1. Creative Brief. this is the core document of the project. It defines the project, enables the project plan to be developed and is the main point of reference during the development process in terms of keeping the project on target. It enables everyone who is working on the project to quickly understand what it is about and what are the key elements. It also helps us to control scope creep and to focus on the primary goals of the web site (which can sometimes get a bit fuzzy when you've had a site in development for several months). Creative Brief Sample, PDF file, 170kb.
2. Content. After the creative brief is final and all the parties are in agreement is time to gather all the information necessary to create the information architecture and site map of the entire website. The development and gathering of the content is a crucial part of the website. The content is the main part of what the online experience is all about. The design of websites must facilitate finding that content. Web design is about content design. It’s about laying out content so that it can be easily read. It’s about organizing content so that it can be easily navigated and searched.
3. Design. Start skeching and creating wireframes. The site map deals with the structure of a web site; the wireframes deal with the structure of individual pages. A solid wireframe is a blueprint for the templates. After wireframes are approved by the client, then is about turning the skeletal structures above into a living, breathing design with illustrations, photographs, animation and content, following the guidelines set in the creative brief. New mockups are produced and pass to the client for final approval. Sitemap and wireframes development samples.
Develop. After a design has been approved, the site is now is ready to be develop using the most up to date technologies to provide maximum impact to the targeted audience. Shopping carts, secure servers, email, auto responders, email forwarding, mailing lists, guest-books, forums, bulletin boards, chat-rooms and/or blogs, sql or mysql, asp, php or some other web programming feature, or web 2.0 applications.
Test. Time to Validate the html and the css, check for broken links, try varying window sizes, try varying font sizes, access the site via a modem, check image size specifications, test accessibility, view in text browser, try different browsers, check printed pages, switch javascript off, switch plug-ins off, switch images off, check non-reliance on mailto, check no orphan pages, check sensible page titles.
Launch. At this point I check all forms making sure the emails go to the clients requested email address. I ensure that any images that have been referenced absolutely have the production URL and not the development URL. If any dummy data was added to database or to the site while testing is removed. If is an ecommerce website, merchant account is out of TEST mode and DEBUG mode is turned off. Is also time to Install Google Analytics and/or any tracking scripts. A final backup file is created and all files are uploaded.
Promote. Reference the website everywhere possible, send an announcement to the email lists, send a second, follow-up email within days of the launch announcing the new site. Reiterate new features or services for emphasis and encourage the list of members to visit. Remember to include a direct link to the site within the email now that it is live, print teasers in and place newsletters, send a postcard, post an announcement on the current web site, add a teaser to the email signature, make an announcement at conferences or other live events, create promotional items specifically for advertising the web address, distribute a press release to the local media and industry publications and also hold a press conference.
