A solid website development and design process will speed up delivery, improve quality, and reduce costs for projects of any size.  Here is a short overview of the process we use to plan, develop, and design websites.  Many of the individual tasks are dependent on the project but the stages remain the same.

I should point out that this process only covers the planning, design, and development.  Contracts, creative briefs, and payment arrangements will all have been completed before the first stage of the project begins.

Our goal is always to provide the best experience and service possible for our clients.  For this reason we never begin a project until an agreement is in place and everyone is happy. Maybe we have been lucky but we have yet to have problems when we stick with this policy.

Planning Phase

Key Events:

• Set Goals
• Market Survey*
• SEO Research*
• User Research*

The work put in at this phase sets the foundation for the rest of the project.  First we work with the client to establish strong goals that the project will deliver upon.  Every action taken afterward is evaluated against how it furthers those goals.

We can also do a market survey, SEO research, and user research if requested by the client.  This research is used to determine best practices for the market, user expectations, keywords to target for search engine traffic, and much more.

Information Design

Key Events:

• User Scenarios
• Site Map
• Content Inventory
• Content Creation / Delivery

Despite all the pretty graphics and bells and whistles of the modern website, information is still king.  In the second phase we start deciding how all that information will be communicated to the user.

We do this by “mapping” out all the content that will be put into the website and then figuring out how to organize it in the easiest way for users and search engines to navigate through it all.  While I wish I could say that this is very technical; in truth, there is a lot of scratch paper and scribbling involved.

At the end of this phase we will have a solid understanding of what the users will need to accomplish their goal or find what they are seeking.  This is another reason why doing the market survey and user research is a good idea.  The better we understand your customers, the better we can plan for their needs.

Visual Design

Key Events

• Wireframe
• Photoshop Mockups

After we know how the website will be organized we sketch out some basic ideas on how to display that visually on the screen.  Key events and important page elements are designed first, with less important elements designed afterwords.  This ensures that the proper visual weight is applied to each screen element.

Prior to beginning the project we will have discussed colors, mood, and other design elements with the client while filling out the design brief.  Using that information we will present several design options for discussion.  This process can be very collaborative and can require multiple redraws, or it can be very much up to us.

Development

Key Events

• Programming
• Content Management

With an approved design in hand we start the process of transforming all the planning and designs into valid code.  During this stage we will also develop any custom applications or databases required for the project and set up any software on the server.  If a CMS, such as Wordpress, is being used we will set that up as well.

Testing

Key Events

• Browser Testing
• Usability testing
• Code Validation
• Pre Launch Checkoff

Once we have completed all of the code, graphics, and everything else we upload the project and start testing.  Our testing process will ensure that the pages are valid, that they are usable, and that they load quickly and properly on all modern browsers.  We work very closely with the clients at this point to ensure that everything is looking and working as they requested.

Launch

Key Events

• Project Launched
• Post Launch Evaluation

When we have satisfied the client (and my own obsessive compulsive need to triple check everything) we finally get to launch the website.  Typically we include a 2 week warranty on every website (extended warranties and retainers are available) to ensure that our clients can sleep soundly knowing that if they need anything we are only a phone call or email away.

This is our design process in a nutshell.  I know I didn’t go into too much detail on exactly what goes into every phase but I do hope this helps answer any questions you have.  Please leave a comment below or use the contact form, we would love to hear from you.