Process & Methodology.
Step 1: Discovery & Brainstorming
The most important phase in every project is the discovery phase—it is
the foundation underneath every decision that we'll be making throughout the course of the project.
The discovery phase is a collaborative inquiry into the requirements for
the project, and into your business itself. Through a series of meetings,
questionnaires, conversations, and structured exercises, we'll work with
you to understand your business, to identify & understand your audience,
and to define the goals for the project we're undertaking.
Whether we're designing a brand identity, creating a brand new website,
or refreshing some existing marketing materials that you already have,
this process will both define the problems that we're trying to solve,
and cultivate insightful criteria for evaluating an elegant solution.
During the discovery period we'll also refine the budget for the project,
and tailor an approach that will maximize the results that we achieve
for any budget size.
At the end of this phase we'll produce a brief—a document which
summarizes the scope of work, our deliverables (what we'll be delivering
at the end of the project), your deliverables (any media, copy, photos, or
other information assets that we'll need from you), and a timeline defining key project milestones including reviews, scheduled approvals, and other
pivotal events throughout the project.
This brief serves as the road-map for the project. Once I deliver the brief
to you, and you agree to the contents (your first sign-off), the project
will begin.
The discovery process is generally quite quick, and the information
gathered here serves as the compass and map for the project.
Step 2: Information Architecture (IA)
Armed with the brief, we'll start planning out both the site-structure
(the hierarchy of the pages which make up the site), the navigation scheme, and the functionality of unique pages, templates, processes, and any other necessary interactive elements. We'll create a number of diagrams called "wireframes"—simple page sketches that define and describe all interactivity. These will serve as the blueprint for the website.
The IA process is extremely useful—it allows us to rapidly structure
information into pages and define the organization of the site. The task
of wireframing very often reveals (and solves!) key usability issues before
visual design begins. IA planning ensures that later-on during the Visual-
Design phase of the project we can concentrate on the visual language
of the site, rather than performing costly iterations and revisions
to the underlying organization.
During the IA process we'll determine in detail exactly how functionality
on the site should behave, including navigation, media playback, photo
galleries, menus, blogs, social-media integration, and so-on.
Once the Information Architecture is presented and approved,
Visual Design can begin.
Step 3: Visual Design
Using the IA documentation as a basis, I'll begin the design exploration, and concentrate on designing a Photoshop comp of the homepage. Typically arriving at a final design direction takes a significant amount of collaborative revision, and sometimes the exploration of a number of different design solutions. This can be the most time consuming portion of the project, as it is the most aesthetically and emotionally subjective, and it can take some time to refine a visual approach that will satisfy the creative, strategic, and usability requirements for the site.
Once the design of the homepage comp is finalized and approved by you, design can proceed on the 'inside' pages (all pages further down the hierarchy). Typically, at this stage, we'll tie delivery dates to individual page designs so that we can keep the iteration and approval process rolling.
If desired, a visual styleguide detailing the visual specifications for the site may created. A styleguide documents all of the visual standards established during the design process, and includes details and examples of typography, color palette, layout grids, spacing, logo usage, etcetera. A styleguide is not necessary in some cases, but can be very useful if there will be other individuals creating visual assets for the site in the future, ensuring that the visual language and design of the site remains consistent.
Once all of the page comps are finalized and approved, the development process can begin.
Step 4: Development, Content Migration, & Quality Assurance (QA)
At this stage, all elements of the site should be fully planned and represented in both a functional wireframe, and a design comp. Development of the site can proceed, and involves the translation of the comps into fully-coded webpages. In this instance the site will be static, so development will primarily be in xhtml and css. Additional functionality (ie. media components such as photo galleries & media players, etc.) will also be developed, implemented, and tested during this period.
As each page is completed, I will submit it to you for testing and approval (using the comps and functional documentation as a target reference). This part of the process is quite collaborative, and usually entails a handful of testing iterations and bug fixes.
Once at least one instance of each template has been built and tested, we will begin populating the site content, which will be followed by a second round of testing and quality checking.
A non-public test site will be created for the Development and QA phase.
Step 5: Launch
Once the site has been thoroughly tested and reviewed, we'll determine a date for the launch of the site, and perpare to launch it. Typically, for smaller sites, this is a painless process which simply involves moving the site data to the appropriate web location, but the process varies greatly depending on the complexity of the site.
