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About

You’re hiring a person, not a company.

Most studios expect you to turn up with a brief, copy, images and a clear idea of what you want. I don’t. I ask the right questions, write the content, make the design decisions, build it, host it, and keep it running.

2019Studio founded
20+Sites delivered
5+ yearsWith the longest-standing client
In-houseDesign, build, hosting, support

A studio of one, deliberately.

Digital Consulting Services is a website design and build studio in Polegate, East Sussex. I started it in 2019 and I still run it. The address is local; the client list isn’t — the work goes out across the UK, and where you are has never been the thing that decides whether I take it on.

The ambition isn’t modest. The work is meant to stand next to what comes out of a London or New York studio — not “good for a small studio”, genuinely comparable — for a fraction of the cost and a tiny fraction of your effort. That’s a claim that’s either true or it isn’t, and there’s exactly one honest way to check it before you spend anything: the page you’re reading.

Everything is handled in-house, and in-house means one person. Nothing is outsourced and nothing is offshored. Whoever replies to your first email is the person who designs the site, writes the words, builds it, hosts it, and is still the one who picks up when you want a service page added two years later. At most studios the person who pitched you is never the person who builds it. Here there is nobody else for the job to be handed to.

There’s no photograph of me here.

No team photo either, because there is no team. A headshot would tell you what I look like, which is not the thing you’re trying to find out. What you’re trying to find out is whether the work is any good and whether one person can really carry the whole of it. Both of those are answerable, and neither of them is answerable by a face.

An illustration, not a real site. The actual work is on the projects page — thirteen builds, with the brief and the outcome for each.

If the site you have makes you wince slightly when somebody asks for the address, or you’ve been meaning to sort it out for about two years, that is the ordinary starting point rather than an unusual one. Almost everyone arrives that way. It is not a thing you need to have solved before getting in touch — solving it is the job.

Have a look at the work, or just send me a note and tell me what you’re running.

Ricky Wilson — Digital Consulting Services, Polegate

In practice

What one person actually means.

You are hiring a person, not a company. Nothing is outsourced and nothing is offshored.
The output is held to an agency standard — considered design, copy that reads well, builds that are fast and secure.
You don't need a brief. It gets drawn out of a conversation instead.
The words are handled. You don't have to work out what to say about your own business.
Nothing to learn and nothing to log into. No CMS, no dashboard, no password you'll lose.
One price, printed. Setup plus a low monthly that covers hosting, security, updates and support.
It doesn't stop at launch. It's a managed service, not a hand-off.

There is no account manager and no ticket queue. That is the whole of the arrangement, and it is the reason it costs what it costs.

Who it’s for

Small businesses of any kind.

Owner-run, usually somewhere between one and twenty people, where the person making the decision is the person paying the invoice. Time-poor. Not technical, and with no wish to become technical. Willing to pay properly for something that works and is looked after — and wanting to look as credible online as they already are in person.

Retail and eCommerceFabrics, clothing, homeware, made-to-order goods. Cuddle Plush Fabrics, Luna Landings.
Studios and practitionersYoga, tuition, therapy, coaching, salons. Sanctuary Ida, Nicola Noble Tuition.
Professional and propertyConsultancies, lettings and luxury property, where the presentation has to match the price.
Trades and contractorsElectricians, scaffolders, builders, automotive, removals. Colossus Scaffolding, DJ Fox Electrical, DCH Automotive, Bexhill Removals.
Creative and B2BSignage, print and marketing — including Mad Graphics, rebuilt in full.

Trades are a large and valued part of that. They are not the definition of it.

A client, five years in

Ricky has built and managed our online store for over 5 years. I couldn’t be happier with his work.

Sarah — Cuddle Plush Fabrics