The website design process with Expert
At expert our website design process is broken up into 5 stages:
Stage 1: Website Design Briefing
Stage 2: Website Structure Design
Stage 3: Website Concept Design
Stage 4: Website Build
Stage 5: Website Testing and Training
In this article we cover stage 2; Website Structure Design.
The website’s structure is an important part of the website design process. Good design leads to a great user experience. Getting the site structure right now will affect the design down the line. It also helps search engines index your pages and rank them for various keywords.
Creative meeting
During the creative meeting, Expert’s designers will work with you to find out what functions the site will need to have, the information to go on the website and how best to group and categorize this information for navigation. Our designers will also discuss with you how your site may grow in the future.
Functions the site may have:
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Search
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Contact form
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Login/logout
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eNewsletter signup form
Information the site may have:
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About your organisation or business
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Contact details
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Images
Group and categories the site may have:
Sitemap
Once our designers have an idea of all the content that will be going into the site they can create the Sitemap. The Sitemap is a list of all the pages in a website. At this stage of the design process, our designers will mock-up a visual representation of the site's architecture and the hierarchy of each page within the site. This allows the website layout to be reviewed, and suggested changes and improvements to be made. This review process helps to make a better website and decreases the chance of big changes needing to be made later in the process, saving costs down the line.
Once everyone is happy that the sitemap contains all the content and has a logical and easy to use architecture, Expert will ask you to sign off on it. It is our recommendation that all essential stakeholders have input into this stage, and some form of consensus is achieved. This takes us to our next step - the Wireframe.
At this stage, Expert will recommend that all content begins to be finalised. As content creation can be a highly time consuming task, the sooner it is begun (after site structure has been finalised), the sooner your website can be developed.
Wireframe or Wire diagram
The wireframe is a planning tool to show the physical layout and has no working functionality, while later on in the website design process, the concept mock-up is more about the design (look and feel). The wireframe is an easy way to plan out the general idea of content placement, and organize the structure of website pages before designing and building the finished user interface.
The wireframe will determine the basic layout of each page of the site. Options such as how many columns, what will go in the header or footer, the location for the navigation, placement of functions such as search and login, and what will be on the home page vs on the inside pages. Once the wireframes have been reviewed to all stakeholders’ satisfaction, sign-off will be made.
Everyone is now ready for stage 3 Design and mock-ups.
Our staff will work to ensure that each aspect and stage of your website development is explained to you clearly. Through the processes mentioned in this article, we will work to ensure that your website is a strong tool for your business / organisation, developed in a manner best fitting with your immediate and long-term goals. To contact our team, just leave a message at the bottom of this blog, including your email address / phone number, and we will be in touch.
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