Document Portfolio
Discovery |
Information Architecture |
Copywriting & Technical Writing |
Design |
Project Management |
| Market Research |
IA & Wireframes | Copywriting - SEO Articles | Technical Design Documents | MS Project Plans |
| Technical Research | Requirements | Copywriting - Reviews | Interaction Design | Requirements |
| Stakeholder Interviews | Corporate Overviews | User Manuals | Print Collateral Layout | QA Databases |
| Creative Briefs | XML Schemas | Executive Summaries | Audio CD Design | Communication Plans |
Development Process
In order to provide a detailed, structured overview of our web development approach, we present below a summary of the phases in our systematic approach, from concept to completion.
Define the Project
We conduct thorough discovery by quickly learning your initiatives from the ground up, thoroughly understanding your goals and tapping into knowledge that may reside in the minds of your team rather than on paper or in files. To this end, we conduct engaging stakeholder interviews (in-person/phone/email) to solicit such key information.
We aim to learn everything about your various audiences, their needs and your needs as an organization, so the site can fulfill its purpose. We believe that many firms under-estimate this phase of site design; we prefer to approach web development from a discovery point of departure – a fundamental effort to come to a deep understanding of your needs – that leads to an exact design and technological fit, rather than assume anything while diving into pixels and coding.
Develop Site Structure
We approach from high level and drill down to detail level from a set of key architectural views of the site. Site structure will be presented using best practices in information architecture, including visual flowcharts that express all navigation paths, page-level wireframes that detail content blocks and priorities, and anticipated publishing workflow charts. Developed in Visio or Omnigraffle using Garrett IA plug-ins, these will be exported to PDF for review.
Design Visual Interface
We present designs and gather feedback, incorporating feedback in delivered iterations, leading to a sign off on the look and feel of the overall site. Designs will be developed with SEO (search engine optimization), accessibility and web standards firmly in mind from the beginning, which will greatly aid the production of individual pages and added functionality.
Develop, Build & Integrate
With the navigational, visual and content structures in place, we collect, edit and fill in the gaps of relevant content. This is a closely collaborative phase in which we help your company gather materials, polish content, translate unstructured content into structured content and create additional audio-visual materials – such as screencasts, illustrations & photography – that complement or supplement your written content.
Concurrently, we fully develop the backend, putting in place any technical enhancements needed to store, query and manipulate data, achieve e-commerce, conversion or ROI goals, validate forms, make the building blocks of the site more modular and provide a secure online environment. This phase can include installing and setting up a Content Management System (CMS) and/or a customized company blog as well.
Testing
We create the QA plan, incorporating best practices to review, test and polish the site to ensure its elegant presentation on a wide variety of platform-browser combinations. We fix bugs and do a final test before launching the site.
Launch & Beyond
At launch, we open the site to the public, including search engines, and help further with marketing communications and search engine submissions. We also estimate maintenance needs and create a maintenance plan and budget, as needed. Alternately, if a Content Management System (CMS) is deployed, we provide training on this system so that you can update your site in house.