Amazing opportunity of working closely with the founder and CEO of Principal Plans in their new 2015 website. It took approximately 1 month, with meetings each week. The roadmap ran like this:
WEEK 1: INTERVIEW WITH THE FOUNDER
The main goal was to capture their business needs at the highest level. Using this opportunity to let the user talk around their problems/goals freely (the client’s perception of their problem is just as important of what they’ve asked you to build).
After establishing a context for both myself and the client it was time to ask more direct questions around branding, feature requirements etc. to begin the speicifcation process for the project.
WEEK 2: WEBSITE CONTENT REVIEW AND OPTIMISATION
Started creating content for the site, ensuring the tone and message is consistent throughout the site and reflective of brand. After the basic copy has been drafted it’s important to redo it for the purpose of SEO, hitting as many keywords as possible.
WEEK 3: LO-RES WIREFRAMES AND INSPIRATION
I personally prefer to start with drawing wireframe ideas on paper, sometimes even the complete site navigation. Although some clients might not like you showing up in week 3 meeting with a bunch of drawings... I love it!
It’s all about driving the client through the whole experience; starting from the draft-hand drawn wireframes, moving to website examples and competitors sites, some imagery moodboards and colour inspiration and I always leave for last a sneak peek of how the homepage could look like...
WEEK 4: DEVELOPMENT, DELIVERY AND FUTURE PLANNING
It is now when all the time and effort put into preparation pays off. All the content, site navigation, site structure, imagery and colour has been already discussed so all left is open up Brackets/Sublime text and start copy & pasting ;)
Once the site is complete it’s presentation time! This becomes a lot easier if you have included the client from day 1. The outcome was :
A site that the client loves Because it feels like you've built it together (although the client didn't do much of the work!)