A couple months ago, I went ahead and wrote up a document which basically laid out the design and development process for me. I found it really useful when working on a project, whether I was starting or in the middle of a stage. Check it out and if you have any recommendations, contact me!
**Requested was a printable version. Click here for a printer-friendly version.
l. Information & Research
- Meeting with project manager giving details of product.
- Question One: What are we selling?
- Question Two: Who is our audience/demographic?
- Question Three: What elements need to be on homepage?
- Question Four: How many KEY pages? Page titles?
- Question Five: How much is the product?
- Question Six: Do we have a logo? Are we designing the logo?
- Question Seven: Who is the competition?
ll. Competitive Analysis & Wireframe
- Meeting with designers brainstorming layout and analysis.
- Review competitors and discover trends, strengths, and weaknesses of competitors.
- Each design member design a wireframe layout of homepage.
- After selecting the favored wireframe, make any last minute collaborations to finalize.
lll. Content Delivery
- A portion of content is given to design team.
- Question One: What is the company name (logo in PSD form.)
- Question Two: Tag line for company.
- Question Three: Main article heading for homepage.
- Question Four: Main article subheading for homepage.
- Question Five: Does the company have a customer support hotline?
- Question Six: Confirm KEY pages and titles.
- Question Seven: Sidebar: What articles and forms will be featured and on what pages?
lV. Creative Exploration:
- Designers individually come up with art direction for homepage.
- Logo design (if needed.)
- Place logo.
- Define a color scheme.
- Define typography.
V. Design Review & Critique
- Designers post individual layouts and discuss with project managers and others involved.
- Discuss pros and cons of each layout.
- After selecting a favored design, make any last minute collaborations to finalize homepage.
Vl. Subpage Designs
- Designers individually come up with subpages.
- Define sidebar.
- Arrange content.
- Design bulleted lists.
Vll. Content Input
- Client sends in content with headlines and articles.
- Enter content.
- Send to client for review.
Vlll. Site Review and Soft Launch
- Release beta of site and have all employees run through site.
- Review site.
- Address any question of bugs in site.
lX. Launch Site
- Launch website and reep the benefits.
