1. Rewrite the Brief
We receive a brief, however vague or detailed. Ideally preferably a budget and deadline Then we rewrite it, including a broad development plan and costing options. After some tooing and froing we settle on a final development plan.
2. Pen and Paper
Once a fairly accurate development plan has been agreed, I pass onto to sketching out the site’s main screens, backwards. Internal content pages or task flow screens first, then gallery and search result pages, then section landing pages.
3. Grey Box Design with Function and Content
I start development and grey box design and inputing some content at the same time. It is impossible to forsee every design variable without the functions in place, nor all the functions with a rudimentary design. And neither functions nor the design can be tested unless some content is in place.
When a client commissions a website, they often don’t realise how much work they need to put in. It is never a case of I want the website to do this and that, now build it and call me when I can see something / it’s nearly ready. The client needs to work probably as hard as I do. Because “Content is King”, collecting and collating the content and making it available as soon as possible is paramount. Without it, I can’t structure the information, hence develop with precision. It often results in a backbone structure that doesn’t neatly accomodate your content.
4. The home Page and final lick of paint
The Hompage is the last page to be developed. Always. The homepage is like the index of a book, listing main chapters and possibly some extra information, like the prologue and index pages of a book. Without the knowledge of what lies in the book, it is impossible to build an effective homepage.
Simillarly, a book’s cover is the last part of the production process. Or to use a better analogy, a house’s interior comes last. You never paint the walls or arrange the furniture until the walls, windows, plumbing and electrics are in place.