My design process is pretty straightforward but it is thorough. It means the client is always taken on the journey with me and there are no surprises for either of us.
I don't have ANY rounds of amends after I build a website, you heard right, NONE.
That's not to say there aren't tweaks to be made but all of the real design is done up front; it's something I do with the client so there's very little chance they won't like how it eventually lands on the live pages.
My steps are:
1. Understand the client: their own likes and dislikes, what their website is for, who the users of their site are likely to be and what they might like or dislike.
2. Generate ideas: in discussion we come up with a few websites they like, some images and other elements like colours and fonts; to create a mood-board.
3. Create structure: I always create a site architecture to show what pages are needed and where they will sit in the hierarchy. And I create wireframes to show how I see the different elements sitting on the homepage.
4. Work together: it's at this point that I invite the client to work with me to refine the ideas down so that I can create the mock-ups; this is where the mood-board and wireframe collide so their chosen scheme comes to life.
5. Drive the outcome: I'm a very results-oriented person and often I find that my structured approach to work gets clients over the line a lot more quickly than they expect. I always tailor this to their capacity (their website may not be the only thing on their plate after all!) but I take charge of the timescale to get things done and I give them 'homework' lists so they are very much part of the process.
6. Provide support: after the build and go-live, I stick around. In fact I provide free lifetime support to all my Squarespace clients. Sounds crazy doesn't it? I can do it because Squarespace sites never go wrong on their own and they never need updates or maintenance. If a client (following my training and video tutorials) needs a bit of help, I'd far rather they came to me to ask for it as I care about keeping their website looking great and working well. All bespoke websites include one hour of training so that you can confidently look after your own site.
For a look behind the scenes of a couple of sites I am currently working on, watch my 4min loom below.
