Website Design Process

The design and production of your website should follow a clearly defined process.

I design and build websites with the integrated BareBones CMS™ content management system according to the following sequence:

Initial Brief

The first stage involves a briefing from you, the purpose of which is to help me familiarise with you and your business needs, your background, your story or vision. This brief is also an important stage to determine your existing resources, and any third parties you may need to involve—such as writers, photographers, specialty programmers, web hosting and such.

I will also demonstrate the use of my content management system—the BareBones CMS™—as it will help you gauge its' effectiveness and ease-of-use, giving you an opportunity to feel comfortable that you can maintain your own website content.

PROPOSAL

I then develop a written proposal for you, outlining my understanding of your needs, and any suggestions about the approach to take. This proposal also documents pricing, schedules, responsibilities, licensing, copyright and other technical aspects.

PROPOSAL ACCEPTANCE

Should the proposal be accepted, I will invoice you a startup fee and set the design and production process into motion, according to the following seven stages.

Seven Stages of Website Design

Stage One: Planning

The planning stage identifies website goals, content requirements, available resources and those yet to acquire, and considers any third-party suppliers—such as writers, photographers or specialised programmers.

Stage Two: Information Architecture

Working out the content relationships, forming groups of content types into categories, pages, and integration of any specific features. At this stage, linework diagrams (wireframes) and/or content tree-diagrams are created to show the information architecture. I also begin the coordination of any third-party content providers.

Stage Three: Visual Concepts

Graphic design of the known content and architecture. These visual concepts take the form of digital graphics (eg. a big jpeg), not actual web code. There are usually two designs to view — one for the home page, and one for the secondary (non-home) pages. These visual concepts will be modified with you until we reach an approved visual design.

Stage Four: Production

Integration of the approved graphic design with the BareBones CMS™ via web coding. Input of content via the BareBones CMS™. This involves making each web page, typesetting of content, customised programming, optimisation and placement of images, linking to PDFs and such. Continue coordination of any third-party providers.

Stage Five: Evaluation

As the website is produced, an iterative evaluation > design/production > evaluation cycle begins, to ensure all content is accurate and complete.

Stage Six: Installation

If necessary, I help you purchase suitable web hosting. Then I will install and configure the website, setup any email addresses and add accounts to your email client (eg. Outlook).

Stage Seven: Training and Maintenance

Where applicable, I provide training in the BareBones CMS™. Thereafter, an ongoing relationship begins where different content and technical maintenance duties are carried out by each of us. These duties can be explicitly documented when together we determine the tasks.

This process and any customisations will be documented in a written proposal for your approval before starting your project.