take aways include:
🌟 Quick and easy ways to add credibility to your website

🌟What makes an eye catching website

🌟How to ensure your website converts and last but not least,

🌟Some SEO tips!

😆 I’m super excited about this as it’s my first talk since everything has opened back up and people are feeling more comfortable attending events!

Some speaking facts…pre-pandemic I’ve spoken at:
* University of West London
* Girl Tribe Gang (Cambridge)
* Cambridge Social Media Day (this one was all online, thanks to Covid)

🙌🏽 So then…I’m hoping I will see lots of faces (familiar and new!) there on:
* Wednesday 13th July 2022 (in 2 weeks)
* Drinks and nibbles will be provided, and
* There is plenty of on-street parking nearby.

🎫 More details and booking to attend via the link in my bio.

Thanks to and for making this happen! 🙌🏽

🚌 Are leads like buses? 🚌

In April and May, I was a wee bit stressy as the pipeline was slightly on the quiet side, however, I learnt I was not the only one in this boat!

Thankfully June has just been the absolute opposite! (mainly as I put in the extra ungodly hours into everything, and am still doing so!)

So for this month...

✅ Continued to build the amazing "Secret Client" Squarespace 7.1 website
✅ Got booked for my “Designer for the Day" service
✅ Onboarded a design associate to join the KSD team
✅ Found 2-3 potential new KSD associates - Squarespace developers this time!
✅ Completed and got sign off on a visual brand identity project
✅ Secured a speaking spot at a local Cambridge networking event (more details coming soon!!)
✅ Booked my personal branding photoshoot in (because I no longer look like my profile picture! Hah)

and the most exciting part...thrilled to be partnering with…

✅ An independent, specialist communications agency - based in New York (Squarespace 7.1 website in the works)
✅ An agile boutique investment fund startup - based in Sweden (Brand identity and Squarespace 7.1 website on the way soon)

Is KSD going global? … 😂 maybe, who knows where the journey will take us!

So yea, fair to say June has picked up!

Also fair to say, you get out what you put in…

💛 Forever grateful for those who have taken their time to support me, listen to my mini melt downs, and lifted me up when I’ve needed. Let’s throw some kindness around like confetti!

🌟 HN Communications - New visual brand identity 🌟

“Specialists in strategic communications, thought leadership, and experts in sustainability.“

Helen Neal is the founder of , a boutique agency, which has been operating since 2017. HN Communications bring businesses and nonprofits together through collaboration and connection, as a force for greater positive impact.

Working with Helen on the rebrand of the agency visual identity has been brilliant! The challenge of keeping a sense of the old but bringing in the new and modern look and feel, to target the right audience was key. Helen knew what she wanted but struggled at being able to implement her vision so naturally it was a partnership made for each other!

We’re still working on the the Squarespace 7.1 website design (so watch this space)… We will be moving HN Comms to Squarespace so ensuring we take special care, especially with regards to SEO.

As part of HN Comms visual brand identity KSD has created…
⚡️ The logo, logo variations, submark, iconography and patterns
⚡️ Defined a colour palette and complementary font pairing - all in line with the brand values + vision
⚡️ Collateral - LinkedIn social media graphics and a PPT template
⚡️ On the list to complete - a PDF brand and styleguide document, which will help Helen and the team, any future partners and collaborators to stay consistent going forward
⚡️ On the list to complete - A new, easy to manage and update, user friendly Squarespace 7.1 website, hosting case studies and more.

Swipe to see some visual brand identity images!

💌 KSD loves creating unique visual brand identities, and Squarespace websites, so if you’re ready to take that step to create a new or refreshed brand, a website for your personal brand, business or small agency, then do get in touch!..

CC: Associate partner - for collateral design

🌟 Being Freelance podcast 🌟

Having known Steve for a while now, it was an absolute pleasure to be interviewed by him to talk all things “being freelance” to sharing my journey and how it's helped pave the way for KSD - the small but mighty brand and Squarespace agency in the making...

(I didn't realise I had such a goofy face when being interviewed! Oops... all part of the fun I guess)

Thanks Steve, the pleasure was all mine!

……

Season 17 of the Being Freelance podcast is kicked off by  sharing her story.

Including:
- turning a girl crush into a mentor and the difference it made
- keeping her kids (Head of Distraction and Head of Destruction) & business going through the pandemic
- moving from solo freelancing to an agency model

Krishna was a joy to chat to - check out your podcast app, Spotify or beingfreelance.com to hear our conversation.

⭐️ Agency Founders Dinners 2022 ⭐️

Last night I attended the by .us__ agency founders dinner!

I’ll be honest, I was super excited about going and then for some reason nerves kicked in and I got really nervous.
One would call it imposter syndrome…

I mean, walking into a room full of agency owners when you’re a one woman band is slightly intimidating to say the least… BUT… I knew I wasn’t alone and that I’ve met some amazing other agency owners on the same journey and in the same boat… (paging - my right hand agency gal pal 💞, plus , Elena Mills, Paul Barnes, David Horn, Steve Miller)

Long story short… what an evening!

