There are three distinct phases in a Web design project:

Planning Phase

A good, clear plan will result in the best possible outcome. The more thought and planning that goes into your project, the better the outcome will be.
Before you approach a designer with your project, have as much information as you can ready. This will help the designer decide if they can take your project and also help them understand what you need. Remember, while you are looking for a designer for your project, they are also qualifying you as a prospective client!

Five things you should have before approaching a designer

   1. Have general information about your company ready for the designer to review. A simple mission statement may work so that they can get a feel for what you offer.

   2. Have a general idea of the type of site you want.
Should it be an informational type brochure site or an e-commerce shop? What features will it need? A blog or a community forum perhaps? How many pages will your site have (ie, Home, About Us, etc.)?

   3. Have at least 3 websites ready to show that you like or that offer the same features you would like your site to have. These can be related to your industry or not.

   4. State what the main goal of this project will be. Would you like to increase sales? Or, attract new leads? What would make your website successful? Your designer will need to know what to shoot for.

   5. Have a budget in mind for your project and state it.
If you are really not sure what it may be, do say so. But, if you do have one in mind, it's better to state it upfront.
This will really help the designer determine what can be done within your budget and help them to offer realistic solutions for your project.

 

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Design Phase

Make sure you're available for quick, incremental feedback to avoid wasteful misunderstandings. During the Web design process, it's just as necessary that you remain available in order to provide input and make requests.

Here are some things you can do to help your Web designer during the Web design process.

- Familiarize yourself with the general Web design process itself.
Our designers will make this clear for you and provide you with a time-line, or at least have this information ready for you to read.

- If possible, have all of your site content ready before the design process starts.
This will help our designers to determine how the site design should be laid out while they are working on your design concept.

- Respond to requests in a timely manner.
This is very important, so that the project can keep rolling and so that the due date doesn't get set back.

- Make sure you ask questions if you don't understand something.
It's always easier to fix something earlier rather than later. Make sure you keep yourself available (within reason) in case the designer has questions for you too!

- Communicate in a clear manner.
State what you would like done and answer questions as thoroughly, but clearly as you can, especially when you need to give instructions or request changes. It is a good idea to keep a written record of the communications - save those e-mails!
Example of bad feedback: "I'm not feeling this, can it be more sexy?"
Example of good feedback: "My readers are people from the ages of 20-25. What can we do to alter the design to target them better?"

- Offer problems, not solutions.
This one is a real biggie. When you don't feel something is right or would like the site to accomplish something in particular, state the problem to the designer and ask what solutions are available. Very often, projects fail because clients insist on a sub-par solution when another solution could have been much more effective.
After all, you are paying an expert to help find the best solutions for you and it stands to reason that you should take advantage of this.

 

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Final Phase

Keep talking to the designer to make your next projects even more successful.
If you plan to continue working with your new designer, here are a few tips that can help you maintain a healthy working relationship.

- Keep the designer informed about whether or not the project was successful.
It's very important for many designers to know if their work is effective or not and if it fulfilled its main goal. Some ways to measure success are: measuring the percentage of increase in profits, website statistics tracking, etc.

- If you think anything could have made a better experience for you throughout the process, let your designer know. Feedback is very important.

- If you feel happy with the work done and the outcome was successful, make sure your designer feels appreciated.
Some basic things you can do to demonstrate your satisfaction might be to pay quickly, write your designer a testimonial, or refer new clients to them.

Getting good work out of your designer requires some effort and collaboration, but can result in a long, healthy, and successful business relationship for both of you.

 

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We hope this has helped you to better understand the design process - if you have any questions about any part of the process, please feel free to contact us.