Design Process
The purpose of a web site is to support and enhance the goals of your business or organisation - it is not an end in itself. A website should be much more than just an on-line brochure, and a well designed website integrates the following key concepts.
Content
Good content is the most important aspect of successful website design. To support your content, you need the right combination of technology and graphics. In that sense website design is both an art and a science. It has to be functional and work correctly, but should also be appealing to the eye.
Navigation
Good navigation and usability is the basis for a good design. It should always be obvious to your visitors how to get where they want to go on your website, and it should be impossible to get "lost".
What makes the Web such a powerful medium is that it is interactive, and it provides instant access to an incredible depth of information. Good website design should take full advantage of these capabilities, providing your visitors with easy access to the information, products or service you provide, while making their whole experience stimulating and satisfying.
Our Design Process in 15 Easy Steps
- Initial Talks - contact us for a no obligation discussion. We work with you to identify your your sales message, target audience, and other needs, then we develop a plan to deliver your web project with the highest impact in those key areas. We usually request that you send us at least 5 websites that you like. This will help us to understand what look and feel we can aim for with the new design.
- Fixed-price quote - we will send you a no-obligation quote with details of the work required.
- Contract signed - we will agree contract details and deposit payment will be made.
- Register domains - if required, we will register domain name(s) on your behalf and set up a web hosting account.
- Detailed discussions - we will carefully analyse your requirements and confirm these via on-site meetings, email and telephone as necessary.
- Content provision - you will provide us with detailed information on your company, the products you sell, images and complete copy for the website. Together we choose your colors, fonts, the look & feel of your project. We may recommend slight changes in supplied copy in order to assist in search engine ranking. We can provide royalty-free images if required.
- Construction - we begin design and build of the website, incorporating design elements as agreed. Included in the creation of all our websites at Funky :: Software is the appropriate use of HTML meta tags and effectively presented text.We will research most effective search engine phrases for your business.
- Initial draft - we provide a first draft for your approval. At this stage any element of the design can be changed.
- Final draft - we work to produce a final draft which will form the basis for the rest of the site. Your full input will be encouraged throughout this process when you may request alterations.
- Final version - we will complete the website, ensuring it fulfils the requirements established in the design stage. We will thoroughly test it in order to validate all hyperlinks and e-mail addresses, to make sure that all forms, buttons, Javascripts etc work properly, and to test browser compatibility, screen width, and colours. At this point you can review your website and request any changes you would like us to make.
- Website published - the website is published, making it available to the world. Final payment is now due.
- Training - finally we will make sure that you have the basic skills to manage the site yourself if needed.
- Search Engine submission - we will submit your website to all the major search engines and directories and we will create and submit site maps to both Google and Yahoo via their respective programs. This process will span several weeks when we will be in regular contact to ensure your website is performing as intended.
- CD Archive - a CD Archive of your entire website is included in all packages. Your files will be burned to a quality CD-ROM and mailed to you. The CD permits you to work with your own files, move your site to any location, and have an original backup in case of emergency or any other reason.
- Customer Care - our service doesn't end after your website publication. It's just the end of the beginning - at Funky :: Software we continue to assess and look after all of your future needs.
