WEB SITE PROJECT
Design Brief | Phases | Preliminary Consultation | Initial Project Consultation | Internet Presence Provider (ISP) | Site Development Planning | Web Site Development | Marketing Site | Continuing Site Maintenance | Internet Integration | Estimating

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Planning your site

KNOW YOUR SUBJECT
The process of asking the following questions and writing down or sketching detailed answers is called design. Design is very often the difference between a good web site and a mediocre one.

Audience - Who is the web site for?
Message - What is it about?
Purpose - What is it for?
Organization - How is it put together?
Navigation - How do you use it?
Usability - Is it easy to use?
Look - What does it look like?

Design Brief

The Design Brief is the starting point for any project. It should reflect your understanding of the project and your plan for dealing with it. Keep it brief. The brief can be modified later. You do not always know everything about a project during its early stages. If circumstances change, the brief should be revised accordingly. It should, at all times, reflect the understanding you have with your client. It also reflects the clarity of your thinking. The most crucial part of the brief is the description of the problem. Most of us have become programmed to regard the carrying out of the solution to the problem as the problem. Redesigning the packaging or creating an identity, web site, or ad campaign are all SOLUTIONS to problems, NOT PROBLEMS. Explore the problem. The following items are part of the research process to establishing what the problem is. Answer each area for your project and your solution will be far more effective for the success of the client’s business.

YOUR NAME AND DATE

CLIENT
Name, address and contact information.

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION
Length of business. Legal description. Type of business; service, manufacturing, entertainment, etc.. What does it provide? Who are their customers?

PROBLEM
This is the most important part of the brief. It should be clearly defined and understood. What are they doing or not doing to promote their business? Why? Is the problem internal, administrative, location, financial, external, personal. etc...?

OBJECTIVE
What does your client expect to accomplish as a result of these efforts? How will you evaluate its effectiveness?

COMPETITION
Analyze and describe the strategy and positioning of each major competitor.

AUDIENCE
Be specific and detailed as possible about their attributes. Target market. Demographics of customers, potential, previous, etc...? Demographics includes; ages, location, male/female, animal, group, ethnic, cultural, medical/dental, other businesses, etc...

The following are essential, but you may have to add them later:

MESSAGE
What are you going to say to the audience that will solve the client’s problem and enable them to realize their objectives? Complex content should be organized in outline form. Their target audience could be employees, investors and/or competitors.

MEANS
What is the best way to accomplish the objective? The SOLUTION. What are you going to do to solve the problem? Keep this part wide open while you are exploring the other aspects of the project.

Phases

There are phases in designing a web site. Simpler or more complex site projects may consolidateor expand some steps in this process of site development:

1. Develop a Development and Reference Outline which includes:
   a users' needs study, financial aspects, technical constraints and a project
   schedule or outline of steps for the development of the web site
   
2. Design a model of the site
   
3. Test the site model
   
4. Design the site
   
5. Test the site
   
6. Put the site up on the Internet and publicize it
   
7. Obtain feed-back on the site and modify it as needed

These are some of the detailed steps you need to review in developing your site:

Preliminary Consultation and Review
Introduction to the Internet
Why have a Web Presence?
What makes an effective Web site?
What will be the target audience?
Branding the Web Site - special identifying aspects; design approach
What will the site do for the organization?
Information vs. Interactivity within the site
Survey of Web Presence for Similar Organizations
Anticipated Site Traffic
Site Funding

Initial Project Consultation
Proposed Table of Contents
Proposed Site Layout
Navigational Logic
Graphics
Integrity of Page Design
Writing - Who is responsible?
Browser Considerations
Interactive Features
Proposed Project Schedule
Future Project Management
Project Cost Quotation and Contract

Internet Presence Provider (ISP)
Services Needed
Selection and Cost
Ongoing ISP Consultation

Site Development Planning
Project Development
Content Development - Who is responsible? Decision-making?
Content Maintenance: - Who provides updates?
Technical Issues
Domain Name Selection - availability; type; registration
Security Issues
Coding Conventions
Page Layouts - frames/no frames approach

Web Site Development
Site Design and Development
Final content development
Client review and approval
Testing and validation of site
Launch of Site/Installation
Training
Site Users
Site Maintainers

Marketing Site
Media Releases
Search Engine and Directory Registration
Promotion within organization
Hyperlinks to site

Continuing Site Maintenance
Who Provides Ongoing Site Maintenance?
Change Authorization
Content and Link Updates
Interface with ISP

Internet Integration
(Customized for Client Needs)
Workshops for Staff: public and internal uses of the site
Workshops for Others: testers; supporters; funders; stakeholders; advertisers
E-Commerce Trends

Estimating

An estimate is an educated guess for what a project will cost. The educated guess is based on the defined elements of the project. The basic elements are money and time. Additional elements include photography, copywriting, fonts, out sourcing, , etc... A good web designer will include every element and programming needed for the site. It is a good idea to add a little "padding" for unexpected elements. Time is money especially with web site design. Yo estimate the time, decide how much each hour is worth, and multiply to get the total.

THE ESTIMATE WORKSHEET
This worksheet is based the concept that a page takes six hours to build plus three hours to create each picture on each page. Use your hourly rate and figure that you only have 25 hours per week to work on the site.