Not too long ago I had the opportunity to speak along three other skilled web designers at RefreshOKC in which I discussed an ideal design process. That night I mentioned why you should use a process, benefits of using a process and the costs for not using one (you may download that presentation at the end of this article). Whether you have a process already established or you are starting from scratch, here are 5 things your design process needs to accomplish.
Your process shoud...Inform and educate.
As a freelancer, 40% of my clients find me through word of mouth because they have not the slightest clue of where to start to look for a web designer, thus they ask friends. On top of that, another 40% of my clients come to me telling me that their last experience with a web designer was horrible and that they need someone who knows what they are doing. From these numbers, 80% of my clients do not know what to expect out of a professional process and I can guarantee you that it’s itching their blood to be educated via a good experience using a process.
Your process shouldn't be something that you use on the inside of the development, your process should inform your clients of what is happening and should educate them as your relationship grows. By the time you are done with the project, your client should feel like they have grown smarter from working with you, and from this they will either return with more work or refer one of their friends who have had the worst luck finding a skilled web designer like yourself.
Your process should...be explainable.
As we know from above, 80% of your clients probably do not know what to expect the first meeting, so being able to explain your process in a brief explanation is very important. You can't inform or educate unless your process is explainable, and for your process to be explainable, it must be simple. Clients don't want to have to jot notes down hoping to study them later so that they can hopefully understand your process. Your process should make sense as you are explaining it to them, right there on the spot. Being able to explain your process to a client will help educate them and allow them to learn while working with you.
Your process should...be flexible.
We all know as a freelance web designer we get projects that range from quick fix updates to large web applications, and since this happens to be our norm we need a process that is flexible. It should be understood that you can’t use the same detailed process of a large web application on a small brochure web site. Sure, they have their similarities such as having a phase to define goals and data and then a phase to design an interface. If you are more than just a web designer and you also do print design, your process needs to be able to flex back and forth so that you can use it on your print jobs and on your web jobs. The largest flex your process needs to be able to make is when your business idea changes and you need to adjust your process as soon as possible to reflect the changes.
Your process needs to be able to withstand any change, from project size to a change in your approach.
Your process should...be goal oriented.
The most important thing that a designer needs to keep in mind is to make sure that things stay goal focused. That’s why my process starts out by defining goals and then continues to carry them throughout its life cycle. Without defined goals you will be making decisions based on a gut feeling or emotion. Sure, design in the end is about how it looks, but web design is not, it’s more than that. Great design is goal focused and forces your user to use the features you wanted them to. Before each phase in your process you should be revisiting your goals and testing yourself to make sure things have stayed on goal thus far. Ask yourself why you placed the large “quote” button at the top, or why the navigation is horizontal and not vertical. Don’t let emotions overpower your goals!
Your process should...work for you.
I first used a process when I first started to grasp the concepts of what real web design was all about. I researched over 50 web design companies who had their process listed on their site. All of them were fairly similar with only a few differences. From this I built myself a strong process that I could display on my site and show off to others that “I used a process”…but that wasn’t quite so easy after all. When it became time to start a new project I found myself wondering off onto another path other than the process I had listed on my site. In fact, I didn’t even start with the first phase. The problem was I built my process based on something that worked for other large companies and I found myself being less productive when attempting to use it. Build your process from the ground up yourself. Think about how you would like to see websites unfold and then put it into a process. I cannot express to you how important it is for a process to work for you.
Conclusion
Your process is very important when it comes to the outcome your project brings. Your process will take time to develop and when you think your process is bullet proof, you will probably end up changing it again; a lot like I mentioned last article. And sure there are other things I could have covered in this article like having a process that works shows professionalism in our industry that is dominated by armatures, or a good process can help set milestones so you can get those clients to sign off for you and then allowing you to stay clear of what I call the “Revision Crisis” – when clients request revision after revision.
Having a process that educates, informs, flexes, goal orients, and works for you is an ideal goal that no one can do without.
And for those wanting to know, the PDF version of my presentation can be downloaded, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Until next time, follow me on twitter, @michaeldick