✅ Meeting people IRL that I’ve only spoken to on Zoom - gees, everyone is soooo tall!! 😂
✅ Networking with great like minded business folks - who are all really actually normal, and nice!
✅ Hearing the rollercoaster journey that and have had during their Blu Halo days - if they can do it… I can do it! 💪🏽
✅ Preparing for the future - recession, double downing on marketing and having a positive mindset - always. This is a given!

Fab fab fab evening all round!
Also lovely to catch up and meet , , , , and so many more who aren’t on Insta!

Looking forward to the next one! 🙌🏽

🌟 KIND WORDS 🌟

As I review the week ahead and look forward to all the things the new work week brings I found myself reviewing some feedback…
Figured I would remind myself of all the happy clients and kind words I’ve had recently!!

Looking back helps me to look forward, strange but true!… it reignites the fire in my belly (when it dims sometimes) and makes me do a little happy dance.

It also reminds me that I’m not done yet. There’s still a long road ahead!

Happy Sunday and here’s to “Wonder Womaning” into the week ahead! 😂

Ps. If you recently hired someone for a service or bought a product, don’t forget to leave a review. They do wonders for small businesses and agencies… ❤️

🤪… and breath! 🤪

Wowzah… Easter… or rather April is always a bit mental here at KSD Towers, a quick run down of what’s happened in the last 20ish days:

✅ Little K turned 4 - birthday celebrations and the much loved trip to zoo
✅ Little A turned 8 - a birthday bowling party with her closest friends (wayyy to much sugar consumption!)
✅ We booked a get away to Spain 🇪🇸 for some sun and to switch off…which led to me being full of snot! (First holiday post pandemic)

Actually having listed it out, it doesn’t seem like much but mentally my head almost popped with all the planning, organising, packing and managing…
The above also doesn’t include trying to keep multiple Squarespace website and branding projects afloat whilst also keeping the small but mighty agency going.

So yea… not surprised I ended up snotty and run down by the time we hit the beach! (There are worse places to be ill so I’m not complaining at all!)…but does that happen to anyone else? Anyone else get snotty on holiday?

Some excellent holiday memories have been made… Kikisaurus (Little K) chilling by the poolside, being a Flamingo on a beach ball (Little A trying her best to balance on the beach ball), water aerobics and Zumba with a 4 year old on my hip, new daily collection of shells “we have to take home”, digging a hole to stick your sibling in the sand, sand mermaids, sandy toes, 50 millions attempts at taking a selfie and more…swipe for some pics! ❤️

FYI. Drinking the kids Calpol on the beach is a really good idea 😆😂👏🏽👍🏽…
As is strategically placing the kids in front of a mens volleyball match to obviously keep an eye on them. The kids. I’m talking about keeping an eye on the kids 🙄.
The incredibly tanned volleyballers didn’t get a look in. Promise. Ehem…😎😂

…now to hit the ground running with being back at the design desk tomorrow! 👩🏽‍💻🙌🏽 💛

🎉 HN Communications 🎉

I had THE BEST feedback from Helen last Friday when I showcased this moodboard for the rebrand of . (The first step in the brand and Squarespace website design project we have scheduled in).

It’s a shame I didn’t record the call as not only did she sign off the direction without any revisions, her feedback and enthusiasm for the project were amazing. Left me with a Friday afternoon work high!

In case you don’t know what a moodboard is, it is the first step to creating a visual brand identity (and logo) so it is important to get this right.
With every visual brand identity design project I always create one of these, obviously unique to the business or brand. I then present it and explain each of the elements included, covering brand personality, values, associative adjectives, potential font styles, colour psychology and more…

I think it’s quite an understated element of design that has a big impact!

Next stage…to get the actual brand design (the logo) out of my head and onto my iMac. (I’ve already mentally designed it… crazy much? I think so!) 🤪😆🙌🏽

ps. This is a little by .us__ partnership! Here’s to many more of them over the next few months! 🤞🏽

👁 EYE see you now…

Saturdays netball match ended briefly for me as I got hit in the eye by the netball… (you could say the netball contacted my eyeball 😂🤦🏽‍♀️)… I’m laughing at it now but boy of boy it was not fun having my vision knocked out in my left eye for about 20 mins.

Sitting in A&E alone looking like a pirate, I had all the overthinking thoughts go through my head and just made me even more grateful for everything I have.
With everything going on in the world, and with all the pain we see and hear, it’s so important to not take anything for granted.

Safe to say I’m back to normal. Eye is a little sore, still a bit bloodshot but nothing majorly noticeable or painful, so it’s ok.

💛 So yea…Happy Monday…Remember to enjoy the little things! Be kind, be grateful!

🥳 Happy 3rd belated business birthday to me! 🥳

1st February 2022 was my 3rd business birthday!

