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Website Design Development Process

The following 10 steps will give you an outline of the stages and time involved in most web design projects.

STEP 1 – Initial Consultation
This consultation (by phone or face-to-face) helps me to understand you and your business, so I can provide an effective, creative web solution. I will also send you a web creative brief form that will need to be completed. This will give me a little background information on the direction of your company, your goals, style, target audience, technical requirements and limitations.

STEP 2 – Project Outline/Budget & Approval
Once I have your web creative brief form, a structured project budget is created to outline the specifics and inclusions of the project. Once you have made the decision that SueDesign is the company for you, I establish a project schedule, outline objectives and ask you to sign my budget approval and terms and conditions. I then have final meetings/conversations with you to finalize the creative brief for the job.

STEP 3 – Research, Strategy & Sitemap
A thorough planning phase will provide everyone with a clear understanding of the site. This includes research into competitors' sites, understanding target users and mapping out site content, structure and functionality.

STEP 4 – Concepts and design
This stage is where branding, content and aesthetics are brought together into a design concept, taking into consideration all aspects of a user experience, including download speed, hardware and software compatibility. Beginning with sketches of layout ideas, I explore multiple design formats that could work to achieve your objective. The best concepts are chosen (2–4) and set up in the design program where colors, fonts, photos & effects are experimented with, compared, altered etc.. Designs are saved in .jpg format and sent through to the client for feedback and any edits. If any conceptual changes need to be made, they are done at this point. Once a concept has been approved, the design is developed and refined for all site pages / templates.

STEP 5 – Templates & Building
Page designs are implemented and set up in html.

STEP 6 – Content
During this stage, content is entered into the site pages.

STEP 7 – Project Management & Production
I coordinate the project, collaborate with you on any edits, ensure quality control and oversee the various technical processes involved in finalizing, proofing, testing and uploading the final site.

STEP 8 – Testing & Uploading
The site is thoroughly tested Any errors found as a result of testing are fixed. The site is uploaded to the live web-hosting environment. Further testing takes place before the site is launched.

STEP 9 – Maintenance
I can complete content updates and general maintenance, or the client can do this if a content management system is in place.

Print Design Process

The following 6 steps below will give you an outline of the stages and time involved in most print design projects.

STEP 1 – Initial Consultation
This consultation (by phone or face-to-face) helps me to understand you and your business, so I can provide you an effective creative solution. I will also recommend that you fill out the creative brief form to give me a little background information on the direction of your company, your goals, style, target audience etc. Contact SueDesign to request your copy of the Creative Brief.

STEP 2 – Project Outline/Budget & Approval
Once I have received your creative brief form, a project budget is created to outline the specifics and inclusions of the project. Once you have made the decision that SueDesign is the company for you, I establish a project schedule, outline objectives and ask you to sign the budget approval and terms and conditions. We then have final meetings/conversations with you to finalize the creative brief for the job.

STEP 3 – Research
I begin by researching your competitors and understanding the target audience.

STEP 4 – Concepts and Design
This stage is where branding, content and aesthetics are brought together into a design concept. Beginning with computerized sketches of layout ideas, I explore multiple design formats that could work to achieve your objective. The best concepts are chosen (2–4) and set up in the design program where colors, fonts, photos & effects are experimented with, compared, altered etc. Designs are saved in .pdf format and sent through to the client for feedback and any edits. If any conceptual changes need to be made, they are done at this point.

STEP 5 – Layout
Once a concept has been approved, the design is developed and refined for all pages / sections of the project. If the project is a corporate identity, I would at this stage proceed to layout of all stationery items with the new logo.

STEP 6 – Project Management & Production
I will coordinate any final edits, finalizing, proofing, printing (printing is outsourced) and delivering the project.

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