Every agency has their own design process and interpretation. It acts as a guiding force in helping the team create & deliver holistic products to their clients. When designing a marketing website for your client, it is essential to communicate a clear plan of action which will keep you and the client on the same page. More so, the design process will help you understand what the client wants to communicate and how the plan of action will flow.
<rich-h2>The 3 phases of the website design process<rich-h2>
<rich-h3>Phase 0: Setup<rich-h3>
<rich-para>During this phase, the sales team shares the client brief with the project team that includes high-level requirements like target audience, visual preferences, technology to be used, etc as well as project start date & end date (intra team clarity is crucial at this stage.) Once the requirements are gathered, the designer sets up the necessary communication tools & software (Figma,Google Drive, Clickup & Slack) to get started.<rich-para>
<rich-h2>Phase 1: Discover & Define<rich-h2>
<rich-para>The discovery phase of the website design process is all about context setting, wherein you try and understand the client’s industry background & what is important to them. This step is important to research & understand more about your client’s business and industry, their target market, their customer base, and the ultimate goal/aim for the website.<rich-para>
<rich-h3>Here’s how you flow through the discovery phase:<rich-h3>
<rich-list-item>Analyse and understand the client's business and match the findings from your preparation (user research) with the existing product.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>Start by discussing the problems with the client rather than jumping onto the solution.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>Run a competitor analysis to evaluate how they're resolving the core problem. (remember to save impactful references)<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item last-item>Search for inspiration on design website (dribble, behance & awwwards)<rich-list-item last-item>
<rich-para>Once you’ve gathered all the necessary information about the design, define the website’s wireframe, sitemap, functionalities and related mockups. Remember to take the client’s approval on the same.<rich-para>
<rich-h2>Phase 2: Explore, Plan & Execute<rich-h2>
<rich-h3>During this phase, your ultimate tasks will be:<rich-h3>
<rich-list-item>Exploring and incorporating visual design options which will communicate the look and feel of the website through the font style, colours, layout & animations.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>Creating a project plan that will help you define the duration of the project as well as creating a components library (defining typography, colour system, buttons, common components etc.)<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item last-item>Executing the final designs and handing over the design library to the developers and client.<rich-list-item last-item>
<rich-para>Note: While handing over the final designs to the developer, make sure you take them through the entire design library.<rich-para>
<rich-h2>Phase 3: Develop & Validate<rich-h2>
<rich-para>This phase for a design team basically involves testing (reporting bugs & incorporating feedback) & checking if your design improved the website’s metrics and performance.
Designer’s Tip: Use a bug tracking tool like Bugherd which is one of the best software for reporting bugs and collecting visual website feedback from the client. <rich-para>
<rich-para>Takeaway: A UX design process will be unique to every individual business and product. While the framework remains more or less the same, there could be additions to stages and the plan of action. The important thing is to find a process that will work for you, your team, your client and most importantly, your users.<rich-para>
