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Home > Services > Website Design & Development > Web Design Process

Website Design & Development Process

For every website we build, large or small, we adhere to a multi-step process stressing collaboration with you, our client. The custom website process allows us to deliver you a solution on time, within budget, and of exceptional quality.

Initial Consulting Session

Whether you wish to develop a new website or redesign an existing one, we start by discussing your company background, business objectives, needs, and target audience. We will use this time to listen and ask questions in order to understand what you want to achieve with your website.

Proposal

After the initial consultation, we distill our findings into a concise yet detailed proposal outlining exactly how we can meet your stated business goals. Proposals also include a project timeline, detailed descriptions of proposed functionality, and pricing information.

Requirements Gathering and Specification Formulation

Once you are comfortable with the proposed design and functionality of your website, we begin planning for design and development. We'll create a blueprint for the construction of your website based on "fact-finding" with you and on our vast website experience. Typically, Requirements Gathering and Specification Formulation for a website is divided into three parts: requirements for 1) website design, 2) website content and 3) website functionality.

Website Design

In creating your website's design, or "look and feel," we start by collecting information from you with our Project Profiler, a document designed to gather website design needs and wants. You tell us basics such as color scheme, your company's "personality", and examples of websites you like and don't like--- and why. The Project Profiler forms the foundation of our research in developing a compelling and effective design, customized for your target audience.

Based on the information you provide in the Project Profiler, we'll present you with website design screens (mockups) during a formal review session. We post these design concepts to a private staging server or intranet, and discuss our approach and thought process behind each design concept we develop. We'll incorporate your feedback, suggestions, and ideas into the next round of edits. This process continues until you are completely satisfied with the design or "look and feel" for your new website.

Website Content

Your content communicates your marketing message and allows you to "connect" with your audience(s). As such, it is vital that it is organized in a clear, concise manner. 3210 offers content development and consulting services to help you ensure that your site's message is clear, on-brand, and appealing to your target audience.

Consulting & Research

We start the process of organizing content for your site by consulting with you on the best way to present the content on your website. The items we research and discuss with you include your:

• Company or Organization Background
• Industry Background
• Internal Stakeholders
• Audience (s)
• Objectives of Website such as:

  • Raise Awareness
  • Sell a Product or Service
  • Confirm an offline referral
  • Increase Membership
  • Public Policy/Advocacy
• Competitor Analysis
• Existing Website

  • Study of how users currently use website
  • Determine pluses and minuses of existing site for new site

Content Organization

The next step involves reviewing all of your content so that we best understand how to categorize it on the site. Based on the consulting we do with you and on our research, we devise multiple ways of organizing your site's content.

Content can be organized a number of different ways, including:

• By user (audience)
• By subject matter (topical)
• By time and date (chronological)
• By scenario
• By audience need
• By function

The result of this work will be a Sitemap or Information Architecture Plan. This is a plan or blueprint showing all relationships between the web pages within the website.

Navigational Scheme & Page Structure Design

Next, 3210 Consulting will determine the navigational scheme and page layout best suited to your site's audience and content. This includes outlining primary, secondary, and any tertiary navigational schemes to allow for multiple ways for users to "get at" website content in usable and clear manner.

The result of this work is development of wireframes, or a set of electronic "sketches" of pages showing structure and content of pages within the five sites. The wireframes also will serve to mockup the primary, secondary, tertiary (if applicable) navigational scheme on the websites.

Website Functionality

Depending on the level of complexity involved in the functionality to be delivered, the requirements can be developed in the form of simple mockup screens, detailed written descriptions, and use case scenarios. Before we start coding, we make sure that we share your vision offline on how the site should work online.

Development

After we analyze the requirements that we've gathered, we will begin development. This includes implementation of the website design, layout of the content, and development of the functionality mapped out in the Requirements Gathering and Specification Formulation stage.

We'll communicate our progress with you on a weekly basis and continue to ensure that the site is in line with your original expectations and objectives.

User Acceptance Testing and Bug Fixing

Upon completion of website development, we will enter into a series of testing phases to ensure full functionality of the site. All known errors and defects will be recorded and fixed. Also included during this phase is user acceptance testing, conducted with you, to ensure that you are satisfied with the functionality of the website before it is deployed to a production-level environment.

Site Launch

When the site is ready to launch, we'll move it from its secure staging environment to the Internet and onto your company's domain.

Website Maintenance

3210 provides ongoing support and maintenance services for your website, tailored specifically to your needs. Click here to learn more about the maintenance services that we provide.