June 22, 2005 -- In 2002, Frank O'Connor left his job at a major IT consultancy and went to live in Romania. He has since set up Seahorse Design, a web design firm. This was no mean feat
since Romania was then rated as one of the top one hundred most difficult countries in the world for an outsider to become established in.
The effort has been worth it, however. As an Irish web designer based in Bucharest, Mr. O'Connor can offer the best of both worlds: sophisticated modern and efficient design techniques
coupled with the great value you can expect from an Eastern European web design firm. It is due to this combination of technique and value that one of Seahorse Design's sites was recently
reviewed in the London Times newspaper as 'intelligently constructed, simple and intuitive.'
Mr. O'Connor states that his goal is to, "provide high quality, technically proficient and appealing designs while doing it fast and making it affordable. There are a lot of designers
working in the outsource market, but the vast majority are offering sites using outdated techniques and designs. These sites can cost a fortune to host and maintain. They are frequently
inaccessible to minority users and can use basic template designs copied from other sites - meaning that your site might end up looking almost identical to one of your competitor's."
"On the other side of the scale are the design firms that charge a fortune for long consultations, preliminary outlines and so forth. While we believe strongly in designing sites that
reflect business aims and the needs of users, we can usually manage to assess these things very quickly. Then we simply cut to the chase and create a design to conform to those
things."
Seahorse Design work remotely with clients from all over the world. They are currently offering free consultations, including an initial visual design proof for customers who apply
through their site.