Our process

Over the course of doing business in many aspects, and the time that we’ve had with this company, we have been very fortunate to work with some amazing clients. For clients who have very tight schedules and deadlines, we have developed a process of designing websites that not only shows off our expertise and skills but caters to the clients specific requests. Before we move on to describing the process, we have to discuss some assumptions that we have concerning our potential clients. We assume that our clients are hiring us for our skills, not to be overbearing in the creation of the project. Secondly, we make the assumption that the creation of the website is due to the fact that the client is looking for a way to reach a business goal.

An example of this would be a client that has a charitable organization. The website that we create would have the purpose of gathering volunteers and donations. If our client is a law firm, the purpose of the website would be to bring in new clients and manage existing ones more effectively. Should our client be a retailer, the main purpose would be to bring in customers or increase sales.

The intent of the project is very important to us as it gives us a chance to use our skills and expertise to further the client’s goals. These goals are our primary concern and direct the outcome of any project.

Our process

1. Gathering Requirements

This step involves working with the client to clarify and develop goals, target audiences, relevant information and detailed feature requests.

2. Point of Contact

At any point in time we require one single point of contact. This is to ensure that there is someone to answer for the needs of the project as a whole and that there is someone responsible for giving information and approving parts of the project during its duration. Before the project begins, we set aside half an hour to an hour to discuss these details with the client as a means of improving efficiency.

3. Project Charter

The Project Charter shortly summarizes what has been acquired in the gathering requirements portion of the process. This is developed by us and the client is given the option of whether they want to accept it or reject it according to their specific goals concerning the project. Should the charter be rejected, revisions will be made by us and presented to the client again. The charter serves as a way to clarify timelines, deliverables, a guide for the duration of the project as a whole and material required from the client. The deadline portion of the charter is considered by many clients and by us to be the most critical part. The deadline that is included on the charter represents the latest that the website will be launch on the web. If the client demands push this deadline back, they will be billed as an extra expense.

4. Direct Deposit

After the charter has been approved and signed by the client, we are ready to move on to the next step of the process. This involves a deposit of at least 50% of the total estimate.

5. Client Material

Before any more progress can be made, we often require certain materials from the client in order to complete the project. This is often clarified in the charter but we often require usernames and passwords to access certain programs, websites and databases. We also need any specific content that the client wishes to include on the website such as text, images or other media. The client will be responsible for adding new content and maintenance of the website after the project has been completed.

Design

After all of the previous preparations have been taken care of, the design phase begins. This phase usually entails creating a visual representation of all of the previously agreed upon concepts and materials. By the end of this phase, the client will have a clear visual of what their site will look like. The next phase involves making the website functional.

1. Conceptualization

This phase is critical because this is where we construct the front book, wireframe, sitemap and color palate from all of the materials in the first phase. The wireframe functions as a rough sketch of where every element on the website will go but only features lines with no actual graphics or media. A wireframe is most often created for every page on the site. The sitemap features an organized list of the pages featured on the website itself. The color palate is a list of colors that are picked by us that we think fit the image and purpose of the potential website. The front book is a list of fonts that also think fit the goal or brand of the website we are going to create.

2. Design Compositions and Mock Ups

This step involves taking all of the material from the previous steps and inserting it into Photoshop to give the client a visual representation of how the site will look once it is finished. The client has one week to approve or deny these mock ups, if denied they will be revised and sent back for approval. If no feedback is given within a week’s time, this is seen as implicit approval and the project will move forward. If the revision stage goes past two rounds, we bill the client at an hourly rate. This is because it is important to take note of the fact that these compositions are based on previous approval, therefore any more than two revisions on a single composition would require an hourly rate. At this point in the process, the composition will be very representative of how the final website will look.

Development

This is where the final website comes to fruition. This phase allows us to test and run the website to see if it functions correctly and that it meets all of the client’s criteria.

1. Coding

Our coding team takes the previous compositions made in Photoshop and creates an actual website around that design.

2. Content Population

The content that was acquired in the first phase will then be added to the template. The client also has the option of using our content transfer services which we would then implement at this time. If this is not the case, the client is responsible for transferring content to us.

3. Testing

In this phase, the client is able to test the website just as the public will. We will test the website in various browsers and platforms. All bugs at this point in time will be fixed. The client then has one week to approve or send back for revision. Again, no feedback after a week is considered implicit approval and we will move forward. Any more than two revisions will result in our regular hourly rate.

Launch

This is where we actually publish the website. More specifically, we clone the testing environment, configure for production and publish to the web.

1. Payment

We require 30% of the full payment after 80% of the website has been completed, and once the website is published, the other 20%.

2. Clone Testing Environment

Our developers then copy all of the necessary files to get the website up and running and prepare it for launch.

3. Configure DNS and Servers

If there happens to be an old site conflicting with the publishing of the new one, the old one will be configured to point to the new website. This will lead visitors directly to the newly published project with no delay.

4. Launch

After being launched, both the project and the contract are fulfilled. The website itself is going to need to be maintained and updated in order to stay relevant. After this project is complete, many clients choose to update and maintain their own website, while others choose to take advantage of other services we offer. We offer the ability to take advantage of our management services as well as our marketing team for this task.