The WordPress Design Process
Phase 1: Plan
To start our design project, we need to get to the bottom of who you are, what you stand for, and who you stand beside. It will give us enough basic information to get started with your website. Below is an outline of our process; every site is different and development many not look exactly like this, but our process helps to quickly make creative sites.
1.1 Site Audit Report
We'll go through your existing site to see what's working and what is not.
Purpose: Understand what is and is not working from the current website by testing speed, SEO, accessibility, security, and performance.
Deliverable: A custom Site Audit Report with results and recommendations.
1.2 Sitemap & Page Outlines
Based on meetings with the client and an understanding of the existing site and audience, we can now put together a plan for the site with a list of pages to be created, and technologies to be implemented, including recommeneded plugins and third-party services.
Purpose: Develop the plan for the new website through interviews with stakeholders.
Deliverable: An interview with stakeholders and a comprehensive Sitemap with an outline of content, including navigation, titles, descriptions, calls-to-action, and row-by-row outlines of each page.
1.3 Gather & Organize Materials
With your help, we'll get copies of all the content that's going to go in the site. We generally create a folder for every page, and put in copy of every file we need.
Purpose: Work with client to secure and organize necessary digital assets to begin development.
Deliverable: A materials checklist of needed items such as logo files, current marketing materials, or brand guides.
Phase 2: Design
The brainstorming and comparison part is often where the best ideas come from. We will go through these options and decide which direction to take and which adjustments to make.
2.1 Design Plan
Design is the fun part! Show us some sites you like. Show us some you hate! We'll look at your competition's sites to see what design trends are popular. We'll come up with something unique for you.
Purpose: Interview client and gather design requirements and inspiration that will help create the look and UI/UX of the site.
Deliverable: A series of design mood boards for the client to choose from, including design styles, fonts, and colors.
2.2 Working Mockup
Once we've decided on the basics, we can't simply use a Photoshop mockup to see what the site will look like. A mockup needs to be clickable, responsive and give us a sense of how the site will actually look and work.
Purpose: Create a single page of the site with working elements that we can use to build the library of design elements to be used throughout the rest of the site.
Deliverable: A working page from the site, hosted on a staging site, that showcases different design elements in different contexts.
2.3 Design Library
Once we've got the designed page from the mockup approved, we can turn that into the templates and design elements.
Purpose: Apply the chosen design to a live and functional webpage in a staging site for client approval.
Deliverable: An interview with stakeholders and a comprehensive Sitemap with an outline of content, including navigation, titles, descriptions, calls-to-action, and row-by-row outlines of each page.
Phase 3: Build
The brainstorming and comparison part is often where the best ideas come from. We will go through these options and decide which direction to take and which adjustments to make.
3.1 Develop Pages
Now that we have the design and the content, it's time to put them together and start building pages.
Purpose: Use the design library and sitemap to create and fill every page with the approved content.
Deliverable: A fully developed site in the staging area that the client can view and approve.
3.2 Custom Technologies
Not every site will have need of custom technologies, but this would include integrating with a CRM, creating a custom catalog, quizzes, ecommerce, donations, or integrating with a third party service.
Purpose: Develop, input, and test custom technologies.
Deliverable: Completed technology added to the development site.
3.3 Migrate & Deploy
We'll test the site and move the site to the production server.
Purpose: Move the approved site to the live server and run the post-install checklist.
Deliverable: Completed site after undergoing quality assurance tests.
3.4 Training & Hand-off
We don't stop after the site is up. Clients still need the grand tour of their new online home.
Purpose: Set up client logins and make sure new owners can use all aspects of the site.
Deliverable: 1 hour of training for any number of client employees.