I mean yes, 2 weeks late to the party but finally getting my act together to make a note to kind of celebrate.
The last year as a small but mighty agency owner has been mental…

A quick roundup below…
👩🏽‍💻 Designed and launched multiple big brand and Squarespace website projects
🎉 Nominated in 2 different categories in the Digital Woman Awards 2021 (Digital Woman Of The Year, and Role Model Of The Year)
🎉 Finalist in 2 categories at the SME Cambridgeshire Business Awards 2020/21 (Best New Business, and Website Of The Year)
🎉 Nominated in the National Business Women’s Awards 2021
👸🏽 Judge at the DevelopHER Awards 2021
🤝 Partnered with a a wonderful handful of businesses
🍾 Rebranded and redesigned the KSD website
…swipe to see some images.

🏃🏽‍♀️ Ohh, I also attempted to start running. Failed miserably, I am not a runner.

❣️ Despite what looks like an impressive list, there were a lot of incredibly difficult moments that I’ve pushed through. If you know you know, if not, don’t worry, there is always sunshine after the rain so the important thing is to keep going and move forward.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming as Dory would say 🐠.

One last thing. I secretly launched the all new brand spanking new KSD brand and website last week. Kept that little baby to myself, minus a couple of special souls who helped give it a once over for me, special thanks to Dan Archer, Kelly Allison, Sue Keogh and Kelly Morel.

Feel free to go check it out - https://www.krishnasolankidesigns.com/

(Need to shout about this a little more, but alas, not enough hours in the day at the moment!)

Right then. Time to put my feet up. Literally… as I’m sat in a hotel room ready to devour my pizza, yes in bed, whilst watching trash TV…I give myself about 30 mins before I get the iPad out to do some work - minor prep for the Cactus Agency Consulting Freelance to Founder mastermind that starts tomorrow. Hooray!!

🥂 Thank you to all my clients, friends, cheerleaders, and silent supporters, who have been there for me and the agency…here’s to the last year!

🛼 Rollin rollin rollin’…. 🛼

So I finnnnnnally did it. I finally bought them and I am in LOVE…

Say hello to Midnight my new skates that I have been stalking online for almost 1 year! 🤦🏽‍♀️

I procrastinated for aggeessss to buy them. Not entirely sure why, but that doesn’t matter as I have them now and hooray!!

Wave at me if you see me rollin’ around Cambridge (or Coventry) won’t you! 😂😆👋🏽

🥳 2022…Changes 🥳

I read somewhere that life is about change. That sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes it’s painful, but most of the time it’s both.

2021 has been quite a storm hasn’t it?…
I didn’t quite feel myself towards the end of 2021… I didn’t do my usual Christmas post, didn’t share how truly grateful I am for my wonderful clients, friends, family and more.
I’m putting it down to changes. Changes in life, work, in my surroundings, with my nearest and dearest and in pretty much everything.
It feels like it’s all changing.
I have no idea what direction it’s going in (I mean who really does, right?!) but I’ve decided that 2022 is the year I embrace it all and just remember to enjoy the ride!

Happy new year folks!
Hope you have a fantastic 2022 ❤️

Never going to stop squeezing you. Love you.
❤️

🌵Cactus - New Squarespace website🌵

Co-founded by Spencer Gallagher and Peter Hoole , Cactus Agency Consulting is Europe’s leading corporate advisory and growth consultancy for agencies.
Having worked with over 2,500 agencies globally over the past 10 years, Cactus specialises in helping independent agencies grow….In a nutshell, they know their agency stuff!

You can imagine the excitement that went through KSD Towers when it became a done deal that I was commissioned to redesign the Cactus website.

Cactus needed a website redesign as the existing website was dated, and it didn’t truly represent who they were as agency advisors and consultants. They wanted a better designed site, which consistently matched their services, all alongside a thorough evaluation and restructure of the website to ensure the information architecture and “website flow” was spot on.

As part of Cactus project KSD was commissioned to…
⚡️ Create Wireframes - A skeleton of the key pages, showcasing page structure, layout, site information architecture and any functionality on a page.
⚡️ Design a new modern, simple, classy, clean and minimalist agency look and feel for the website, taking the existing brand identity and pushing it further.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway…I also ensured SEO and image optimisation was done correctly and existing URLs were mapped.

What a wonderful partnership it has been working with Dan and Abbe from the the Cactus team to bring the Cactus vision to life.

💌 I love creating designs that evoke emotion, connect and convert, whether that be a unique visual brand identity or a bespoke Squarespace website, so if you’re ready to take that step to create a new or refreshed brand, a website for your business or agency, then do get in touch!… I’m taking bookings for March/April 2022 now.

ps. I’ll let you in on a little secret, KSD is one of the small agencies that Cactus will be helping to grow in 2022…watch this space! 🌵💛

🏆 DevelopHER Awards 2021 🏆

Last Thursday (25th November) it was the 2021 DevelopHER Awards ceremony in Cambridge, at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

Although I was nominated in the Eye for Design category, I turned down the opportunity to be a nominee as I was honoured to be a judge this year, alongside the wonderful Jen Bradford (UX/UI Designer at Coderus

Massive congratulations to all the amazingly talented women that were nominated and of course to all the winners too!

It was incredible to be out and about, seeing people, feeling like things were almost back to normal… such a fab evening!

Was also lovely to see Ian Olsson again, no doubt he has captured better memories of the event than me! 😂