Streamlining your web processes
We all have our ways of doing things, ingrained as a personal system which we adhered to daily. Most of us don’t bother to stray from our paths, but today I’d like to tell you of a few simple and highly effective checklists: before, during and post the web brief.
When meeting up with a client and you are about to start the process of extracting information about what they like and/or dislike there are a few handy tips you can follow. In fact, there is already a basic ‘questionnaire’ created by a smart company called Freelance Switch which you can have a look over before you start.
And then there is the requirements the designer needs in order to start the work itself:
- What’s the budget?
- Any specific Design Requirements?
- A clear outline of what the client expects in terms of design
- An outline of who the target market is.
- Is there a strict deadline?
- Images. Are they client supplied or should they be purchased
- Any other collateral that can be used as a reference?
And once the site is about to launch, there are some recommendations in place just in case...
- Is the site load time ‘reasonable?
- How is the contrast between text and background colour? Can your grandad read it?
- Is there a clear path to important sections such as ‘contact’ and ‘company info’?
- Is the main navigation easily identifiable (ie: not mystery meat nav)
Of course all of these recommendations are to be taken fairly lightly, we all have different systems we work with. Just be smart about it and make sure you have more information than is required so there isn’t any need to contact the client and feel foolish about asking some inane question about their brand.
