What do you mean?
Regardless if you’re an interested company or a new designer, we are here to share some web design lists. Although the list generally varies between each designers and is not mandatory to prepare beforehand, it should be useful to know. You might ask, “Why should I care? We’ll talk about it during the meeting anyways”. Although it is true, having a rough idea or preparation beforehand can help the designer to know what the client wants and need quicker. It would also make the designing process progress smoothly without the need for constant guess and check throughout the web design process.
Which is what?
Before we start listing the needs and wants, you should be informed about the differences. There’s a few different lists depending on the client type. We first start by asking the simplest question: Are we designing a new site or redesigning an existing one? Depending on which, we will need different things for the web design process.
Designing a site means starting with little to no contents.
Redesigning your website means working with existing contents.
Off-site Factors
Let us get straight to the point with some off-site factors. These factors easily eliminates unsuitable options effectively and allows both parties to cut to the chase.
- Budget
This may sound materialistic however it is the fastest and most direct method to get unnecessary things out of the way. By knowing of the client’s intended budget for the site, the designer and client can immediately discuss realistic goals for the site. For the designer, the complexity and extent of the site is made clear. And for the clients, it helps eliminate a lot of modules such as recommended plugins that are not mandatory for the site to function (optional add-ons).
Setting a budget helps to filter options realistically, effectively and efficiently.
- Company Information
Company’s information serves as a foundation for Designers to use when designing a website. A company’s goals and aims can shape how the final design looks such as the themes, concepts, styles etc. A company’s logo can double as a colour palette for the site if the company hasn’t decide on any official brand colors yet. Knowing the company’s target audience is also helpful because there are different designs to attract different target groups. By knowing the company in-depth, it’ll be easier for the final design to be as close to ideal as possible.
- Time Frame
It’s good to establish a mutual timeline for follow up and updates. A rough, or if possible a clear, schedule would allow the clients to gain insight on what will take place and acts as an assurance point. While a schedule for a designer means an easier time management and prioritization as some might be balancing multiple clients and project at once. It’ll help to keep both parties up to date with each other.
A clear schedule helps everyone to be on the same page.
- Samples and References
Using other websites as reference allows both party to give a visual example of what they want/recommend. It can easily be done by sampling designs from other websites. It could be referring to something as minor as a rival’s menu style to a plugin from a popular site of a different industry. Taking all the good points and re-arranging them can be a quick way for both parties to get their suggestions across or the rough ideas down quickly.
On-site Factors
With the off-site factors covered, let’s move on to on-site factors.
- Website’s Purpose
Things like page layout and plugins can all be based on the purpose. For example, an online shopping site homepage would contains sales to draw potential buyers. Meanwhile a company profile site could have their past clients’ feedbacks shown on the homepage to rope in potential clients. And a personal portfolio site would have their past work and experience to catch potential employers’ sights. Therefore knowing the purpose of the client’s site is important so that the design creation or redesign changes aligns with the client’s intention for the site.
Here is an article that can help you understand which type of website would suit your target audience.
- Preferences and Requirements
Do you have any preference for things such as sizes or concepts? Or perhaps certain requirements for typography? Although it’s part of a designer’s job to experiment, a sense of direction is always nice. Preferences helps to understand what the client wants and requirements helps to filter out options that doesn’t fit. This is a good time for clients to set some web design criteria while the designer state the extents available. After all, sometimes what the client wishes for could be unrealistic or unavailable. It’s good to clear things up before beginning so as to avoid having misunderstanding over miscommunications.
Designers can’t read minds, communication is key.
- Assets and Authorization
No not the shares nor authority/control to the company. Assets, in this case, refers to things such as contents, images, files and other resources. This factor mainly refers to resources such as contents, codes, images from existing site for redesigning cases. However, it can refer to assets such as logos, social media info and other related files for designing a new sites. And authorization means obtaining the rights or at least the permission to use materials that the clients wish to use but do not own.
Advice: This is one of the things that we would suggest preparing beforehand and in the finalized forms if possible. After all, if the designer has to revise the materials (resize, redesign, corrections etc.), it could cause delay and hassles.
Every resources can help solidify the site’s design no matter how small or big.
That’s all folks!
And that’s it. Regardless if they are prepared beforehand or not, these are the main portions to help with the web design process. Whether you’re a designer looking for what to ask or a client researching what to expect, we hope we helped. After reading if you’re interested and ready to design or redesign your site, contact us! Or perhaps you’ll like to look at some of our work to see what we can do for you.