After the site data has been successfully migrated to the appropriate location, and the site is 'live', a final round of QA must take place, and all functionality and navigation must be tested to ensure that nothing has been broken during the migration, and to ensure the timely resolution of any problems that arise.
The most important phase in every project is the discovery phase—it is the foundation underneath every decision that we'll be making throughout the course of the project.
The discovery phase is a collaborative inquiry into the requirements for the project, and into your business itself. Through a series of meetings, questionnaires, conversations, and structured exercises, we'll work with you to understand your business, to identify & understand your audience, and to define the goals for the project we're undertaking.
Whether we're designing a brand identity, creating a brand new website, or refreshing some existing marketing materials that you already have, this process will both define the problems that we're trying to solve, and cultivate insightful criteria for evaluating an elegant solution. During the discovery period we'll also refine the budget for the project, and tailor an approach that will maximize the results that we achieve for any budget size.
At the end of this phase we'll produce a brief—a document which summarizes the scope of work, our deliverables (what we'll be delivering at the end of the project), your deliverables (any media, copy, photos, or other information assets that we'll need from you), and a timeline defining key project milestones including reviews, scheduled approvals, and other pivotal events throughout the project.
This brief serves as the road-map for the project. Once I deliver the brief to you, and you agree to the contents (your first sign-off), the project will begin.
The discovery process is generally quite quick, and the information gathered here serves as the compass and map for the project.
Armed with the brief, we'll start planning out both the site-structure (the hierarchy of the pages which make up the site), the navigation scheme, and the functionality of unique pages, templates, processes, and any other necessary interactive elements. We'll create a number of diagrams called "wireframes"—simple page sketches that define and describe all interactivity. These will serve as the blueprint for the website.
The IA process is extremely useful—it allows us to rapidly structure information into pages and define the organization of the site. The task of wireframing very often reveals (and solves!) key usability issues before visual design begins. IA planning ensures that later-on during the Visual- Design phase of the project we can concentrate on the visual language of the site, rather than performing costly iterations and revisions to the underlying organization.
During the IA process we'll determine in detail exactly how functionality on the site should behave, including navigation, media playback, photo galleries, menus, blogs, social-media integration, and so-on.
Once the Information Architecture is presented and approved, Visual Design can begin.
Using the IA documentation as a basis, I'll begin the design exploration, and concentrate on designing a Photoshop comp of the homepage. Typically arriving at a final design direction takes a significant amount of collaborative revision, and sometimes the exploration of a number of different design solutions. This can be the most time consuming portion of the project, as it is the most aesthetically and emotionally subjective, and it can take some time to refine a visual approach that will satisfy the creative, strategic, and usability requirements for the site.
Once the design of the homepage comp is finalized and approved by you, design can proceed on the 'inside' pages (all pages further down the hierarchy). Typically, at this stage, we'll tie delivery dates to individual page designs so that we can keep the iteration and approval process rolling.
If desired, a visual styleguide detailing the visual specifications for the site may created. A styleguide documents all of the visual standards established during the design process, and includes details and examples of typography, color palette, layout grids, spacing, logo usage, etcetera. A styleguide is not necessary in some cases, but can be very useful if there will be other individuals creating visual assets for the site in the future, ensuring that the visual language and design of the site remains consistent.
Once all of the page comps are finalized and approved, the development process can begin.
At this stage, all elements of the site should be fully planned and represented in both a functional wireframe, and a design comp. Development of the site can proceed, and involves the translation of the comps into fully-coded webpages. In this instance the site will be static, so development will primarily be in xhtml and css. Additional functionality (ie. media components such as photo galleries & media players, etc.) will also be developed, implemented, and tested during this period.
As each page is completed, I will submit it to you for testing and approval (using the comps and functional documentation as a target reference). This part of the process is quite collaborative, and usually entails a handful of testing iterations and bug fixes.
Once at least one instance of each template has been built and tested, we will begin populating the site content, which will be followed by a second round of testing and quality checking.
A non-public test site will be created for the Development and QA phase.
Once the site has been thoroughly tested and reviewed, we'll determine a date for the launch of the site, and perpare to launch it. Typically, for smaller sites, this is a painless process which simply involves moving the site data to the appropriate web location, but the process varies greatly depending on the complexity of the site.
After the site data has been successfully migrated to the appropriate location, and the site is 'live', a final round of QA must take place, and all functionality and navigation must be tested to ensure that nothing has been broken during the migration, and to ensure the timely resolution of any problems that arise.