While every project is considered unique in its needs, scope and design, a common design process helps drive projects to completion while ensuring exacting standards are met. Our process is by no means revolutionary, but years of experience demonstrates it works consistently well.
To start, a brief discovery phase identifies the website's marketing goals, technical requirements, branding strategy and measurements of success. Careful attention is paid to market competitors, customer feedback (when available), and input from client team members.
j.dubbs design then works with the client to identify a delivery date and implementation timeline, after which an extranet site for the project is established to make project deliverables available to the client.
Existing and proposed content, functional/navigational elements, and inter-site promotions are all factored into the site's information architecture. Ideally, the sitemap maintains a balance between breadth and depth, requiring as few clicks as possible to any given piece of content, while not overwhelming the user with too many choices at once.
Content that may be featured on the site's home page is identified, as is lead-generating "premium content" and any related forms.
Once an information architecture has been finalized, the site's page layout, look and feel, and branding are designed through a series of Photoshop screen mockups. Typically, three or four mockups are produced for a given design, including the site's home page and two or three prominent content pages.
Feedback is solicited from the client, after which one or more rounds of iteration are made to the design. Depending on the project's scope and timetable, multiple design directions may be produced.
With a final design in hand, cascading style sheets are written to define text formatting, screen layout, and navigation elements. Content pages are authored in HTML/PHP, and images are optimized for efficient download times.
Throughout production, SEO best practices are followed to ensure the site's code is optimized for search engines. j.dubbs design will work with the client to identify opportunities within the site where search keywords can be applied and optimized.
The website is tested and debugged on the latest general-release version of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, along with any additional browsers and versions identified by the client during the needs analysis phase.
Once all revisions, additions, and testing are completed, the site is uploaded to the client's production server for public deployment. j.dubbs design will then work with the client to ensure a clean site launch, identifying and correcting any issues that may arise.